tyler
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 226
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Post by tyler on Dec 27, 2017 13:07:41 GMT -8
I've got a friend who wants to try GMing, and has asked me for advice. I've given him a ton of generic advice, like "Let the players be badasses" and "Yes, and" and all that, but he's also looking for some more specific advice for running D&D 5e.
What things do you wish you had known before you ran your first 5e game?
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Post by ilina on Dec 27, 2017 17:17:09 GMT -8
don't roll for stats. i found that huge differences in baseline statistics lead to huge power disparity between the players which can result in a lot of arguing and bickering when the character with 3 18's. a 16 and nothing below 12 is as good if not better than everyone else at thier job.
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Post by ilina on Dec 27, 2017 20:23:28 GMT -8
nice little trick for a new dungeon master for just about any edition of D&D or d20 is to include a good amount of gold sinks to remove the excess gold from the game. player characters will amass massive fortunes as early as 8th, maybe 10th level. give them something tangible to spend that gold on. whether tomes that grant proficiency in a new weapon, skill, tool or language, paying extra to commission the crafting of a highly specialized magic weapon, building a stronghold, recruiting and funding allies, or buying permanent long term bonuses.
in fact, don't be afraid to charge for easy condition removal or resurrection at the higher levels. more characters care about their wallet than their own lives. and while you don't have to start every newbie from scratch, i would say that targeting the wallet has a bigger sting than targetting the character in most modern RPGs.
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Post by Kainguru on Dec 27, 2017 23:43:59 GMT -8
Review the impact of inspiration and character traits in the game, as well being comfortable with advantage/disadvantage mechanic. Decide early which options to invoke from DMG. Make sure you understand how magic works in 5e with slots and the difference between memorised and known - first glance it looks like a typical vancian magic system except it’s not what it appears to be. Don’t sweat the small stuff, those are wrinkles that be ironed out later. Aaron
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Post by jonas on Jan 4, 2018 4:24:59 GMT -8
If they ever played 4:th edition before, remind them that they no longer are the lovechilds of Son-Goku and Indiana Jones and instead brittle accountants with asthma. ;-)
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Post by vyrrk on Jan 7, 2018 16:22:30 GMT -8
Number 1 thing that I wish would have been explained to me is... Plan out problems for the players, not the solutions. This helps you learn to listen to your players and be open to their ideas.
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Post by ilina on Jan 8, 2018 18:41:38 GMT -8
a huge mistake i have done in smaller groups is flooding a bunch of NPCs to help with fights that are harder as a tool of saying how badass a particular boss monster is.
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tyler
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 226
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Post by tyler on Jan 15, 2018 0:41:12 GMT -8
Number 1 thing that I wish would have been explained to me is... Plan out problems for the players, not the solutions. This helps you learn to listen to your players and be open to their ideas. This is great. Don't plan the way they can solve the problem, because that puts you in a mindset of "This is the way it has to be done." Nice, thanks.
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Post by chronovore on Feb 3, 2018 8:51:34 GMT -8
Number 1 thing that I wish would have been explained to me is... Plan out problems for the players, not the solutions. This helps you learn to listen to your players and be open to their ideas. This is great. Don't plan the way they can solve the problem, because that puts you in a mindset of "This is the way it has to be done." Nice, thanks. Yeah, Stu's said this a bunch of times, but I never get tired of hearing it. So many DMs/GMs early in my gaming years could NOT figure out why the players couldn't see the "obvious" solution. Just make a situation, and be open to their solutions, is how I roll all the time now.
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Mike from MI
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 6
Preferred Game Systems: "I play BOTH types of RPGs, Dungeons AND Dragons!"
Currently Running: Eberron 5e
Favorite Species of Monkey: three-headed
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Post by Mike from MI on Mar 11, 2018 3:59:34 GMT -8
Hm, specific for D&D advice... I suppose being aware of number ranges is good. For the first few levels (unless they rolled high stats) most PC attacks and strong ability checks will be at +4 or +5, and that won't increase sharply as they level. Just saying 5e isn't 3e/pathfinder, characters won't charop to get +17 to a skill check by level 3.
When calling for checks, DC 13 is a good starting point. It's a point the average human will fail at more often than not, but your heroic PC usually has an even chance or better to succeed. Adjust up and down for harder or easier tasks.
Don't call for an ability check unless the PC really has a chance to fail, *and* that chance to fail can add to the tension or story. PCs need to climb an easily climbable wall? They just do it. Expert locksmith needs to get in a locked door? They just do it. Though you can call for a check if they're on a time crunch and they need to get in quickly before the goblin army shows up or the room starts flooding.
If playing with first-time players, start with a simple one-shot adventure and pregen characters. Get to the action and show them how fun the game can be fast. Try to avoid someone's first impression of D&D (or RPGs in general) be waiting around for hours, passing the one confusing PHB back and forth to make characters.
Take a look at the options your players picked for their characters, not just their backstory, to help inform what kind of story they want to take part in. When designing encounters, play to both their weaknesses and strengths. Nobody has a slashing weapon? Occasionally throw in a monster who's resistant to everything but slashing, but don't overdo it. Wizard just got access to Fireball? Throw a swarm of goblins at them, in tight formation, charging from a long distance away. In one of my games, a character took the Sentinel feat, which gives the PC extra actions in combat if enemies act a certain way - and I made sure some of those enemies acted that way. In other words, reward the PCs with opportunities to use the choices they made.
On your crib sheet, scribble notes about PC RP elements. Traits, bonds, flaws, that stuff is super easy to forget if you're coming from other systems like D&D, both for DMs and players. Take all the advice for handing out bennies in hippy games and apply it here for awarding Inspiration. Make a show of awarding Inspiration even if (and especially if) they already have unspent Inspiration. I use glass aquarium beads as something tangible players can hold and see, and place on their character sheet, and a small glass candle holder in front of the GM screen where spare ones are stored.
Use Advantage and Disadvantage liberally.
Unless you want to houserule it in, and players are okay with it, don't do nasty fumbles on a natural 1. That is not part of the core rules, and near as I can tell has never been part of the core rules of any version of D&D. I'm just a bit salty on this one, as I played in a bad game once where I played a dual-wielding rogue, rolled a 1 for an attack roll, and through DM complications rolled a nat 20 to hit myself for double damage *and* sneak attack, and everybody thought it was hilarious that I had just decapitated my own character to death. Except for me, of course.
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Post by chronovore on Mar 14, 2018 4:59:11 GMT -8
Are there cases where decapitation has happened "not to death"?
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Post by chronovore on Mar 15, 2018 22:51:12 GMT -8
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