I have a dilma, /tg/.
I'm about to start DMing for a group full of people I've never met at the behest of someone I've dated, who will also be playing. The logical thing to do seems to be to do a preliminary, one-off adventure/dungeon so I can get a feel for how the group operates and how everybody plays before throwing them into a campaign proper.
My issue is coming up with that "feeler" dungeon. I'm half-tempted to use something like Tomb of Horrors or some comparable pre-established crawl, but since I don't know the players I'm worried about one of two outcomes:
>They're horribly inexperienced and get themselves killed immediately.
or
>At least one has played ToH or whichever before and calls it out.
Based on what little I know of the group I'm assuming it would be the former before the latter. Either way I think my first impression would be pretty soiled, even if I did get a good idea of the skillsets of the players.
Are you retarded? There are tons of feeler dungeons you can steal and you obviously haven't looked. Why ToH?
>>47791841
Do not run Tomb of Horrors. That is a terrible introduction to RPGs.
I have a DM who, without exception, starts every campaign at a bar. The bar has run out of booze, because the workers are to scared to go into the basement that's become infested with giant rats. PCs go downstairs and kill the rats.
You can spice this up any number of ways. Unsafe staircases and floorboards. The rats are diseased. Turns out the bartender is actually a rat too. There are no rats, just thugs who try to rob the players.
>>47791861
Because being so completely and thoroughly wrong is apparently a trolling tactic. Throwing out a buzzword or reference in a place where it's pretty much completely inappropriate is a way to generate responses from angry nerds and people who take it seriously and sincerely offer helpful advice.
>>47791841
do a simple history with a simple version of D&D for example 5 ed.
All with have fun, the end.
In my experience new players games are more positive than veteran groups.
You can encourage role playing much more easily
They are not gonna bullshit you with rules
They are docile.
They normaly have a blast.
They dont ask for much.
Dont go dungeon crawl route. Start with a tavern ,a town that have problems because bandints, etc..
Let they present themshelves, have patience , ask them to describe themshelves ask about their motivations, let they explore.
Do "tutorial" tips like: are you sure you wanna do that?.
>>47791841
No, forget ToH, nothing but bitterness and recrimination come from it.
Have you any details on these players?
Start with something lighter, in order to assess them. We be goblins or something like that maybe?
>>47791841
Have they rolled characters?
Why not a session 0? Sit them down, roll characters together and have them discuss what they and you are looking for in a game. This also gives you the opportunity to have them come up with a reason they're an adventuring party.
>>47791922
well i think is bait too, until i see some post from the pathfinder and D&D generals.
Im 50% sure that some gm have played with gronards since they started and doesnt know how to handle a group of normies. Cos they expect the same autist reactions that neck beards have.
>>47791915
I've actually got a campaign I came up with that's basically a starter skeleton story.
> Rats in the cellar.
> They've eaten through the wall from a nearby cave.
> Fucked up web spinning cave centipedes that spit acid
> Follow the nests down
> Dark Elves riding Cave Centipedes
> Kill the fuck out of the elves
> Boy aren't I glad that that business is resolved
> Continue exploring DE city
> Cave Centipedes carrying away the bodies
> Beginning to reclaim the buildings, cutting parts of the stone away with acid
> Carry everything away even loot
> Feral Dark Elves being ridden by Cave Centipedes
> Any dead are dismembered and carried away in a chain like ants
>Reach the bottom
>It's a giant foundry
> Machines powered mostly by beating hearts
> Centipedes are coming off an assembly line
> Carapace and components vat grown
> Then assembled by the foundry
> Big ones take several days plus more to vat grow the pieces
> Small ones are done in hours
> Worker centipedes are sorting the loot and bodies, breaking them into component pieces and stashing those for future use.
>There's no boss encounter
>Loot's all just from dead elves and rat-slaying adventurers
Thinking of that to ease people into my writing style for campaigns.
I'm running my first campaign at the moment and a couple of my players are brand new (as am I) to tabletop.
Set the scene by making the starting town both VERY friendly and VERY mistrustful
> Hey nice to see a new face! Hopefully we won't be forced to kill a creature wearing your face.
> I mean you're dumb as fuck so I give it a week
> But you seem like nice people!
They also drastically over-estimate the PC's knowledge and skills because foreshadowing.
>>47791841
Rampant Unicorn Inn, Tavern & Dungeon
New Simulated Dungeons Each Week
Cash, Prizes, Contracts (most of the cash and prizes are signing bonuses for the contracts)
Instructors Available
Buying Tales Of Your Own Dungeon Experiences
>>47792347
If the campaign ends with the Barbarian finding a way to terraform Mars i'll be greatly upset.
>>47792437
The planes are more accessable. By complaining over and over how parts of them aren't enough like their rough home a barbarian could get the casters to freeze hell over, get the ground to sprout food, etc.
>>47791841
>I'm about to start DMing for a group full of people I've never met at the behest of someone I've dated, who will also be playing.
Burn everything.
>>47792634
Usually even the gods don't have the power to terraform the planes or Mars in a timescale anywhere near a campaign.
>>47792347
New Phantasmal Dungeons Each Fortnight
>>47792223
This is where I make centipedes
I sure love to make centipedes
I turn little black worms
Into centipedes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFfLCuHSZ-U
