Re: New to DMing and in need of tips
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 1:12 pm
I think this is exactly how every GM feels before a new campaign. Heck, I've got twenty years of GM experience and I just made a post asking for advice for a campaign I start tomorrow! It's something that you never really get over, but you gradually learn how to deal with.
My advice to you would be these:
1. There is such a thing as over-preparing. It's great to have an overall framework for your campaign, and to know the general layout of how you want your game to go, but for the most part, I think most GMs get success from taking it a session at a time. Yes, you want to think ahead, but you want to focus your thoughts and energies on the next session, rather than sessions you aren't even sure will come to fruition.
2. Look to published modules for guidance. Especially when you're first starting out, I highly recommend reading through published modules and borrowing or tweaking bits and pieces of their content. If nothing else, at least look at them to see how they're structured and how the content is balanced. Find an adventure module that is similar to the sort of thing you want to run, and just read through it to see how it's handled. When I first started GMing years ago, I thought published modules were useless. I thought they were for people that couldn't come up with their own stuff. Boy, would it have saved me a lot of time, effort, and heartache if I'd just taken a couple encounter ideas from Dungeon Magazine or something.
3. Just keep the game going. The one thing that I think is more important than anything else early on in your GMing career is to just keep the game moving. You don't have to do anything crazy or earthshaking. But try to not have any downtime or awkward pauses while running the game. Always be asking your players questions, explaining facets of the game world around their characters, and seeding little ideas into their head. The thing that makes board games and RPGs so interesting is choice. Things happen and the players choose between things, and that causes an outcome. The more you keep the game moving, the more choices your players can make, and in-turn, the more fun they are likely to have.
My advice to you would be these:
1. There is such a thing as over-preparing. It's great to have an overall framework for your campaign, and to know the general layout of how you want your game to go, but for the most part, I think most GMs get success from taking it a session at a time. Yes, you want to think ahead, but you want to focus your thoughts and energies on the next session, rather than sessions you aren't even sure will come to fruition.
2. Look to published modules for guidance. Especially when you're first starting out, I highly recommend reading through published modules and borrowing or tweaking bits and pieces of their content. If nothing else, at least look at them to see how they're structured and how the content is balanced. Find an adventure module that is similar to the sort of thing you want to run, and just read through it to see how it's handled. When I first started GMing years ago, I thought published modules were useless. I thought they were for people that couldn't come up with their own stuff. Boy, would it have saved me a lot of time, effort, and heartache if I'd just taken a couple encounter ideas from Dungeon Magazine or something.
3. Just keep the game going. The one thing that I think is more important than anything else early on in your GMing career is to just keep the game moving. You don't have to do anything crazy or earthshaking. But try to not have any downtime or awkward pauses while running the game. Always be asking your players questions, explaining facets of the game world around their characters, and seeding little ideas into their head. The thing that makes board games and RPGs so interesting is choice. Things happen and the players choose between things, and that causes an outcome. The more you keep the game moving, the more choices your players can make, and in-turn, the more fun they are likely to have.