Noob DM here. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on preperation. You know things to save time or help things run smoother. Anything really.
I've downloaded all the free stuff ;) concerning the campaign.
When this goes down I'll keep you updated too. that might be fun. (I'm geeking way to much LOL)
Thanks^_^
Hmmm, Advice… Puts on robes and wire rimmed glasses trying to look very sagely…
Always remember it’s about having fun. Along with this I try to make sure everyone has a moment in the sun every session.
Know your audience. If you can figure out what each person (including you) is getting out of the game it’s easier to play to them. So that everyone is having fun and the game keeps moving along.
Know the material. You should have a firm grasp of what’s going on.
You will make mistakes. That’s ok. Accept it.
Players will throw you curve balls. Accept this also.
I’m still learning to, as is everyone else on this board. Actually this place is a great resource, use it often.
Remember that it’s about having fun.
I recommend going one issue at a time. Glance at any upcoming issues to get an idea of where the story is going, if you can, but take it one step at a time.
A lot of the same ol' DM advice goes here. Too bad Monte Cook's Dungeoncraft is over, (though I think Wolfgang Baur--who wrote one of the more "first ed-ish" parts of AoW--is taking over the column), but the issues should have those articles in them also. Check'em out if you have the time.
One thing you may want to recommend--depending on your group--is to make "back-up" characters as you start the game. The pluses of this include your players being able to still have fun the one night a week/month they can put aside to play D&D, without having to sit out playing Gameboy because of a bad save. Also, the players don't become overwhelmingly attached to a character. This can happen with some players, and I've even seen it go so far as a player breaking down in tears because his samurai with a 20-level progression prospectus and eight-page long back story got ripped in half by an angry girallon. With a back-up character, if the first PC bites it, the second can still be a refreshing change up. On the down side, making back up characters--and keeping up with them--can be time consuming, so if you and your gamers are too busy, don't press the idea.
As for the NPCs, I like to give each one a defining characteristic, like chronic nose-scratching, high-pitched voice, or opens combat with his highest level spell available. This will build lasting memories for your players regarding different encounters that they can talk about all week until they get together to play again.
Thanks for the helpful hint. I've been studying the backdrop of diamond lake, campaign overview, and reading the first adventure and wormfood.
So her is the Check list
1) have fun! (nervous laugh)
2)Know the story and where it goes.
3)Know the monsters and NPC's. Got it.
I ran the D&D day at the local store and everyone said they had fun. I wasn't so sure because one of the fights slowed down. to a screaching halt. thinking back I should have called for break. and come back in five.
New Question.
-How can you tell if the players are being honest and not being polite?
-any sugestions on avoiding drug down battles and what to do when that Happens?
I think that I'm talking too much(just let me know)so I'm going to stop thanks again!!
Use a DM screen. If the fights slow down, cheat with the die rolls. The players won't know. Just don't let them win easily, or they won't feel they've accomplished anything. Sometimes PCs die.
As for knowing if your players are being honest or polite, if you start worrying about that you are going to become paranoid for too often. Take what they say at face value, but also let them know that if anyone has any "constructive criticism" you are open to it. Then, if there was something they thought could be better, they might feel more free to say something.
Oh and watch for people building little towers of dice. That can mean boredom. ;-)
As for running AoW, I am also starting in Jan. To help myself, I've made a master-list in excel of all the NPCs, locations, monsters, and items/treasure. I've also made a bunch of little pre-printed "item/treasure" handouts to give players as they find stuff. This will save time with writing things down, and players feel like they've actually "found" something. Tell them to keep it safe because if they lose the handout irl, they've lost it in-game. ;-) Each handout has a reference to the encounter in the adventure so that when/if they "identify" an item you can refer back to the encounter.
You can download them from my little D&D site here:
http://deimodius.tripod.com/dnd/
Thanks for the tips and thanks for the XL sheets.
I have a better Idea of what they want to play. One guy can't make up his mind. But most of them don’t want to grow up in the town. So now I have to figure out how to get them involved in the story. I’ll have to consult the pillow on this. The following are their Ideas. Until I have there PC name I’m labeling them in by the first letter of there name.
J-Dwarven war cleric, Human Palidan/monk. I know he wants to be right up in the heat of battle.
M-wants to play a Sorcerer. Race unknown. Most likely elf Apprentice of Allusten.
P- Wants to play a Bard Prolly a gnome
S- Ranger Prolly Elf
D-Battle raging dwarf from 2nd ED.
Any suggestions on how to incorporate them? Also does anyone know where I could get updated stats on the Battle raging class how to convert it?
I think I can do it with the help of page64 issue124. But I want to have the transition of there PC background concepts and history work. Thanks for all your helpful suggestion. The age will start soon.
Thanks for the tips and thanks for the XL sheets.
I have a better Idea of what they want to play. One guy can't make up his mind. But most of them don’t want to grow up in the town. So now I have to figure out how to get them involved in the story. I’ll have to consult the pillow on this. The following are their Ideas. Until I have there PC name I’m labeling them in by the first letter of there name.J-Dwarven war cleric, Human Palidan/monk. I know he wants to be right up in the heat of battle.
M-wants to play a Sorcerer. Race unknown. Most likely elf Apprentice of Allusten.
P- Wants to play a Bard Prolly a gnome
S- Ranger Prolly Elf
D-Battle raging dwarf from 2nd ED.
Any suggestions on how to incorporate them? Also does anyone know where I could get updated stats on the Battle raging class how to convert it?
I think I can do it with the help of page64 issue124. But I want to have the transition of there PC background concepts and history work. Thanks for all your helpful suggestion. The age will start soon.
Nice mix. For your party's sorcerer, if you've got it, check out Races of the Dragon. Might tip the scales toward kobold. (Did I just make a bad pun?) Anyway, the book has a variety of kobold sorcerer feats that one of my PCs pointed out--he's playing a kobold wizard (diviner) who jealously pointed this out to me, saying that it was just his luck, as the book came out after he made his character and started playing it. For story, I actually made him an apprentice of Dietrik Cicaeda, the chief cartographer of Diamond Lake. Which brings a thought to mind...
If you really want your characters as residents of Diamond Lake, fish out a few of the NPCs/locations from the backdrop, and offer them up to the PCs as origins. You might want to sweeten the deal by giving the PCs a free skill rank in a profession associated with the NPC/location. I gave my player's kobold diviner a free rank in Profession (cartographer), for instance. Using this bait, you can get them involved in Diamond Lake more actively, with NPCs/locations having a more direct influence on the characters.
Now I have 2 groups playing the same adventure... Oh boy! What have I gotten myself into. I am going to start my local group this Saturday. (There the guinea pigs) all of the players aren’t done with there Pc creation yet which will delay the start a bit but whatever. So far the prep has been going well and I’ve developed a highlighting system to help me quick reference the material in the magazine.
“Local” Group is the one I’m about to start
Dwarven Bard 1
½ Elf Sorcerer 1
???? Cleric
???? Filler
“Northern”Group “ (the one I’m really exited about)
Has some up date on Pc creation
J-Human Palidan
M- ½ Drow/human Sorcerer Apprentice of Allusten he sees great potential in him(Seem reasonable?)
P- ½ Choand Bard not sure how this will work
S- Ranger Prolly Elf (no update)
D-Battle raging dwarf from 2nd ED.(no update)
Do you think trying to make 3D dungeons out of wood or MDF, and getting minis for each Pc is going a bit over board?
Any Idea's or suggestions on how to get them all together?
|
D-Battle raging dwarf from 2nd ED.(no update)
Do you think trying to make 3D dungeons out of wood or MDF, and getting minis for each Pc is going a bit over board?
Any Idea's or suggestions on how to get them all together?
The dwarf sounds pretty much like a barbarian base class to me. You could offer the Frenzied Berserker PRC (CW) later on, if they select the right feats. You also may want to check out an SRD reference site called d20srd.org that includes much of the Unearthed Arcana varient rules as well. There are a number of varients on the Barbarian base class that your player may be interested in.
As for the props/tabletop department, I am a big fan of the minis/map for combat situations. It really helps to clarify the action.
MDF 3-d models are great if you feel up to the challenge, but you do end up with a lot of leftover dungeons you can only use once (twice in your case). The most useful tabletop tool I have seen are dry-erase battlemats or tiles with 1" squares on it. You can use these over and over again and they pack up easily. The various dungeon tile products are neat too, but I find they move around the table too much. If you are computer savvy, you could make your own tiles for AoW locations. I plan on using a combination of these when I run AoW myself (also starting in January).
As for mini's, I encourage players to paint their own. It promotes interest in the campaign if they've put some effort into painting a mini to represent their character. There are also some pre-painted minis out there that make pretty good PC's and NPC's.
Best of luck to you!
I don't think getting a mini for each PC is out of line. Of course I am biased because I had my group do this for the first time ever with AoW. But hey, you're going to be playing through 12 modules and 20 levels - a couple bucks investment in a small representation of what promises to be your favorite character isn't too much to ask. So says I, anyway.
Devastation hits!
We’ve lost a player in the “Northern” group the 5 man crew is now down to 4. No big deal to me but to them man the whole group plan is changed. LOL On the 28th of Dec we will finalize the Pc class and race.
The “local” Group will finish there Pc’s this sat. and hopefully begin.
Hey Thanx For the input I really appreciate it.
I was thinking on how to get the Pc's together and I thought of making a festival day where there would enter a contest to between 2 groups of equal to how many are in the Pc's group. The trio and the pc group. The Goal ( not sure yet) is to amass a certain amount of wealth. Prize a ( haven’t figured that out yet) They have to go to two pre selected cairns and bring back an ancient Item(s) and have it appraise by the mayor Neff. In the end the Pc’s might lose to the trio, but the treasure and stuff they have taken from the whispering cairn has piqued Allustan’s interest. And approaches the PC’s.
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated!
|
|
I've also made a bunch of little pre-printed "item/treasure" handouts to give players as they find stuff. This will save time with writing things down, and players feel like they've actually "found" something. Tell them to keep it safe because if they lose the handout irl, they've lost it in-game. ;-) Each handout has a reference to the encounter in the adventure so that when/if they "identify" an item you can refer back to the encounter.
You can download them from my little D&D site here:
http://deimodius.tripod.com/dnd/
Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
|
|
I was thinking on how to get the Pc's together and I thought of making a festival day where there would enter a contest to between 2 groups of equal to how many are in the Pc's group. The trio and the pc group. The Goal ( not sure yet) is to amass a certain amount of wealth. Prize a ( haven’t figured that out yet) They have to go to two pre selected cairns and bring back an ancient Item(s) and have it appraise by the mayor Neff. In the end the Pc’s might lose to the trio, but the treasure and stuff they have taken from the whispering cairn has piqued Allustan’s interest. And approaches the PC’s.
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated!
Hmmm, my suspend-disbelief alarm is ringing with this one. The general belief is that all the known cairns have long since been looted. A curious adventurer would at best find something left by wandering critters that have holed up in a cairn for shelter. So the premise of going out and finding an item of antiquity is a bit of stretch thus making the contest a little far-fetched.
When I started the AoW game, I used this nugget gleaned from these boards:
I had the player who was going to play the rogue assume the role of Gerzy and had him turncoat on the others when they were cornered in the Dead Hole. Gerzin, in turn, knew of a place that local youths had been doing initiation rites (Whispering Cairn) and offers this information as a peace offering to the other PCs. Gerzy knows the Free City Trio is looking for antiquities. (Khelleck has been following information left in the Seeker Lodge in the Free City, information purposefully altered to keep the location of Wind Duke tomb secret, thus their continued search of the Stirgenest Cairn looking for a secret door that doesn't exist...) Gerzy suspects the "loot" may be at the Whispering Cairn and will lead the others there if he can get in on the "action".
The whole scenario worked wonderfully and gave the PCs a jumpstart on 2nd level so that the Whispering Cairn wasn't as deadly as it could have been. It also allowed me to later cut out most of the HoHR scenario (excellent adventure but really all "fluff" considering what they players need to take away from it) as the PCs were close to the 9th level needed to start the Champion's Belt scenario (where we are now).
Have fun with your game! Make ample use of the Search line for this site as a lot of the questions/topics you may want information on have likely been touched upon already. I have pages and pages of gleaned info on the computer from these boards.
Thanks!! But sadly this player is no longer with us. It seems he is "done with the D&D scene".
The northern group is now this"
Asimar Sorcerer 1st
Elf Monk
Bugbear cleric???? Weird I know (not sure how this will work -_-)
Elf Ranger
I've got the monk set up with the Twighlight monastery .
The Sorcerer is with Allustan.
The bug bear is semi affiliated with the garrison.
The elf ranger I’m going to try to be apart of the bronzewood lodge
We Start the adventure on the 4th.
I need Some suggestions and help on how to get these unlikely heroes together. This was my plan. Allustan has found out about the map that has the location of the whispering cairn. He Ask Izenfen to send a pupil to “acquire it”. Allustan sends the sorcerer to help. A little mini adenture before thi big one. Not sure about how to meet up with the others.
Also the group has decided to run it in forgotten realms. ^_^ My wife bought it for me for X-mas!
I’ll start a ne thread with a little back story on Pc’s and how I plan and how I actually do this. I think that I will Name the thread.” AoW DM’s 1st Big ONE
The northern group is now this"
Asimar Sorcerer 1st
Elf Monk
Bugbear cleric???? Weird I know (not sure how this will work -_-)
Elf RangerI've got the monk set up with the Twighlight monastery .
The Sorcerer is with Allustan.
The bug bear is semi affiliated with the garrison.
The elf ranger I’m going to try to be apart of the bronzewood lodge
We Start the adventure on the 4th.I need Some suggestions and help on how to get these unlikely heroes together. This was my plan. Allustan has found out about the map that has the location of the whispering cairn. He Ask Izenfen to send a pupil to “acquire it”. Allustan sends the sorcerer to help. A little mini adenture before thi big one. Not sure about how to meet up with the others.
Also the group has decided to run it in forgotten realms. ^_^ My wife bought it for me for X-mas!
I’ll start a ne thread with a little back story on Pc’s and how I plan and how I actually do this. I think that I will Name the thread.” AoW DM’s 1st Big ONE
Hey, I'll be completely honest, I've read absolutely NOTHING about AoW. So I have no real clue who Allustan or Izenfen are or what's really going on in the whole campaign. But going comepletely on what you just stated, it seems pretty easy on how to get the whole group together from a story/roleplaying standpoint. If this Izenfen is sending the sorceror to do his work, make wherever he's going have something dangerous. As such, this sorceror, with magic but frail of body, needs help.
I was originally going to suggest a tavern, where he goes in to look for people, but if that's too cliché for you, you can do something like having him walking around town, to the market or something. Of course, for strength and wisdom, he notices the bugbear cleric, who would most likely stand out very well. He could just be leaving his garrison buddies/contacts, giving the Sorceror a chance to ask him if he can help as a side job "for the weekend" (or something similar).
As for the Monk, that's easy too. As they (the sorceror and now joined cleric) go looking for any others to join up, they come across the monk being harrassed by some hooligans. At first he does nothing, until they really try to hurt him, then it's over in a flash. It could be a way for the monk to test out the skills he's learned.
The Ranger is tougher because I know absolutely nothing about the Bronzewood Lodge, but he could have witnessed you all talking after the monk dropped those guys and came to investigate. Or your troupe could pass by the lodge and see him "wasting his talent" against targets outside (melee or ranged). Either way, you could have him do something that the party notices and asks him to join up too. Then you have the whole group together ready to go.
Anyway, that's just what I made up. You, of course, can completely ignore me, or add whatever you want. That's just what I came up with after reading the posts above. Anyway, yeah, hope that helps at all. If not, I of course, blame ignorance of the Age of Worms. One day, perhaps.
Thank you very much for your comments. ^_^ Any input helps. Things I haven't thought of yet. I like your idea about how to get some of the Pc's to roleplay getting together. I'm afraid that it isn't that important to them. but I will take your advice and Let you all know what happens in the session. Hopefully the ranger will be there.-_-
Well due to schedualing things have run a bit slow =( But that is life! Currently they have just finished the fight in Room 11 of the temple of hextor and theldrick has gotten away.
I have a player that is playing a crusader and I unfortuantly did not realize how cool they are or should I say annoying.
Does anyone know If I can use somthing against him or keep him at bay.
Better yet maybe I could create an enemy for him. I would like some input on this. Please. Thanks
By Crusader, can I assume you mean from ToB? If so I would definately suggest creating a nemesis. A Crusader is a nasty class. You can never count on what their capabilities will be for any given fight considering their manuevers come to them randomly...but then there is Furious Counterstrike. This ability makes them, at least while they are under Steely Resolve, the most powerful fighter in your chars party.
Play to the Crusader's weaknesses. If you are a design oriented DM then create a backstory of an old rival or someone that this character slighted in the past, even if they don't remember it (your NPC certainly will). My suggestion, make a Swordsage rival. If I can assume the Crusader is a Heavy Melee type, then go with a skirmisher for the Sage. Force the Crusader to be mobile (tough if they wear heavy armor). Pick and choose your battlefields. This NPC could actually follow the party into the Temple or on one of the other APs and ambush the party (or just wait for a chance to strike the Crusader). Never overlook a Swordsages stealth capabilities, Hide is your friend. To really give it a good twist, you could, regardless of the AL of the Crusader, give the nemesis a REALLY good reason to hate him/her. Have the rival tell the party at some point in a town about the crusader and what horrible thing he/she did.
If your party is heavy on roleplaying and character development as mine is, they should love this as a twist. "Hmm...maybe he isn't such a paragon of virtue after all...what else is he hiding?"
Just a thought.