New D&D Player...

[Seriphina]

Be theatrical! Totally OTT with the voice acting and the story and stuff. We had an awesome DM and he was really good at improv and stuff so if i wanted to chop someones head off and threw a dodgy roll i would take off the top of their skull haha. Just wee things like that make it so good and fun. I mean a lot of ppl take it to the extreme with rp which i was never good at but the voice acting is so much fun. Oh god you should watch i hit it with my axe <3

 

[Naheal]

imo, the most important thing for a DM/GM is to be a good storyteller. game mechanics are important, but definitely secondary. mainly, as long as you are familiar enough with game mechanics to be able to create a challenge for your players without overwhelming them or boring them, you're fine.

Only one other thing that I could even think about adding to this. The (EDIT) best DM's I've ever played with have always remembered, it's not the GM vs the Players. So if you've got a good story don't go overboard by trying to take out the players with way over powered encounters. It's the surest way to kill you game. It killed enough of mine over the 30 years I've been playing. Be sure to keep the encounters interesting and somewhat difficult, so there's alway a chance their characters could get killed, and you'll do fine.

Total opinion. Burn the 4th ed stuff it is way beyond bad.

yeah id have got 3.5 but 4th was all we had to work with
i've been told a few nifty tricks to hybread the rules with 3.5 to get the bonuses of both.
I never really got the problem with 4th edition antil i read into it :/ The whole game feels less tactical, yet far less focused on creativity and imagination.
I mean the minature usage i get, minatures must be a huge source of income for them.
But some of the shit they did with spells and rests just dont hang right with me :/

Don't do 3e or 3.5... there is a rule book for everything, even gravity... one of the main differences between 3e and 4e is that 4e is far, far simpler to DM.

hmmm didnt consider this. 4e seemed kinda limited, but then maybe thats necessery for new players, I if every player suddenly descides a rule is stupid, or something from 3.5 is a better idea, I can always implement it.

The rules in 4th cover... combat and that's really it. There's some notes on how skills work, but, beyond that, there's nothing major. 3.0 and 3.5's rules are supposed to help someone work around the world itself in a relatively realistic manner. 4th has no such set of rules.

 

[Megalodon]

World of Darkness is what im going to try if D&D fails to captivate, or becomes to cumbersom. Im a big fan of Vampire the Masqurade. so thats the same sort of advantage i have with D&D

as for published campaigns, I get the impression my first game is going to set ALOT of opinions in my players, I want to show them how I intend the game to be played; if I can trully captivate them with my own epic starting tale, even if the rules and balance are a little ropey, It should set an impression as 2 how future games will be
Im defintly thinking about usuing a published adventure in my secound game though.

For the moment, ill avoid traps as per all your good advice. I dont want to risk killing players this early on too much, though of course I dont want them to know that. No ones really fermilure enough with the rules to be prepared for extra skill checks to get involved if I can avoid it anyway I guess

Oh and thanks for the check for traps thread, I never even looked at it before despite reading almost everything on the site, seems pretty dame usefull.

Fair enough, Vampire's pretty good, but the play style didn't really fit with my old RPG group when I ran it.
I'd actually advise against published campaigns, but again, that's just a personal thing, I find them a lot less interesting to run, plus there's always a chance the players know about it and know the villian/ending/plot twist in advance, but I guess that is less of a problem if you're GMing for a group of players new to RPGs.
Don't forget, ask for random skill/stat tests at irregular intevals, and ask questions about their stats then roll dice behind a screen. It's the best way to build tension in your players, plus griefing the PCs is pretty much your job as GM.

 

[Amnestic]

My advice is probably wasted by this point, but I'd sasy don't plat D&D.This is only the view of me and my mates, but the D20 system basically sucks, it's very arbitary and complicated. Case in point, in our current campaign, our tank paladin was hurt by a suprise crossbow bolt because he failed a reflex save, completely ignoring the fact he was armoured to the gills.

Don't crossbow bolts have pretty good armour penetration? That's part of why they were so popular. Cheap, required little training to use and decent at taking down armoured knights.

So long as you have someone with Thievery, traps shouldn't be an issue. Also, as a DM, you can eliminate traps altogether when you don't have someone with Thievery around.

Do Clerics not get the Detect Traps spell in 4th?

It's automatic with the Thievery skill, which you can pick up either during character creation (class dependent) or through a feat (class independent. Feats are gained every 2 levels rather than every 3, so this isn't as big of a deal anymore) Rationale is that, if you're trained in disarming traps, you can detect them. Thievery covers disarming traps, opening locks, and pickpocketing.

Also, most non-combat spells have been swapped to "rituals". They don't consume spells per day, but some consume Healing Surges, which are used to heal throughout the day. If you run out of Healing Surges/day, you can't heal, even through magic. The only exception is an ability that heals you but doesn't consume a Healing Surge, which is fairly rare and usually requires the caster to spend one of theirs to heal you.

Furthermore, rituals are skill based. All require training in Arcana, which is fairly common for even divine or primal casters (druids, shamans, barbarians), but some require Religion or Nature in addition to that. Once the ritual is cast, many require an actual skill check to determine how powerful the effect is going to be.

I honestly don't think that Detect Traps exists anymore beyond beyond a bonus to perception when searching for traps.

Nnnn. I'm not sure how much I like that change. Having a spell which allows you to spot traps, but not disable them, is nice I think. It also saves a character from having to spend skill points in Thievery. And really, a Cleric with Thievery? Sorry, I don't see it. Seems wrong to me. I'd probably reimpliment Detect Traps as a spell if I were running the game.

Rituals...what constitutes a "non-combat" spell? I've not got a 4th Ed. spell list so I'll work by my 3.5th one. Would Quench count? The Protection from- spell set? Flying spells? Obscuring Mist? Hell, even an Open/Close spell has combat potential given the right situation.

Some spells have both combat and non-combat uses, especially if you get creative. I might have to get a 4th handbook myself just to investigate, but I don't think I'm really sold on the ritual idea, but maybe I just need to try it out for myself. *shrug*

 

[Megalodon]

My advice is probably wasted by this point, but I'd sasy don't plat D&D.This is only the view of me and my mates, but the D20 system basically sucks, it's very arbitary and complicated. Case in point, in our current campaign, our tank paladin was hurt by a suprise crossbow bolt because he failed a reflex save, completely ignoring the fact he was armoured to the gills.

Don't crossbow bolts have pretty good armour penetration? That's part of why they were so popular. Cheap, required little training to use and decent at taking down armoured knights.

In real life yes, but D20 also doesn't reflect that, as there are no mundane armour penetration rules. It was annoying because if he had been shot by the same crossbow in a normal fight, his armour would have had an effect. But because of the "trap" situation, his armour class (including a tower shield, which would be pretty good at stopping arrow fire) is completely ignored.

 

[Lucifer dern]

My advice is probably wasted by this point, but I'd sasy don't plat D&D.This is only the view of me and my mates, but the D20 system basically sucks, it's very arbitary and complicated. Case in point, in our current campaign, our tank paladin was hurt by a suprise crossbow bolt because he failed a reflex save, completely ignoring the fact he was armoured to the gills.

Don't crossbow bolts have pretty good armour penetration? That's part of why they were so popular. Cheap, required little training to use and decent at taking down armoured knights.

In real life yes, but D20 also doesn't reflect that, as there are no mundane armour penetration rules. It was annoying because if he had been shot by the same crossbow in a normal fight, his armour would have had an effect. But because of the "trap" situation, his armour class (including a tower shield, which would be pretty good at stopping arrow fire) is completely ignored.

why not just change that single rule so it is?

 

[Naheal]

Nnnn. I'm not sure how much I like that change. Having a spell which allows you to spot traps, but not disable them, is nice I think. It also saves a character from having to spend skill points in Thievery. And really, a Cleric with Thievery? Sorry, I don't see it. Seems wrong to me. I'd probably reimpliment Detect Traps as a spell if I were running the game.

Rituals...what constitutes a "non-combat" spell? I've not got a 4th Ed. spell list so I'll work by my 3.5th one. Would Quench count? The Protection from- spell set? Flying spells? Obscuring Mist? Hell, even an Open/Close spell has combat potential given the right situation.

Some spells have both combat and non-combat uses, especially if you get creative. I might have to get a 4th handbook myself just to investigate, but I don't think I'm really sold on the ritual idea, but maybe I just need to try it out for myself. *shrug*

On the first point, I cite Clerics of Mask or any other deity of thieves. I also argued it for a cleric of Denir (I believe. Whomever the god of knowledge was) with the rationale of him being an information dealer by trade. There's a rationale for it with every character, but you have to be able to work through it in their background.

For example: I'm a Paladin (These guys aren't limited to LG anymore. Paladins can be of any alignment or diety. They're literally just fighters for whatever god it is that they follow). I grew up on the streets and picked up a few skills on how to survive, specifically skills in larceny. This is reflected in a feat that I took (Thievery). Bear in mind that the key ability still hasn't changed, so I could be trained in the skill, but still be shit at it.

The "Protection from" spells don't exist anymore for the most part. Alignment based spells tend to not exist anymore (They screwed with the alignment system. I changed it back for my games). Spells like quench would work as a non-combat spell and Open/Close could fall under a wizard's cantrip spell. That said, with the genuine lack of cast time based spells, I've begun to add battle rituals to add that to the mix.

Class wise, there are multiple ways to add a rogue or healer to the party without having a rogue or a cleric. Bards (Player's Handbook 2) are considered healers now. One class, the Warlord, is a martial based healer. He functions really well, but rationalizing his healing is a bit difficult at times. As far as rogues go, there's a new class, called the Avenger, which is essentially the old Divine Seeker from Forgotten Realms given more actual divine based abilities. Furthermore, classes like the Warlock and Bard have access to Thievery now, so it's relatively easy to replace a lack of a rogue.

Back to the point you were trying to come across with some of those spells, though, spells like "Shield" have been switched to "utility spells/abilities" which don't do any real damage, but provide short-term bonuses to skills or defenses. These spells are regulated in the same way as any other spell. Ritual spells tend to be things along the lines of Knock, Affect Normal Fires, Summon Mount, Enchant Weapon, Purify Water, and things along those lines.

Really, the strength of 4th ed over 3.5 is that, though 3.5 allowed for customization from the ground up with the classes available and what Prestige Classes were available, 4th ed give a much broader flavor for their base classes in that you could literally point at any power source (Arcane, Divine, Martial, Primal, Psionic) and any particular job (They split it up off of basic MMO mentalities, but, when you think about it, several classes can be modified to fit another job. "Jobs" are Defender, Striker, Controller, and Leaders, who end up being your healer).

One of my favorite classes in 4th, the Swordmage, permits me to play a character type that, in 3.5, required at least three other classes in order to pull off properly. Furthermore, the Assassin class, which is only available through some Dragon Magazine issues, is a completely different class altogether from the Rogue class. Different feel and everything.

 

[Folio]

D&D is actually highly customizable. You can combine certain rules with eachother and rewrite and add some of your own.

I'm starting D&D with the Red Box, a Game Store owner said that the one with the most D&D experience should try to be the DM. ...Yeah... 'experience' Not gonna happen.

There was a thread like this before, what I've noted was: "Don't Multiclass, EVER." Now I know what multiclassing is, and it's confusing.

Also 'getting off cheap' is a weird way to play D&D. It's never really cheap.

You can download the PDF's, but if you're doing that illegal than it's at your own risk. (unless you really have the book, than downloading is legal because you bought or own the content) Make sure your group has seen the books. Read the DM tips through. Try to make the beginning of the story interesting even if you have a handful of Goblin types to begin with. (I took both Monster Vaults, I've heard there was a third one, too. The second Vault contains Grey Oozes which are really nice for first level critters.)

 

[Megalodon]

My advice is probably wasted by this point, but I'd sasy don't plat D&D.This is only the view of me and my mates, but the D20 system basically sucks, it's very arbitary and complicated. Case in point, in our current campaign, our tank paladin was hurt by a suprise crossbow bolt because he failed a reflex save, completely ignoring the fact he was armoured to the gills.

Don't crossbow bolts have pretty good armour penetration? That's part of why they were so popular. Cheap, required little training to use and decent at taking down armoured knights.

In real life yes, but D20 also doesn't reflect that, as there are no mundane armour penetration rules. It was annoying because if he had been shot by the same crossbow in a normal fight, his armour would have had an effect. But because of the "trap" situation, his armour class (including a tower shield, which would be pretty good at stopping arrow fire) is completely ignored.

why not just change that single rule so it is?

Because it's not really worth it, plus our GM can't be arsed. D20 is generally functional, me and my group simply prefer other systems. This was just an example of the sort of unintuitive annoying rule that means the system is far from our favourite (for the record, the reason we are playing D20 is the GM doesn't want to have to convert the entire Iron Kingdoms setting, written for D&D 3.5, to a better system, as it would simply be too much work).

 

[Lucifer dern]

D&D is actually highly customizable. You can combine certain rules with eachother and rewrite and add some of your own.

I'm starting D&D with the Red Box, a Game Store owner said that the one with the most D&D experience should try to be the DM. ...Yeah... 'experience' Not gonna happen.

There was a thread like this before, what I've noted was: "Don't Multiclass, EVER." Now I know what multiclassing is, and it's confusing.

Also 'getting off cheap' is a weird way to play D&D. It's never really cheap.

You can download the PDF's, but if you're doing that illegal than it's at your own risk. (unless you really have the book, than downloading is legal because you bought or own the content) Make sure your group has seen the books. Read the DM tips through. Try to make the beginning of the story interesting even if you have a handful of Goblin types to begin with. (I took both Monster Vaults, I've heard there was a third one, too. The second Vault contains Grey Oozes which are really nice for first level critters.)

We are doing it cheap, in the meaning that we have a budget of £0. But where not doign anything illigal. Where all hoping to get into the games industry, condoning piracy is just going to be shooting are selves in the foot. But we got the books for free, my friends brother had a small collection, which are the ones we are using. that is why we are playing 4th.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Here's a link to a guy who's been doing it for years, and his advice, which is pretty darn good.

http://www.goblinscomic.com/dungeon-master-tips/

 

[kouriichi]

Be a bit loose with the rules, and make sure you roll your dice behind your Dm's board/book.
That way you can fib with the dice sometimes to make the game more dramatic.

Sometimes i make players completely destroy a group of creatures so they feel like heros, and then other times i like to have them get destroyed to build tension, and then let them more or less win in the end with fewer casualties.

 

[Folio]

D&D is actually highly customizable. You can combine certain rules with eachother and rewrite and add some of your own.

I'm starting D&D with the Red Box, a Game Store owner said that the one with the most D&D experience should try to be the DM. ...Yeah... 'experience' Not gonna happen.

There was a thread like this before, what I've noted was: "Don't Multiclass, EVER." Now I know what multiclassing is, and it's confusing.

Also 'getting off cheap' is a weird way to play D&D. It's never really cheap.

You can download the PDF's, but if you're doing that illegal than it's at your own risk. (unless you really have the book, than downloading is legal because you bought or own the content) Make sure your group has seen the books. Read the DM tips through. Try to make the beginning of the story interesting even if you have a handful of Goblin types to begin with. (I took both Monster Vaults, I've heard there was a third one, too. The second Vault contains Grey Oozes which are really nice for first level critters.)

We are doing it cheap, in the meaning that we have a budget of £0. But where not doign anything illigal. Where all hoping to get into the games industry, condoning piracy is just going to be shooting are selves in the foot. But we got the books for free, my friends brother had a small collection, which are the ones we are using. that is why we are playing 4th.

Where are you going to get the dice? How will you represent the player characters? You will have to be pretty crafty is you don't even want to spend a buck or two. (what? pounds? ...a pound or two then...)

 

[Naheal]

D&D is actually highly customizable. You can combine certain rules with eachother and rewrite and add some of your own.

I'm starting D&D with the Red Box, a Game Store owner said that the one with the most D&D experience should try to be the DM. ...Yeah... 'experience' Not gonna happen.

There was a thread like this before, what I've noted was: "Don't Multiclass, EVER." Now I know what multiclassing is, and it's confusing.

Also 'getting off cheap' is a weird way to play D&D. It's never really cheap.

You can download the PDF's, but if you're doing that illegal than it's at your own risk. (unless you really have the book, than downloading is legal because you bought or own the content) Make sure your group has seen the books. Read the DM tips through. Try to make the beginning of the story interesting even if you have a handful of Goblin types to begin with. (I took both Monster Vaults, I've heard there was a third one, too. The second Vault contains Grey Oozes which are really nice for first level critters.)

We are doing it cheap, in the meaning that we have a budget of £0. But where not doign anything illigal. Where all hoping to get into the games industry, condoning piracy is just going to be shooting are selves in the foot. But we got the books for free, my friends brother had a small collection, which are the ones we are using. that is why we are playing 4th.

I have some advice. Use an online tabletop such as OpenRPG or Maptools. This should help with representing your characters and whatnot. They're both completely free, so piracy isn't an issue with these programs. Even if you're just local, these programs can seriously alleviate costs of gaming.

 

[Lucifer dern]

D&D is actually highly customizable. You can combine certain rules with eachother and rewrite and add some of your own.

I'm starting D&D with the Red Box, a Game Store owner said that the one with the most D&D experience should try to be the DM. ...Yeah... 'experience' Not gonna happen.

There was a thread like this before, what I've noted was: "Don't Multiclass, EVER." Now I know what multiclassing is, and it's confusing.

Also 'getting off cheap' is a weird way to play D&D. It's never really cheap.

You can download the PDF's, but if you're doing that illegal than it's at your own risk. (unless you really have the book, than downloading is legal because you bought or own the content) Make sure your group has seen the books. Read the DM tips through. Try to make the beginning of the story interesting even if you have a handful of Goblin types to begin with. (I took both Monster Vaults, I've heard there was a third one, too. The second Vault contains Grey Oozes which are really nice for first level critters.)

We are doing it cheap, in the meaning that we have a budget of £0. But where not doign anything illigal. Where all hoping to get into the games industry, condoning piracy is just going to be shooting are selves in the foot. But we got the books for free, my friends brother had a small collection, which are the ones we are using. that is why we are playing 4th.

I have some advice. Use an online tabletop such as OpenRPG or Maptools. This should help with representing your characters and whatnot. They're both completely free, so piracy isn't an issue with these programs. Even if you're just local, these programs can seriously alleviate costs of gaming.

you my freind, are whats known as a legend.

 

[Lucifer dern]

we have enough stuff to start, as my m8s brother had everything thats really needed to start as a player

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

imo, the most important thing for a DM/GM is to be a good storyteller. game mechanics are important, but definitely secondary. mainly, as long as you are familiar enough with game mechanics to be able to create a challenge for your players without overwhelming them or boring them, you're fine.

I like that idea, I choose 2 be the GM just for the story telling
I've already got riddles and handouts ready
Bit worryed about group composition though, Theirs 4 of us (including me) they want to be :
cleric
paladin
warlock
Im not sure how things like traps work without a rouge around :/ People tell me we should have gone for the red box route, but we didnt even have the money for that :/

Do what my DM does.

" What? None of you were smart enough to get trap searching skills? Well fuck not using any I'm gonna rain them down on you till you get smart! "

He's not very forgiving as you can see.

 

[Lucifer dern]

imo, the most important thing for a DM/GM is to be a good storyteller. game mechanics are important, but definitely secondary. mainly, as long as you are familiar enough with game mechanics to be able to create a challenge for your players without overwhelming them or boring them, you're fine.

I like that idea, I choose 2 be the GM just for the story telling
I've already got riddles and handouts ready
Bit worryed about group composition though, Theirs 4 of us (including me) they want to be :
cleric
paladin
warlock
Im not sure how things like traps work without a rouge around :/ People tell me we should have gone for the red box route, but we didnt even have the money for that :/

Do what my DM does.

" What? None of you were smart enough to get trap searching skills? Well fuck not using any I'm gonna rain them down on you till you get smart! "

He's not very forgiving as you can see.

for are first session...i thinck i have to be atleast a little forgiving...
but after that i will rain down holy fire of angels on them so they go home and study the fucking books like ive had 2

 

[Johnny Impact]

For book rules, 3.5 is the ultimate version of classic D&D while 4e is D&D reinvented as an MMORPG. You'll have to figure out which you like best. Both have features to recommend them.

For GMing, remember three golden rules. The first is the Four C's: Challenge, Continuity, Consistency, and my favorite, Consequences.

The second: Describe, Describe, DESCRIBE. "There's a ten foot square room with a kobold in it" is just *slightly* less interesting than, "The door opens to reveal a tiny chamber wherein a wiry reptilian creature is napping on a stool, head leaning against the wall. Its eyes open slightly, then it scrambles to its feet in surprise."

Third: Realistic Reactions By Monsters and NPCs. That kobold is smart enough not to attack a party of adventurers by itself! It should run away, marshal reinforcements, and set up an ambush. Have it do so.

 

[Kevonovitch]

all V4 is WoW on paper w/ D&D looks. 3.5 and pathfinder are WAY better in every way, and best of all; they're ACTUALLY D&D.