Questions related to someone who is GM-ing for the first time.
43
votes
14answers
1k views
How can I help my PCs remember clues that they found?
I'm a new DM running my first adventure (it's D&D 4.0 but that's not relevant to my question). I've heard of the "three clue rule", that there should be at least three independent pointers to any ...
35
votes
6answers
1k views
Did I do a bad job as a GM?
Last night we played our first RPG (ever!) and I'm not sure if it went well.
The basic story was to find someone. There were three possible places where he could be; then the players hot wire a ...
31
votes
8answers
701 views
How do I get better at narrating/storytelling as a GM?
Personally, I've always had difficulty telling coherent stories, even from my own experiences. My wife has even coined a term (jokingly) for the type of story I tell, one that either makes no sense, ...
29
votes
15answers
630 views
Your friend wants to learn the ways of the Dungeon Master, what do you do?
I believe that all tabletop role playing gamers should at one point or another try their hand at Dungeon Mastering. However, it's a goal that at times can feel overwhelming.
What advice would you ...
26
votes
6answers
581 views
What is role-playing, and where do I start?
I have been told that roleplaying is great fun. I've looked and looked and it all seems so complicated. Could anyone tell me a good place to start, and what sort of things you end up doing in ...
23
votes
19answers
1k views
What role-playing games have good gamemaster advice sections?
Which RPG's, in your experience, have good advice for gamemasters in their rulebooks, both for novice and experienced gamemasters?
Please keep in mind that this question is not about good games for ...
23
votes
7answers
483 views
How to add a player who joined after the campaign started?
I started running a game, and then a friend of mine expressed interest in playing, so I invited him to join us. He created a character and came along to the next session. As the rest of the party was ...
23
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there a core campaign setting for DnD 4e?
I'm completely new to RPGs in general, so I apologize in advance if this is an odd question. There's such an overwhelming abundance of lore on all the different campaign settings for DnD that I've ...
23
votes
6answers
330 views
Non native speakers and Pen & Paper Role-Playing Games
I'm among a group of people which doesn't share the same mother tongue. We are speaking English every day and can communicate very well in daily situations and even in an academic way.
Some of them ...
22
votes
5answers
540 views
How can I learn how to negotiate as an NPC?
I'm a new GM (the system is DND 4.0 but that's not relevant here). I've quickly found that I perform very poorly when I'm portraying a negotiation between the PCs and one or more NPCs. Even when they ...
21
votes
5answers
445 views
How do I learn to become a good GM?
I have played and tried to GM games since I was in elementary school, beginning with games like Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Champions. Recently, I've gotten dack into gaming with a variety of other ...
20
votes
4answers
363 views
Transitioning from GM to Player; or how to recover from GM burnout
A few months ago, I reached the point of "GM burnout." Having been (almost) the exclusive GM for our group for several years, and seeing the number of players and their commitment dwindle combined ...
17
votes
6answers
630 views
How can I screen new players to make sure they are a good fit for my game?
I'm looking to start a new Savage Worlds campaign and I need a full set of players for it. I've played in games before and ran a couple of one-shots, but I've never GMed a full campaign. There's ...
16
votes
7answers
524 views
What's a good class and race for beginners?
I'm a newbie GM and I have a new player at the table. He wants to play and I'm letting him (despite his loud, overly energetic behavior, and has a short attention span). Whats a good 3.5 class for ...
16
votes
6answers
436 views
I'm fairly new to D&D but want to GM; where do I go from here?
I'm a 16-year-old male, and I have been interested in tabletop RPGs for a long time, especially D&D. I sorta dove into D&D really fast and hard by buying the Red box, Dungeon Master Kit, ...
16
votes
6answers
319 views
How do I help create story around the table without writing it?
I love RPGs. I think they can create some of the most fun and enjoyable stories, both from an out-of-game and in-game standpoint.
I also realize that "story" is the result of the game played by the ...
15
votes
9answers
524 views
Does GMing diminish or detract from being a player in games?
I started playing RPGs last year with the Pathfinder Beginner Box. I have been GMing and writing a campaign, but have also encouraged members of the party that are interested to run a one-off Beginner ...
15
votes
4answers
500 views
What should a DM do if a player wants to do something impossible?
If a player wants to do something a little out of the ordinary such as punching down a wall with his bare fists, what should I do? Do I make a DC for it? Do I make it so that no matter how much he ...
15
votes
4answers
340 views
How do I tell how long my adventure is going to be?
I'm a new DM starting a campaign I've written myself. I have a party of 4 players right now- three have been playing for years, one has never played before. My problem is I'm not sure how to tell how ...
15
votes
4answers
356 views
Challenging pre-made campaign for veteran players but easy on new GMs
I just decided to start GMing. I have never done it before, but I have played lots of RPGs as a player. The group I have is a min/maxing group who knows what to do and I want to give them something to ...
14
votes
16answers
443 views
When GMing a game, how much should you prepare in advance?
Obviously you need to have some high level idea of what's going on in the world around the players, and where you are heading with the story, but in an ongoing game at some point players will be ...
14
votes
4answers
255 views
I have read the D&D PHB but am still having trouble grasping some of the basics, how can I learn more?
With credit to one of the more experienced members on the site, mxyzplk, I thought I'd ask where noobs like me should ask or find answers to basic questions about Dungeons & Dragons mechanics if ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
Starting the first game tips?
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to start our very first session. Everyone, counting the DM, has yet to play the game and we are not exactly sure were to start. Our PCs are:
Drow ...
13
votes
7answers
335 views
What major differences are there between convention DMing and home DMing?
I've been DMing for a while in 4th edition D&D, but I've only been DMing for Living Forgotten Realms and D&D Encounters. Now I'm thinking of starting to do some home games in various systems. ...
12
votes
4answers
212 views
Advice for a new GM taking over for an old one?
I play a Pokemon tabletop game with a few friends. We're all in college, and our GM recently stepped down due to falling grades. I offered to take over if there were no objections, and as you can ...
12
votes
6answers
260 views
Speed up campaign development
I'm making a campaign, and it's going fairly nicely. However, I found out that my group is able to meet this week, which I didn't expect. So instead of having 9 days to find time to prepare, I have 2 ...
12
votes
2answers
3k views
Dungeons and Dragons Treasure Parcels
I'm new to D&D and would like to distribute treasure evenly in my dungeon for my level 1 PCs. I've read up briefly on the treasure packages but am still a little fuzzy on how they exactly work and ...
12
votes
0answers
263 views
As a GM, how can I create and role-play diverse NPCs better? [duplicate]
I am new to GMing (and role-playing in general, for that matter) and I am having a somewhat difficult time making plausible and interesting NPCs. This is especially true with NPCs who are not "typical ...
11
votes
5answers
1k views
How to introduce a pen-and-paper RPG to family?
My brother and I have dabbled in D&D when we were younger. Also, at the last place where I worked, we had a weekly Pathfinder game session, which was fun.
Usually at our family get-togethers my ...
11
votes
3answers
1k views
New GM Advice - How to best use an Adventure Path
I'm new to tabletop RPGs (although I have been interested for a long time, just had difficulty finding like-minded companions, and the funds required to get some of the stuff).
When I was finally ...
11
votes
5answers
349 views
How to deal with intimidating amount of rules in Shadowrun
I started to read about Shadowrun as a setting and I'm currently reading the rules and they are really intimidating. There's a lot to know as a player since every aspect of the game as it's own set of ...
10
votes
6answers
527 views
How would I go about making an outdoor environment in dungeons and dragons?
How would I go about making an outdoor environment in dungeons and dragons? I would like to know what the rooms and hallways would be. I would really appreciate it if someone would help me. I'm really ...
10
votes
5answers
446 views
Advice on setting up a campaign for a new GM?
A month or two back, I bought the GURPS Basic Set with the hopes of GMing a campaign at my school. I'm fairly familiar with the rules and general concepts by now (GURPS is very well documented), but ...
10
votes
4answers
209 views
Do I need to stat out & measure everything?
I am preparing a session that contains a fair amount of absurdity. Many of the creatures and situations that my players will encounter will probably not be encountered again.
On the one hand, I know ...
10
votes
2answers
684 views
Flanking and swarms in 4e
Can swarms be flanked by two PCs? What if the swarm is occupying the same square as a PC?
Does a PC grant combat advantage to a swarm if a regular mob is adjacent in a flank? Does it matter if the ...
10
votes
5answers
307 views
How to go from a humorous campaign to a more serious one?
I am currently running a D&D 4E game. The game started off kind of goofy (we have a thrikreen rogue with glowing blonde hair, an ale-obsessed dwarf battlemind, a ditzy human wizard, and a dwarf ...
9
votes
5answers
332 views
What should I do as a first time indie/story game GM?
I've DMed DnD before, but I'm wanting to get a game of In A Wicked Age started up, which is much less crunchy than our 4e oriented group is used to. What advice would you have for someone trying to ...
9
votes
3answers
345 views
As a complete newcomer - what do I have to look out for?
I just orderer the D&D Red Box 4th edition. I plan to play it with my GF and maybe I can convince my flat mate as well. None of us has any experience playing Pen and Paper games (I have Baldur's ...
9
votes
3answers
257 views
In Lady Blackbird, how do you NPC the characters people haven't picked?
My normal Apocalypse World crew was down a player this week, so I ran Lady Blackbird for 'em. It was my first time running the game (and we all had a blast), but I got rather confused when playing the ...
9
votes
3answers
287 views
How do I keep me and my player happy in a one-on-one game?
As a GM, my comfort zone is a group with about 3-5 players. I like the diversity of having multiple players. When I only have a single player, I feel I can already predict my player's actions, and we ...
9
votes
3answers
242 views
New GM to a Laundry RPG game [closed]
What should a new (and not so experienced) GM watch out for when starting to run a game set in Charles Stross's Laundry universe? Note that all this could be applied to a Call Of Cthulhu game as well ...
8
votes
2answers
535 views
How do I run a single player 4e essentials game? Drow Hunter
I am trying to create a set of encounters for my wife. She will be playing a Drow Hunter (controller) from the Essentials line of DnD 4e.
I'm looking for advice on how to make encounters (2 levels ...
8
votes
1answer
354 views
What are the main differences and similarities between Pathfinder and RuneQuest?
As the question suggests, I'm interested in the main differences and similarities between Pathfinder and RuneQuest. I'm fairly familiar with the RuneQuest system. I've heard a bit about Pathfinder ...
8
votes
2answers
349 views
How to manage character arguments / conflict?
I'm a new DM and have just started a 4e game as Play by Post.
The game has started with one character (Bob) recruiting in a pub and the first response was from another character (Al) wanting to ...
7
votes
8answers
497 views
How can I tailor an encounter so that a low level, mostly mundane party can defeat a wasp swarm?
I'm GM'ing a game with a large, mostly mundane party where all PCs at level 2. The party is made up of a good aligned cleric (i.e. no damage spells), wizard, druid (with wolf animal companion), monk, ...
7
votes
7answers
487 views
Experienced player behaving badly, challenging my motivation
This is a long question. I´d be much obliged, if you would read it completely
My group and I just migrated from a DM whose VERY incongruent storytelling and deliberate punishment of ...
7
votes
1answer
122 views
Would the adventures in the Black Bag Jobs be a good starting point?
Were I new to GMing, would the the adventures in the Black Bag Jobs Laundry supplement be good as starting points or should I look elsewhere?
6
votes
6answers
344 views
Do I have to map out villages or outside areas?
Do I have to make a map of areas outside of my dungeons? For instance, a village or forest? Does the context of the Dungeon have to be mapped?
6
votes
4answers
367 views
Is there an alternate rule to allow different stats for Male/Female?
I want to introduce a variant that allows for stat adjustments for males/females, but I would like something more in-depth than just a bonus and penalty to stats. Are there any existing variants or ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Choosing DnD 4th edition or Essentials for a new group and DM?
Recently I've got interested in roleplaying. My background is more or less hardcore boardgamer, I have played quite a large number of board games, even some of the most complicated ones and found it ...
