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[magellan]

Wow, much bigger response than I expected, thanks.

I'm probably guilty of too much concern with following the rules to a letter, which I know will slow things down until I really get a handle on things. Neither of my players have ever played before, and because I'm the one who's read all the rulebooks it's going to fall on me to teach them how to play, and I'm afraid it might just confuse everyone (including me) if I skim over/change too many things right away.

There is one thing to be said about rulebooks: They are just somebody elses houserules. If you do something differently (conciously or unconciously) than it says in one of them books, you didn't do it wrong, you just decided to alter that specific houserule.

Also if you got a DM you don't need balance, you can fudge and wing it. (though i personally had the best games where I didn't roll behind a screen, it's propably something you shouldn't do until you had a little bit of experience)

[Draco18s]

Buy the World's Largest Dungeon.  Not only is it worth the $100 price tag, you can run the dungeon more than once and still not have explored everything.  Heck, you can break off sections of it and use those as whole dungeons by themselves, if you really want to.

One of my group's GMs ran WLD for us (took us 26 RL months, I was the only player who had the same character by the end) as his first GM attempt.  There's enough detail that you don't need to think too hard, but its so poorly organized (its gone through so many revisions there's a room with a key you need to get that does something in another room...which no longer exists) that you are kept on your toes, which is a skill you'll need to develop (because some day you'll be running another game in another system and the players will throw 10 kg of C4 down a chasm and blow it up forcing you to figure out just exactly what happens...because the Rules As Written make no sense in that context*).

*Stone provides armored cover to characters and has a damage reduction threshold of 10 per inch and a structural integrity of 30 per inch and the explosion is dealing out 600 damage with 20 "DR" penetration, but the nearest character is 30 feet through solid rock from the blast:  Is any rock destroyed, and if so, how much?  Does the character take any damage?

[DeKaFu]

Fantasygrounds has a map feature that seems to work as a whiteboard (though it's a bit clunky). It does allow you to place markers and move them around though, so we can probably use that to keep track of rough positioning during fights.

Stuff about punching players in the face to establish dominance.

I should probably emphasize that they have absolutely no experience with roleplaying games. They're trusting me to run the game however it's supposed to be run, because they don't know any different. If their first experience with the game was being killed off for making a simple mistake against an overpowered foe, it might easily turn them off the entire thing. Especially since they're new, so they will make mistakes.

Really, my first goal when we start will be to instill a sense of freedom with them. We all come from a videogame background, and that brings a mindset of "there's a single correct path of action and if you get it wrong you can't progress" and "if you try to do something that's not obvious the game probably won't let you". I'm going to need to break them out of that ASAP. So my current plan is to start them somewhere low-key and let them explore a bit before dropping any major hints and plot-hooks. I'm hoping it'll also be good practice for me for dealing with unexpected decisions from them.

Two players is not ideal.

Two players is what I've got. 

For what it's worth, both players have (or will have) an animal accompanying them. The dwarf fighter has a light warhorse that she's named and intends to take care of and use whenever possible, and the ranger will eventually get an animal companion (most likely a hawk) which will probably get the same sort of treatment.
I'm not entirely sure how to handle them, to be honest, but I think they'll essentially be minor additional "characters" rather than just tools in the players' minds. Any advice on that front would be nice...right now I'm sort of planning to play them as NPCs wherever it makes sense.

Also, thanks for all the planning tips! I think I've worked out a planning-plan that isn't completely overwhelming, now. After the first play-session I'll probably have a better idea of what I need, too. This whole topic has helped my confidence a lot.

[MrWiggles]

Fantasygrounds has a map feature that seems to work as a whiteboard (though it's a bit clunky). It does allow you to place markers and move them around though, so we can probably use that to keep track of rough positioning during fights.

Stuff about punching players in the face to establish dominance.

I should probably emphasize that they have absolutely no experience with roleplaying games. They're trusting me to run the game however it's supposed to be run, because they don't know any different. If their first experience with the game was being killed off for making a simple mistake against an overpowered foe, it might easily turn them off the entire thing. Especially since they're new, so they will make mistakes.

Really, my first goal when we start will be to instill a sense of freedom with them. We all come from a videogame background, and that brings a mindset of "there's a single correct path of action and if you get it wrong you can't progress" and "if you try to do something that's not obvious the game probably won't let you". I'm going to need to break them out of that ASAP. So my current plan is to start them somewhere low-key and let them explore a bit before dropping any major hints and plot-hooks. I'm hoping it'll also be good practice for me for dealing with unexpected decisions from them.

Then I would try a lead by the nose type deal. A kid napping, crying mother and a general location they can go to, so they have clear object and clear place to go to. This also wouldn't require a complicated dungeon, as it could be as simple as a camp site for the rapscallions. You could do a variety of site based adventures centered along one town with one NPC giving quest for the party to do, that gives them that linear path of progression they are used to. With their experience with the game they'll start doing odd things, and unexpected things and start playing the game as a more open world.

Again, I wouldn't try do a story. The player are as green horn as you say, as you to DMing, this could add a lot of complication. I would concentrate on site based adventures, and let your player decide when they're ready for more.

Two players is not ideal.

Two players is what I've got. 

For what it's worth, both players have (or will have) an animal accompanying them. The dwarf fighter has a light warhorse that she's named and intends to take care of and use whenever possible, and the ranger will eventually get an animal companion (most likely a hawk) which will probably get the same sort of treatment.
I'm not entirely sure how to handle them, to be honest, but I think they'll essentially be minor additional "characters" rather than just tools in the players' minds. Any advice on that front would be nice...right now I'm sort of planning to play them as NPCs wherever it makes sense.

Also, thanks for all the planning tips! I think I've worked out a planning-plan that isn't completely overwhelming, now. After the first play-session I'll probably have a better idea of what I need, too. This whole topic has helped my confidence a lot.

Animal NPCs have a nasty habit of being forgotten about. Then they sorta pop in randomly. Horses don't suffer from this as much, but can. Its a common trope in table top games.

There a better page of his comic that demonstrate this but, this is the one I managed to find.

Spoiler: The joke is that for the length of the comic V has not really used his/her familiar. (click to show/hide)

So, the animals will just be NPC really ran by you.

The reason why two is an issue, is the assumption of the game of four to five players with a max about eight so everything is geared toward this. You can provide them with shallow site capable support, like a cleric that will heal them for free.

Though without the support classes, this really limits how long the party can between site vistis, which for this case wont be so bad if you're doing site based adventures. They can return to town fairly easily.

Also, characters die. Let them die. Low level characters are fragile. All the experience players here offering their wisdom have probably rolled up dozens and dozen of characters with probably a small stash of recycled characters. (I have about 10 or so that I've played regularly for ten years.)

[fenrif]

Also, characters die. Let them die. Low level characters are fragile. All the experience players here offering their wisdom have probably rolled up dozens and dozen of characters with probably a small stash of recycled characters. (I have about 10 or so that I've played regularly for ten years.)

I'd say for the first game he's running, and with people who haven't played before, killing their characters is something to be avoided. Nothing turns off new players more than having to re-roll a new char every session because they don't know what they're doing. That goes double when its because of an inexperienced GM.

Obviously the threat of character death is important, because it creates tension... But unless you're running a straight up dungeon crawl, with heavy emphasis on combat over narrative, i'd argue against fudging the game to keep the pcs alive. At least for the first few sessions.

[EuchreJack]

For the first adventure, give them pre-made characters.

Then they won't care when the character they didn't want dies.

And when their self made character does well (unknowest to them via your fudging), they'll feel that they know the system.

Oh, and don't spend more than 10 minutes creating characters for the players.  They won't care, why should you? 

Warning: I come from the Paranoia RPG school of thought.  Be nicer to the pawns than I suggest, lol.

[MrWiggles]

Paranoia is awesome. *highfive*

It is treason to have a mutant power. Your character start with at least one mutant power

Trust your friend computer.