I'd like to DM in the near future, and what with the Christmas season giving me a good amount of time to plan (since everyone else is busy with god knows what), I see this as a great opportunity to get myself situated. The problem is, I'm kinda overwhelmed. See, the group is going to start somewhere in Aglarond (Faerun) and there's a couple (or seven) events currently going on at the same time.
1) In between Aglarond and Thay is a marsh with undead and stuffs in it. The undead experiments from Thay usually get lost or wander off and go through the marsh to attack Aglarond, but the Aglarondian patrols have it well taken care of...that is unless a necromancer finds a way to create unrottable undead.
2) Elves in the middle of a forest two thousand years ago created a demiplane because half elves were taking over their forest. They went up to the demiplane, (fast forward to now) and now creatures from outer space are killing them and taking over their demiplane.
3) Aglarond is right next to a gigantimoose lake...that has pirates...nuf said.
4) The cities to the west are full of humans which dont much like half-elves, so human haters (of the radical kind) might be prone to action.
And the list goes on. I'm a new DM, and I'm just not sure where to start. I can create a bunch of base quests, but there's SO much going on, it's crazy. Oh, and the last (and favorite of this whole story) bit is that the Simbul has recently passed away (think insane sorcerer/wizard who was the mate to Elminster), so Aglarond currently has no queen...nor king. So, yeah. Not sure where to start.
Any ideas?
Like tkul posted, pick what interests you and your group the most. Start with that, but maybe have hints dropped at a tavern or town/city criers blasting news around. Just make sure they realize this is background information, not a clue to run off and derail right out of the gates.
But just focus on the one issue and branch out from there. Also, I've not followed FR since WotC has taken over, but don't be afraid to throw things out that you and/or group do not like. Remember, they may publish it, but it is the collective groups world, rehash parts that you all do not like or want.
Hope this helps some and best of luck once you all start playing. :) Also, Paizo's Gamemaster book is a great source of information on starting out as a DM/GM w/e you want to call it. As you get more accustomed to playing and running games, then make your own house rules to balance the game as you and your group(s) play. But just starting out, play by the rules until you feel like you have a good understanding and then try to mix stuff up for more fun.