Post by Sidera on Sept 14, 2016 13:26:57 GMT
Just posted my first thread on the forum, a newbie DM's cry for help, and as I have finally dipped my toe into posting something on here I thought I may as well introduce myself too!
My name is Emily but on the web I go by Sidera or Sidera1993 and I am probably a lot newer to both Dungeons and Dragons and the Dm's Block Podcast than most people on here (as of writing this I am at episode 21, only 80ish or so more to go guys!).
As a child I was a huge reader, fantasy being my favourite genre, and I loved books such as Dragonology and Wizard School manuals that made the fantasy world seem more tangible and real. I was slow to get into video games as my parents didn't particularly approve of them (strict screen time limits in our house) so I made board games based off my favourite books as well as paper based 'video games' which I subjected my younger brother too. Eventually I heard of Dungeons and Dragons but without anyone to play with (Yay being a girl!) or access to materials I never had the chance to dive in, I once played one of the board games briefly but that was about as far as my experience went (I also came to own the Dungeons and Dragons movie on DVD as ridiculous at it was). I instead fell in love with the fighting fantasy book series despite being terrible at them (I don't think I ever finished one without cheating) and tried to make my own version that was sadly never completed.
About two years ago my boyfriend bought me the 5E starter set for Christmas, but as exciting as it was to finally have something that could give me access to that world I still lacked people to play with. About a year later my brother introduced me to the show Critical Role and I fell in love with the dynamics between players and the roleplaying aspect of the game. We finally tried to set up a group to try out my 5E starter set, DM'd by my boyfriend as I wanted to play my Christmas gift, but the players were unreliable and often uncooperative in game. They very much had a video game mentality and saw their characters as means to achieve a goal instead as people living and breathing in the D&D world. My character, a Human Ranger, actually died early on in the campaign but I was given a free pass as we were all so new to the game (also yay for the revised ranger class that was just released!). In the end this campaign fizzled out before we managed to complete it
Wanting to have another shot over 6 months later I suggested my boyfriend finish the campaign with just me and my brother as players and I would run a campaign with just him and my brother as players meaning we'd all get to play. I had purchased the out of the abyss story book for us to use as a continuation after the starter set and said I would run that as a campaign for them. Keen to have a go they rushed me to run the campaign and it turned into a total mess with a my boyfriend, a gnome wizard, running off by himself and getting recaptured on the attempt to escape the Drow leaving my brother, who was playing both a ranger and a paladin, forced into a face off with the Drow in an attempt to free him which could have only ended up in a TPK. We decided there were flaws on both sides of the table and decided to restart with new characters whilst also giving me time to plan and get to grips with the story.
I have been since looking for ways to make the rerun a success by finding resources to help me, such as the DM's block podcast, and I am feeling more confident about retrying the role of DM. Whilst running this campaign I am also hoping to create a world of my own on the side as I get more confident with what is required of a world and campaign.
My other skills are creative writing, graphic design and illustration, photography, psychology and cooking/baking. Not all of which are useful for Dming
I hope to learn from you guys on here and maybe at some point I will also have things to contribute myself
My name is Emily but on the web I go by Sidera or Sidera1993 and I am probably a lot newer to both Dungeons and Dragons and the Dm's Block Podcast than most people on here (as of writing this I am at episode 21, only 80ish or so more to go guys!).
As a child I was a huge reader, fantasy being my favourite genre, and I loved books such as Dragonology and Wizard School manuals that made the fantasy world seem more tangible and real. I was slow to get into video games as my parents didn't particularly approve of them (strict screen time limits in our house) so I made board games based off my favourite books as well as paper based 'video games' which I subjected my younger brother too. Eventually I heard of Dungeons and Dragons but without anyone to play with (Yay being a girl!) or access to materials I never had the chance to dive in, I once played one of the board games briefly but that was about as far as my experience went (I also came to own the Dungeons and Dragons movie on DVD as ridiculous at it was). I instead fell in love with the fighting fantasy book series despite being terrible at them (I don't think I ever finished one without cheating) and tried to make my own version that was sadly never completed.
About two years ago my boyfriend bought me the 5E starter set for Christmas, but as exciting as it was to finally have something that could give me access to that world I still lacked people to play with. About a year later my brother introduced me to the show Critical Role and I fell in love with the dynamics between players and the roleplaying aspect of the game. We finally tried to set up a group to try out my 5E starter set, DM'd by my boyfriend as I wanted to play my Christmas gift, but the players were unreliable and often uncooperative in game. They very much had a video game mentality and saw their characters as means to achieve a goal instead as people living and breathing in the D&D world. My character, a Human Ranger, actually died early on in the campaign but I was given a free pass as we were all so new to the game (also yay for the revised ranger class that was just released!). In the end this campaign fizzled out before we managed to complete it
Wanting to have another shot over 6 months later I suggested my boyfriend finish the campaign with just me and my brother as players and I would run a campaign with just him and my brother as players meaning we'd all get to play. I had purchased the out of the abyss story book for us to use as a continuation after the starter set and said I would run that as a campaign for them. Keen to have a go they rushed me to run the campaign and it turned into a total mess with a my boyfriend, a gnome wizard, running off by himself and getting recaptured on the attempt to escape the Drow leaving my brother, who was playing both a ranger and a paladin, forced into a face off with the Drow in an attempt to free him which could have only ended up in a TPK. We decided there were flaws on both sides of the table and decided to restart with new characters whilst also giving me time to plan and get to grips with the story.
I have been since looking for ways to make the rerun a success by finding resources to help me, such as the DM's block podcast, and I am feeling more confident about retrying the role of DM. Whilst running this campaign I am also hoping to create a world of my own on the side as I get more confident with what is required of a world and campaign.
My other skills are creative writing, graphic design and illustration, photography, psychology and cooking/baking. Not all of which are useful for Dming
I hope to learn from you guys on here and maybe at some point I will also have things to contribute myself