Hey, /tg/ One month ago, my wife's friend's boyfriend

>>48421461
Most systems have a few premade campaigns for new DMs. Try running one of those.

Panic.

A healthy mixture of A and B is your only hope. Prepare for what you can think of. Expect the unexpected. Revile vague responses to urgent questions.

>>48421461
Plenty of time. We can solve this.

Firstly, what is your system?

>>48421489
As a principle I only play modules, not run them.

>>48421533
That's... what I was thinking. As I sit here writing to you I'm hastily scribbling random encounter tables for a general forest/mountains/grassland setting

>>48421556
Pathfinder in 3.5e Forgotten Realms (Two of the players have never played a tabletop, I figured pathfinder would be easiest for them to pick up)
I've done this time and time before, but never with so little prep time

ohh please i have done much more with less time, let papa help you out, what system are you running?

>>48421461
Do you have a setting? Do you have a background, context, cue at all?

After trying to get some of those, what I'd prepare next is "plot nodes": not entire plots or scripts, but encounters and NPCs and hooks that can be strung together. Bits and pieces of a potential campaign that can be joined on the fly with a little glue and improv.

> serious wolf problem has recently begun happening nearby village, brave people wanted to see what's riling them up and how to stop it
> evil druid looking for assistance in smashing the new forge/windmill/thing, can offer quite good contacts and favors
> random townsfolk have come into large inheritances/lottery winnings/found buried treasure, want to hire people to do various things they've wished for for so long, although they're not dreaming all that big
> man looking to fake his own death to wriggle out of contract, heroic adventuring fake-death preferred
> healing fountain in city is losing power, must acquire new mcguffin from mcguffinland

and then you stitch them together as you go, like maybe the wolf problem is because the man looking to fake his own death got together with the evil druid and said "make it look like I was killed in heroic last stand defending village, body conveniently carried off"

>>48421597
If I were you I would create a straightforward, very limited scope start off scenario like the drow capture at the start of Out of the Abyss. Heck, steal it but change he race if need be. Follow it with a dungeon crawl to the surface.

>>48421701

> cheated trader wants to get plausibly deniable revenge on his rival, spoil rival's sales
> century-old senile swanmay has mistaken village man for her husband, man's wife is upset, hijinks ensue
> cut-price sub-contractor agents of agents of foreign kingdom engaged in espionage, not very good at being subtle about it
> cultists looking to kidnap people for demon summoning sacrifice; unknown to them cult leader is actually disguised outsider doing research project, only capturing people for examination, not actually sacrificing anyone
> magically enhanced super-magpies stealing people's shit, someone please kill these fuckers and get our shit back and make the guy behind it die slowly

>One month ago, my wife's friend's boyfriend approached me

Read this as "my wife's boyfriend" and thought we were in for a cucktroll.

>>48421807
Teeth would be broken, session would be cancelled, wife might be found dead somewhere in the Sonoran desert.

>>48421701
This was helpful. Nothing I haven't done before, but not something I would have done under stress.

>>48421711
I used this as a standard frame of reference. During character creation I'm going to have everybody write in whether they're a thief/criminal or they were falsely accused. This gives reason to bring the party together.

Thinking about doing this whole campaign pre-10 in Undermountain, starting in Waterdeep.

>>48421895
Great, so now consult the 5 room dungeon document, for the right balance of different types of encounters. (They aren't all literally 5 rooms,). The framing device can be 'tunnels that branch out into forbidden tombs, unexplored dungeons' etc. As the session seems to be winding down, take it straight to the final , planned -ahead scene, so perhaps as they reach daylight. You know, a high point for them to high five over.

>>48421597
Two of them have never played tabletop before? 5 hours should get you most of the way through 2, maybe 3 rounds of combat.

>>48422283
He's not wrong

>>48422283
I GM Automate combat. The only thing they're responsible for is their roll, adding their BaB, Adding their strength if melee, dex if ranged, and telling me that number. Everything else is done on my side. Combat, even for a newbie, shouldn't take more than about thirty seconds per turn.

>>48422885
I know that tabletop isn't just about combat and that especially in D&D it can tend to overshadow the other aspects but that just sounds boring as fuck to me. I can't argue if it works for you but that's all but removing combat entirely. Both the decision making and the actual math work of going through a turn is a huge part of what interests me about these games. It can sometimes be a bit laborious with new players but if people can pay attention and learn quickly it doesn't have to be that bad.

>>48423038
Oh, I didn't mean to make it sound that over simplified
They decide what weapon to use
they decide their positioning
they choose to hold an action
they choose if they want to use a special ability or a spell

The only thing I automate is the math, because repeatedly explaining what needs to be taken into account over and over becomes tedious. I've run for enough new players that I know I don't want to do it anymore. I don't hide it though, I let the players watch everything I'm doing, and I usually say it step by step out loud while I do it. It's proven to me in two other groups that the newer players will slowly become familiar enough to just do it on their own when the time is right.

>>48423079
Oh I see. In that case then I think it's pretty unfair to you but it may just still be worth it. I'd probably feel a bit patronized in a situation like that but I am in favor of faster combat.