>>46248758
You say you're all relative newcomers. How much experience do you have and with that? Especially you, OP, do have you any experience in some other system?

>>46248924
We've played a few sessions of D&D before, but that collapsed relatively quickly because we kept inviting new people and we couldn't find the time anymore. I didn't DM that time though, although the guy who did will be playing tomorrow.

>>46249012
D&D 5e, if that makes any difference.

>>46249012
That's good, some foundation never hurts. Ok let's see then...it's not like I'm some master GM with years of experience, but for a while I hosted our WFRP round before it broke apart.

You're using a premade adventure, so that should make things easier for you. I suggest you read it more than once, that way you'll have memorized the important bits and won't have to leaf through the pages every time some question comes up.
Don't railroad too hard. Keeping the players on the right track with some helpful nudges or just subtle manipulation (they're going south even though their supposed goal is north? Ha, turns out that goal was south after all) is ok, but don't force it on them too much. Of course, that requires some improvisation, but it's not too difficult (plus, the premade adventure probably contains its own notes on how to get the players back on track if they're just wandering around aimlessly).
While it's your job to keep them on the right track and move the plot along, give them the freedom to try and come up with their own solutions or just roleplay for the heck of it. Example: in our WFRP round, they once spent half a session just hanging around in a tavern and talking up the newly introduced NPC. Sure, you could see that as a "waste of time", but it was all so wonderfully in-character, I just let it happen, leaned back and watched. (Also, such intensive PC/PC interaction means you can catch a break while the PCs are busy getting drunk or whatever).
Fights. Fights are good and exciting, but don't be excessive. Find a balance. Don't throw encounters at them like you're a Pokemon trainer walking through tall grass.
I also suggest tempering justice with mercy. The game is supposed to be tough and life as a Guardsman is supposed to be dangerous, but be fair about it. If a PC bites it just 10min into the adventure and has to burn the only Fate Point he had, maybe give him that FP for free. Stuff like that.

>>46249525
Try to keep it challenging but not frustrating.
Know the rules. As a GM, you should know the rules (and the fluff and basically everything) better than the rest. If you don't know it by heart, know where you have to look if someone asks. And if you don't know that, just find a temporary compromise until you have the time to properly look it up.

Ok I think that's all for right now. Will wait until I see what the response is, maybe I have something more then.

Oh, and remember, the golden rule: it's about having fun.

>>46249525
I've read the adventure a few times, including the DM tips, and I don't think it should be too hard to keep the players on the right. Track. Railroading shouldn't even be necessary, as the campaign helpfully includes a DM mouthpiece NPC who can either tag along or get killed off at my discretion. The difficulty of fights is also included, so I'm not going to fiddle with that.

>>46249637
I'm the only one who's heard of Warhammer in the entire group. I explained the general premise as "Human empire vs aliens, you're the basic soldiers" which got them interested enough to try it. I'm not as familiar with the rules as I would like to be, but I'll download the core book alongside the adventure so I can look it up if my players try something out of the box.

Really, I was wondering more about stuff like maps. When we played D&D we didn't bother, but with stuff like weapon ranges and blast weapons I'm wondering if I should take a sheaf of graph paper along, and maybe prepare a few areas. Stuff of that stripe.

>>46250117
Ah I see. Personally, I would strongly suggest you have some solid way to graphically represent what's going on instead of purely narrative combat.
Minis look of course very nice on the table, but anything of about the same size will do (bottlecaps come to mind). Just take some minis/tokens/whatever and some measuring tape (I'm sure that the core rulebook explains how the conversion from in-game units to real units work. Probably something like every centimeter on the table represents 1 or 2 meters ingame). Then use whatever means to represent the environment and you're set. Outlining it on a few sheets of paper is an excellent idea.
Anything else I can try and help with?

>>46250350
None of us are really very expreienced with the whole 'roleplaying' aspect of tabletop. That's why I picked Only War, something based around fighting seemed like a better way to introduced my fellow players to the universe than an intrigue-laden Dark Heresy game. Do you have any tips on how to work over that kind of hurdle? How to get my players to be willing to hold conversations in character?

>>46250492
That one is, I believe, both quite simple and difficult at the same time.
Because basically, you "just do it". Just imagine what your character would do or say in the given situation and describe it to the others.
For example, he premade adventure probably has parts with pre-written dialogue for the GM to read out to the players, when a new NPC is introduced or something. So you just read that NPCs speech and ask how the players -or rather, their characters- react to it. If they're all just embarrassed about having to talk, staring at their feet, push them a little. "Ok this guy has just introduced himself to your squad, folks. Are your characters really just standing around pretending he isn't there?"
Many players prefer to paraphrase their characters dialogue instead of doing it "first person", so instead of "Greetings, stranger, we're squad soandso etc etc" it's "I tell the stranger about us". Which is fine, they'll probably grow out of it at some point if you keep pushing gently.
Just do your best to talk in character yourself and I believe the players will follow suit eventually.
I know it feels silly at first, it felt silly to me, too, but you get used to it.
As I said, if they'er to shy or something to roleplay, just push gently, point out that their character probably would react to whatever's happening right now and it'll get them thinking.

>>46250953
That sounds like a good idea. I'll just do that to get the ball rolling. We've had IC conversations before, but usually not until we'd had a few hours to get a feel for the game and were having a lot of fun already.

Thanks for the advice, I think it'll go a lot smoother now.

>>46251048
Glad to be able to help. And you're right, sometimes things just take a little time. Just go with the flow and so long as people are having fun, you're doing everything just right.
Oh and another thing which might ease the players more into roleplaying.
Have them think up some basic background for their characters beyond the "hard facts" of their stats and equipment. Many rulebooks have some section like "10 questions for your character" with things like "Do you have any family?" or "What is it you hate?" or "What are your hobbies?". Just a few guideline questions like that will mean that they've dealt with their PCs beyond the raw numbers.

Beyond all though, I wish you luck and fun with your round!