Noob DMing

[Delion]

So I've never DMed D&D. I need some tips. Just little handy things that you won't find in the manuals, and nothing too in-depth plz, i r dum. Also my group are all COMPLETELY new to D&D, as in, I'm the only one with experience (so got volunteered to DM).

The first tip I had was to use cards to keep track of who goes in what order, and who has what status ailments etc. to sort of form a 'deck' I can alter as needed. I never even thought of this, and I can see how helpful its going to be.

More like this please! Or heck, anything. We haven't even had our first session, I'm only just STARTING to come up with ideas for the group. I need advice in easy-to-digest pieces.

[Bellesta]

I've not gotten to DM a lot of PnP sessions, but I can offer this advice from DMs who I really enjoyed:

Don't be afraid to be wild. Don't be embarrassed to do funny accents, put on hats, or otherwise add flavor to distinguish between characters. Also, music can really add a dimension to immersion but steer clear of anything with really 'forceful' beats of lyrics that steal attention. Instrumental pieces from movie soundtracks are usually perfect. One of my fondest PNP moments was when a game began with the DM putting on some really tense music from LotR and passing us all notes about dreams we had- and then waking up to find the ship we were on was sinking. It really raised the feeling of urgency.

Notes! Notes are awesome. Quietly discussing with the players via notes things going on, and it gives you a physical reminder to file away to know what each character is privately up to. However really only allow as much private individual communication as you can keep up with and still keep the game pace good.

DnD is a notorious snacking-game, but I recommend not keeping around lots of sugary things, as the last thing you want is your gamers to crash halfway through a game and then lose the pace. Things like corn chips and salsa, or Naan bread and hummus or something else good with dip is often your best bet.

Just keep it off the character sheets.

[Denne]

Gabe from Penny-Arcade was in a similar situation where he was DMing for the first time. He'd post about how things were going, and then hundreds of people would email him suggestions and links to useful resources. He always followed up with the stuff he found to be most useful. I'd suggest going over the PA news posts and looking for images of D&D stuff to find his posts about the game. It seemed like he had a fairly intuitive system worked out for himself in the end.

[Chrystenise]

Be lenient with your Hand of God.

Especially with everyone being new to it all, try not to come up with situations that are too out of the players' control. Don't punish them too hard for missing little things, or doing something that might not be the potentially smartest idea in their life.

The first rule, just like any game, is to have fun. Just so long as they can keep it within the boundaries of the rules, and not be too disruptive to your overall plot. If they do something completely stupid that might get them killed, give them not-so-subtle hints or ways to change their path before they actually do it. i.e. "Are you SURE you want to stab that M1 Abrahm with your pocket knife? The Barrel is aimed right at your face."

If they ignore said warnings, drop the Tarrasque on their head.

[Lansiron]

I could probably say a ton here, since I'm pretty much the default DM whenever I play D&D, but three bits that have never failed me:

-The Rule of Cool: If a scenario emerges, either through the actions of players directly or simply through circumstance, that you hadn't planned for, ask yourself: "Is this awesome?" If yes, chances are you can (and should) bend the rules to allow for it. You can do this too much, mind, but the simple fact is that players love this shit, and random turns of events or simply really good action sequences are what everyone tends to remember best.

-You are the NPCs. It's tempting to want to play things very serious and dramatic upfront, but nobody playing D&D is expected to be a professional actor. So, when portraying the numerous NPCs, monsters, bystanders, villains, and other weirdos the PCs are bound to run into: Ham. It. Up. Be a human cartoon.

-Above all else, be ready to improvise. The old story where the DM spends hours upon hours lovingly crafting an adventure only for players to take it completely off the rails and into territory never dreamed of is one that is all-too-often true. Fact of the matter is this, honestly, is where DM'ing is at it's most challenging, and consequently, it's most rewarding.

[Galedorin]

I don't know if you're going 4.0 or 3.5, but if 3.5 suggest these three skills:

Listen, Spot, Search.

These are the three main skills that will let the PC's know about things they should know, and can also open up extra things depending on how high you set the DC.

[Kuoshiro]

Have a good outline for what you want to happen, but never *never* plan too far ahead.

If you drop a bunch of hints and your plot *depends* on your party going left, and they come up with a perfectly reasonable discussion about going right that you didn't even think of (THIS WILL HAPPEN TO EVERYONE), then you have to think on your toes. Don't be discouraged - half the fun of D&D is that it's not on rails. Be ready to improv, and if it starts to get too out of ocntrol, remember you can talk to your party OOCly, and be like, "Okay, guys, I need a sec - I totally didn't plan for that part, lulz."

[Delion]

Awesome, guys. This is all helping bit by bit. We're playing 4.0, too.

And Denne, I'm already thinking about how I could possibly include a Witchalok NPC. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Preview_Witchalok.pdf

[Lansiron]

Good deal. D&D 4, it should be noted, is a very robust, well-designed system, too. Have fun setting up encounters; it's practically a GM-toolbox with the way you can just drop stuff in at whim without having to crunch a bunch of numbers.

Though if you feel like blowing extra cash on supplement-books, they recently just came out with one called "Dungeon Delve" that's especially suited to good, quick out-of-the-box play, being a collection of three-encounter mini-adventures from levels 1-30, each of which, with a bit of flavoring up, can make for a full evening's entertainment.

Perhaps the 4e system's real flaw, though, is it lacks ways to truly define your character flavor-wise, beyond what flavor is offered by the races and classes (to be fair, they did not skimp on that part). It's kind of the same way it is in WoW, though, to put it in perspective; there's nothing built into the system for defining just who our characters are, so we spin it out of whole cloth and call it RP. Nothing that can't be overcome!

[uthas]

My suggestions:

1. You're already using 4th ed. Good, 4th ed is very easy to grasp conceptually, especially if you play WoW. Everyone gets to use special powers every turn, which makes combat really fun. It does make a grid map necessary, but they're fairly cheap.

2. Tab the following pages:
29 - Easy table that shows what each person should have at each level
57 - The Hit section is vitally important to know, and it's a good idea to read it over occasionally.
178-179 - Everything you need to know about Skill Checks
185 - The specific description of the Heal skill and what it can do. Trust me, this will come up.
196-197 - quick reference table for Feats
267 - The breakdown of the action types
272 - description of the different types of area of effect. I have to look this up almost every time.
277 - The different Conditions that happen to people from different powers and effects.
289 - The different combat moves people can do.

That may seem like a lot, but it really flows and makes sense once you do it once or twice.

3. Make sure you have a good grasp on the different parts of a combat round. The entire game is balanced around this, it's the basic mechanic.

4. Do something simple for the first time out so that people can get used to the rules. Pregen characters for people, make a balanced party. Give them a short backstory, start them in a town, and send them to a short dungeon. Just test out the different parts of the system to make sure you're comfortable with things.

5. Have fun.

Feel free to shoot me any questions you have, I'm familiar with 4th ed, and have been DMing for a long time