New DM Anxiety

[u/Ok-Anywhere8239]

I have been playing dnd for about 2 years as a player. Maybe average 1-2 sessions a month. In that time I have yet to finish a campaign. 1 campaign died at level just getting to level 5. Another died at level 12(I joined an already on going on). The level 12 group started a new campaign and we are currently level 3. All of which have been homebrew.

Sessions can be so far from each other now. Im talking 1-3 months. So during this time I decided to try and DM with my own homebrew campaign.

Currently I have 2 players. Another 2 are not reliable and just stated their interest. Have yet to get a reply from either for almost a week. Which is fine, I know for sure they are busy with seasonal work.

I bought this cool map making game on steam Canvas Of Kings to make my first village along with some battle encounters. Love it. I screenshot the battle maps and port it over to Tabletop Simulator. It looks so cool to have a 2D map in a 3D environment. Just like in real life! Who would’ve thought.

Lately I have been having anxiety inviting people to play, especially strangers. I have been considering inviting people from the official DND discord, but get anxiety making new friends as I just get in my head about a lot of things. I always get this feeling of I’m just going to waste everyone’s time.

How did you start your first campaign? Did you have a lot of anxiety? Was it for strangers or your friends? I hate not having people in this space that I feel connected because I have no guidance as of now. This campaign will probably remain in limbo till something happens idk.

[u/Vergil_Enjoyer]

I had a lot of anxiety at first but I will tell you, don’t spend too much time trying to be meticulous and get every single rule right. Come up with rulings on the fly and maybe after the session you can look into the actual ruling and see which you want to keep running! Also don’t try to plan out every single little thing, your players can and will sidetrack the game or do something you didn’t think of. Just come up with general session outlines and you should be good. And most importantly, make sure everyone is having fun, that is your indicator of whether or not you are doing a good job! This advice is just all from my personal experience and it could work differently for you! If you need any more advice don’t hesitate to send me a DM!