Quote from: Banjo Destructo on September 09, 2021, 10:32:04 AM
Well I do have b1/b2 so that's good. Hadn't heard about B10 before so I'll certainly look it up.

Take a look at the B1 map, it's one of the best models for how to lay out a dungeon. There are almost always multiple directions the PCs can go, allowing them to circle around or take multiple routes. But it's still constrained enough that they're not left with decision paralysis.

Quote from: Banjo Destructo on September 09, 2021, 10:32:04 AM
If you have any additional or specific advice I would appreciate it. Like.. Hmm, here's some questions. Do you roll random encounters ahead of time?  Any good tips for keeping track of in-game time? Or any useful tips for handling light/shadows and visibility?  And I'm guessing.. you roll the monster reaction every time?  Or do you roll that ahead of time too? Any tips for handling "encounters"?  Like.. I dunno.. when do you think its appropriate for the DM to initiate combat? Should you make it up to the players as a reaction to hostile demands from NPCs?

Random encounters are random, but you can keep it manageable with a short list (d6 works) instead of a big table with many options. Remember, their main purpose is to encourage players to not sit around and rest between each encounter.

Rolling reactions is a good habit to get into, because it teaches both you and the players that negotiation is a possibility in every encounter. Few monsters outside mindless or malicious creatures like the undead will jump immediately to combat, but if the dice or your intuition suggest it's appropriate, do it. Having a lengthy roleplaying encounter, whether it ends in combat or not, is fine. Roleplaying is the purpose of the game, after all. But pay attention to cues from your players. If they're getting bored -- and you want to pay attention to the least engaged player, not the most engaged player -- move to the next step, whether it's retreat, combat, or whatever. Think of it as a kind of pacing mechanism.

Torches mean the monsters see you. Otherwise, use corners and rough judgments of line of sight.

Quote from: Pat on September 09, 2021, 12:47:26 PM
But pay attention to cues from your players. If they're getting bored -- and you want to pay attention to the least engaged player, not the most engaged player -- move to the next step, whether it's retreat, combat, or whatever. Think of it as a kind of pacing mechanism.

This is really good advice, OP. Heed it. Notice who's having the least fun, and direct attention towards them. But never stop looking for who's having the least fun. Once you've had to shift to someone, be sure and note if/when another place starts giving signs that they're starting to slip into boredom. In other words, if you realize you have to start giving attention to a player who's not having fun, do so, just don't do so to the detriment of the others. Give them enough to reel them back in, then go back to dividing your attention equally until otherwise needed.

Quote from: Mithgarthr on September 09, 2021, 10:20:29 AMRead and run modules B1, B2, and B10. If you make it out the other side of running those, you'll have experienced most things that could be considered foundational to DMing/gaming.

N4 Treasure Hunt is another good one, providing a ready starting premise, and entry level discussion.

There are several books on DMing (of various quality). Master of the Game (by Gygax) and Robin's Laws of good game mastering come to mind.

As far as great modules for a new DM I would suggest T1. That module has always felt like the perfect adventure to me. It has enough detail to be useful, but is endlessly adaptable for each DM. And it provides so many hooks that I feel like you could use that single module as the springboard for an entire world.

Quote from: therealjcm on September 09, 2021, 01:27:39 PM
As far as great modules for a new DM I would suggest T1. That module has always felt like the perfect adventure to me. It has enough detail to be useful, but is endlessly adaptable for each DM. And it provides so many hooks that I feel like you could use that single module as the springboard for an entire world.

Hmm. Don't get me wrong; T1 is a great module. But that adaptability also makes it complicated - T1 has a LOT of moving parts. Many of the encounters are ready TPKs for a low-level (esp. inexperienced) group. The very first encounter is giant frogs with a 4 in 6 chance of surprise (and thus free attacks even before the PCs can react), more HP than the PC party they will encounter, and a significantly better THAC0 than the PCs.

T1 tries to offset that encounter difficulty with hiring NPCs. But if the party is hiring the NPCs in town, that adds yet more moving parts. And many of the NPCs are in reality hostile. It's great module, but I"m not sure it's a great module for an inexperienced DM.

U1 (sinister secret of saltmarsh) has a bit more of a streamlined process for an inexperienced DM.

Like others have said, just dive in. Learning by doing is a big part of it. And use morale!

Also, even beyond morale, think about your NPC/monster motivations. A monster defending her brood will fight to the death but will probably not chase the PCs if they flee. Monsters guarding a passageway or bridge and seeking payment to pass might start a fight with cheapo PCs but they might end the fight just as easily if the PCs suddenly decide to pay. Even monsters who are grinding the PCs to dust might disengage before they slaughter the entire party. Why risk casualties on our side just to TPK these losers? It depends on the disposition of the monster, and what the fight was about in the first place.

Keeping track of NPCs and combat foes can be a challenge. E.g., your party of 4 is fighting 8 goblins and you're not using minis. "I attack that one. No the other one. Which one?" Or the party wants to go back and visit that NPC they only vaguely remember.

I have found that one-word descriptors solve this problem. This NPC is really tall. That combat foe looks arrogant. A one-word handle can make it easier to pick a target in combat and remember an NPC.

For combat, you can track foe HP like this:
Tall     4
Bearded     7
Yappy     8
One-armed    5
Axe      9

I find players learn these quickly and use them, especially if you use them and repeat them. "So and so PC just downed the bearded goblin. What do you do?" "I attack the one with the axe." Plus, this can also give you, the GM, role play prompts. So it's yappy's turn to attack. But before he does he makes a snide remark about the cleric's hairstyle.

Another thing you can do is help the players help themselves by summarizing their discussion and feeding back their options. Players love to ramble on about their options. The old joke that it takes a full session to open one door is true. Listen to them for a while and then repeat back the options they've been discussing. This prompts them to make a decision and helps keep the game moving.

Also, check out this book:

https://theangrygm.com/game-angry-book-launch/

I don't agree with all the advice in it, but it's a good basis for a total noob GM to start with. It assumes you know nothing about GMing. One bit of advice I really found useful is, if you're learning a new system, first play a one-shot with disposable characters. Let everyone make their mistakes with an adventure and characters that they won't be expected to continue. It takes a lot of the pressure off the situation by removing the pressure to get things right the first time.

Personally I like Sunless Citadel as an adventure to start off with, that was my first adventure one. Dynamic locations, not all baddies are assumed to be murder fodder so you have some support in the book if your players decide to not just start swinging, there's enough of a story to stay engaged but not enough to overpower agency, and it drops some nice hints for future adventures that they can take or leave without feeling like the adventure itself is deciding their next step.

It's not perfect but I have gotten a good amount of new players involved with this adventure.

Quote from: rickss on September 09, 2021, 01:41:59 PM
T1 tries to offset that encounter difficulty with hiring NPCs. But if the party is hiring the NPCs in town, that adds yet more moving parts. And many of the NPCs are in reality hostile. It's great module, but I"m not sure it's a great module for an inexperienced DM.

That's a very fair point. I ran it as a newish DM, but I'd already been through T1 as a player and I'm sure that eased the way somewhat.

But overall I think the complications of T1 are why it is such a great way to learn how fun DMing can be. Maybe it's not a first adventure to run, but maybe a second or third. Just the realization of how simple it can be to model a sandbox and practical advice for the DM on how to do it make it wonderful.

Gotta say I'm very pleased with all of the suggestions that you all have given so far, thank you very much! I'm certainly feeling much more confident about starting off.

Quote from: Banjo Destructo on September 09, 2021, 09:52:33 AM
So I've been wanting to learn how to be a DM, and was starting the process of... I dunno.. thinking about running some smaller/one off adventures with pre-made characters (because the people I know take forever to make characters...), and I was thinking the one-offs would have specific scenarios/situations or mechanics that were included to help me learn and practice the tracking of certain mechanics of running the game that would perhaps be good foundations for future use.

So I'm kinda wondering if anyone has any advice on things I should try to include or list out that are useful to keep track of or include so that I can be sure to get the practice/experience to be able to run games smoothly.

I would like to contribute to some of the fine advice already given here. I'm going to take it from a slightly different tact. You're already being given good guidance on using/not using established adventures. More to the point - what makes using specific adventures of yore *good* and how to use them (basic hexcrawling, random tables etc.)

My *basic* suggestions are these which are applicable to any system you may use in the future.

1) System familiarity. Get used to the *basic* task resolution mechanics. Combat and non-combat. Do yourself a favor and run yourself through a couple of basic combat scenarios of your own design. Then get familiar with non-combat tasks - skills etc. Don't worry about long-term campaign stuff and sub-systems you can figure that out when you're ready for larger scale games.

2) You're not telling your players a story. The "adventure" is what the players do. Yes you can set up a scenario that is as tight or loose as you want, but the players will dictate what the game is by their actions. It *will* give you some unease at first but your job as a GM is to *play the setting* as your character in reaction to your PC's (See #3). What you want to avoid, and this will be hard at first, is the idea the PC's are *supposed* to follow your adventure as you laid out. The craft of GMing is playing your setting in such a way you and your players are interacting naturally - not because *you* as the GM want them to do <X>.

3) You are the World in Motion. Even basic adventures like  "Orcs have kidnapped <X>, the PC's band together to rescue <X>", can be elevated by creating context to everything surrounding the premise. The location, the PC's backgrounds, the means of travel, the things that happen while travelling, the places where they stay in town, out of town, the foods they eat, the weather, the NPC's they meet on the way, the NPC's own backgrounds, etc. etc.  This is the secret sauce to GMing is developing your ability to create greater degrees of context to your game. This should be cultivated to the limit of your bandwidth. This doesn't mean you beat your players over the head with world-lore, it means you sprinkle it liberally contextually to their PC's.

Write down some basic notes until you learn how to do it extemporaneously (note: some people have a hard time developing this skill, but that's precisely what random tables are for). Any details you add to your adventure, jot it down. Nothing creates deeper context than references to things your PC's *actually* engaged in. EVERYTHING is fair game. That orc your PC killed? Little did that PC know he was the youngest brother of an Orc warlord... that NPC the players were kind to? Maybe they were so inspired by the PC's they decided to drop what they were doing and become an adventurer.... by tagging along with the PCs... and they may not be cut out for it... or are they? The possibilities are *always* endless. Embrace it, don't run away from it.

Flesh your world out on the fly. Do it between sessions. Even a basic rescue operation can turn into quite a seemingly complex situation with but a few details. And if this sounds daunting - *don't worry* just keep it simple. This rule takes a lifetime to develop and it only gets better the more you do it and your games will flourish for it.

4) You *will* fail. Let's get this out right now. Nothing will cause new GM's loss of confidence than TPK's, and the perception that the game failed (and it's the GM's fault). Let me tell you right now: YOU WILL FAIL... AND IT'S OK. Like in all endeavors the value of failure is learning from your mistakes. And so I say this now: you will make them, you will fail and that's how you get better at GMing the next time. Don't take it personally, just get back in the saddle and aim for the best game you can possibly run. The 2nd most important thing in GMing is not quitting. The hobby depends on people willing to sit in the GM's chair.

5) Your PC's are the stars of the show. No matter how much you like your NPC's, no matter how much you like your ideas, no matter how much you think it's about your superawesome adventure - it's always about your PC's. One of the greatest lessons I've learned about GMing is the capacity to learn to love your player's PC's as if they're your own from afar. This doesn't mean you control them, but it means you learn to become fan of them (providing your player's aren't assholes - that's a different issue altogether). It requires you accept that the PC is going to be played in ways *you* didn't expect and in that acceptance you will have better games. When your players recognize this in you, you will earn their trust as a GM and nothing is better for YOU than earning that trust. Players that trust your GMing will play better and accept the craziest things that may happen to their characters. Even if you have to kill them.

There are other lessons for sure, but these are good ones to chip away and absorb from the start. Keep your expectations low, keep your ambitions high, and don't take your players for granted. Most of all, of course - have fun.

Edit: Keep us apprised of your progress! Let us know how your first session goes and I can give you your D.O.N.G. White Belt. And of course this forum will be more than happy to help you between sessions with things you may have questions on.

I'll echo one of the posters above.  It's very much experiential (which is marketing talk for learn-by doing)  There are some good references out there with advice on running a game, but I don't think it's going to help much until you have the perspective to understand it. 

So my advice for a first step would be to do the simplest thing possible:  pick a system you've played in and know, pick a well regarded module (there are good suggestions above), tell your players "Hey, this is my first time DMing so try to help me out here," and just do it.

Once that module is done, then make some details for the closest part of the setting for the players top interact with and use to make a decision about what they'll do next.

Assuming you have at least moderately mature players, asking for feedback after a session is useful.  What was fun, what dragged, what could have been done better, etc.

There are also various treatises on how to run a game well.  The trick is that some contradict each other so you need to find one that matches your personal style well.  Robin Laws has a well-regarded book.  I personally like the Alexandrian, but you'll need to find something that works for you.  Remember tha just because a lot of people think something is a good idea doesn't mean that it will necessarily work for your game.

Quote from: Pat on September 09, 2021, 11:10:39 AM
I wouldn't start with the adventure. Your first job isn't the adventure, but where the campaign starts. Usually a starting village. Develop a few of the major characters. Not as much in terms of stats, but in terms of personalities. Have an inn, tavern, some kind of general shop where they can get some equipment, and any options for healing. Borrowing maps is fine, but even if you steal ideas for the NPCs, try to make them yours. There should be a trade town not too far away with more equipment and other resources (like magic and healing), and a city further off. You probably want names for the town and city, but you don't have to develop them until later.

I wouldn't skip character creation. While that may be necessary for things like conventions, it's really important when setting the groundwork for a campaign. Even if you only think it might turn into a campaign, it's still a good idea. It's a way to get everyone on the same page, to learn a little bit about each other, and maybe develop a few campaign hooks. It's analogous to warming up before exercising. It's okay if it takes a while. There's no rush, as long as everyone's engaged and having fun. It's not a bad idea to encourage everyone to have a personal connection to at least one other party member.  Give each of the PCs a hook to the village, an NPC they have a connection with. These should be positive relationships, so the NPCs can serve as resources when needed. This gives them a tangible connection, a reason to care.

Then come up with some rumors. Some can be fairly random, warn/hint of various things, or work as foreshadowing, but there should be a number of adventure seeds. This is important, because at this stage you're setting a precedent. If you just tell them "here's your adventure, you start in this room", that's what they'll expect in the future, and they'll become very passive and wait for you to lead them along the adventure path. But if they start in the village, wander around for a bit, and then go the tavern and hear talk about a legendary white stag that was reportedly seen in the woods to the north, and a farmer who's barn is full of stirges and may be able to offer a pack mule to anyone who can clear it, and a report of goblin seen spying on the trail to the south, that tells them they have nearly infinite agency. You're setting the precedent that the players are in charge, and that can lead to a a much more dynamic campaign.

Don't design too much ahead. You can drop adventure hooks, like a rumored dungeon to the east, without detailing them. The goal really should be design exactly one adventure ahead. It's fine to be upfront and ask the players what hooks they're going to follow at the end of each session, and then plan the next session based on that. But it's always a good idea to have a few encounters sketched out that can be easily dropped in. Maybe running across a child who lost their puppy, and it's tangled in some bracken.

The starting adventures should be simple and straight forward. You can eventually develop longer arcs and more involved adventures, but it easiest to start with straightforward tasks. Even megadungeons can be designed this way, with a simple entrance and relatively few choices at the start, which can be expanded as the campaign progresses.

Starting with a pre-written adventure isn't always the best approach. They tend to be overwritten and fairly rigid, and overly complex. Since they're not yours, you won't remember the details as well, and it can be harder to improvise. It's often better to steal a few parts here and there, and mix them up on your own.

There doesn't always have to be a clear reward, and rewards don't have to be treasure, they can be information, connections, or other intangibles like a letter of introduction, a new rumor, someone owing a favor, or even a better reputation.

Reputation should be a constant concern; be aware of the public actions the PCs take, and have the world react to what they know. Saving children might lead to rousing cheers in the tavern, or people buying them beers, or even discounts or other expressions of goodwill. Secret missions won't affect public perception at all. And behaving badly can lead to nasty looks and general unfriendliness and lack of cooperation. More extreme cases can lead to shops refusing to do business with the PCs, or even a posse be called up to bring them to justice. If the players really act in ways that would make them outlaws, then treat them as outlaws. They're not heroes because they're PCs, they're PCs who can choose to be heroes, anti-heroes, villains, or other.

Use morale. Seriously, use morale.

Lots of great advice here.

I must strongly second the advice to detail out the starter base, typically a Ye Medieval Village, but a roadside inn can also work for a while. IME this is vital for giving a D&D campaign legs.

1. Create home base
2. Create starter dungeon
3. Create simple hex map of area around home base
4. Seed it with more dungeons and other cool stuff.

B2 is quite a good model of this, though I think the Caves of Chaos lack in variety and the Keep is weirdly strong - a more vulnerable (but not helpless) starter village and a dungeon like Palace of the Silver Princess with some weirdness & secrets is brilliant. http://www.pandius.com/b3_orig.pdf

Quote from: Banjo Destructo on September 09, 2021, 09:52:33 AM
So I've been wanting to learn how to be a DM, and was starting the process of... I dunno.. thinking about running some smaller/one off adventures with pre-made characters (because the people I know take forever to make characters...), and I was thinking the one-offs would have specific scenarios/situations or mechanics that were included to help me learn and practice the tracking of certain mechanics of running the game that would perhaps be good foundations for future use.

So I'm kinda wondering if anyone has any advice on things I should try to include or list out that are useful to keep track of or include so that I can be sure to get the practice/experience to be able to run games smoothly.

What game are you running?

Quote from: Banjo Destructo on September 09, 2021, 09:52:33 AM
So I'm kinda wondering if anyone has any advice on things I should try to include or list out that are useful to keep track of or include so that I can be sure to get the practice/experience to be able to run games smoothly.

Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master, is a great resource. His video blog is pretty good, and goes into all the stuff in the book, but I still bought it to support him.
I think "lazy" is a poor descriptor, though. Efficient would be better, but wouldn't sound as catchy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURxj9L1KJc&list=PLb39x-29puaoIx5AvxJ1faPO2Lk-7hfUH

One of my favorite tips from him is "Secrets and Clues" Short bits that a GM can drop into any part of an adventure. Along the lines of the Rumor Tables from old D&D modules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qdemNbuWxQ&list=PLb39x-29puaoIx5AvxJ1faPO2Lk-7hfUH&index=30

I will second the N4 Treasure Hunt recommendation. I have a one, two and three session version of that module I can almost run 100% from memory.

Perfect start to a campaign if.... 1) you do not have a city or home area established or 2) you want to test rule sets or 3) you don't already think Allston was a legend.

As for GM advice, I would only caution against trying to read up too much on it. I have seen many a GM stuff their heads full of so much crap they lock up that first game.

1. You describe the world
2. The players describe what they do
3. You describe how the world changes, with conflict or interesting things decided by the dice