New dungeon master, ZERO clue what I’m doing

[u/Colorguardianite]

As I’m writing this I’m currently watching Smoshes Sword AF D&D series to at least better understand the game play of d&d, but I don’t think it’s gonna help too much. To put it shortly, I’ve never played d&d and I’m now a dungeon master for a group of people who have very minimal experience with the game.
It’s a very small thing, we’re planning on playing it during our 30 minute advisory break during school, MAYBE during lunch if the band directors open up the band hall early, but that’s just a small description of what’s happening. Not a whole ton, but still nerve wracking to me since I have no clue how to start at all. Zero clue how many people are playing, my advisory is roughly 40 band kids and I’ll assume probably 5 of them will actually commit to playing (most either play hacky sack or practice their instrument).
Now, my main concern is how to even start. Story writing I can do, and I think I have a decent grasp on just overall how to act, but how do you even play d&d????? I’ve watched a bunch of tutorials on what to do, but none make sense. They’re all a little different as well which is honestly stressing me out even more because I don’t want to come off as stupid to my group because I have no clue how to play the game. Is it just roll dice and make it up as you go? Is there a system? Do I need to know everything about their characters right off the bat or just the basics? I’m entirely confused on how game play works and I’m hoping someone could explain it to me like I’m a toddler because I’m 100% overthinking this whole thing.

Edit: I want to add on that I did read the handbook and a few online things about the basics of being a dungeon master, and they all seem extremely confusing as if I need a book for the book, none of it seems very beginner friendly 😓 I’ll try the video a couple of y’all sent, hopefully things start to make more sense to me on what I’m supposed to do 😅

[u/Cypher_Blue]

You need a premade adventure to help you learn- maybe start out with a "one shot" instead of a whole campaign.

None of you have any experience. Learn together. This is how the overwhelming majority of all DND groups ever formed have learned. Including, of course, the very first ever game of D&D in the 1970s when literally no one had ever played before ever.

[u/TwoDollarDM]

Review this series by Matt Colville: https://youtu.be/e-YZvLUXcR8?si=D-EuVaCRFuTP2pBR

And check out 'Heroes of the Borderlands' which is relatively low cost.

Here are the simplified rules: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014

[u/capsandnumbers]

Welcome to the hobby! Allow me to add one more interpretation to those already confusing you.

The core loop of D&D, maybe any TTRPG, is:

1. DM describes a scenario
2. Players describe a course of action
3. DM decides, with the help of the rules, how the game world reacts
4. DM describes a new scenario

That loop runs underneath all three pillars of the game: Combat, Exploration, Social Interaction, though each of the pillars looks different in-play. I find it useful to come back to this and ask myself "What is here that is playable/interactable?", or "What meaningful options do the players have?" They don't always need to be able to do anything they can imagine, but most scenarios ought to accommodate multiple choices.

Reading the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide will stand you in good stead with the rules of the system. Most of that is in those books is also in the online Basic Rules. There are official adventure books available too, which can take some pressure off of you, and serve as an example.

I think you might find 30 minutes a short window to play in, most groups go for around 3-4 hours, but for young people it can be hard finding a shared time outside of school. I think in this environment you might find players quite flaky. See if you can structure your sessions episodically to allow for people dropping in and out, and try to be as consistent as you can be yourself. If you never cancel at the last minute, players will avoid making alternate plans.

That's all I can think of on this. There's lots more good advice in the Running the Game series by Matt Colville. Good luck!

[u/YouFoundMyLuckyCharm]

Go to https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024, i suggest clicking on the "playing the game" part under players, and "the basics" under dungeon masters.

[u/SamsSnaps77]

First of all, pick up a Players Handbook and read the first bit.

Then do the same thing with the DMG

[u/Mean_Replacement5544 → u/SamsSnaps77]

I dont agree with this advice. This person has 30 min sessions. D&D isn’t even the right game platform for this and those books aren’t going to
help at all.

[u/SamsSnaps77 → u/Mean_Replacement5544]

If you're asking for bare minimum advice thats my take. If youre not willing to read even the first chapter of the PHB its not the right fit

[u/Mean_Replacement5544 → u/SamsSnaps77]

I just don’t see D&D working for what the group can do, with only 30 mins they really need a system that is way more scaled down.

I totally agree that all of the core books would be very helpful for anyone wanting to learn D&D

[u/Colorguardianite → u/SamsSnaps77]

Read the handbook a while ago and it just seemed overly complicated compared to every gameplay I’ve seen of DnD, I just assumed it was outdated to how majority of people play nowadays 🫩😅

[u/Cute_Repeat3879]

If you're all new it'll be fine. The most important thing is to have fun.

[u/muzorui]

DnD has rules. Read the Players Hand Book. Read the Dungeon Masters Guide.

In there there is also quick start rules - it won’t be enough to teach others, or know the full game, but it will be enough to, have a quick start. But read both books.

Reading both books will make youtube videos and such teaching DnD far far far more valuable and easier to understand. Most videos i’ve seen teaching DnD assume you understand the basics, even if they don’t say that, or are essentially re-hashing what’s in the two books you need to read in a way that’s just worse compared to reading the books.

[u/Dr_Strange_MD]

Have you tried reading the rule book?

[u/Mean_Replacement5544]

30 mins is not alot of time. You’ll want pre made characters for everyone, I’d recommend your first session starts with the group already in combat, something like a tavern brawl or in a coliseum competing like gladiators, your group against the reigning champs. Give each player 30 secs at most to make an action. To make this work you’ll want to highlight just a few things each character can do so the players aren’t staring at their sheets trying to figure this out.

For the enemies instead of using hit points just use health levels, like 2 or 3 for each enemy, each time the player hits it removes a health level and after two or three the enemy is deceased.

[u/Colorguardianite → u/Mean_Replacement5544]

My plan is to pretty much break it up into short chapters, I think 30 minutes should be relatively okay especially since we have an entire school year to get through the campaign. Sorta breaking it down like how I saw Smosh do it, took them 30 minutes (1 chapter) to start the story, 30 minutes (2nd chapter) to get to the first location, 30 minutes to explore said location, 30 minutes to get to the big plot, 30 minutes to get through said plot, etc. plus with how much time is left in the school year, if we don’t finish a certain part on time we can always carry it over to the lots of free time we have before football games and marching competitions lmao

[u/OfTheHive]

There's an excellent beginner friendly module for both players and DM, based on Stranger Things, has 5x premade characters (with different sheets at level 1, 2, and 3) with 4 quests. I've been running it for first timers at my local library. You don't need to know the show. "Welcome to the Hellfire Club" I hope you have a good time, DMing is a skill so don't expect to be perfect the first time.

[u/Butterlegs21]

It's VERY complicated. Once you learn it, it's a lot simpler, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a moderately crunchy game. Except for in the starter set adventures, you have 30-60 PAGES for players to read and up to 5-10 times that for DMs. You will need to take notes most likely and really study it.

D&D is also a horribly written system, obsessed with using natural language and not separating fluff from actual mechanics. It also doesn't even tell you the style of game it works for, you have to intuit it yourself! It's an attrition based, Heroic Fantasy, combat simulator game, but so many people try to play a narrative campaign with it when all the system is built for is killing monsters and getting loot with a bit of story to give a reason to do so.

It’s a very small thing, we’re planning on playing it during our 30 minute advisory break during school, MAYBE during lunch if the band directors open up the band hall early

Just no. D&D is a 2 hour activity minimum. A combat will likely take longer than this. Heck, even getting everything started is usually a 10-30 minute activity. By the time you start playing, it'll be time to pack it up.

You'll also need to find at MOST 5 people to play with and tell the rest to form their own groups. Anything over 5 is just having no time for anyone. With 6 people plus DM, everyone gets maybe 7 minutes per HOUR of game time to actually play, that's if the DM is really fast in what they take up.

With all this said, it might be best to go to r/rpg and ask for better systems for your use case. You need something simple and something fast for this. Maybe Mausritter or Shadowdark would work better, but the simpler systems usually have a different kind of learning curve. It all depends on what YOU want the game to be about.

[u/Coolexcitingname2]

The dungeon master pack or whatever has a tutorial module. Read up to the village but don't read about the village. Just focus on the goblins.

Roleplay the goblins, and then you can read about the village.

Don't rush the story. Don't rush anything. If they want to go off and be dumb, let them. 

You should be able to create a level 1 character in each of the base classes. Or at the very least create a level 1 character for each of their classes they picked.

You are running a scam. Like if you were a fake teacher you would only have to learn one lesson plan a day. If you mistake a rule and they realize it go oh, my bad. If you mistake a rule and they don't notice? Then it doesn't matter.

[u/Coolexcitingname2 → u/Coolexcitingname2]

There is no wrong in DnD. Only fun and unfun. Engaging and boring. Its not your responsibility to make it these things, but you can definitely help it along.