I'm not sure whether this should go here, in the Games/MMOs (but that seems to be more video games aligned), or the RP forum (but that one is defo more forum RP planning etc, so I'm gonna try my luck here. Anyone here play DND? I started out with Pathfinder years ago, then switched to DND 5e and Starfinder, but now I'm finally booting up my first campaign as a DM and any and all tips would be greatly appreciated!

1. Which TTRPG/s do you prefer?
2. Do you have any house rules?
3. Have you ever DM'd before, do you enjoy it?
4. Do you do homebrews or do you follow book guidelines for stories?
5. Have you played over Roll20 / other similar online sites, any tips? Do you play both offline and online, any preferences?
6. The important one, any favourite character bits to share, stories, just favourite player character in general, anything?

I'm starting a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign with four players, with some homebrew eventually mixed in, but I like having a starting structure because I've never been in a DM's shoes so combat etc is going to be... challenging, at first. I hope I have a pretty good touch on what to expect from a DM regarding collaborative storytelling, and figuring out how to describe things, but you never know when you actually do sessions, all I know is that too much planning will bite you in the ass.. initially. However, as a resident lore hoarder, that might not be such a bad thing

I loveee DND5e mostly because it's the version that I've played the most - but the Pbta books have lots of fun ideas and to people new to TTRPGS I think it's fairly easy to learn, and not as intimidating as say like Pathfinder.

As for House Rules, I think the important one is the Rule of Cool : be flexible with your players if they come up with a neat idea that maybe you hadn't thought of! Definitely makes moments in a campaign more memorable. When I've DM'd (although I haven't for awhile lol), it's always fun to be shocked and amused by what your players will come up with when the solution is a battle or puzzle you planned!

As for tips, combat usually goes WAY longer than you expect the first time around, especially if it's everyone first time! I'm the kind of DM who doesn't mind fudging the numbers the first time around just to make sure everyone gets comfy in their first round or battle, and then get stricter with the actual die rolls.

If you have any more questions or need any online resources, let me know!! DMs gotta look out for other DMs! Good luck with Rime, I actually got the opportunity to play it (never got a chance to finish it sob) so here's a little peek at my girl, Holy who was my character at the time. I love to show her off.

SPOILER (click to toggle)

Thank you for the transfer! I was on the verge whether I should dump this here or the generic entertainment / hobby section, glad to get that cleared up ❤️

Yeh, I'm definitely aiming for rule of cool! They're always fun for the whole table ;; Same as with having a proper session zero , although I doubt our group is going to have issues with anything in particular, our group is pretty tight-knit and I'm keeping it small now that I'm but a wee baby dm. But it's good to have that to know what everyone's expecting and what they'd like from the campaign, as well as in general what's off limits. (I once joined a random table for a short adventure and let's just say I will never play in that table again, being the only girl in a cishet white dudebro table was not a pleasant experience.

Also good point about starting off kind with the battling. I'm thankfully pretty used to long combats, one of our longest-running campaigns is Dead Suns in Starfinder and it's not unheard of to have 6+ hour battles, but our GM is an absolute angel.

AUGH your Rime girl is absolutely stunning, I love her design! So far for Rime I've managed to tie some loose plotlines together to make them feel more coherent in my head (I know planning too far ahead is never a good idea, but I like to keep some sort of cohesion in mind), and even managed to maybe tie in some PC backstory content, I can't wait to actually start the campaign.

I was wondering if you had any resources for online map makers? I tried the free version of Inkarnate but the tools felt... preetty limited, and i think I'll just burn myself out if I start drawing maps from scratch on CSP, bc I never know when to stop when it comes to detailing..

oh i LOVE me some ttrpgs, even though... i don't get to play them much 😔 i have 11 gigs of em saved on my external hard drive from various itch bundles and i'm, well, itching to play more!! though working full time + being chronically/mentally ill doesn't help...

i've played on roll20 before for a shadowrun campaign (i played a metasapient ai decker in a long furby body ehe), and it's, fine? and while i Haven't played on this yet, i've heard good things about fari, which is similar to roll20.

and big body horror cw but the game i'm itching to run/play most is EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER RPG, which is based on the indie game of the same name by heather flowers!!! i'm in LOVE with everything about it and have cooked up several characters, just not gotten a chance to use them yet...

as for dnd itself i'm not... Super big on it as i'm not super big on straight fantasy type stuff but i'm like, willing to play if that makes sense?

I've been playing the dnd computer games since Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, but I only recently started playing tabletop (3 years ago). I've only played 5e tt and I'm currently working on 3 characters.

Right now, I play as an Aarakocra beast master, which I am really enjoying. But I am also in the process of designing a Harengon druid and a Tiefling thief ("Thiefling"?? XD) and have a fun ol' backstory for them. Still fine tuning their starting stats though and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I will want to play them. That said, sometimes my Aarakocra surprises me!

For now I'm playing an original campaign (written by the DM) and so far I have never DM'd myself, but I have 2 campaigns in the pipeline that I plan to DM in the future (Tomb of Annihilation and Wild Beyond the Witchlight).

Oh I've never heard of that game before :0 Would be neat to test ttrpgs other than the regular paizo/wotc ones, they're probably far more diverse by default. Personally body horror isn't really my thing but it's amazing how many different types of games there are

ough aarakocras are so neat! Does your DM allow you to fly? I'd love to learn more abt them 8D

Updating this with actually having had both session zero and an actual first time, and so far I can say that DMing seems fun, although I probably also prep waay too much (it's been roughly 10+ hours per session, but maybe that will ease once my players have actually visited all of the ten-towns, since I can just keep everything neatly in Roll20. It's also interesting to try and weave in player-specific plotlines eventually, and we've managed to fit in a house rule that I shall give my players little homework from time to time, to get my players to actually develop their characters and their backstories.

so much prep.