Tips for a new GM (not me!)

I'm trying to get one of my players to run a module this week because I want a 1-week break from Gming, so I'm talking to him about running Crypt of the Everflame. He has Gmed once before, no real story, just little dungeon crawl for a few friends. I hear it went well, and he's up for GMing again, he's just a little nervous.

I've looked up a few other threads on here from new GMs asking questions, but this thread isn't about that. This is about advice for a new GM. Think of one thing that you know now about GMing that you wish you knew your first time, or something like that, and post away! One snippet, two, it doesn't matter, just a little piece of advice for a fellow gamer.

Thanks!

1. Run a premade module.
2. Read the module, twice)
3. Don't worry about messing up. That does not mean you won't mess up, but don't worry about it. Even the best of us make mistakes.
4. Be firm, but fair.
5. If you get someone killed because you botched a rule discuss it after the game, and try to come to a solution that does not break immersion, and leave everyone happy.

Someone else can take it from here.

No matter how well prepared you are, you can bet that at least one of your players will think of doing something that you DIDN'T prepare for. Roll with it.

Don't panic

Gelatinous cubes should never be given the fiendish template followed by character class levels.

Don't fudge the dice. The dice are always right.

Dice made of chocolate at a party: Good idea.
Dice made of chocolate at a game table: Bad idea.

Not everyone with a goatee is a bad guy. Not all bad guys have goatees.

It helps if you know what your player's character stats are.

Never feed a PC after midnight.

On a serious note (even though those were things I wished I knew when I started GMing,) here is some useful advice.

Do not raise your voice in anger if something annoying or unfair happens. Once in a while you will find something irritating that might set you off. Keep your cool, and be calm in how you deal with it.

Never, ever, feel like you need to do everything. If you do, you will shut down. It happened to me, and it made the game less fun.

Improvisation can be fun, so don't be afraid of spontaneous roleplay or ideas. However, don't go too deep. The best improvisation comes from the possible, not the off the wall wacky. For example, it might make sense to have the kobolds attacking the PCs to be screaming the name of a god they worship when the written adventure makes no mention of anything like that. It won't make sense if the Kobolds are actually space faring aliens in disguise and their swords are really guns.

Don't panic. Go with it. It will all make sense soon enough. If you don't have an answer, then a player might later.

Don't panic

Gelatinous cubes should never be given the fiendish template followed by character class levels.

Don't fudge the dice. The dice are always right.

Dice made of chocolate at a party: Good idea.
Dice made of chocolate at a game table: Bad idea.

Not everyone with a goatee is a bad guy. Not all bad guys have goatees.

It helps if you know what your player's character stats are.

Never feed a PC after midnight.

I love these lol He'll see this thread after a few more replies but I gotta ask... Did you ever really have someone with chocolate dice at the table? That seems...unorthodox and delicious

No, that was just a joke. My wife is a pastry chef and is really good with crafting chocolate. She hasn't actually made chocolate dice, but has talked about it. She can't find a d20 mold.

If I used them there would be no guarantee they would be balanced and all the use they would go through would make the chocolate nasty. If anything, they would be neat treats, and not used to play.

The rest of the funny advice, were true and have storied behind them.

No, that was just a joke. My wife is a pastry chef and is really good with crafting chocolate. She hasn't actually made chocolate dice, but has talked about it. She can't find a d20 mold.

If I used them there would be no guarantee they would be balanced and all the use they would go through would make the chocolate nasty. If anything, they would be neat treats, and not used to play.

The rest of the funny advice, were true and have storied behind them.

I'm a savory chef, pastry chefs freak me out. I have an ice cube tray where one side has d6 pips on it. Tell her not to give up, I'm sure such a mold exists.

No, that was just a joke. My wife is a pastry chef and is really good with crafting chocolate. She hasn't actually made chocolate dice, but has talked about it. She can't find a d20 mold.

If I used them there would be no guarantee they would be balanced and all the use they would go through would make the chocolate nasty. If anything, they would be neat treats, and not used to play.

The rest of the funny advice, were true and have storied behind them.

You could always make one. Then again, that's a whole new craft check right there lol.

Anybody else?

On the second read through (mentioned above), have a highlighter handy, and highlight things of interest that are "buried" in th etext. Whether that is a perception DC for a secret door, or monster tactics, or just an odd magic item or important bit of info, highlight it.

I wound up TPKing a party because I hadn't highlighted a perception check item, once.

Note: the new DM may not have the funds for this, but I expect that the old DM and/or players already have something to fulfill some of these things:
Have something handy for initiative tracking.
Minis! If possible, prepackage minis for each encounter.
Maps! If you have some way to pre-prepare maps for each enciuntser, it helps, whether it is preprinted flip mats, dungeon cards, dungeon tiles, hand-drawn flip mats or what-have-you (Map Paper?), maps help.

Note: For predrawn maps, you might also want to bring some blank paper to cover the parts of the map that the PCs cannot see yet. Fog of war and all that.

As a fairly new DM, here are some things I wish I was gifted before hand:

1. You are going to make mistakes. It is how you recover from them is what matters.
2. No one knows every rule, but someone at the table can find the answer.
3. Utilize the players you have as doing everything yourself causes burn out.
4. Read thru your notes or the module twice. First to understand the plot, players and rules you may not know. Second time for comprehension, looking for things your players may do and come up with logical plans for these.
5. Relax. Everyone sitting at the table wants you to succeed, otherwise they wouldn't be there.
6. Be firm, consistent and fair. I just recently learned this the hard way. Make sure you understand the expectations of the players at the table. If 1 player wants to play a rules light game and another wants by the book RAW, make sure you inform them how you intend to run the game so everyone can meet at a middle ground.

No matter how well prepared you are, you can bet that at least one of your players will think of doing something that you DIDN'T prepare for. Roll with it.

I have a player that tends to ask me questions I haven't thought of at all, especially when gathering information.

"Oh hello shopkeep, what's your name? do you have a family? how old is your middle child? what made you decide to open shop here?" etc.
Now to some, this might seem normal, but our group has a general understanding that NPC's like shopkeepers, hobo's, and random streetwalker #9 don't have any useful information/names/anything worth talking about unless they've given reason otherwise. IE:if the shopkeep already gave you a name and a bit of backstory (the herbalist with the colapsable stall that's been fleeing from an assasin's guild for some age old run-in, for example) then it could be an adventure hook and it's understandable. But if you're looking for a random general store, then just buy your items and get out.

MultiClassClown wrote:

No matter how well prepared you are, you can bet that at least one of your players will think of doing something that you DIDN'T prepare for. Roll with it.

I have a player that tends to ask me questions I haven't thought of at all, especially when gathering information.

"Oh hello shopkeep, what's your name? do you have a family? how old is your middle child? what made you decide to open shop here?" etc.
Now to some, this might seem normal, but our group has a general understanding that NPC's like shopkeepers, hobo's, and random streetwalker #9 don't have any useful information/names/anything worth talking about unless they've given reason otherwise. IE:if the shopkeep already gave you a name and a bit of backstory (the herbalist with the colapsable stall that's been fleeing from an assasin's guild for some age old run-in, for example) then it could be an adventure hook and it's understandable. But if you're looking for a random general store, then just buy your items and get out.

If I had a player who did that, I'd probably randomly pre-generate 5-10 NPC backgrounds, and every time he started asking questions, I'd use the next one. I'm sure there's tables for that out there somewhere. I might actually use this idea for the Kingmaker game my players are about to start, once they have their own citizens.