So in a couple of weeks (after I move into my new house) I'm playing with a group of friends from work who are experienced DND players. I'm a little intimidated. They've agreed to play BB since I'm most familiar with the BB ruleset, but I'm worried about what they'll throw at me. Not sure why, but I am. Really all we're focusing on is going through the story and the first session is going to be a one-shot dungeon bash. I'm most comfortable with writing my own adventures so that's the plan.
Any advice or reassurances? I'm sure we'll have fun but....I don't know...I feel like I'm missing something...
I think I sounded a little desperate. What I'm trying to get help with is how can I make things interesting without all of my encounters being "kill the monster?" I get flavor encounters, but what else?
Don't be afraid to keep it simple (just "kill the monster" is fine-- no need to overdescribe, the game is cool in and of itself) and if they are experienced, don't be afraid to ask for help.
I'm sure they'll have their own opinion on what way to play is the most fun.
The tip from me is to create multiple paths and make sure your players have options on how to deal with the dungeon, because that's what I like but everyone's different.
Good luck.
You'll be fine Shallowhammer. Your more experienced friends will help you fill in the gaps rules-wise when you've got your mind on keeping the adventure going.
Don't worry about messing up, just take it easy and go with the flow.
quick DM advice,
Make a couple of note cards and paperclip them to your DM screen. Have all the PC names on one card(its also helpful to have their AC, their total HP, and their Perception skill written down here too for quick reference, so you don't have to keep asking them)
On another card, right down key events in your adventure, or little adventure fluff that you don't want to forget. That way it is front and center, and it'll be easier to keep in the forefront of your mind.
Its cool that you prefer to right your own stuff. I'm sure your buddies will have a good time. Keep it up.
After a few sessions, when you've got the basics down, here is my favorite way to play these games, by Clint Krause:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6d5NvbMvT4
Works with any edition or D&D-like game, including the Beginner Box, if you handwave the wilderness travel, or use the suggestions from the thread Wilderness Adventures on this forum:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r7bu?Wilderness-Adventures
http://donjon.bin.sh has a dungeon generator for Pathfinder that stocks and everything, make up a few of these and make up a town as per Clint's suggestions and you'll have the beginnings of a great campaign.
But get the basics down first, be comfortable with the rules and your players.
Good luck and let us know how it went.
Another trick is to give them false choices. If they start in town, they can either go to the bar, take the trail to the local farm, or the path by the ruined shrine. Either way, they meet the tinker who was robbed by goblins and needs help.
Stuff like that.
If a group of veterans is happy for you to run BB, it sounds like they're invested in having you succeed as a GM.
Some individuals/parties also really like monster bashing. You'll be fine. Enjoy it!
Shallowhammer,
If you’ve never played, Black Fang’s Dungeon in the Pathfinder’s Beginner Box kind of walks you through how the rules work as the players traverse.
Creating your own stuff can wait until you’re comfortable with the rules.
SmiloDan,
not every group likes that sort of pre-planned play, though.
Here’s a D6 table for you to fill out:
Town encounters
1. A tinker was robbed by goblins and need help
2. An old woman tells you about the location of a treasure she saw when she was a young adventurer, decades ago.
3. etc... fill in the rest of the table before play starts. And when you use one, scratch it out and come up with a new one.
You can also find plenty of similar tables online or in books.
Having some uncertainty in the world helps the DM to not become married to a particular outcome and help give the players some agency. If they don’t care about treasure and want to keep wandering about town, maybe next time they encounter something it’ll be a tinker and helping him will appeal more to their helpful nature.
It’s tempting to carefully craft a memorable encounter but it’s risky. You might end up struggling against the players to get them “back on track”, or taking away their agency as players. Trying to “write a great story” is more effort than it’s worth. Putting the energy into creating and portraying a living game world is time better spent, and few simple things in that direction — such as having a few simple dungeons with multiple paths, rather than one well-crafted but linear dungeon — go a long way.
Keeping things brief and flexible, using simple monsters, is a good start.
The Game Master’s Guide in the Beginner Box has everything you need... a map of the town, ideas for adventures, monster tables for when the player’s are out in the wilderness...
Have fun!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks everybody. That's a great help. I'm feeling better about it. my players are also beign encouraging so I'm starting to feel better now. I'll post about the game after the fact. Thanks all!
Just know that RPG players usually come to have fun, not to "win the game".
So as long as they have fun, it'll be okay.
As experienced players, they should take into account that you're a newbie and shouldn't bother you about "this" or "that".
In a RPG game, most of the time is spent in talking to each other, wether players asking DM for more accurate details (is this door locked ? can I see an open window ? do the bird songs seem natural ? can I fly casually ?) or talking to NPC (or to each other) while impersonating their characters.
The rules only comme in some special points : fights, important perception checks, particularly difficult obstacles, special situations (like limited time to check some skill successfully, or disarming some trap while in the middle of a fight)
Apart from those special occurences, just tell the story and fit its the details with how are acting the characters.
It's really more easy that it sounds.
At the end of the game, ask your friends how they liked the game and take their feedback into account to improve yourself game after game.
And don't forget that every player is different, every game group is different.
You won't always be able to please everyone.
The secret is not to please always the same player but each of them regularly, so no one will get bored.
Opposing board games, an RPG is played on the long run.
Also, as the game master, they will always want you to succeed, that's where all the fun is created.
A good thing might be to look into what type of characters they are making, see what their strenghts and weaknesses will be so you can gauge how you are going to challenge them on those.
2) Puzzle - Most RPG puzzles are something for the player to solve rather than the character, but do offer tie-ins for the character's skills to affect the outcome. For example, if you have to push columns in a certain order, perhaps the ranger can look for tracks in the dust on the floor, or the rogue can use Disable Device to figure out part of the mechanism, or the wizard remembers an arcane tome which describes how to build one of these devices. Popular choices have been Minesweeper, Mastermind board game, riddles, number sequences or tessellation shapes
This is something I really like since it allows the players to use their own solving skills in addition to their character abilities to get hints. Everyone loves a good puzzle!