I need some help DMing

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I'm kind of new to DMing, and the last time I tried it, I totally butchered the game, and my players ended up really bored and frusterated. Any suggestions?

 

In order to help you out, I think we need more information than that. Tell us things that you feel went wrong, and we might be able to come with a solution.

First of all, read the Chapter I of the DMG. Other than that, some of the more experienced GM's here can surely give you some starter's tips.

Edit: 1100

 

Do the exact opposite of whatever your doing now, if its an in depth adventure turn it into a bit of hack and slash and visa versa

 

Well, I'm not to sure what I did wrong, actually. It was more of a hack n' slah adventure, so I gues I'll try some more puzzle and story or something. I think they said that there wasn't enough oppertunity for heroics and everything was too easy, if that helps.

 

Until you get the hang of the game I suggest you try a store bought module first.Just be sure to get one for your players level.
This will provide you with a story,encounters and maps.Read the module first and try to tailor it to your players party.Anythung you can do to give the players a sense of purpose helps.

Also dont be afraid to bend the rules if it keeps the game fun for everyone.If the party is getting slaughtered somewhere remember its your game,there are many ways to save a party in trouble.

Most of all have fun, its just a game.

 

I wouldn't say you "butchered" that adventure you just didn't do it all that good. You need more plot development and more interesting npcs. And it was to easy save that thief poking me in the ass. You also need a better game world... cough*Middle-Earth*cough.

 

Just use your imagenation, and don't get hooked on all the rules, freestyle a bit, throw in some unexpected stuff, and don't let players get away with everything, keep it a bit realistic, make sure you have a great story, and if your players don't like it. curse them! Sex Change for example..

 

It's difficult to provide too much advice as your group will have different needs and the iteractions between players can be just as influential (probably even more so) that your efforts as DM. Also everyone has a preferered style. But to try and be helpful, here's some stuff based on what used to work for me.

- I stuck to commercially available adventures until I got the hang of things.
- I used to read these very carefully and make sure I was realy well prepared for a session.
- If the players did something unexpected (like killing an important NPC) I would let them but still try to keep to the original story (say by replacing the dead NPC with another identical one with a new name).
- When I had a little experience I would occaisionally ad-lib parts of a session. These were usually the best sessions I had but you have to be prepared to knock it on the head if it isn't working, It depends on your style and the mood on the day. (Funnily enough, all of the above really helped me in my Lecturing days)
- I had lots of little standard scenes available to fall back on (an interesting character in a pub (especaially a tough character who doesn't look tough to teach any cocky charcters respect), a forest clearing, an abandoned temple, a strange trader with an unusal item, a man staggering into view and dying at their feet, you know, all the cliches, that can come in handy if your players wander off the main story.
- Don;t make it too obvious that you are trying to lead them down a linear story. Certainly never say things like - oh you can't kill him or that road is closed or there is no room on the ferry, etc.
- Don't be afraid to stall for time if you need time to think. You can do this in game by giving them an unexpected puzzle to solve - the wood clears and you see a bridge across the canyon. Unfortunately it is broken half way across, what are you going to do. Little things like that mean they will need to start discussing ideas amongst themsleves while you can think. If nothing comes to mind, just call a quick break for tea and coffee.
- Don't deliberately try and kill or annoy your players. Everyone is there to have fun so always give them a chance or adequate warning if they are walking into something very dangerous. Of course if they are too pig headed to heed the warnings, that's their problem.
- Equally, don't make it too easy or go out of your way to save characters. Many players like the risk and appreciate a heroic death. I tended to be more generous to those that really liked their charcater though.
- If they do loose a character and are upset about it, you can always start a new adventure to find the great healer/cure/spell/etc that will bring them back. The dead player can fill in with a tempory characer while they are doing it.
- Try and add some intrigue. If your players goes to the bother of developing an interesting background story, use it occaisionally - I'm the brother of one of the people you killed/arrested/cursed/stole from. I'm a long lost love. You owe me money. etc etc Suggest that there are other things going on in the world beyond the main plot. If your players show interest, these plots can be developed. Sometimes it can be nice to have a figure lurking in the background plot (like in BG1) or a nemisis for the party.
- Use suspense occaisionally, make them worry that things might be worse than they think. An old DM of mine loved to make the odd splashing noise while parties discussed their situation in dark sewers. - What was that - oh probably nothing... You can get a simialar affect by occaisionally asking players to make a listening or spot check - nope you didn't notice anything. Sending unimportant messages to players on written scraps of paper can also cause the rest of the group to worry. I also had the book book of really bad monsters (or equivelent) that I would occaisionally pull out to read in quiet moments. But don't over-use these techniques and don't always have them as false alarms. (Yes I am an evil bastard )
- Another useful technique I found was to occaisionally insist that anything the group said was being said in the gameworld at the same volume. That really forces people to think and play in character. Don't over do it as it can be hard work for people but it can create a good change of pace.
- Probably the most important piece of info though, is never let the rules rule the game. Rules are there to provide a working framework for everyone to have fun within. Some people become obsessive about rules and you should try to humour these people (especailly regarding character development). But being a good DM is a bit like being a good football (soccer) referee, you try to keep the game flowing as much as possible and use common sense to interpret the spirit of the rules. So bend them, twist them and plain ignore them if they are slowing down or getting in the way of a good game. The worse system I ever played was the Shadowrun system that had extensive rules to make combat extremely realistic. In one half hour game sequence my dwarf managed to smash one whole window. How unexciting is that. On the other hand, the best system I ever DMd was the Starwars D6 system... which had very few rules.

Oh well, hopefully there is some food for thought there for you. Good luck and give it time to develop for you and the group.

 

That reply is very useful, I especially like the idea of saying everything in 'in game' volume. thankyou.

 

Here are a few things I did when I was a DM that worked pretty well for me:

1) Keep track of pc actions, especially in towns and public places. Actions such as killing someone in town, repeated bar fights, slighting nobles, etc...Should have repurcussions. These types of things can create interesting sidebars to a greater campaign.

2) Try to have some of the opposition escape in encounters...Again, word of character actions spread...To increase the pcs fame, and to paint a target on their chests.

It's always nice to bring back a minor npc to harrass your players, or a local lord who was insulted by the players' actions...It adds a little continuity to a campaign and a sense of reality to the game.

 

First off, Slappy, the whole "casually skimming through the Monster Manual" idea is sick and wrong.

Second, I will hereby be using the "casually skimming through the Monster Manual" idea in my next session.

Another evil idea is, during combat, when it's an NPC's turn to go--especially an evil wizard/sorcerer--just start piling up d6's. When you've gathered all YOUR d6's, look at the players disappointedly and ask, "The wizard casts a spell, by the way.... er.... Anybody have any more d6's?" (Experienced players always dread this the most, since the most common d6-using spell is "Fireball," and nobody likes being hit by a giant ball of flame).

Aside from that, just sit down with your players and ask them EXACTLY what they didn't like. This may sound too straightforward but it eliminates a lot of guesswork on your part.

"What didn't you like?" "Too easy." Up the CR of the monsters they fight, add more HP, or up the AC so it's harder to hit.

"What didn't you like?" "I didn't get to disable any traps." Throw in a random trap or two from the Book of Challenges, the DMG, or even make one up on the fly. Just remember poison, fire, acid, pits, and arrows are all ridiculously popular traps.

"What didn't you like?" "Why do I even bother having Skills? You never make me use them." Skills can be incorporated into all sorts of things. Crossing a rickety wooden bridge over a fast-running river? Make a Balance check. Fell off the guard wall and plummeted 30 feet straight down, head first? Make a Tumble Check. Just remember when assigning ad hoc (aka on the fly) Difficulty Classes for checks, 10 is easy, 15 is challenging for one who has no training in it, and 20 is fairly challenging for anyone. Stuff above 20, unless they have a particularly high Skill modifier, should be reserved for higher-level tasks.

one thing I find missing from my own campaigns is PC interaction (I've been working on this). What I mean by that is, the PC's have been together for three levels now, and barely know anything about each other. They're not friends, just people they travel with. Find times where the PC's can just "hang" together. Try finding a good time to take a ten-minute break occasionally, such as during traveling. Make the players stay in-character throughout the stretch/smoke/bathroom break so that they have to interact like their characters during this time (eating, puffing a pipe, slipping out behind the bushes to piss). That way they really get to know each other. Believe it or not, but this really adds to their effectiveness in combat and other challenging situations, because the PC's know more about each other's abilities. (Plus it's fun to watch your players scratching themselves and stuffing down Cheeto's while boasting about killing 6 bullywugs all by himself.)

Anyway, one last comment: Earlier someone mentioned bending or even breaking the rules. This can come in handy a lot, but just remember two things: Keep it consistent and KEEP IT SECRET. Consistency will keep players from having serious arguments. If you bend the rules to save Bob's fighter, Julian wants to know why you didn't do the same for his wizard. See? And, if circumstances sort of make this situation unavoidable, if you keep it SECRET that you saved Bob's fighter and not Julian's wizard, then Julian and Bob simply think the fighter got lucky and the wizard--well, didn't.

 

Well, here is something that has always helped me - don't be concreted in your plans. You'll probably have this great master plan that you want to put the PCs through (rescue a town, save a person, find something...whatever). don't be completely focused on this to the point that you stifle your players' creativity.
EX: You really want to get your PCs on a boat that will take them to the place they need to go. But they don't want to go. One of them, a thief, decides that he wants to pickpocket someone. Say he gets caught, and the others have to set him free. This opens up all kinds of avenues for you. Also, it allows the players to dictate a bit of the flow of the game, which they usually enjoy.
Don't be afraid to get a little sidetracked. Also, don't be afraid to outside of the rulebooks. Fudge here and there if it will make the game better...not all the time, of course, or you'll have chaos, but let your players feel like they can TRY anything. Doesn't mean you have to let them succeed. But at least let them feel they have the freedom to be creative in their playing.

 

Just curse them

Pick up the Munchkin game and let theme fight those cool monsters .

But the best advice: Use your imagination, It's your game! You are more powerfull then God If you are the GM so use your powers!

 

Also one more tip, you go by the rules WAY to much I mean if it's not in the book we can't do it, so I would like it if you let us do more stuff and bend the rules some...

 

HAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!
Ok, no one need post on this for a while- I recently got the 3e books and am opening a new camapin in Forgotten Realms. The 3e dungeon masters guide is so much better as far as describing how to dm and stuff then the 2e dmg (which pretty much reilurated the rules and elaborated on them), the 3e dmg I think will help improve the game enough to make it enjoyable. And dont' worry about stuff not being in the book, that is fixed as well!!

 

Sorry Compulsive Dememtia, I know you asked us not to post here for a while. But I'm just starting DMing my self. I've never played D&D apart from on the computer. So these tips are wonderful! I would really be greatful if there were any more tips that people know of.
Thanks

 

Wow! All this talk of DMing and all the ideas that have been presented here really make me wish I had the time to get back into PnP with a regular group. It's been far too long and is likely to be much longer before I can do it again.

Perhaps my kids will enjoy it when they're older.

 

Hmmmm.... thes session could have gone better.....

First of all, it wasn't challenging enough, which I can fix easily, and I just need to smooth out the rules a bit on skills and some stuff, but every one seemed to agree it was a much better session than the other one I ran...
every one can start posting again, if they want.

@Bigstick: this is kind of funny:
It was my Dad that got me started with roleplaying with a game called "bushido" set in feudal Japan when I was about 10 or so. I read the book to it, and have gone from that to D&D to all sorts of games like a homebrewed Matrix RPG, and the L5R games.

 

Yeah, I hoping that when my son is 9-10, I can get him into this type of gaming. Only 4-5 more years to go...

Until then I need to get him to play other types of games as well.

"Practice makes perfect." Keep playing and I'm sure your adventures will continue to get better and more fun.

 

Yeah I know you said not to post for a while but even still, I couldn't resist.

See my Dad is the classic (one of the best and craziest ever) DM. There was this one time when someone complained that things weren't challenging enough and that they were tired of hack and slash so my Dad made the craziest dungeon you could ever imagine -- the kind of stuff nightmares are made of.

For instance in it there is this "Jewish supply shop" and if you don't buy something from there, you have to start over and try again but all the prices are doubled. And this will happen over and over and over until you buy something (even something as small as a toothbrush.) In another case he has this "corrider," when you enter it, it seems to loop around, but it doesn't spiral down or up and yet seems to keep going around and around and around. Also, the door unfortunately, has shut behind you. The only way you can open it is to tell it open because the whole thing is an illusion. In other cases there might be "wishing wells" but unless you know what they are you might not throw your coins in. . .

And there ws this one room with a bunch of wizard spellbooks -- all blank. And no matter what spell the wizard tried, he couldn't get the words to appear -- until the Barbarian suggested an erase spell (don't ask how *that* made sense) but instead of the wizard then being able to use the spells, the barbarian was! That made for some ODD encounters.

And there was this other time when you could hear muffled shouting from inside a wall -- someone was trapped there. But you can't tell how to get them out without hurting them or anything thing. But if you're smart enough you can devise an alphabet system where you can eventually write down what the person inside the wall is trying to tell you to do. ("All you have to do is say, 'Justin, I want you to be free!") And out pops a brownie with all the treasure he'd been guarding for his long-dead master.

And then there was this memorable time when our paladin (with a peasant-hero kit) came across a magical +5 Avenger, sentient scythe -- one that wanted to kill all Mags (evil wizards of my Dad's world.) Every time one was within a mile of us, he'd disappear having teleported to the Mag, and after it was killed the scythe would begin playing "Another One Bites the Dust." Now THOSE were some crazy adventures.

In short, without still more examples the best thing I can recommend is think of the craziest and most bizairre thin you can. You want to have the Gummi Bears in your world? Why not?? And if you have a Smurf vendetta you could always have a bounty on them. It's your world so you can add whatever you want -- really big killer tomatoes, sure!! Just think completely out of the ordinary. And if for some time you can't think of adventures to put your players on, you can resort to the villages in peril -- letting them stack up experience, and giving you the time it takes to create more interesting and insane quests. And just remember, it's magic, anything can happen!