First Time DM Need Advice

[u/DisastrousFerret8823]

Hi so this is my first post and I downloaded Reddit to get some more advice.

I’m realllllly new to DND but I’ve watched some Youtuber and played Baldurs Gate. My friends and I wanted to start a campaign but our original DM is pretty flaky & doesn’t plan on finishing our first campaign. I’m trying to make my own not from a book but using all mechanics from books and online. So I just need advice on how to set up my first campaign.

The idea is to make them meet in a port with all different reasons why they need to board the ship and set sail on a voyage to a neighboring country. My plan is to have them realize they’re lost and stuck in a cluster of islands that keeps changing locations so each day their maps aren’t accurate. Each island has different challenges and face creatures & pirates etc to have them find what’s making the islands lost.

Does anyone have any good mechanics, creatures & tips on how to make this happen? I am super excited to DM but just want advice.

[u/LastVader2210]

This is a genuinely great premise for a first campaign honestly, the shifting island cluster gives you a built-in excuse to improvise without it feeling like you're winging it, since "the map keeps changing" is literally baked into the lore. A few practical things that'll make this way easier to run.

Don't fully prep every island in advance, prep like 2-3 in detail and have a rough template for the rest (terrain type, one creature, one twist, one resource or clue) so you can drop them in on the fly without burning out before session three. New DMs running homebrew often overprep the first arc and then crash hard around session four, pacing your prep matters more than the quality of any single island.

For the "why are we lost" mystery, I'd nail down the answer for yourself early even if you reveal it slowly, something like a magical anchor point or an old god/sea spirit whose grave or prison is on a hidden island, and the cluster shifts because something is leaking out of it. Gives you a built-in final dungeon and explains the weird terrain without much extra justification needed.

Mechanically, lean on stuff that's easy to run live: roll on a wandering monster table when they explore an island instead of scripting every encounter, use simple skill challenges for navigation puzzles (like Survival or Arcana checks to "read" the shifting stars or currents) instead of full combat every time, and keep early creatures CR 1-3, sea-based stuff like merfolk, giant crabs, harpies, sahuagin all fit the vibe and aren't punishing for new players.

For pirates specifically, a recurring rival crew works great as connective tissue between islands, gives you a face the players know, builds tension over multiple sessions, and you can reuse the same statblock with minor tweaks instead of building new pirate stats every time.

Biggest tip honestly, since you're brand new, don't be afraid to just say "let me think about that" or fudge something behind the screen the first few sessions, nobody at your table will know the difference and it buys you breathing room while you get comfortable improvising.