Hi,
I want to play some d&d with two friends soon; and the role as dm came to me. (we would want to increase the group size if the first few small adventures run good)
My experience in rpgs is limited to maybe 5 runs (Shadowrun 4th Edition) and a few adventures (two if which I was GM) in “Das Schwarze Auge”. But both now over a decade ago.
One of the adventurers in the group has a bit of experience and shouldn’t be a problem; the other adventurer (my gf) has never played any rpg before.
I ordered the core rule set (player,master,monster-handbook) bundled with xanathars (and a dm-screen). On top of that enough dices and the book “candlekeep mysteries”
Do I need anything else? Any tipps for preparation? How important is the tabletop aspect i see popping up here in some pics?
edit:
Thanks for all of your tips!
I’ve been Dming since 1st Edition and my #1 rule is to not over prepare. This requires an ability to improve a bit, and be comfortable with the fact that mistakes will happen, and be sure your players understand that. Also, for your first outing, don’t do anything homebrew, it’s fun and one of my favorite parts of the game, but it can also easily break the game if you don’t know exactly what you are doing. The main thing is to have fun.
I definitely agree not to over prepare, but I find it helpful for me to think a little on the different paths they might take and have some stuff constructed so that when they inevitably do something you don’t expect, you have something close enough that you can repurpose or guide them back to a prepared path. It depends on what you’re good at. If I had to completely improv a session, I’m positive it would be rough. Others could improv entire campaigns without their players noticing.