My sister bought me the D&D 5E Dungeon Master's Guide for Christmas, and asked me to run a game for her and her friends

I can't really refute you since I haven't played 5e, but since it's what they're interested in it's what we're gonna play. It's not worth trying to shift their interest.

Oh fuck off. We're not having another edition/game-wank war in this thread. 5E is just fine. The concerns OP has apply to every game in every system.

Also, imagine how you'd feel if someone sold your present - one you bought specifically so they'd run a game for you - to buy a "better" one. Harsh.

Please perpetuate the cancer on our hobby that is WotC-era D&D somewhere else, you fucking retard.

At least consider going to /osrg/ to get a better D&D-inspired game.

Presents get returned all the time. It's no big deal, especially if the gifter doesn't really know what they're buying and is aware of it.

You'll need at the very least PHB too so you can, you know, create charactes. The good news is 5E is a very newbie-friendly game so your sister and her friends should be able to get into the game pretty easy.

It's not *that* bad

Definitely use premade characters OP. In my experience newbies get bogged down easy by chargen, which saps the energy from the session.

Do them like the 5e starter box, where all the mechanical stuff is worked out, but the anme is blank so the player can pick that themselves. Maybe just steal the templates from the starter box, they're pretty solid.

Also, maybe get them to play classes with less complexity like fighters and rogues. If your sister is more knowledgeable about the rules, maybe get her to play a wizard or cleric

Also, in my experience, new players tend to be good at lateral thinking and come up with some pretty cool unorthodox strategies to deal with problems and encounters, so try not to shoot their ideas down. Challenge them, definitely, and don't let them go randumb unless that's what you want, but give them a bit of leeway if they come up with sufficiently cunning plans

I guess you don't get a lot of presents, user.

Not surprising.

Read the fucking book.

>It's not *that* bad
Compared to other editions of D&D? True.
Compared to games outside of D&D? Nope.

Presents approx. €500 in value this Christmas.
And I take care to research the gifts I give or just take the safe option with gift coupons along with something handcrafted.

>build a basic setting

Critique me:

The world used to be a vibrant and had empires, magical kingdoms, all kinds of shit. Then there was a magical eclipse that lasted for an unknown period of time--at least a couple hundred years, maybe as much as a thousand. There was famine and war, monsters started moving around more frequently, and it all lead to societal collapse. What humans survived started living on top of each other in a few walled cities. A lot of the elves died out too, with most of the survivors clustered in a single magical forest. Even the dwarves did pretty badly because the Drow went nuts on them.

Present day, the eclipse is starting to pass. There is a part of the world where the sun shines for most of the day, and then there are shadowlands, which are still mostly or entirely darkness.

Towns and villages are starting to spring up, but it's a rough existence. Lots of monsters, especially undead, and lots of hidey-holes and dungeons for them to take residence in.

This.

In the DM Guide and the PHB, they talk about the 3 Pillars of gaming--Combat, Socializing, and Exploring. I'd set up at least 3 hooks that lead to one or a combo of the 3. Feel out what they like and are interested in, so in possible future sessions you know what they like.

Usually for a one-off session, or a session for first time gamers, I have a basic setup with the PCs starting as guild members or mercenaries. They have a board of jobs that are available to them. I've seen a bit of RP here, whether or not to clear out the goblin hive for 500 gold per PC or do an anonymous job (that ends up more grey or "evil") for twice as much. Gets them into the thick of things fast, and I usually try to throw in a twist (the goblins claim their cave is their ancestral home and trying to fight the oppressive human gov't) or interweave the jobs in interesting ways (the guard captain who hired the PCs actually kidnapped the missing girl that's mentioned in another job).

Hope this helps OP, and good luck!

Thanks for your suggestion-- I am.

I'm looking for some more specific advice though.

I like it, that's a good setup. Can easily be fleshed out as you play. Like, how did an eclipse last for hundreds of years? Why did the monsters react to it the way they did?

The fucking book is pretty fucking unhelpful.

Tried Inkarnate for maps yet?

Sounds workable - it's very similar to 4E's "Points of Light" default setting.

It'd be neat if the sun/moons were really tiny - the size of a city at their largest - and passed close enough that stuff sometimes falls off.

As for the shadowlands, are they actually shadowy, or was the eclipse magical only (light still worked, etc.)?

True facts.

Well, okay. But the DMG is pretty fucking unhelpful, too.

In conjunction with other things, like the rest of the books, podcasts, Veeky Forums, patience, and active listening, it does its job.

So kind of like Dungeon World requiring a fan-made Guide to be used?
That paints a sad picture.

Dungeon World doesnt need the guide unless you're retarded or too lazy to read

No, more like GMing in general can't be learned from any single book. It's a process, not a formula.

It does. The Guide contains crucial information needed to run the game properly that was either omitted or very badly communicated in the official book.

But a good DMG, or rather GM section, can make it a whole lot easier.

Take it from a dude who chose to GM shadowrun as their first game. Let them know that it being your first time will naturally make it clunky for a while, and that it'll get better if everyone works together.

>step one
step two step three: Just do it, faggot!

>It'd be neat if the sun/moons were really tiny - the size of a city at their largest - and passed close enough that stuff sometimes falls off.

Absolutely. The Lunar Cry from FFVIII was extremely my shit.

My explanation for the eclipse is that the sun goddess fell to earth and had to be restored to the heavens. The major human power is a theocracy that worships her and took credit for the sun's return.

How many friends? Age difference between you and her? Are the friends all girls?

>D&D 5E
it is already too late
you could not have stopped this

youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo

Matt Colville will have you running a game in about 15 minutes.

Oh man, total newbies. To Dungeons & Dragons 5e. I do not know if I should envy you (newbies to the hobby!) or pity you (it's DnD 5e mate). Hope you have a Player's Handbook to spare, because you'll need it.

To start, avoid the whole claptrap of character tiering. Ask what they know about RPGs or general character tropes, and from there, have them make characters they may enjoy playing. If that opinion of gameplay changes (and for some people playing straight martials, it just might), facilitate people to play something else if they want to. Shit should stay engaging and fun.

Streamline character creation. Let everyone, at the same time, make characters, books permitting, so everyone has a look at how the characters are made, and what rules govern what general rolls come into play. Attack rolls, skill checks. You can save yourself a lot of hassle with using premade characters, obviously, but leave enough open for people to inject their own flavour or options into the characters as is necessary.

Let people dictate and narrate their actions and direction. Facilitate and translate that to game rules. Ask them for [Attribute] checks, and ask if they have a skill they could use alongside. Advantage/disadvantage streamlines a lot. Make use of it.

If the players are comfortable with the rules as is, you can start players off at either second or third level, or be prepared to adjust health by CON score plus first hit die for first level. Hit Points are anemic at first level against expected threats that you're supposed to be able to handle just dandy. Lower level characters essentially are playing rocket tag against their enemies. Be prepared to have first level characters mostly RP and talk their way out or around problems, let threats be small and localized. Preferably, have that little bit of combat be a big finale or action centerpiece, because boy howdy is 5e combat swingy as fuck.

If you're making an adventure, no matter how simplistic, take a long, hard look at the fucking Monster Manual before you set out to make encounters. Heck, even something as simple as 'man the lifestock is disappearing, oh shit, it's goblins' can be dangerous because of swingy combat and multiple foes making for a greater general threat.

Remember my concern about HP? That goes double even when facing off against something as iconic as orcs or centaurs.

Feats are great. Please let people take feats if they have the option rather than just an ability score increase. It makes for a nice personal touch, or a neat addition to a character's options.

Magic items will eventually be recommended, if only to adjucate for monster math (either with regards to actually hitting the fuckers or damaging the fuckers sufficiently) in encounters.

Shit's neat and I should look at that too.

Why is it bad and what would you recommend?
Enlighten us user.

Hi, OP here.

Please don't. I can't run anything besides Dungeons and Dragons: The Fifth Edition®. It's super irrelevant.

This is great.

I've gotten multiple warnings about encounter generation. I'll keep an eye on that, thanks.

Here is a good book about GMing. I hope it will help.

I reccommend having the adventure start be that some important person died and all the characters went to the funeral.
At some point in the funeral, ask each player something like why their character came to the funeral, or if the important person wasn't super important ask them how they knew the person.
Have the catalyst of the adventure be either that the person's will or the person's loyal servant mentions a mission they have for the player characters, or have something try to do some terroristy stuff at the funeral.

That's how my first game of 5e was.

Hm lets seee

That's a pretty big book.

>Merry Christmas, I got you a 30-hour work week!

What a nice sister

Find the PDF of pic related, study, study, STUDY the Player's Handbook. Usually that means you wont be using the Dungeon Master's Guide much, but you can use it a bit to flesh out the Mines of Phandelver by a lot. But at least it won't have you start fresh from zero.

Well, being a competent GM is not an easiest task.
Something in this book can sound a bit unorthodox, but I found it really helpful.

That's exactly what I thought. She clearly doesn't understand what's involved here. Did you and your sister used to be super tight and no longer are?

We're super tight.

She did ask me months ago if I would consider running a game for her, I just didn't think she was serious. I don't mind doing it though.

I'm just starting as well. I've played several times myself and I don't mind putting forth all this time during winter. Writing it from scratch.

>We're super tight.
You hit that yet?

I used to fap in the same room as my sister.

I skipped to his tactics for dealing with problem players, seemed pretty reasonable. Although "just let the cheater be" is unorthodox I can see the point, but "increase the challenges" is something I'm going to disagree with - that'll just lead to first more cheating to compete and then cheater being so far ahead of everyone on results that he's basically the main character to the detriment of other players.

improvising in between fights while the players are in town or traveling is something that definitely adds more fun to the game. another little thing, if a player wants to do or try something dont say outright no if its within reason. if its jumping head first into lava warn them that they most likely will not survive the dip, and if they still want to do it when they die its all their fault.

>Hey, I returned that gift you picked out especially for me and bought something better

I think point of "ignoring" was more about not throwing tantrums in the middle of the session and investigating cheater's reason for doing it.
From your words point about "adding more and keeping things challenging" sounds quite like a passive aggressive attitude, which I'm pretty sure was a thing author asked to avoid. I doubt that it was implied in such context, so maybe you misinterpreted a little bit.
Anyway, this book is still one man's opinion, but there are a lot of useful things that could be taken as a note.

At the same time as she did?

Never managed to catch her doing so.

thealexandrian.net/gamemastery-101

Here, this is all you need to learn how to GM. That's it. Fuck the book and just read all of this.

ALL OF IT

4u

Was getting railroaded part of your plan?

To be fair, she didn't get him a gift, she got herself a GM.

Insidious.

>she didn't get him a gift, she got herself a GM
Why do girls use gifts this way?

I think you guys are being pretty unfair to OP's sister.
She probably wants to ship him with one of her friends.

>tfw no female player to ship me with her friends

It's honestly the best way to get players. Take normal, interesting people you know and get them into gaming tends to work out well.

Ironically, my wife and I are swingers, and we game with our sex-friends. So yes, my group is half women, and they're all trying to ship us with everyone else. It's strange.

>my wife and I are swingers, and we game with our sex-friends
How does that go? Sounds comfy.

It's exceedingly comfy. We have great friends.

The "Sex, then Kill Team" vs. "Kill Team, then sex" vs. "Strip Kill Team!" debates are entertaining.

So here's my idea for adventure #1. Wall-o-text coming:

The PCs meet in the private room of the town Tavern. Their shared origin is that they have been scouted by a former adventurer to form the core of the brand-new Adventurer's Guild. Everyone goes around the table and introduces themselves. After they're done, the guildmaster is about to start his spiel when he's interrupted by a villager--goblins have attacked! Most of them were driven off, but an unknown number are holed up in the potion-makers' house, and they have the potion-maker and her children as hostages. I want to get them thinking, have them make a basic plan, and execute it. There should only be 2-3 goblins, the only complication is that the potion-maker has been critically wounded and they need to stabilize her. Looking mainly to teach game mechanics here.

The goblins are all branded with an unknown symbol, and one of them has a ring which, when activated, creates a shining holographic arrow that points east. Either the potion-maker or her kids (if she dies...not auspicious) reveal that one of their siblings was hauled off, along with all of the village lambs. The sheep and ewes were left behind.

The guildmaster declares he knows where they're headed--a recently-uncovered abandoned tomb to the east. Exploring it was going to be the inaugural adventure for the Adventurer's Guild, so that kills two birds with one stone.

The PCs trek through the forest, and I plan to give them a long rest and a level-up. Leveling up is fun, right? I might fake rolling for a random encounter here too.

They reach the tomb, and after a fight or two (and a trap) they encounter the boss--a Goblin Prophet (cleric). Shock and awe, he's planning to sacrifice the kids (it's revealed either here or earlier that the gobbos had hit another small hamlet previously) and the lambs to perform a horrible ritual. The players just need to fuck with him enough to make him retreat, though they can certainly kill him.

The PCs return to the village with either the kids and lambs in tow, or with a lot of kid-blood on their hands, to be hailed as heroes or spit on as appropriate. Either way, after a day the mounted knights of the Theocracy show up to save the day...and arrest the PCs. Either the charges are trumped-up, or they are being rightfully charged with getting a bunch of kids killed and possibly serving as an accomplice to a fell ritual.

Either way, Adventure #2 will start in Magic Jail.

Two things: First of all, do you think I can fit that into a single 3-4 hour session? And second, magic items. When is too early to give them to the PCs?

She absolutely does. Which is part of the reason why I'm not unhappy about it! Just nervous that I'll fuck up.

Wowza.

Veeky Forums is a special place full of special people.

I wish I was a girl in your situation.

Funny way of spelling "degenerate", user.

What's stopping you?

Shoulders, height, jawline, genes.

Also haven't met the right group.

They make pills for this, y'know.

Right wardrobe choice can also help considerably.
And there's nothing wrong with tall girls.

Thanks guys. I know I can make an attempt, but what I really want is a magical girdle that just does it.

Short of that, it can't be indistinguishable.

No pain no gain. Our wishes won't magically grant themselves. If you want something, you gotta work for it.

Some things pain and work don't get you either.

Fair enough. It's not like we're preventing anyone else from having 1950s-style nuclear households or chaste waifus though, so I'm not sure why you're concerned...

Seems like there are 2 separate problems here:
1. You want to be a girl
2. You want a similar situation

Probably best to focus on one problem at a time.

Think of the ways to do. Not of the reasons to don't.

It's important to know how to adjudicate actions!
Player actions are player choices, and choice is at the heart of roleplaying games.
When a player says "I want to find an inn", "I want to pick the lock over and over until I succeed", "I swing my weapon the guard" and the likes, the DMG will tell you what skill to roll... but it won't tell you if you should roll at all. So lot of new DMs, and many veteran DMs fuck up at this step.

This guy
angrydm.com/2013/04/adjudicate-actions-like-a-boss/
Has a lot of excellent advice on the topic and on many others.
It literally made the difference between a shitty session and a decent session when I was starting out.

>They're 18-22. So not actually kids.

So they can run their own game and take advice from you if they want it. Maybe you could make it a round-robin thing so it's easier for them to become self-sufficient.

>Probably best to focus on one problem at a time.
True but if I can only fix #1 then having it fixed is a lot less desirable. They go together.

But there's no way to do!

Well, why not just be a dude? If you're actually trans, that's fine, but if you're just hoping that dressing like a lady will somehow make sex happen... it's not going to go as well as you're hoping.

>Well, why not just be a dude?
I want to be sexy and pretty and basically get the female experience all round.

>If you're actually trans, that's fine, but if you're just hoping that dressing like a lady will somehow make sex happen...
What if it's neither?

>it's not going to go as well as you're hoping.
It's not going to go as well as I wish, period, trans or not.

V-vert-kun?

>Ryuutama
I just made a thread
asking for simple tabletop rpgs and it's here that I find what I'm looking for?

donjon.bin.sh/ is your friend

The "female experience" seems to be people being rude to you on the internet, period shits, low-level anxiety, oscillating hormones, and pants with no pockets.

No thanks. Just changing genders doesn't make you interesting or sexy.

>The "female experience" seems to be people being rude to you on the internet, period shits, low-level anxiety, oscillating hormones, and pants with no pockets.
Do you believe this mangina shit?

Ran the quote by my wife before posting and she agreed, and then ranted about not having pockets for several minutes.

So yeah, seems about right.

As a Dude, one of the most eye opening things was a novel where a girl/young woman with fantastic magical powers was most touched not by somebody teaching her how to not go crazy from using her magic, not from making it snow in Australia during Christmas, not from learning that her mother wasn't completely crazy, she was just batshit from magic backup. It was from a guy sewing her some cargo pants and making the pockets magically bigger on the inside.

Not the other user, but hell fucking yes.

Also, sizing. I wear anywhere between a size 0 and a size 8. 8! I'm 5-foot-nothing and an even 100lbs!

Guys pants and fancy shirts are actually sized in inches. So jealous.

>someone buys you a multiplayer video game so you can play together
>sell it on ebay and buy something else, then tell them to buy it so you can play together

You're an only child, aren't you?

>seems to be people whiteknighting and giving you free shit on the internet
FTFY