Teach me how to DM

dergon darkhelm · Post by **dergon darkhelm** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:25 am

I want to try to start doing some regular sessions on OAS2 to troubleshoot, learn my way around, get ffolks interested.

But I'm a shitty DM. I can possess an NPC, spawn a critter, move people from A to B but that's about it.

I can't make any of those cool effects and stuff......I have no idead how to anything that requires typing DM commands.

Anyone feel like helping out a *very* slow learner who can barely log-in the right way most of time?

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:35 pm

I'm not gonna claim any DM skill, but I think I can say its not about the special effects though those can add a certain panache...its about the adventure. A simple quest with a single plot twist will keep players very entertained; hell, even without the plot twist its game. Since you are on the OAS, you might also want to think about how to get the players RPing rather than hunt/hack.

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:57 pm

The dm client interface is tricky in NWN2, and definitely feels "unfinished" - I'm going to try to get some things in (DMFI package, upgrade to PC tools) that should improve things somewhat, but those won't really work on the OAS anyway, since it doesn't run with haks. It's possible we can swing something with overrides for the OAS2 DMs, but that's all theoretical at this point.

Rusty's going to recruit some NWN2-DM-client savvy folk from elsewhere to help with that as well, I think. As fluff said, there is a lot more to good DM'ing in a PW than knowing the DM client and how to use it- but without that mechanistic familiarity (which essentially all of us are beginners at now), it's hard to do much of anything. Hopefully once we've got the tools in place and a guide or two, we can schedule a few learning sessions. I'd be happy to host a module for that, and attend as well (even if I'm pretty dubious about DMing ALFA-NWN2 at this point)

Legionnaire · Post by **Legionnaire** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:20 pm

+1 to what fluff and Acadius said.

If you can possess a NPC or two and RP, you're already most of the way towards being a good DM. Interacting and bringing NPCs to life is what most of the immersion is about. Special effects and dungeon runs are just a very small portion of the experience. Some of my least satisfying sessions have been dungeon runs, while most of my more enjoyable sessions have involved extensive interactions between PCs and NPCs without much combat.

That's my broad two cents. My advice would be to just jump in, possess an NPC or two to interact with the players. Only way to get better is to spend the time in-game and familiarize yourself with the NPC and DM client. Its very much a learning experience.

Legionnaire

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:24 pm

If you're not anticipating much building or toolset work, you might consider signing on as a NWN1 DM for one of the remaining servers- learning the larger part of how to DM and building confidence with it can be done while the bugs are being worked out on the mechanics- only way you're going to get players to practice DMing for in NWN2-ALFA currently would be by recruiting them specifically for the purpose.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:48 pm

Yup, we'll be looking to get the DMFI stuff into our NWN2 DLs soon-ish and then I'm going to see if I can get some people with a little more experience of using them to set out some pointers for beginners.

Inaubryn · Post by **Inaubryn** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:55 pm

What Fluff and others said about fundamental DMing. But, also I've been DMing in Exodus in NWN2 for a few months, so I've got experience with the NWN2 client already. As soon as I buy MotB and upgrade (hopefully next week), I'll be logging into OAS2 to beta test amongst other things. I can run you through the client at that time. While it bears some similarities to the NWN client, there are some significant differences that require adjusting to.