First Time DM Advice

Ask questions and get answers! Questions for specific formats or just general DM advice works.

I'm a first-time DM, getting ready to begin a 5e campaign. I have the core mechanics pretty much down and I have a good first adventure worked out (with wiggle room for the expected chaos my PCs will cause), but I'm really nervous about the first meeting between the party. How do I manage turns when the PCs aren't in combat. When they meet in a bar, how do I facilitate that as a DM?

Thanks for the answers and for helping more people get into tapletop RPGs!

Out of combat, treat it like a conversation. If someone is hogging the conversation, redirect.
e.g. "It looks like Roggy the dwarf is making that guard pretty angry. Bobby the elf, what do you do about that?"

My generic advice:
- Strongly consider either starting at level 3, or starting everyone off with the health they would 'normally have' at level 3 so that session 1 isn't boring rocket tag.

- There is almost zero downside to making short rests take 10 minutes instead of an hour. Trust me. Your noncasters and warlocks will thank you and balance will generally improve. The 'but they can go all day' argument doesn't hold water because everyone needs a long rest to recover their HP and hit dice anyway.

When not in combat do not thing about turns, if you are not telling the players anything ask the players what they want to do, follow their actions by most important to least important.

If you think that a player action has no repercusion or is just something for their amusment don't be afraid to tell them "you do that"

Also, one thing i do that makes things longer but helps the players roleplay more is to always ask them "why would you do that?", not in a sarcastic sence, they have to seriusly ask themself "why"


My question: Im starting a level 2 pathfinder campaing whit 3 players (they have never RP before) and im thinking of giving them 1000gp and make them buy their equipment. What can i recomend them to get?

I'm looking at some pregenerated dungeons, and I don't know how to give them a satisfying ending. The party explores every room, and then... it just sorta ends? I assume I have to tack on a boss fight, but the reason I'm using this scenario is that I don't know how to make my own. I guess I have to use babby's first adventure, which includes all the boss fights. No question, just venting.

Try to add something that leads them into a new adventure.

For example, after the boss is defeated, the PCs find a notebook describing some type of treasure. Or maybe the PCs discover that the person they just killed wasn't the boss.

Another way to keep things interesting is to add little extra bits of information to mundane items lying around. Gold pieces with blood caked onto them, swords with tallies etched into the hilt, a cape with a message stitched on the inside, etc

If the dungeon is about rescuing someone, a fun twist is to have the person being rescued be reluctant about returning, or outright refusing to do so.

Some loot could also include a fragment of some ancient artifact. The players can return this piece to a local wizard, who may recognize it and encourage the party to find the rest.

>I'm looking at some pregenerated dungeons, and I don't know how to give them a satisfying ending.
Loot. There's a niche trove of treasure with maybe some magic shit too -- potions and scrolls if you aren't looking to hand out serious shit like magic weapons and armor. It doesn't really matter how big it is. As long as it's substantially bigger than any single cache they've gotten so far, it should be exciting and memorable. Hell, maybe they're specifically questing for some item in particular (along with just trying to get loot in general), and it's there.

Also, if they kill the chieftan of the goblins and thus end them as an organized force (and caused any survivors to flee to the four winds), that would nicely wrap up an adventure which centered on fighting goblins.

Not the same user, but i have a problem whit this. Im gonna run a 1° level modular adventure to introduce my players to pathfinder and, acording to the module, by the end of the dungeon the players have at least 3 masterwork weapons, 2 masterwork shield, 1 armor and a shitload of magic scrolls

i have never DM a pathfinder game before, is it usally this high power? i don't know if i can trust my players whit all this nice stuff

I think a copious amount of magic shit is baked into the system. It's not like old school D&D where a +1 sword was some major-ass shit. To my understanding,

How to find people and/or dms to play without voice?

I've been DMing since 3e, often for people who were playing for the first time. In "DnD session for beginners", I prefer a light-hearted narrative focus and "positive reinforcement". My favorite shtick is to somehow involve talking animals. It's instant sociopath-filter and works well for both moments of relief and emotional investment.

>I have the core mechanics pretty much down
Don't count on this too much. DnD has a nasty habit of encouraging PCs and DMs to cherrypick the mechanics they like and drop others. Simple example is you might realize that a certain spell breaks the consistency of your game setting so you simply drop or change it (a detection spell that is relatively low level, so how come the court wizard couldn't realize the heir was someone else in disguise). So my best advice to you is to prepare to adapt. Except those mechanics in the rulebook that you enjoy and you think will serve to improve the game, treat everything else as expendable. Don't believe that your game will use everything written in that rulebook.
> first meeting between the party
This should be managed and agreed upon prior to the first session. Inexperienced players shouldn't get over their heads with crazy 8-dimensional cosmic backstabbing backgrounds. Are they professionals? Make them employees. Are they freelancers? Connect them via tragedy or responsibility (outsiders who witnessed the evil of a local lord, whom the lord will surely dispose of, unless they bring him to justice). Don't give full creative control to your players in the beginning, there is an astronomically high chance that it might devolve into "who has the biggest ego".
>How do I manage turns when the PCs aren't in combat
You don't. Out of combat, it's freeform. You just gotta keep the continuity and give everyone a fair amount of "screen time", that's it.
>When they meet in a bar
Again, they should already know what they are supposed to do. Or at least, let them meet a DMNPC and you direct them.

Yes and No
According to the wealth by level guideline, it is normal. Level 2 PC start with 1000 gold, meaning that they all lotted that much during the level (which rounds approximately to a 2000 gp treasure, 4 masterwork weapon and 4 level 1potion)

And no, because it is too fast, too much gold. In my opinion, the first levels should be about struggling with ressources.

In my own games, i usually start giving my players decent loot at level 4. Until them, they count every silver pieces and masterwork weapons are still important until level 4.

So, yeah, it is a bit too much high power, don't be afraid to give them a bit less. While it is nice, so much fast treasure will lessen the impact of next treasures.
There are roll20 on people who search for that or the gamefinder thread.
It's just not common

This seems a good thread to bump.

I'm going to be running a 5e session with some friends. I've played before but only ever Gm'd like half of a session for practice.
Whats a good setup for a simple first session that can possibly go further?
What's a broad style of game so that I can see where my strength and weaknesses lie?

I'm trying to set up a group through facebook, but it's really hard to find a time and date that works for everybody. One person has a single day free in the next two weeks, another is available only for a few days before being away for a whole week. I don't expect this to become any easier either. How should I go about doing this?

Run something you want to run. If you need basic ideas, just use a stereotypical adventure format: Heroes need Item that Antagonist has, so they go kill the Antagonist for Item. Dragon steals princess, Necromancer has ancient doomsday spellbook, etc.
Your schedule comes first. If you can't make time to GM, nobody can play. Then, pick players who can work with your schedule, and stress that this is going to be a time committment that is going to become part of their weekly schedule. They make time for the game; the game doesn't make time for them. Whether or not you can get players is a matter of time, usually. If the facebook people don't work out, look for other facebook groups, search meetup for your local area, or go to large forums like RPG.net/ENWorld and look at their looking for group listings.

If all of the above fails, bite the bullet and game online. Veeky Forums has gamefinder threads, there's roll20, RPG.net, Giant in the Playground forums, etc.where you can find people to game with.

Not OP but im a new DM also. How do i handle story based conversations? Like i have an encounter planned where an NPC is going to be necessary to give the PC some direction (they're all really new to D&D and i dont think they'll know how to navigate a city without trying to murder every bit of opposition) and i dont really know how to handle the introduction. Should i create a bunch of sample dialog that the PCs could ask?

Pic semi-related, Its the city that the Campaign will take place in

Sounds like they don't really want to play that much. If they did they'd make time. Get different players.

What i sometimes find usefull when i don't want a sole NPC laying down the plot is to have the players hear passing conversations made by random citisens or guards.

If your players are new they will most likely have trouble if you give them someone whit the "ask me a question i'll give you an answer"-type actitude, since the players migth have trouble thinking about critical or important questions.
Remember you can have them make history or streetwise checks to know trivia or small tidbits about the situasion of the world you are running, maybe even plot critical advise that "they just so happen to remember", also, a obligatory sense motive check whit a challenge rating of 5 will make them trust your NPC's advice or comments more easily.
TL;DR : don't be a afraid to spoonfeed them common knowledge, less at early levels, remember that their characters are part of the world and they have to be aware of the political problems it has.

At the end of the session, its always a good idea to ask the players "what did you like?", "what did you found troublesome?", "what was your favorite part?" and least but not least imporntatn "what would you like to see next/more off?"

In the mean time, I'll drop some of the ideas ive had for my campaign(s) to keep the thread going.

First, the main plot of the story is; the PCs are mercenaries (by their own choice) who are hired by a dragon. The dragon in question is an Ancient Red Dragon who uses his massive horde as a bank for the population of a major city that's a few dozen miles away.

The PCs are hired to "investigate" a bank that has recently opened in the city and is encroaching on the dragon's territory. Long story short their is a force trying to get the dragon to attack the city so they can lure it into a trap set by the avatar of a Primordial. The Primordial is going to drain the dragon of its magic and life force to bolster its own power and try to re-enter the prime material plane and free other Primordials.

they've already taken the iniative to just listen to conversations when they're in an inn or bar, which i really liked. But when they were asking questions to follow up on those conversations there were asking all of the wrong ones so i decided to add an NPC that will join their party or just show up a lot.

give them the map for monye (like 2-4gp)
tell them where they are and where they need to go
if they just say that "we go there" sprinkle random npc encounters on their way there

that's not a bad idea. What kind of random encounters would be suitable in a city? the DMG doesn't have many random encounters that would be suitable for a city

I also have a bit more lore-based idea.
During the dawn war, a Primordial called the King of Terror (also the primordial from the previous post) fought Ia, the dragon god. The king of Terror used his giant adamantium ax to cut Io in half. From those halves came Tiamat and Bahamut. From the blood came the dragonborn race.

I added that the final breath of Io created a new plane called Irthos Arux that's a primal plane, a perfect home for dragons. The magic on the plane is loosely attached to the weave so its fairly chaotic and can cause unpredictable "mutations" in the natural beasts of the plane.

The whole set up is an excuse to use Monster Hunter creatures. There is also a Terrasque on the plane. That's a thing.

K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple stupid. Build as you go and take notes on what happen as a year from now you and all the players well have different ideas on what happen in the past

The scale here seems too big for a bunch of level 1 mooks to care about/be able to affect.

Your players aren't going to enjoy watching your epic tier NPC's fight eachother.

Make it a haughty young dragon the players have a chance of actually beating when they level up a bit and an elemental cult with an earth elemental leader or what not.

Prepare for the players not caring and choosing something else entirely.

Good luck, I hope you don't get "That guy" in your group.

Your chart is missing the best dracoid, flying snake dragons.

Although if someone can show me one with wings, arms, and no legs I'll just jump ship in a heartbeat.

>wings, arms, and no legs
Im sure i have seen that Digimon, but i can't put my name on it

See this picture?
Print it out
Frame it
Repeat it as a mantra

Everything you do GMing basically follows from this.
Don't want players that argue about your decisions? Punish that early and hard (discussion is fine, just not when you've made a decision).
Want players that are creative? Reward them liberally whenever they come up with a creative solution (just letting it succeed or succeeding with flair is reward enough)
Want players that are proactive? Reward them when they go forth and do things, and punish them when they stall for too long (of course, if you're all having fun in a downtime/RP segment, there's no need to push that along)

Basically, train your goddamn players to be the creative, proactive, and entertaining players you want them to be.

So much this.

One of the biggest mistakes I see with new GMs is them letting the roll of the dice or RAW override this basic concept because they're not experienced enough to see another solution.