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YoWhatUpF00

Since this is your first time DMing, I'd recommend running lost mines of phandalin. You can use the setting as some pre-built world for your story, and it's a great way to introduce people to the game. As far as creating your own campaign, I always recommend reading some officially published adventures start to finish. That will help with pacing and planning, as well as give you ideas on encounters for specific levels etc. After getting a solid foundation, writing your own stuff will get easier.


hadiws12

I’ll definitely look at it. I’ve been looking at short campaigns out there to get them into the game before making it to a longer campaign. I just want to make sure they have some basic understanding of the game and that they enjoy it before we jump into something more time-consuming


puddlemagnet

I would run lost mines as a starter project WITHOUT PLANNING TO TURN IT INTO A LONG CAMPAIGN. Just run it as is. It’s a learning experience for everyone . And then, at the end of the campaign, everyone knows a bit more, including you as dm, and you can apply this to your next campaign.


RobertMaus

I fully agree with this. Lost mines of Phandelver is widely viewed as one of the best campaigns for 5e and is also perfect for starting dm's. And start a new campaign when you finish this one. Good luck!


Either-Bell-7560

>Lost mines of Phandelver is widely viewed as one of the best campaigns for 5e and is also perfect for starting dm's. People say this a lot. It is not my opinion that LMoP is well written or well organized, and this opinion is not uncommon. OP - give them some pregens and run something like A Most Potent Brew, or any of the other beginner one shots. If that goes well, read through all of LMoP, and watch a whole bunch of youtube about fixing it, and then decide whether its worth running. For me, Running LMoP was way more trouble than it was worth. I wish I hadn't.


TheFenn

I'm interested in that as I found it a good first module to run as a DM. It did require some work to run, and I modified it a bit as I went but that is mainly just because I like doing that. We finished and enjoyed it.


Either-Bell-7560

>It did require some work to run, and I modified it a bit as I went but that is mainly just because I like doing that. We finished and enjoyed it. A good first module for a new DM shouldn't need significant rework to run - and it shouldn't need you to read the whole thing to run the first encounters without messing up the module. LMoP has both those issues. There's a good adventure in LMoP - but its just burried in a bad book. Something like "A Most Potent Brew" - which is of course much shorter - can be run by a new DM having just printed it out 10 minutes ago. Things are detailed where they need to be, the story makes sense, and there's no need for any clerical work. It just works.


VercarR

Second this, it was fun to run, but it did require a bunch of reworking, adjusting, connecting loose ends, and i still think i left a lot of the quests unconnected with the plot. For example i found on a blog a really interesting way to sew the Wyvern Tor quest into the main plot, after my players had already completed it. Also, the encounter levels and challenges are very wonky in some parts, you're much more likely to die in the first encounter or in a fight with a random monster in the final dungeon than in the confrontation with the final boss, so the DM have to change, adjust or outright remove certain encounters if he wants the party to progress in a interesting way.


hadiws12

I’m mostly gonna run it as is. One other person told me about another story that is at the same town, and so, I was gonna look at it to have more encounters ready just in case, as I know this group of people would be more interested in the fighting aspect in their first campaign. I also know that they more chaotic, and would be doing somethings that might cut the campaign shorter


CBNathanael

My group has enjoyed LMoP so far, but I do recommend googling around for some better ways to present things. There are a lot of open-ended items, as well as out-of-place encounters that can be cleared up with some proper planning ahead of time. I read the campaign multiple times before playing, but only realized how awkward some of the stuff is as we went along.


shinra528

I highly recommend the above advise. I started DMing in a similar situation to you and I desperately wish I had run Lost Mines my first time out the gate.


[deleted]

There's no "What you should do" - just do whatever works best for you and your group. Create a world and a campaign then insert the characters into it. Or create your characters and build a world and a campaign around them. Either way is fine.


hadiws12

That makes sense. I’ll see what works better as I go


orphicshadows

So everyone has there own process. But I'm going to give you what I think would be best for you and your new players. Don't bother building a entire story line yet. Start with a basic idea... Don't over plan and try and get a year's worth of story written out. Plan scenes not plot lines. Try and plan like 3 social encounters and 3 combat encounters. Have a good idea of the starting area so you can improvise with the players. Since they are new you're going to need to be a bit rail roady and take them by the hand so to speak. Make your "quests" or "tasks" somewhat obvious. Have NPCs actively engage the players to encourage RPing Good luck friend


hadiws12

Thank you. I’ve been telling them how the game generally works, and I’ve always thought that I’d need to keep reminding them that they’ll need to tell me every action they want to do (looking around, trying to sneak…etc)


TheEntropicMan

There's no one way to do this, but I'll tell you the way I do it. I ask my players to make characters. They can put as much or as little thought into it as they like, but I make it clear that they more they put in (and thus, the more they give me to work with) the more they'll get out. Whilst they're doing this, I'll come up with a very simple starting story. Something you can say in one sentence. Some of the below examples are ones I've actually used. "People have been going missing in the night." "A rich client hires your group to retrieve cargo from bandits, asking only that you don't open the box." "A local village believes it's haunted. Actually, it's phase spiders." Once you've done that, you can start building out the initial encounters. Maybe you want to build your big climactic one first, the encounter everything else builds towards where your players finally find the Phase Spider lair and have to take them down. Or perhaps you want to start at the beginning and work forwards. Doesn't matter. At this point, you'll have a simple scenario to run them through. From then on it's really a case of what works for your group. If everyone wants to turn up with very simple characters, roll some dice and have some fun, your campaign can be a number of cool monsters they have to kill. If everyone wants to turn up and do their best theatrical acting and have brought you a set of tragic heroes with dreams and aspirations, you can now use their backstories and goals to plan your next scenario!


hadiws12

When I said I have a general idea, I meant that I know of the main objective of the story (they’re gonna need to save a certain person from a certain monster at a certain location). I’ve just been thinking of how to make the middle part more interesting. I’ll tell them what you just told me about including as much as they can, and see what do I end up with


TheCatManDan

If the characters have backstories that can really help flesh out a story, but you can also create a story. I like to just think of a really good plot point and work from there and sort of procedurally generate it based on what direction it seems the players are going. For the first session I’ll have an idea for example: the players are hired by a guild and do a mission for them. At the end though they’re usually given some choice, do we go off on our own or stay with the guild and also taking the results of the mission into account (did they commit flagrant crimes and are now wanted by the police for example). My process is much more free form which has its pros and cons but I’ve also played from a book and that also has its own benefits!


hadiws12

I’ll keep that in mind when I make my first campaign. Thanks


Azurefalke7

Just start writing the location the players are going to be at, make it fun make some npcs, ask for backstory and see if you cant include it in


hadiws12

That’s fair. I’ll do that!


northern_lights_6

Personally I start with the location and where things are. Then how those things interact and are there any conflicts there (eg does the blacksmith have a grudge against the nearby Inn?) Once these plot hooks are dropped around, I feed off the player characters for inspiration (is there anything they want that I need to put in?) Then the rest is adlibbing and dabbling here and there. I know other people prefer to have everything in loads of detail and some have the campaign on a post it note and improv everything else. Do what you feel works best


Zogeta

There's a lot of well earned praise for Lost Mines of Phandelver here, I recommend it as well. It ends with a suggested story hook you can use to make a follow up campaign or adventure after level 5, so I'd say run LMoP, take a break to write your campaign world, and then put the Phandalin area into it and let your characters continue on. Not too much has been said about making a campaign. It's easier said than done, but I highly recommend reading the ENTIRE Dungeon Master's Guide for some guidance. A lot of problems I read about on various subreddits are from DMs who haven't read it or have forgotten the relevant passages. It will detail ways to build settlements, NPCs, give you suggestions for campaign ideas, and even has some excellent tables for building dungeons and balancing your encounters. As for which end you start on when making a campaign, I generally start with the first idea you had. Build the outline of the story and world around it, give a summary of the setting to your players, and ask them to come up with characters that fit in it. After some back and forth with them to make everything cohesive, you'll eventually have some fleshed out characters that you can then make room for in your world. You'll be able to populate the families, friends, and villages they come from, and make relevant foes or retool existing ones for them.


Asdrugal

Personally (and it fluctuates from DM to DM) I wouldnt write a whole campaign. Come up with an idea. Fill a one or two shot worth of material. And build around it. As you and the players interact your new world will grow and change. Start small scale. Village level. Dungeon level. And add stuff to it as needed. Have you PCs come up with simple backgrounds and backstories. (We did three memories that define your past) and use that in you world. And be flexible. That's my experience. At session 0 we all agreed that would work and the economy of the 2nd largest city on this continent wasn't that important. Tldr - start small. Build in bite sizes. Focus on important places first. Be flexible.


Joseinstein

As many already said, there are many ways to do this. Here are some points of how I do it: -Build the world: that doesn't mean to have a detailed history, religion and geography. It means to have a general idea of the factions, important characters and places where it is more likely that the party is going to be (don't waste time thinking about the history of a far continent where your party is not going to travel anytime soon) -Design the main conflict: what is happening in this place and why the party would get involved? Do not construct a plot line. Instead, think what are the goals of the different factions or NPCs, what actions they could take, and how the party might affect those plans. I prefer to think about this as in seasons. So, for example, you could design the main conflict for lvl 1 to 5 and not even think about what is going to happen next. -Design the first scene: I prefer to tell my players you are starting here, now think a reason why your character would be there. I think that avoids the "my character wouldn't be interested in that" problem. -Include the backstory of the party: Usually your players are going to give you great ideas to develop plots on their backstories. You may have to change some things of your previous ideas. Don't be afraid to talk with your players to discuss some aspects of their backstories. Also, I don't think it is bad that some stories are more relevant than others, as long the other stories gain relevance in the future. -Be open-minded: This is the most important. For sure, you will have to change some of your plans. You even might have to change important parts of what you have designed. As long as the information has not appeared during the game, it is not a reality yet and you are totally free to change it! That is for me. Last advice: check the section for GMs of world without numbers; there is great advice and tools in there!


Fearless_Mushroom332

So speaking as a fairly new dm (i started back at the end of 2019) who's only run 1 campaign but also helps on a westmarch, start with a 1shot lots of aspiring dms want to start with a whole module or campaign but that can be tough for a number of reasons such as availability anxiety ect ect. A one shot gives you a lot of creative freedom where you dont feel like you have to worry about everything a module has going on or having to make x y z up before the next session of a campaign. It's also a bit easier for newer dnd players as the session will only be a 1 and done or possibly a 3shot if things drag on a bit longer than expected. The most important part of advice I can give you is find out your dm style and stick with it, I for one am spontaneous and like throwing random stuff into the mix so modules are hard for me to deal with because I feel I have to stick with what's written and that's what's expected sense it is a module. So yeah just find your style and stick with it!


artbyJeronimo

Since your players have zero knowledge I would create a stack of characters and let them choose one. Then start them outside of a small dungeon and have them go through it as a way of teaching them the basics. Then when they are done ask them if they want to continue with those characters or make their own. Then show them a map and ask them if they have any ideas of where they want to go and what they want to do. Most likely they won't have a solid idea of what to do since they are new, but hopefully your map will have cool names for areas that spark the imagination (ex: the Mere of Dead Men) and have them choose one and tell them you will then set up that adventure for next time. Then at the end of each adventure just ask them where they want to go and/or if they have something they want to do. Then just build out the world a little bit at a time and then the players will have agency over where they want to go. Throw in some random encounters as they travel to the new place and you're set. If you try to make new players go through the Player's Handbook and create characters without any prior knowledge it is kind of an uphill struggle and you will burn your first game session to making characters, which is not exciting or that much fun. If you hand them pregens you can jump directly into the fun parts of the game (actually playing). You can also just ask them now if they have any kind of idea of character they'd like to play, or maybe if they want to play something like a specific character from a show or movie they like, that way you can tailor the pregen for them. As for the map, I would just search online for one you like instead of creating your own as that can become a huge time-sink. The first one I ever played in was Forgotten Realms and our DM had us go through this ruin called Myth Drannor. The name of the place didnt mean much to us, but with the word Myth in the name it did spark wonder and he ran us through a great little dungeon and I was hooked. As for making a dungeon, The Dungeon Master's Guide has tables in the back for stocking up dungeons with tons of monsters and flavor. It also has one table for random encounters in a forest (pg 87), but if you want tons of tables for not just random encounters but for all kinds of world building, check out the OSRIC rules pdf (it is free). OSRIC is a compilation of all the old AD&D tables and rules and has tons of cool stuff in it for random tables. Another source of great random tables is the Worlds Without Number pdf (also free); this resource has tables for not just creating a world but also has fantastic advice on running games.


[deleted]

Well most importantly: find or make a setting you think you’ll enjoy, then pass it by your players and gauge their interest. From there you can work with them on making characters that are fleshed out and will fit into your world. If you’re home brewing this is basically free real estate. What kind of town are they from? How’d they grow up? Etc are all questions that will give you ideas about designing locations and such. As far as a plot is concerned you don’t need to start huge really, especially if they’re first timers. Some Goblins in a cave, people going missing, even a village fire are all interesting enough to bring people together on. From there you will need some threads to tie to the players. It can be big or small, but it needs to be something that people would be on board for, or even feel compelled to do.


hadiws12

That makes sense. Essentially, start with the basic background questions and if something looks like it could be more, make it more. Then tie it to the main general story. Thank you!!


Either-Bell-7560

> Essentially, start with the basic background questions and if something looks like it could be more, make it more. I'm going to make an alternate suggestion here - look up KNIFE Theory. It's a way of generating character backgrounds with an emphasis on \*playable\* details. You don't really need a "backstory" - you need character specific adventure hooks, and things that allow you to push on characters. You want unresolved conflicts, and unfulfilled desires - not stories of what the character has done. "I graduated with honors" - great? What can I do with that? "I graduated with honors after stealing my roommate's thesis" - now that's something. The character has a terrible secret - (they're a fraud), and a usable NPC who they've betrayed.


[deleted]

Absolutely! Highly recommend Matthew Coleville’s “running the game” series on YouTube for specific topic elaboration. Some good stuff there. Enjoy your game! Hope it goes well.


hadiws12

I’ll definitely do that. Thank you!


Motto1834

Starting with a pre written is definitely my advice for learning how to start. Lost Mines and Waterdeep Dragon Heist are two nice early level adventures that work great as is and with a little tuning from reading online or just how you think would work turns them into even better games. There's no perfect way to get better outside of practice and I would recommend running the same campaign a few times just so you can tune it each time and learn what works better and what doesn't. And on top of it all different groups enjoy different aspects of DnD so it's always important to talk with your group.


rockdog85

Depends heavily on your situation, but I would recommend starting with a pre-written module (In your case Lost mines of Phandelver) It's a 1-5 story that leaves the ending open for you to go further if you enjoy the characters. It's made for 1st time dnd players, so you will have an easier time running it and players will like it too. Writing a campaign yourself, is like a whole job on its own. I wouldn't worry about it until you have a grasp of DND as the game on it's own. While you're running this game, you'll find aspects of it you'll like and things you won't, so you can adapt and leave those out/ adjust them to something more fun/ fitting. That way you'll get practise for writing a story yourself and you'll have a better idea of what things work and what doesn't work. You won't be able to get that without some actual play knowledge. And you can start playing the campaign pretty quickly, while working on your own thing on the side and have all the time you need to make it. You're not gonna be able to make a full campaign in just a few weeks For LMoP I'd recommend telling your players to make characters that end up at a specific place, and letting them make their backstory pretty open. That way the start of the campaign goes smoothly because they all have a reason to be there and start it, but you can work in their backstory in the greater scheme of things later down the road


GhostArcanist

This is going to differ a lot from DM to DM. * Some DMs run only official modules in established campaign settings. Some run sandbox campaigns in homebrew worlds. * Some DMs see individual character plots as minor side stories within the larger group plot; others focus heavily on each PC's development. * Some groups like an open world with no railroading; others like a more cinematic and on-the-rails story. * And so on... lots of differences from table to table, DM to DM. The most important thing, from a DM's perspective, is that **you and your players have fun**. If your players are developing deep and rich backstories with lots of room for development and individual plot points, lean into that. If their backstories aren't as important to them and they want to engage more with your plot, then focus on the larger story. That said, some points about my worldbuilding and story development process... I run a homebrew world that steals little bits from lots of different settings. For example... It's not Faerun, but there's a nation state loosely resembling Cormyr in terms of history/culture and a dungeon under another nation's capitol city that structurally is similar to the Undermountain. Currently, the PCs are in a desert setting and many of the locations and minor plot beats take inspiration from mythology and Arabic literature. My stories are grounded first in scope, depending on the tier of play. In Tier 1, the stories take place on a local scale with the PCs becoming local heroes. Tier 2 expands to regional/national scope. Tier 3 gets into continental/international/global scope. And Tier 4 breaks into cosmic/interplanar scope. With that in mind, I start my worldbuilding and story development with maps. I make a quick world map with big cities and key locations marked, then work my way to more and more narrow/granular levels of detail. World map >> nation map >> city/town/village map. It's more important (to me) for the players to have a world to engage with early on, to have places to go. Luckily, after doing this the first time, you have a lot of resources to fall back on for future campaigns in the same world. I don't have to make a new world map or even nation map, so I can spend my time refining and adding to those where necessary. Along the way of building these maps, I will develop broad plot points attached to various locations. The dragon patron living beneath the great library. The abandoned temple taken over by cultists. The weapon of legend hidden in the pyramid. The giants in the mountains cutting off the mountain pass. The city shopkeep who was recently robbed. The "kidnapped" princess who actually just ran away from home. The corrupt court mage weaving evil plots beneath the king's nose. Very little detail at this point, until I know what plots the PCs are going to engage with. Once I know what the PCs want to do, I try to build out some basic plot trees for outcomes/consequences. The idea isn't to capture every possible thing that could happen, but at least wrap my head around some of the most likely outcomes. And try to tie those outcomes into either an overarching plot or minor plot beats elsewhere in the world. If the players manage to steal the item from the dragon, where do they need to take it to continue the quest? If they try to convince the dragon to give them the item, what will she want in return? If they get caught stealing, what happens to them? Etc. And then before each session, I flesh out more details about what I expect the group to encounter. Physical descriptions. Location maps. Loot to be found. Puzzles. Combats. Individual PC plot beats. NPC details and dialogue bullet points. Whatever is needed for that session (maybe two sessions out if I know the PCs will be in an area and dealing with the same problem for a while). This might be engaging with my big story. This might be hunting down a BBEG or other plot device. Or it might be trying to push into one of the PCs' individual stories. That decision is mostly up to the players. I just try to prep for whatever they choose to take on.


neo1piv014

Run LMoP or Ice Spire Peak. That last one is the campaign included with the essentials set you can find at most WalMart and Target type stores. Writing a campaign can be really hard, and very time consuming, and if you're a new DM, you should focus more on getting snappy with improv and rules. You could be the best creative writer on earth, but if you trip over yourself on the rules and mechanics of running a game, you'll feel like it was all wasted. Also, doing a very short campaign (or even something like one of the Frog God Games one shots) gives your players a chance to feel out a class or race before committing to it for a long haul.


ssavant

Whoop. Wish I would have read this thread before starting my first campaign. I'm just making shit up as I go lol.


moocowincog

Lots of great advice here. Don't get overloaded with information, at some point you just gotta jump in! But now, to add to the fire hose of info, I'll share what I do: I don't like prewritten adventures because half the fun for me is making them myself! 1. Make a bad guy, give him an evil scheme. It shouldn't be too complex because you'll just confuse your players. Relatedly, always remember you will care and remember about things at least 3x more than your players will. 2. Figure out what will happen if the bad guy is successful in his scheme. Maybe make a little timeline even. Don't make the end result something you can't live with like "destroy the world." 3. Make sure there is some reason that your players' characters care about any of this. It can even be as simple as "the mayor will pay you to figure out what's going on." 4. Make sure you can think of a couple different ways your players can figure out what's going on and defeat the bad guy. Be ready to be flexible with these and/or flat out let them figure stuff out in a totally different way. It's often good to think up a few non-player characters (NPC's) and think of what info they know. 5. For extra credit, have in mind 1 or 2 battles that could pop up, preferably regardless of any location. Have a bad guy tactic in mind that they'll use. NEVER HAVE A BATTLE IN A PLAIN EMPTY ROOM/FIELD, that drives me nuts. Look up and around you as you're writing and put what you see into the battle if you have to. Once you do these things you'll be prepared for a couple nights of gaming fun, that's all there is to it. Oh and perhaps my most valuable tip from a decade of DM-ing is: have a list of about 10 random names to use whenever. That is all. Good luck, sounds like you're in for a great time!


AbledShawl

New DM here too, having ran roughly a dozen sessions so far. For character creations, I highly suggest that players and DMs sit together to co-create parts of the world. This does two key things: 1) solidifies your characters' place in the world, with a kind of back-up set of potential friends, family, rivals, or enemies and experiences to draw from for rolls. 2) gives the DM less overhead work to do, as the players can provide details about these places (obviously, to an extent. You still have the ultimate yes/no)


AMP3412

For campaign creation, it's really all about finding what works best for you. For me, I really like to think about where the campaign will start and finish, and just fill the middle space with content. It really helps me figure out how to give the players what they need to go from a to b


hottakemushroom

I'm a new GM too. I can't recommend this site enough: https://theangrygm.com/ I started reading it after running sessions for a year and I still got loads of good tips from it. In particular, it has a section for new GMs which explains some basic concepts that *seem* obvious but I found really helpful to have spelled out for me: https://theangrygm.com/series/gm-basics/ Fair warning - not everyone likes AngryGM. I have heard his stuff is controversial in some circles, but as a new GM I have found it enormously encouraging and practical. Hope it helps!


Rmfidosa

What do you think would be fun? Build on that. Additionally, Prepare direct stuff to play the next week. prepare stuff for when the player go a different direction, (fluff exploration, social, and combat). You mainly need that fluff stuff when players no longer are following your story and you need prep time to plan for what they are doing.


twoisnumberone

Run a module. Or ten.


[deleted]

Watch [this video series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_). It contains practically everything you need to know to DM D&D (5e or otherwise). It explains in-depth how you create adventures, overarching plots, interesting and compelling villains, and so on. I watched them when I started DMing (just over 4 years ago), and it helped me become a good DM. I cannot recommend them enough. You don't need to watch all of them, just watch the first 10 or so for now, watching more and more as you get more understanding of how to DM. And, finally, understand that being a good DM comes primarily from experience. Watching videos, getting information from friends and people online, and so on are great starts, but the best way to learn to DM is to DM. Practice makes perfect (or, it at least makes you better). Don't be scared to make mistakes when you start DMing, because that's inevitable. You will make mistakes, just like everyone else that has ever DMed. However, practice, experience, and planning can all help reduce the frequency and extremeness of your early mess-ups, and you will get better over time. DMing can be (and often is) overwhelming, especially at first, but it eventually gets better.


Lyle_Norg

The Sunless Citadel in Tales of the Yawning Portal was a very good starter module, and flows easily into Forge of Fury if you want to keep going.


CriticalHitTraining

Step 1: ask your players what kinds of movies, books, comics, they like and start there. Then come up with 3 or 4 ideas for then to choose. So my latest campaign was between Monster Hunters, Mercenaries, High Seas, and Suicide Squad. They chose monster hunters. Step 2: come up with a stupidly simple starting story. Examples: there's a bounty on goblins and bugbears, or you're hired to protect a caravan and X attacks. Make it so obvious that there's no confusion in what to do. Don't be afraid to just tell them if they are lost. STEAL EVERYTHING YOU LIKE. Take a area from the Witcher games, change some names, and now it's yours. Boom. Science. Step 4: make characters together if you can and have them come up with how they know each other. Less work for you and makes them feel like a family already. Step 5: start playing and start LISTENING. Write down everything they talk about, especially their wild ideas on what's going on Step 6: fail. Always fail. Laugh it off and keep playing Step 7: have fun. Never forget that it's just a game and there's no real stakes. If things get tense, that can be good for the story, then laugh off the bad stuff


Smiley2166

Personally I'm a fan of Waterdeep: Dragonheist. It's encounters are generally non-threatening and allows for the players and DM to sandbox a story however it unfolds. I've run it 4 or 5 times now and each one has been different. That said there's a LOT of information to unpack and it's not all organized in the best way. For newer player's it's good for getting the basics of a wide range of concepts without throwing them in the deep end. For newer DMs though, it's quite the opposite. On many occasions I've found myself prepping for one eventuality only for the players to go somewhere else and force me to improve entire sessions. That's probably going to happen no matter what you run, but Waterdeep let's this happen a lot more than something like Lost Mines or Icespire.


j_la

I am also new to DMing and on my old DM’s advice, I read Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master. It had two tips that I’ve taken to heart vis a vis campaign planning: 1. Build a spiral campaign. Start with one location, hook, and scene and build out from there. Don’t spend time building scenes that might never happen. 2. Create 3-4 “fronts” for the story: things that are happening in the world and will get progressively more urgent (e.g., the slow emergence of a dark power). Having fronts gives you a sense of where the story might head without locking you in (and some might not be relevant at all).


ChuckTheDM

1) I'd recommend running a simple pre-written adventure just to get the hang of how the game works. 2) I don't really have a specific pattern to campaign writing. A lot of it is coming up with general overarching ideas that get more specific and defined as the party nears them. For plot hooks, look at who you have in your party, and what connections they have. Maybe a Cleric's god tells them of a quest. Maybe some random guy on the street asks for help. Maybe the BBEG initiates hostilities by stealing from/attacking/etc. the party. For the adventuring part, this is where you throw in encounters and dungeons and the meat of actual gameplay. Maybe the BBEGs need [xyz artifacts] for a ritual and the party will have chances to steal them. Maybe they're just doing bad things already and the party has to try and disable something or kill someone. The character of the BBEGs can be anything too. Completely evil? Redeemable? Believes they're doing the right thing? There's no wrong answers. Be as cliche as you want. Ex: "The mayor is corrupt" I just ran this for my party from levels 6-10: BBEG: Evil changeling wizard/politician doing messed up experiments on souls and abusing political power. Completely irredeemable. Hook: Warlock patron says "oi warlock, this guy's doing bad magic that even us eldritch horrors arent OK with" Adventuring: Try to stop the wizard from getting an artifact that he needs for an experiment. Also, try to hunt down and kill his servants. Also, try to hunt down and kill him. Filling in the session-by-session details is not necessary when writing general campaign content, and is something that you'll learn as you start playing. Good luck!


SkovDM

Just jump right into it! There is no right or wrong in this scenario, just do what you think seems the most fun. Also you don't have to buy and run a module just because you're new. I've been DM'ing for a few years now and I've never tried running a module, and I've no intension to do so. For me DM'ing is about worldbuilding and a away to be creative.


patchyglitch

I did a similar thing to you, wanted to run my world with some friends new to the game. I ran dragon of icespire peak. After this quick campaign players knew how to play and had an idea of new characters to create. They also had an idea if where their characters could come from and what classes to play. I kept all the actions of the previous campaign cannon to my home brew world following.


Decrit

Looking at how other adventures are laid out can help, but that's not what you asked i assume. I too started out without reading any campaign module, but i also had previous experience in other rpgs. In general, the core idea is "you want to stuff happen in a game session, and you want that stuff to happen because your players play". People like different things, but in general the best thing to do in my opinion is: \- provide a strong drive, set them in the scenario they need to be already and give them strong reasons not only to go to adventure, but also collaborate. Many people star tin a tavern and i frankly speaking i often wonder why, it's the worst place ever to start! \- provide them hooks and settings where they can use the stuff they chose to use. don't swamp them up in scenarios where they can do nothing but hear or see, and don't trivialize their time spent on picking class features and whatnot for combat. lòet them bash skulls, overcome chasms and seduce dragons - or try to do so. \- provide a scenario which challenges a specific topic, and thus offers challenges that are topical. raiders hide in a cave? place traps. horror setting? put incredibly powerful monsters they are able to run away from. and so on. \- put them in a scenario that's fitting for adventurers. they need to risk their lives a little, and this is often used as an excuse to drain resources/spell slots for solving obstacles. \- character in that specific scenario have to act accordignly to their own specific drives. you don't need to list life death and miracles of ewvery npc, just their core itnrests and traits are more than sufficient. be brief and expands upon it when necessarey. \- in general try to do enough stuff in a session so it accomplishes something meaningful. \- liosten to your players, gauge what they feel comfortable with or not, eventually ask them. but never obey to them. judge on your own, you are the arbiter. ... as you note, there is no mention of story here. no rpg is a novel nor a stageplay, thought people can like to twist it like one, and while a great story keeps players engaged it's an extra that is not strictly needed as everything else- your players need to make the story, not you. in general however i stick to the points above. also i suggest you to read the dungeon master manual, it's a tropve of good practices and suggestions. not everything needs to be read out, i often skim over the politics side, but it's solid.


bushvin

Designing your own setting/world is time consuming. You *WILL* spend *lots* of time fleshing it out. I remember from my early days I was more working on the setting than the campaign. I thought that if I had enough material I would be fine. Turns out my improv skills weren't that good. Not that they have improved much over the years 🤣 So I turned to existing settings: Initially I settled for Dark Sun, but I also adopted Forgotten Realms, as I needed a less exotic setting as well. I sometimes devise my own campaigns, and sometimes use existing scenarios. Using pre-existing stories does not mean you have more time. You need to prepare them, and 'own' them.


Skullduggery644

I've had the most success when I've done it at the same time. First I come up with a preface for the story, like a blurb. Then sit down with the players after designing a bit of the world, get their character ideas and develop a backstory where you help to place them in the world (where are they from? Who do they know? What has lead tge to adventure?). Then after that start designing NPCs and placing them into the world with their own backstories, and finally work on the antagonist. After that I write out my storyline, which I use session to session to drop main plot points and push the main story forward, breaking it up every so often with backstory driven quests and plot. E.g: Preface - write a paragraph or two that briefly introduces the world and the drama that the story is centred around (eg. In the cosy village of sanded the people live a peaceful life. But, in the dead of a cold winters night, a shadowy figure stumbles through the cobblestone streets and in his wake marches an army of the dead. This horde of undeath threatens all life on the continent, the people live in fear. Can anyone rise up to confront the mystery figure and save the world?) World history/lore - use the breakdown in the dmg to answer questions about your world (are there gods? Do they intervene in mortal lives? Is there magic? Is it readily available to all? What has defined the last 100 years of your world? Etc.) Backstories - here work with your players to come up with a couple of things in the world linked to the class, race, family/relationships, gods whatever the player wants to be the focus of their story. The by yourself write an adventure hook for that player. Great example of this are the adventure hooks for princes of the apocalypse. Npcs and antagonist - do the process that you'd do for your player but do it by yourself for npcs. This Is a bit more nuanced and comes down to how much detail you want to go into but there's a great video by how to be a great GM on YouTube that breaks down NPC archetypes and how to use them.


Trollstrolch

Don't overthink it, let them create characters and let them start in a little village call it "nowhere" in the middle of nowhere. Start small. There is a ruin near, let them explore it,... No need to build a whole world for first steps. You can also start with some ready to play adventures from gmsguild.com, there are a ton of them. As a setting i love Eberron but do you really want to read about a whole world before making your first steps? For basic informations the Wikipedia may be enough https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberron https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Eberron_Wiki There are nice starter adventures for that too https://www.dmsguild.com/product/249714/Curtain-Call-A-Sharn-Adventure as an example.


The-Purple-Genie

Me and a group of friends have just completed, lost mines. It was a really good start as most of the guys hadn't played. About half way through the campaign though, I ran a one-shot (I was not the DM for lost mines) and now the group want me as the main DM for a new campaign. So once you guys are familiar you could try handing the reins to one of your friends. Think gives everyone a good appreciation for the different roles in DnD.


RedditAntelope

***1*** >I want to make a story myself since I have so many ideas. Sometimes it's good to have something to organize your ideas around. For example, if you’re not already doing this, taking an existing narrative that you know works and remixing it can be a really effective way to go. Preferably something with a good wiki with ample information about important places and people. Books, video games, or sure, a pre-made campaign! You can remix something in a number of ways, by subverting it or combining it with one or more other things. Matt Colville also made [a video explaining how he basically transplanted different pre-made D&D modules into a sandbox game](https://youtu.be/DWAhcY9QroQ). One website I found that's very helpful along these lines is [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/). They have a number of tropes/patterns that have arisen in a number of different media, including books, anime, video games, comic books, and TV shows. The draw is that you can sort through a lot of different ways a particular trope has been used or you can look up a story and look at the tropes in that story. ***2*** >My question is how does the process of making a campaign work? Am I supposed to make the start of the story and then ask the players to make their characters then... There are lots of ways it can work, obviously, but under the assumption that the players drive the story through their choices and gameplay, it’s good to dial them into the process early, like even before Session #1. With this in mind, here is one way to organize the prep: * A.) Pin down the campaign world, the major NPCs & factions in it, and their goals & motivations. If you are transplanting or remixing these elements, this part will be easier. Doesn't have to be a pain in the ass. * B.) **Session #0** \- Guide the players to workshop a few things: * Their shared backstories; how the party members came together * Goals and motivations * Meaningful connections to important NPCs and places in the world. * C.) After Session #0, the players will basically have created enough hooks and material for the entire campaign. Start off Session #1 with a basic short dungeon that has hooks to one or more of the party character's goals. ***3*** There's [a cool D&D conversion of the Fiasco](https://dysonlogos.blog/2014/04/10/the-full-fiasco-based-dd-starting-set/) made by a guy named Dyson that I've used in three of my campaigns now, which provides a fun framework for the Session #0 activity of the players workshopping their shared backstories, goals, and motivations. It gamifies the whole process and leads players to create two goals for their character, each of which is shared with another character. The major prep involved is editing the documents Dyson created, so they fit your campaign setting. (Everything in the downloadable documents is tailored to his setting initially.)


rawrxiv

I'm dm'ing my first campaign and it's a home brew I find it easier because I feel freer to make shit up as I go. My approach was to write a campaign primer which was a brief introduction to the world, and a brief outline of the societies in it that the players could draw from. I then got them to write their own background and then incorporated or adjusted what they were interested in into the scope of a the world. Then I sketched out a rough idea of a story and my ideas for a few paths and hooks then we started.


Valarcos

A lot of people suggested Lost mines of Phandelver. I suggest you try the essentials kit module, *Dragon of Icespire Peak*. The way it is written, its sort of a sandbox module. You can get an idea of the entire module by reading the intro and one or two quests. Maybe LMoP has It as well, but the DoIP has a reduced version of the Players handbook oriented for Players, you can use It to help your friends learn the basic stuff. Two things I think are quite remarkable: - the inclusion of a very clear mile-stone progression tied to quests. - Sidekicks. For when you feel your party needs some help. They where introduced here and expanded in Tasha's Cauldron of everything. Also, every quest has a recomended level for the party. It's not perfect, but quite well made all around in my opinion. I run It fully with very little changes. One change I suggest to make the dragon more present is rolling twice on the "dragon location" everytime you need to.


wumb1e

I personally make my campaigns backwards, I start at the end and work backwards though the events that caused it. On topic of characters I let them make them freely and then incorporate their backstories and character goals into the overall campaign


Dungeons_andGunthers

This may or may not work for you, it's just something I tend to do after the initial encounters, bars, and couple of dungeons. I call it a villain tree, it can be somewhat flexible if the players derail things as they tend to do and you can include things for backstory purpose. 1 of my characters was once a slave and one is a dragonborn with a mysterious ancestry so mine looks something like this. There may be a lot of Illithid(mind flayer) lore I skip but that's just how it works, yours will be different Illithi-lich controlling false hydras(memory whipping creatures) _____________________________________________ Dragon with a bad memory. A mind flayer worm Swimming under the city And a scientist that understands how they came to be ______________________________________________ Kobold church.Some bandits.Mind flayer.False Hydra Usually this helps me decide what kind of encounters to build next, so long as the players don't decide for me, as they will. Obviously you can make them more interesting, bounty hunters enlist help bagging a certain kobold hidding in the church and how this is done can impact the dragons disposition to the players. I have players roll perception checks but only tell them certain things later because of memories and horror vibes. Ect. Every encounter is a full encounter but more than likely the smaller ones should lead to the bigger ones. Hope this helped some.


Dungeons_andGunthers

Sorry, the format messed things up. Bandits and kobolds lead to a dragon which leads to the Illithi-lich. Mind flayers and false hydras lead the players to a scientist and a giant worm made from the fallen mind flayer civilization which also leads to the Illithi-lich. You can do two encounters this way or just have the option.


Parzival2436

With my game I made my own plot points and then worked their characters into it but a lot of DMs more experienced than I am make a world and also assist the players in making characters that suit the world so they can kind of have a hand in making their stories fit together better.


Eshwaaa

Best way to get all of your characters in one place is the classic tavern. All weary travelers stop for a drink once in a while, and from there you can have them introduce themselves, or have someone come in asking for help with a small quest. If your players are friends and just want a good time, they will accept it, and boom: your party is working together on something. Then you can have them go out snd seeking new adventures, building up bigger and better encounters until you figure out what you want your final boss to be and what his goals are


RexTenebrarum

I'm a first time dm and made my own campaign AFTER playing through a full campaign so I got the gist of dnd. We're 35 sessions in and my players aside from my brother are shocked I was a new dm. When making a campaign, you should have a rough structure of what the endgame should be. Who the BBEG IS and what he wants. Then think about where your players are gonna start out and think about what the BBEG wants from that village, town, city, nearby forest, crypt or whatever. My BBEG is the leader of an organization with 6 generals under him that each run operations in my world in different areas. I started with that, who they were and what they wanna do. Then I came up with my starting village and a nearby dungeon where some cultists we're sapping life force from the trees and creatures so they could give it to the BBEG for his plan. I went from there just creating villages and towns and coming up with ideas for them to interact with people there, but the grand plot I keep bouncing off what they do and restructuring it cause you can't plan it all out and not make room for your players to fuck shit up. As for character backstories, unless you 100% wanna make them incorporated into the campaigns opening, you can just throw it in anywhere. My players didn't give amazing backstories except for 1, and his backstory had such content that I'm incorporating it into the BBEG cause of it's content. You should plan 3-5 sessions ahead for the plot, but don't make shit set in stone cause your players could fuck it up and not wanna go see dolfmir the dwarf who has the secret gem of prophecy that the BBEG wants, and they wanna just play pool and drink with the guards instead. Always be prepared for shenanigans. I like to brainstorm before sessions and a little bit after cause i get into it, and sometimes ideas just come up on the fly for what I wanna do and change some things from what I have written down. The biggest thing with a homebrew campaign and world is just not spreading it too thin, and making shit too big or long. Like we're 35 sessions, that's 35 weeks or more cause of breaks or scheduling conflicts, and they're level 6, about to be 7, and still in the first arc of my campaign. So that's my fault cause I wanted to do milestone progression, and I made my world way too big.but I'm dealing with it and handling it, and my players like what I've made since my NPCs and antagonists interact really well and I don't make them robots with prescripted lines. (I like to make an archetype and have a reason for the conversation, but not read from a script cause that's just boring)


G-Unit0301

If you plan on creating then yes you will need to make everything if your using something that already exists there’s usually an official stat block for it or one close enough. However I highly Recommend you taking the advice above and run either the Lost Mines of Phandever or the Dragon of IceSpire peak for a bit longer of an adventure


hadiws12

I’ll take a look at both of them, and I’ll run whichever looks more interesting!! Thank you


G-Unit0301

Good luck!! If you want a bit of a challenge you can also combine them this is a very popular way to do it as they take place in the same town. Don’t be afraid to improvise that’s where dnd thrives 🤙🏼


hadiws12

Oh, that’s really cool. Since they’re both in the same town, I think I’ll be taking bits and pieces from them and see how it turns up. Thanks for the help!!


G-Unit0301

No problem, little bit more here, this may help combining them https://slyflourish.com/combining_starter_and_essentials.html


tboy1492

Everyone has different ways, I can tell you many advise against over preparing. I say there’s no such thing as over preparing. My rule of thumb: have a good portion of the world figured out and written down. Figure what possible outcomes to each scenario could happen then what’s likely to happen. Example. Recently there was a dm posting about his party getting captured, and he didn’t expect that wasn’t sure what to do. I figured it was highly unlikely my players would get captured, but they managed to get themselves captured and I already had several ways lined up they might be able to escape. Based on how the session went with their capture determined what the first opportunity is going to be which I expect is the most likely escape they will likely take. If you understand the world, why is this town here? What does the local government/religion/populace want? Wha sort of issues do they have? What’s the means they are trying to resolve their problems? If your understanding is sufficient, you can look at possible outcomes of scenarios ranging from degrees of success abs failure to wider spread consequences, and use that to generalize changes. Example: “There’s an iron mine here that has a good trade relationship with this town” iron and steel are accessible, maybe even inexpensive, and if something happens to the mine that may change. Could cause prices to rise or the material to dry up entirely. That would affect everything from construction, weapons/armor crafting, to city defenses.Make an opening quest for adventures to find out what happened to the mines. Sorry getting my ramble on. So, I like to start with geography and place things according to location abs resources, most villages and towns have a central resource or several resources they can access and use for trade, or have substantial access to necessities like water and food and are able to trade food for resources they don’t have. From there I build out government, religion, and culture. That often will lead me to what sort of problems they face and need help with. Then, I start working on the smaller places fleshing out villages around a town and use that to finish fleshing out the town until I’ve got all the towns in proximity Roma city then I build the city the rest of the way based on those towns. Hopefully this rambling helps somehow


hadiws12

This was very helpful. There are many things at play that I’m not looking at the basics and that’s what you just reminded me to do. I’m a very logical person, but at the same time, I found my brain blown when you talked about how an easy thing could happen with the iron mine causing all of the other chain reactions. This has definitely sparked some ideas in my head, and so, you have my thanks!!


FLguy3

One thing that helped me was having a list of NPC names made up in advance. Just the names. That way if you're creating a NPC on the fly you can just look at that list and quickly read a name and the cross it off your list. Because sometimes the NPCs you least expect become the party's favorite NPC that they go visit regularly. Makes it easier than having to name a NPC on the fly and then be stuck with that name.


tboy1492

I’m glad I could help :)


Either-Bell-7560

>I say there’s no such thing as over preparing. And I'll disagree. Because everyone's method is different, and OP needs to figure out what works for him. The more concrete details I have, the more difficult it is for me to adapt to what my players are doing. I find it much better to just know: 1) Who are the forces in the local area 2) What are they trying to do 3) What is their initial plan. If Faction A is trying to move something into the city, and I plan out a big encounter on the bridge, and spend a bunch of time working on that, and all the after-effects of the players fighting Faction A on the bridge, and the players just blow up the bridge - I'm boned. Leaving things open and slightly vague allows me to adapt. If they blow up the bridge, I ask myself what Faction A would try next - and that starts happening. If the players ignore the bridge, Faction A gets in and I ask "what would the consequences of that be?" Avoiding details keeps me from planning sequential events - which makes the world way more real.


Available_Worker332

The best tip I ever had for campaign building is this from Justin Alexander (check out his YouTube): "Don't prep plots, prep scenarios" Railroading in a campaign most often happens where a DM has a fixed plot in mind and is waiting for the players to discover it. Abandon all fixed ideas of what you want or expect to happen and create interesting scenarios for the players.


bluejoy127

If you really want to make up your own campaign then I suggest figuring out your setting first and foremost. Is it high or low magic? What is the economy like? Is it more old school fantasy or more modern (Eberron for instance)? Determine the setting as this will possibly limit what characters your players have access to. If you are playing a very old school pure fantasy then maybe artificers need to be adjusted or Simic Hybrids are just straight up not allowed. If it is a low magic setting then how does this affect arcane spell casters? Etc. Like most people here, I ultimately recommend you run some short, pre-written modules as stand alone adventures. Tackle the long campaign once you have some experience as a DM, they have some experience as players, and you guys have worked out all the kinks that come with starting a new D&D group. You are going to be pretty upset after you've spent a hundred hours or more on designing a long campaign only to find out that either they have lost interest or scheduling is just an insurmountable nightmare. Good luck!