Dungeons & Dragons

So, I'm DMing for my first time (I have GMed a Star Wars tabletop RP before, but that was super lowkey and relaxed about rules, lol.) and I'm wondering if anyone else out there does D&D at all, players and DMs alike, and if so, what are resources that you/your DM uses? 

Any resources on fairy myths? (Like hearing music, stepping into a ring of mushrooms, etc.) Or good books on myths? (I've got the basics memorized, thanks to D'aulaires and Riordan.) But if anyone knows of a good Tam Lin retelling ... PLEASE TELL ME lol.

BTW, what about keeping a large group on task and point? I'll be having a group of folks of about 5-7 not counting myself, which is significantly larger than the group I used to GM, and most are newbies, tho some are carrying over from the Star Wars RPG.

Disclaimer: I have played D&D before ... just not as a freaking Dungeon Master. ;)

Hi, 

Dungeons & Dragons has been around since I was little, I never played it. But my niece is playing it every saturday night.

Good luck with your game.

Hey so I'm a player not a DM so keep that little grain of salt in your mind. So really I can't speak for my DM's inspiration I have no idea what specific resources he uses BUT we use dndbeyond.com to get everything organized in terms of players. Super helpful, especially for newbies.

As for keeping everyone on task...good luck ; ) 

First off when we first started there were 3 newbies and 1 experienced player (I was one of the newbies!). The first two sessions were verrrryyyyy long so I think you really just have to be patient with the off-topic for the first couple days. As one person was desperately flipping through books and looking up what hit die to roll, everyone else got distracted and started chatting. As we all started to get more comfortable with our characters and more knowledgeable about what to roll when/what a ___ check entailed then it started speeding up significantly. Even though we're all friends, now as soon as we sit down and get rolling each session there isn't too much off topic chatter just cause we get so wrapped up in the storyline. I hope this goes as smoothly in your game.

That being said, we still get distracted at least once a game and our DM does give us little gentle prods if we start going down rabbit holes or getting off topic. Sometimes they're in the form of NPC dialogue, like if we're taking a long time and getting distracted by making jokes about a situation he'll prod us like: *character voice* "hey, this is really taking a long time, and it's getting dark!" Just some sort of phrase where he doesn't have the NPC say anything about what we were just taking about (since they didn't technically hear us talking) but really just a little reminder of the task. Sometimes if we're really off topic and we weren't necessarily speaking to an NPC- we just got off-track-he'll speak up and advance the storyline. Something like *DM voice* "(insert character name here) while you were speaking with your party you get a creepy feeling that you're being watched, then you hear a twig crack about 10 feet to your right..." Making eye contact with a player and calling out a specific character and giving them a scenario makes sure the ball is in their court and that they have to do something. As soon as that person needs to make a decision, the rest of us begin to pay attention pretty quickly when we're trying to see what check or action they'll make. That's my best hint for you! Happy DMing!

Sweet! Thanks for the help, elletrea! I'll be sure to check out dndbeyond.com. :)