Sup Veeky Forums, first time GM here planning to run a D&D5e campaign with some friends

Sup Veeky Forums, first time GM here planning to run a D&D5e campaign with some friends.

Any advice you guys could share would be greatly appreciated. I've played RPGs previously, but the players haven't at all.

Read the book.

Tell your players to read the book.

But most of all, have fun.

You run the game, don't let the book run the game.

Have fun.

Don't play D&D.

Add this homebrew rule: -4str -2int +2dex for females, but they can whore themselves for quickbucks.

Exact same boat as you. Are you making your own adventure module or using a premade one? Has your group played D&D before?

Your players will fuck up in ways you can't even imagine, and they will solve problems with a creativity you'd never expect. Don't get too attached to your story, and don't be afraid to improvise.

Don't play D&D, especially not 5e. The 3rd edition is much better, with much cheaper books, whereas the 5e books cost 150 dollars in total.

...

Explain how anything I said is wrong.

Group are all newbies, though I think one is kinda familiar with 2e for whatever reason. I'm using my own adventures, taking them from a book seems kinda lazy.

Having played both 3.5 and 5e, I can say that I much prefer 5e. Cost of books doesn't matter, I'm using pdfs.

Thanks. Any advice on improvising? I feel like it's entirely possible that I wouldn't be able to think of something on the fly.

> The 3rd edition is much better...
Purely subjective, not a valid point.

>...with much cheaper books, whereas the 5e books cost 150 dollars in total.
You don't need to buy the books, you can literally play the game for free with the Basic rules.

>the 5e books cost 150 dollars in total.
All the 3e books would cost thousands of dollars and are out of print

Take things slow. First session or two should focus on the basic mechanics. This is for everyone's sake. I can't tell you how many things my group got wrong in our first few sessions of 5e, on both sides of the table.

There will be mistakes. You and the players will screw things up, that's OK. In the beginning don't be afraid to halt to figure things out, everyone is learning.

I hope your game falls apart after 2 sessions.

Nope. And you only need the core books so your argument just got BTFO. I found a 3.5 core books set for 5 cents on Amazon.

3.5e is a sickness.

first advice doesnt listen to people like
they are salty and better left avoided.

like others said OP, just know enough of the rules to keep things smooth have a good understanding of the adventure you're going to run and HAAAAAVVVVEEEE FUUNN (+ try your best to make sure everyone is having fun, but dont break your back bending over backwards for anyone)

Nah D&D is a sickness in general. It's just that 3.5 is the least sick of the sickness.

If you want an actually good game, play Dungeon World. It's about roleplaying not rollplaying like D&D 5e is, and contains actual roleplaying mechanics (not that background garbage 5e has that every other game designer has come up with 20 years ago) and uses a superior core mechanic that allows for different levels of success and failure, rather than the boring, binary success of D&D.

>and contains actual roleplaying mechanics
Hah, you need mechanics to roleplay. That's hilarious.

>It's just that 3.5 is the least sick of the sickness.

rude

Thanks guys, I'll be sure to brush up on the rules with everyone. Thankfully 5e isn't too complex a system.

>Don't play 5e, new DM dming for new players. Play 3rd or pathfinder!

these are jokes, right?

Nope. They are real.

Twist my words however you like, Dungeon World is still better than whatever crap edition of D&D that you play.

Nah.

Oh wow. Who hurt you, user?

Don't get attached to your plot, NPC's, or really anything you make.
Players will fixate on the most random, unimportant thing and it will carry through the entire game.
They will ignore your favorite NPC or kill the main boss early.
They will see through your plot holes and question everything you deemed unnecessary.

You are in charge, you overrule things and move on. Let your players shape the world, they want to see all of their actions bear fruit.
If they seem interested in something, you can tweak it to make it seem cool.
If you want them to use something a certain way, have an NPC show them how to do it correctly the first time.
The rulebook is not the bible.
Make your players cycle through weapons and equipment often, losing or dropping stuff, but don't over-power them; they shouldn't view material objects as more important than NPC interaction.

It's worth reading an adventure module anyways.

Don't be afraid to steal ideas or themes from other things.

Another piece of advice: If you plan to run a sandboxy game, PLEASE have a strong first adventure to introduce the setting, main conflicts, and get the PCs together in a way that makes the PCs care. Otherwise, the PCs will probably find themselves without direction.

>taking them from a book seems kinda lazy.

I highly recommend that you reconsider. While, it can feel very rewarding to run a successful session from a freshly made adventure that you've written yourself, published adventures are written in such a way that they can be easily altered or built upon.

On top of that, published adventures give rookie GMs an opportunity to consider the nature of the game world's characteristics.

I have been running adventures for 20+ years. All of my best were ones where I borrowed and built upon published adventures I found online or in the 5 dollar bin at my lgs.

I'll be sure to take a look at some modules then, thanks guys.

Most of the 5e ones are pretty decent, except for the Tyranny of Dragons line.

What sort of adventures do you think you would be interested in running for your group? I may be able to recommend a couple.

Yeah... You can easily modify most 3.5 stuff to suit your needs, though.

My first game with 5e, I actually ran some old favorites, and the system held up nicely. Stuff from second edition. It took a little manipulating and translation, but probably 30 minutes of work and note taking for 4 hours of game time.

All very solid advice.

especially