Noob GM Needs help

>>49573447
Make the dwarven artifact a phylactery of some blah blah blah doorf who was a wizard who binded devils from hell.

Boom

The PC had a certain artifact in mind unfortunately.

>>49573498
Surprise! Welcome to DM'ing 101

Wiki the Magicians choice while your here why don't cha?

>>49573526
Have you got anything more than just the Magicians choice ?

>>49573447
don't bother about their goals. if your campaign gets past three sessions, then start thinking about placing paths for them to achieve them. focus on the present day where their need for gold/xp/respect drives them to work together on your quest.

>>49573741
Ok so focus on making them have names for themselves and the like? That helps a bit.

>>49573825
yup. also, all of their goals are long term and high level. unless you're starting at level 14+, even they will be fine with putting them off until later.
Also remember that those are their goals; they don't have to be yours. if you're running a xampaign you're not enthusiastic about it'll die. come up with your own campaign goal, and work their goals into it later.

>>49573447
This guy >>49573475 has some merit but also a problem: namely, by the end they will fight over owning the thing.

So, do it different.
Through their independent searches they have heard about an ancient wizarding empire, with liches and diabloist and whatever else magical galore. The dorfen artefact has also ended in their possession.
Their empire long lays in ruins, but there's still some shit to plunder.

So they meet when they join a caravan going to a town closes to a rumored location of the ruins of the ancient empire's trading outpost, in hopes of finding maps* that will point them towards further cities and caches of knowledge and whatnot. The caravan comes under attack by goblin raid or someshit**, they get some XP and learn how to work together; conversation at camp shows they're going to the same place, so they continue, etc etc.

*make maps carved into stone enchanted into unbreakableness so they have to copy it themselves rather than fight over parchment. Don't ask for rolls, just let them have it as a plot point.
**maximum cliche, yes. You shouldn't care about being super unrepeatable original, use the cliches when they fit.

Another newbgm: how do I get a sense for scale of cities?

>>49575422
i'd suggest not bothering. let's say your city has six districts and you make one npc each. that's six npcs per city for the pcs to remember, and chances are few of them will be plot related. have scale be shown by number of guards who show up when enemies strike, in reward for completing jobs.

>>49575916
What if its a modern game set in USA and I live in a third-world tiny town of a tiny country? The question of how do I make it feel authentic is just blowing my anxiety up.

>>49575965
well, I suggest you be lazy. have the players contribute to what the city is like. when in the game the party wants something, ask them if they think that's what the city would have, and what it would look like.
otherwise, have a quick go of cities skylines or simcity.

>>49575965
Watch hollywood movies and use that, they're the same movies your players have seen and that's how their mental image of America is. You shouldn't care about realism, care about recognizability.

>>49575999
>implying there is any local tabletop
It's online, and that's overwhelmingly likely to land with actual amuricans.

>>49575991
Okay that's good ideas.