Roll20 uses cookies to improve your experience on our site. Cookies enable you to enjoy certain features, social sharing functionality, and tailor message and display ads to your interests on our site and others. They also help us understand how our site is being used. By continuing to use our site, you consent to our use of cookies. Update your cookie preferences .
×

Greetings roll20 masters! Player experience, but first time DM, looking for advice

Howdy All! I started D&D with 3.5 foreverish ago.  I did a trial character run in 5e and have also taken a ridiculously entertaining Vuman Barbarian to lvl 11 in a campaign which has been using roll20 since Pandemic. I have the Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus book and I bought the accompanying digital content plus a year's subscription.  Half of my party are very experienced DMs...  I'll be reading and rereading the two sticky posts in this forum so anything beyond that will be extremely appreciated.  One DM of my group, in particular, ran many campaigns for me back in the day.  I want to return the favor to the best of my ability!  Also, wow this whole electronic setup with the available BG DIA campaign is an insanely good starting point for n00b me. Thanks all! -Sean (previously usually played a monk, but omg barbarians are crazy awesome for the campaign currently being wrapped up) first time DM'ing within the next couple/few weeks. PS: So I'm overpowering the group a bit but the canned material lets me toss 4, 5 or 6 party level challenges at my party of 4: bard, druid, ranger, and paladin/sorcerer MC.  PPS:  I know I'm just one of many n00bs, so pointing me directly to other threads totally counts as helpful feedback!
1591664642
Andrew R.
Pro
Sheet Author
Best of luck! My advice is listen to your players and accept their advice while you find your feet as a DM. 
It sounds like you know your players, so you can make some notes about the style and content of play that they like -- role play, map exploration, combat, puzzles, information gathering, PC development -- and make sure to include two or three of these for each session. Don't let the platform determine the game.  Roll20 works with lots of different styles, including old-fashioned narrative, so feel free to grow slowly in roll20 tech and concentrate on story, atmosphere, and player engagement. Overpowered characters can work as long as they are all comparable in power to each other.  It's not fun for players if they are too unbalanced. Players have more fun when the GM enjoys the game, and when they get to surprise the GM, so expect the unexpected, and enjoy!