Dragon #275 - Dungeoncraft Test
Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2003 3:37 pm
Welcome back, folks! If you've been following along for the last twenty installments of "Dungeoncraft" (and if you haven't, fire up your Internet browser already and do something about it!), you know that we've covered a lot of ground over the last couple years. This month, I'm going to give you an opportunity to take stock of exactly what you've learned.
That's right -- get ready for the first ever Dungeoncraft Pop Quiz! Now that you've completed the first game session of your new campaign, you can think of it as a sort of midterm examination. In the time-honored tradition of such exams, I'll present a series of true/false, multiple choice, and short answer questions. Some of these questions are drawn from previous installments of "Dungeoncraft"; others call upon you to apply what you've learned to entirely new situations. At the end of the column, I present some answers and a brief discussion of each question. It's important to note that my own answers aren't necessarily the right answers. If there's one thing you've probably learned from these columns so far, it's that dungeoncraft is not an exact science. In fact, I'm sort of hoping that a few of these questions will spark off some intense debate. If you happen to think that my answers deserve a failing grade, don't be afraid to say so and send me your own thoughts. Maybe I'll revisit the pop quiz in a future installment and present alternative answers.
Anyway, with that out of the way, it's time to sharpen your pencils and begin. This is an open book test, though you probably won't need any of the rulebooks to answer these questions. You are welcome to use calculators, computers, cheat sheets, or anything else you might have available, although you won't need any of these things either.
True or False
1. It's a good idea to allow each player to create and run multiple PCs.
2. Hercules is not a good name for a player character.
3. You should draw a detailed map of your game world before beginning your campaign.
4. As a DM, feel free to "cheat" on your dice rolls if you like.
5. Since you're the DM, you should be familiar with all of the official rulebooks published by Wizards of the Coast, just in case one of your players wants to use a new character class or rule from a new supplement.
6. You should never roll your dice in view of the players.
7. It's okay to "borrow" rules from other roleplaying games and incorporate them into your D&D {{link to http://www.wizards.com/dnd/main.asp?x=dnd/welcome,3 }} campaign.
8. You should allow the players to discover at least one "secret" about your campaign world during each session.
9. Drawing the map is the first step in designing any adventure.
10. When introducing a new NPC to your campaign, it's not always important to spend time creating all the NPC's game statistics.
11. You should hold a separate session for the sole purpose of allowing the players to create their characters before beginning your new campaign.
12. You should draw all your maps on hex paper.
Multiple Choice
1. When designing a town that will act as the players' base of operations, which of these structures should you almost always make sure to place on the map?
A) A castle.
B) An inn.
C) A magic shop.
D) A secret monster lair.
E) An armory.
2. Which of these is not necessarily a characteristic of a well-designed adventure?
A) Challenging the players.
B) Rewarding the players.
C) Challenging the players' characters.
D) Forcing the players to solve puzzles.
E) Presenting the players with a wide variety of options.
3. Which of these items should you not allow the players to use during play?
A) The Dungeon Master's Guide.
B) Spell description "cheat sheets."
C) The Player's Handbook.
D) Old issues of Dragon Magazine.
E) A class handbook (such as The Fighter/Monk Handbook).
4. The first outdoor map you draw for your campaign should cover a radius of approximately?
A) One mile.
B) One hundred miles.
C) Sixty miles.
D) Five hundred miles.
E) One thousand miles.
5. When designing the first adventure for your campaign, which of the following should you not try especially hard to provide?
A) A way to introduce new PCs.
B) Foreshadowing for some of your campaign secrets.
C) A reusable location.
D) A recurring enemy for the PCs.
E) A situation that challenges the players.
6. When should you invent a new secret for your campaign world?
A) When you create a major detail about the world.
B) Once per game session.
C) When your players ask you to.
D) When you design a new adventure.
E) When any of the player characters advances in level.
7. Which of the following is a good reason to keep your players confined to a single, small area of your campaign world for the first few months of play? (Mark as many as apply.)
A) It takes a long time to develop appropriately detailed maps, and keeping the players confined means you'll only have to draw one map for the first several months of the campaign.
B) Such a small map will leave the players with no choice as to what they should explore next, making it easy for you to prod them into undertaking the adventures that you design.
C) Keeping the players in a relatively small area gives them an opportunity to become intimately familiar with that area, making it easier for the campaign world to develop a life of its own in the players' imaginations.
D) A and B.
E) A and C.
8. Which of the following is not an advantage of the "third-person" style of play?
A) It's easier for shy players to participate.
B) Third-person games tend to progress faster than first-person games.
C) Third-person games make it easy for the players to convey their characters' mannerisms and attitudes.
D) Third-person games tend to emphasize the plot or storyline.
E) Third-person games make it easier for the players to communicate what their characters are thinking or feeling.
9. Which of the following is an acceptable "roleplaying hook" for an NPC.
A) The NPC is hard of hearing and regularly forces everyone who speaks to him to repeat themselves.
B) The NPC hopes to one day save enough riches to open his own tavern, in order to prove to his father that he is not a failure.
C) The NPC has mysterious, homicidal nightmares.
D) The NPC is secretly jealous of his older, better-looking brother.
E) Due to an unfortunate encounter in early childhood, the NPC is particularly afraid of dragons.
10. Of the following, which is the most important skill for a Dungeon Master to develop?
A) Knowing the rules.
B) Providing good descriptions.
C) Drawing good maps.
D) Creating interesting puzzles.
E) Developing a distinct voice for each NPC.
Short Answer
1. What's the one work of fiction that every DM should keep on the bookshelf next to his rulebooks?
2. Suppose you've designed an adventure that climaxes with an evil wizard dropping a large gem into a vat of oils in order to complete a diabolical spell. The spell will summon forth a large tidal wave capable of destroying the armada of the holy army opposing the wizard. Once the gem is dropped into the vat, the oils start furiously boiling. To defeat the wizard's scheme, a particularly brave adventurer must reach the vat in time and thrust a hand into the boiling oils to retrieve the gem before the spell is complete. What game mechanic should you use to determine whether or not a PC who attempts such a task has the mettle to successfully complete it?
3. Why is it a good idea to leave notepads and pencils on the game table within reach of the players?
4. How many players should you gather together for an ideal D&D campaign?
5. Why should you insist that all the players fill out their entire character sheets before beginning play?
6. After the rulebooks and dice, what is the DM's most indispensable tool?
7. Why are giant spiders not particularly well suited to adventures designed for 1st-level characters? (Note that this question applies only to the 2nd edition of the D&D game.)
8. Why is a 2nd-level wizard a more dangerous opponent than an ogre?
9. How often should your group get together to play D&D?
10. According to the Rules of Dungeoncraft, how should you resolve an action that is not covered by the rules when you have no real idea what to do?
Answers
True or False
1. False. It's usually a bad idea to allow the players to create and run multiple characters, and it's almost always a bad idea to allow the players to run multiple characters at the same time. Sticking with one character makes it easy for the player to concentrate on developing that single personality and avoids lots of problems.
2. True. Under most circumstances, using such a noteworthy name from legend is likely to set an inappropriately silly tone for the campaign.
3. False. Don't forget the First Rule of Dungeoncraft: Never force yourself to create more than you must. It's extremely unlikely that you'll need a detailed map of your game world for many adventures to come, so you shouldn't waste time producing it. At the beginning of the campaign, you want to start defining your world on a very small scale.
4. True. As a DM, your primary responsibility is to insure that the players are having a good time. Sometimes the easiest way to accomplish this goal is to fudge a dice roll here and there. You should note, though, that this particular privilege is very easy to abuse. If you start fudging too many dice rolls, you run the risk of convincing the players that the dice no longer matter, potentially robbing future dice-rolling situations of their ability to create suspense.
5. False. Just because a rulebook exists doesn't mean you have to allow its use in your campaign. You should feel free to disallow any books you're not familiar or comfortable with.
6. False. There are many situations in which it is preferable to roll the dice in front of the players, particularly those in which there is a great deal of suspense surrounding the outcome of the roll.
7. True. It's okay to borrow rules, plots, names, or ideas from anywhere. Inventing details is one of the hardest tasks you face as a DM, and purloining the occasional concept from outside sources makes the burden considerably easier to bear.
8. False. If the players discovered one secret each and every session, you'd probably run out of secrets rather quickly. Allowing the players to uncover one secret per complete adventure is a decent goal to shoot for, but you can certainly get away with an even slower pace. The only real rule is that you should reveal your secrets fast enough to keep the players interested in the game.
9. False. Drawing the map is almost never the first step in designing an adventure. Usually, the best way to begin the design process is to carefully develop the overall concept for the adventure. That way, you can identify the key locations you'll need before you start drawing the map, giving you an opportunity to make sure you include them.
10. True. Again, remember the First Rule of Dungeoncraft. You'll rarely need all of an NPC's game statistics for play. In fact, it's usually best to generate only those statistics that are unusually above or below average.
11. False. Holding a special session before you start the real game only gives your players an opportunity to lose interest and drop out prematurely. The best way to keep your players interested in what you're doing is to get them playing and keep them playing.
12. False. Hex paper makes it extremely easy to judge distances, but all those right angles typically found in dungeon passages make such environments difficult to map on hexes. Use hex paper when drawing wilderness maps and standard graph paper when mapping dungeons.
Multiple Choice
1. B, an inn. A good "rumor mill" is an essential component of a base of operations. Without such a structure, it will be difficult to get the players interested in your adventures. Much more often than not, the ideal rumor mill is an inn. While each of the other structures cited might be interesting components of a D&D town, none of them are essential.
2. D, forcing the players to solve puzzles. Remember that the Fourth Rule of Dungeoncraft states that "Good adventures always challenge the players and challenge their characters." Solving puzzles is only one strategy for challenging the players -- there are others you can employ instead (such as forcing the players to make tough decisions). Each of the other listed choices is indispensable to a well-designed adventure.
3. A, the Dungeon Master's Guide. It's best to prohibit the players from using the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual during play. This prevents them from looking up monster statistics and magic item descriptions right in the middle of a game session, providing them with an unfair (and unfun) advantage.
4. C, sixty miles. Remember, the first map you draw should concentrate on detailing that portion of the world the player characters are familiar with, as well as providing a bit more that they can explore. A scale of greater than sixty miles forces you to do unnecessary work since it's unlikely your players will be in a position to stray so far from home for a few full months of play. A smaller scale doesn't give the players enough freedom and runs the risk that they will want to travel to a region you haven't prepared.
5. D, a recurring enemy for PCs. A recurring enemy can be nice to have but is certainly not essential, particularly for a first adventure. In fact, it's usually a good idea to plan for a particular monster or NPC to become a recurring enemy before you run an adventure. Once you've become wedded to such a notion you might find yourself "steering" the players in order to guarantee that your favored villain survives to fight another day. Instead, you're much better off allowing your recurring enemies to arise naturally from the results of your adventures. It's also worth noting that each of the remaining four choices are positively indispensable to a first adventure.
6. A, whenever you create a major detail about the world. This is the First Rule of Dungeoncraft. Creating a new secret once per game session will force you to create your secrets much faster than the players can ever uncover them. Creating a new secret whenever you design an adventure will leave you with too few secrets early in your campaign, and too many later. C and E are obviously inappropriate choices.
7. E, A, and C. Choice B is not appropriate. If your map is so confining that the players never have any choice but to visit the areas you designate, you're probably making them feel like they are being manipulated.
8. C, third-person games make it easy for the players to convey their characters' mannerisms and attitudes. All of the other choices are characteristics of the third-person play style. First person, with its funny voices and hammy speeches, gives the players a much better opportunity to express their characters' mannerisms.
9. A, the NPC is hard of hearing and regularly forces everyone who speaks to him to repeat themselves. While any of the other choices might be interesting facets of an NPC, they are all too ephemeral to serve as effective roleplaying "hooks." You can reinforce the hard-of-hearing shtick every time you play the NPC, but you won't find nearly as many opportunities to employ any of the other possibilities.
10. B, providing good descriptions. Remember, Dungeoncraft breaks down into three basic fundamentals: providing descriptions, resolving actions, and deciding when to reveal information. While each of the other listed skills is extremely useful, there are strategies you can use to compensate for a shortcoming in any of them. Effectively DMing without providing good descriptions is almost impossible.
Short Answer
1. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. While D&D was influenced by a wide variety of myths, legends, and fantasy creations, there is no better summary of the game's basic spirit than Tolkien's trilogy. Plus, there are lots of practical benefits for keeping the book handy -- not only is the series a fantastic source of character names, but Tolkien's lengthy appendices are a great source of inspiration for myths that you can sprinkle across your own campaign world.
2. A Fortitude saving throw. You might be tempted to call for a Constitution ability check, but a character's experience level should certainly influence his or her chance to perform such a dramatic and heroic feat, necessitating the save.
3. So you and the players can occasionally pass each other secret notes. Sometimes you'll want to pass information to a particular player out of earshot of his colleagues. Suppose, for instance, that an adventurer scouting ahead of the others is silently ambushed and captured by goblins. There's no way the rest of the party should be aware of their comrade's peril until they reach the ambush site themselves -- the goblins should receive a fair chance to ambush the rest of the party as well. Similarly, one of your players will occasionally want to signal you with his intention to undertake a secret action.
4. I believe that the ideal number of players in a D&D campaign ranges between six and twelve. (Others, including my esteemed editor, disagree.) If you have fewer than six players, you run the risk of placing the adventuring party in undue peril because key roles have been left unfilled. If you have more than twelve players, it starts to prove difficult to handle all the action and keep the group under control.
5. To speed play. Filling out the entire character sheet will guarantee that the players will precalculate all of their various bonuses, saving throws, and such. This will save a lot of time once the game starts moving. After play begins, it's a good idea to avoid interrupting the action for rules consultation as much as possible.
6. A DM's screen. Note that you don't necessarily need the official "store bought" screen, but it's very difficult to play the game without some sort of screen to hide your notes and maps. As long as you must have something propped up in front of your face, you might as well use it to house all the charts and tables you use frequently.
7. Because poison can kill an adventurer with a single dice roll. A weapon this potent should always be used sparingly and should never be employed against 1st-level adventurers. High-level adventurers tend to accumulate all sorts of spells, magic items, and abilities that will leave them with a few options even if a party member succumbs to the poison. First-level adventurers do not have access to any of these tools and consequently, a poison attack is likely to frustrate your players. Note that the new D&D game solves this problem by having most poisons inflict additional hit point damage or ability score damage.
8. Because the wizard is almost certainly much, much smarter. Failing to allow a monster or villain to take full advantage of all its abilities is one of the most common mistakes made by beginning DMs. A wizard, even a lowly 2nd-level wizard, is likely to employ all sorts of tricks, traps, and other clever means to repel intruders, while the ogre won't do much more than swing away with a club.
9. Roughly once a week. Usually, the longer the time that elapses between game sessions, the greater the likelihood that one or more players will lose interest. Playing less frequently than once a week runs too great a risk that the game will start to fall apart due to inactivity. Playing more often than once a week is possible, of course, but few DMs have that sort of spare time available.
10. The Third Rule of Dungeoncraft instructs you to roll a d6; 1-3 the action succeeds, 4-6 the action fails. When you're absolutely stuck, just flip a coin (or perform the die rolling equivalent), and move on. You're bound to find that this ersatz system is "good enough" so long as you keep the action moving.
That's right -- get ready for the first ever Dungeoncraft Pop Quiz! Now that you've completed the first game session of your new campaign, you can think of it as a sort of midterm examination. In the time-honored tradition of such exams, I'll present a series of true/false, multiple choice, and short answer questions. Some of these questions are drawn from previous installments of "Dungeoncraft"; others call upon you to apply what you've learned to entirely new situations. At the end of the column, I present some answers and a brief discussion of each question. It's important to note that my own answers aren't necessarily the right answers. If there's one thing you've probably learned from these columns so far, it's that dungeoncraft is not an exact science. In fact, I'm sort of hoping that a few of these questions will spark off some intense debate. If you happen to think that my answers deserve a failing grade, don't be afraid to say so and send me your own thoughts. Maybe I'll revisit the pop quiz in a future installment and present alternative answers.
Anyway, with that out of the way, it's time to sharpen your pencils and begin. This is an open book test, though you probably won't need any of the rulebooks to answer these questions. You are welcome to use calculators, computers, cheat sheets, or anything else you might have available, although you won't need any of these things either.
True or False
1. It's a good idea to allow each player to create and run multiple PCs.
2. Hercules is not a good name for a player character.
3. You should draw a detailed map of your game world before beginning your campaign.
4. As a DM, feel free to "cheat" on your dice rolls if you like.
5. Since you're the DM, you should be familiar with all of the official rulebooks published by Wizards of the Coast, just in case one of your players wants to use a new character class or rule from a new supplement.
6. You should never roll your dice in view of the players.
7. It's okay to "borrow" rules from other roleplaying games and incorporate them into your D&D {{link to http://www.wizards.com/dnd/main.asp?x=dnd/welcome,3 }} campaign.
8. You should allow the players to discover at least one "secret" about your campaign world during each session.
9. Drawing the map is the first step in designing any adventure.
10. When introducing a new NPC to your campaign, it's not always important to spend time creating all the NPC's game statistics.
11. You should hold a separate session for the sole purpose of allowing the players to create their characters before beginning your new campaign.
12. You should draw all your maps on hex paper.
Multiple Choice
1. When designing a town that will act as the players' base of operations, which of these structures should you almost always make sure to place on the map?
A) A castle.
B) An inn.
C) A magic shop.
D) A secret monster lair.
E) An armory.
2. Which of these is not necessarily a characteristic of a well-designed adventure?
A) Challenging the players.
B) Rewarding the players.
C) Challenging the players' characters.
D) Forcing the players to solve puzzles.
E) Presenting the players with a wide variety of options.
3. Which of these items should you not allow the players to use during play?
A) The Dungeon Master's Guide.
B) Spell description "cheat sheets."
C) The Player's Handbook.
D) Old issues of Dragon Magazine.
E) A class handbook (such as The Fighter/Monk Handbook).
4. The first outdoor map you draw for your campaign should cover a radius of approximately?
A) One mile.
B) One hundred miles.
C) Sixty miles.
D) Five hundred miles.
E) One thousand miles.
5. When designing the first adventure for your campaign, which of the following should you not try especially hard to provide?
A) A way to introduce new PCs.
B) Foreshadowing for some of your campaign secrets.
C) A reusable location.
D) A recurring enemy for the PCs.
E) A situation that challenges the players.
6. When should you invent a new secret for your campaign world?
A) When you create a major detail about the world.
B) Once per game session.
C) When your players ask you to.
D) When you design a new adventure.
E) When any of the player characters advances in level.
7. Which of the following is a good reason to keep your players confined to a single, small area of your campaign world for the first few months of play? (Mark as many as apply.)
A) It takes a long time to develop appropriately detailed maps, and keeping the players confined means you'll only have to draw one map for the first several months of the campaign.
B) Such a small map will leave the players with no choice as to what they should explore next, making it easy for you to prod them into undertaking the adventures that you design.
C) Keeping the players in a relatively small area gives them an opportunity to become intimately familiar with that area, making it easier for the campaign world to develop a life of its own in the players' imaginations.
D) A and B.
E) A and C.
8. Which of the following is not an advantage of the "third-person" style of play?
A) It's easier for shy players to participate.
B) Third-person games tend to progress faster than first-person games.
C) Third-person games make it easy for the players to convey their characters' mannerisms and attitudes.
D) Third-person games tend to emphasize the plot or storyline.
E) Third-person games make it easier for the players to communicate what their characters are thinking or feeling.
9. Which of the following is an acceptable "roleplaying hook" for an NPC.
A) The NPC is hard of hearing and regularly forces everyone who speaks to him to repeat themselves.
B) The NPC hopes to one day save enough riches to open his own tavern, in order to prove to his father that he is not a failure.
C) The NPC has mysterious, homicidal nightmares.
D) The NPC is secretly jealous of his older, better-looking brother.
E) Due to an unfortunate encounter in early childhood, the NPC is particularly afraid of dragons.
10. Of the following, which is the most important skill for a Dungeon Master to develop?
A) Knowing the rules.
B) Providing good descriptions.
C) Drawing good maps.
D) Creating interesting puzzles.
E) Developing a distinct voice for each NPC.
Short Answer
1. What's the one work of fiction that every DM should keep on the bookshelf next to his rulebooks?
2. Suppose you've designed an adventure that climaxes with an evil wizard dropping a large gem into a vat of oils in order to complete a diabolical spell. The spell will summon forth a large tidal wave capable of destroying the armada of the holy army opposing the wizard. Once the gem is dropped into the vat, the oils start furiously boiling. To defeat the wizard's scheme, a particularly brave adventurer must reach the vat in time and thrust a hand into the boiling oils to retrieve the gem before the spell is complete. What game mechanic should you use to determine whether or not a PC who attempts such a task has the mettle to successfully complete it?
3. Why is it a good idea to leave notepads and pencils on the game table within reach of the players?
4. How many players should you gather together for an ideal D&D campaign?
5. Why should you insist that all the players fill out their entire character sheets before beginning play?
6. After the rulebooks and dice, what is the DM's most indispensable tool?
7. Why are giant spiders not particularly well suited to adventures designed for 1st-level characters? (Note that this question applies only to the 2nd edition of the D&D game.)
8. Why is a 2nd-level wizard a more dangerous opponent than an ogre?
9. How often should your group get together to play D&D?
10. According to the Rules of Dungeoncraft, how should you resolve an action that is not covered by the rules when you have no real idea what to do?
Answers
True or False
1. False. It's usually a bad idea to allow the players to create and run multiple characters, and it's almost always a bad idea to allow the players to run multiple characters at the same time. Sticking with one character makes it easy for the player to concentrate on developing that single personality and avoids lots of problems.
2. True. Under most circumstances, using such a noteworthy name from legend is likely to set an inappropriately silly tone for the campaign.
3. False. Don't forget the First Rule of Dungeoncraft: Never force yourself to create more than you must. It's extremely unlikely that you'll need a detailed map of your game world for many adventures to come, so you shouldn't waste time producing it. At the beginning of the campaign, you want to start defining your world on a very small scale.
4. True. As a DM, your primary responsibility is to insure that the players are having a good time. Sometimes the easiest way to accomplish this goal is to fudge a dice roll here and there. You should note, though, that this particular privilege is very easy to abuse. If you start fudging too many dice rolls, you run the risk of convincing the players that the dice no longer matter, potentially robbing future dice-rolling situations of their ability to create suspense.
5. False. Just because a rulebook exists doesn't mean you have to allow its use in your campaign. You should feel free to disallow any books you're not familiar or comfortable with.
6. False. There are many situations in which it is preferable to roll the dice in front of the players, particularly those in which there is a great deal of suspense surrounding the outcome of the roll.
7. True. It's okay to borrow rules, plots, names, or ideas from anywhere. Inventing details is one of the hardest tasks you face as a DM, and purloining the occasional concept from outside sources makes the burden considerably easier to bear.
8. False. If the players discovered one secret each and every session, you'd probably run out of secrets rather quickly. Allowing the players to uncover one secret per complete adventure is a decent goal to shoot for, but you can certainly get away with an even slower pace. The only real rule is that you should reveal your secrets fast enough to keep the players interested in the game.
9. False. Drawing the map is almost never the first step in designing an adventure. Usually, the best way to begin the design process is to carefully develop the overall concept for the adventure. That way, you can identify the key locations you'll need before you start drawing the map, giving you an opportunity to make sure you include them.
10. True. Again, remember the First Rule of Dungeoncraft. You'll rarely need all of an NPC's game statistics for play. In fact, it's usually best to generate only those statistics that are unusually above or below average.
11. False. Holding a special session before you start the real game only gives your players an opportunity to lose interest and drop out prematurely. The best way to keep your players interested in what you're doing is to get them playing and keep them playing.
12. False. Hex paper makes it extremely easy to judge distances, but all those right angles typically found in dungeon passages make such environments difficult to map on hexes. Use hex paper when drawing wilderness maps and standard graph paper when mapping dungeons.
Multiple Choice
1. B, an inn. A good "rumor mill" is an essential component of a base of operations. Without such a structure, it will be difficult to get the players interested in your adventures. Much more often than not, the ideal rumor mill is an inn. While each of the other structures cited might be interesting components of a D&D town, none of them are essential.
2. D, forcing the players to solve puzzles. Remember that the Fourth Rule of Dungeoncraft states that "Good adventures always challenge the players and challenge their characters." Solving puzzles is only one strategy for challenging the players -- there are others you can employ instead (such as forcing the players to make tough decisions). Each of the other listed choices is indispensable to a well-designed adventure.
3. A, the Dungeon Master's Guide. It's best to prohibit the players from using the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual during play. This prevents them from looking up monster statistics and magic item descriptions right in the middle of a game session, providing them with an unfair (and unfun) advantage.
4. C, sixty miles. Remember, the first map you draw should concentrate on detailing that portion of the world the player characters are familiar with, as well as providing a bit more that they can explore. A scale of greater than sixty miles forces you to do unnecessary work since it's unlikely your players will be in a position to stray so far from home for a few full months of play. A smaller scale doesn't give the players enough freedom and runs the risk that they will want to travel to a region you haven't prepared.
5. D, a recurring enemy for PCs. A recurring enemy can be nice to have but is certainly not essential, particularly for a first adventure. In fact, it's usually a good idea to plan for a particular monster or NPC to become a recurring enemy before you run an adventure. Once you've become wedded to such a notion you might find yourself "steering" the players in order to guarantee that your favored villain survives to fight another day. Instead, you're much better off allowing your recurring enemies to arise naturally from the results of your adventures. It's also worth noting that each of the remaining four choices are positively indispensable to a first adventure.
6. A, whenever you create a major detail about the world. This is the First Rule of Dungeoncraft. Creating a new secret once per game session will force you to create your secrets much faster than the players can ever uncover them. Creating a new secret whenever you design an adventure will leave you with too few secrets early in your campaign, and too many later. C and E are obviously inappropriate choices.
7. E, A, and C. Choice B is not appropriate. If your map is so confining that the players never have any choice but to visit the areas you designate, you're probably making them feel like they are being manipulated.
8. C, third-person games make it easy for the players to convey their characters' mannerisms and attitudes. All of the other choices are characteristics of the third-person play style. First person, with its funny voices and hammy speeches, gives the players a much better opportunity to express their characters' mannerisms.
9. A, the NPC is hard of hearing and regularly forces everyone who speaks to him to repeat themselves. While any of the other choices might be interesting facets of an NPC, they are all too ephemeral to serve as effective roleplaying "hooks." You can reinforce the hard-of-hearing shtick every time you play the NPC, but you won't find nearly as many opportunities to employ any of the other possibilities.
10. B, providing good descriptions. Remember, Dungeoncraft breaks down into three basic fundamentals: providing descriptions, resolving actions, and deciding when to reveal information. While each of the other listed skills is extremely useful, there are strategies you can use to compensate for a shortcoming in any of them. Effectively DMing without providing good descriptions is almost impossible.
Short Answer
1. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. While D&D was influenced by a wide variety of myths, legends, and fantasy creations, there is no better summary of the game's basic spirit than Tolkien's trilogy. Plus, there are lots of practical benefits for keeping the book handy -- not only is the series a fantastic source of character names, but Tolkien's lengthy appendices are a great source of inspiration for myths that you can sprinkle across your own campaign world.
2. A Fortitude saving throw. You might be tempted to call for a Constitution ability check, but a character's experience level should certainly influence his or her chance to perform such a dramatic and heroic feat, necessitating the save.
3. So you and the players can occasionally pass each other secret notes. Sometimes you'll want to pass information to a particular player out of earshot of his colleagues. Suppose, for instance, that an adventurer scouting ahead of the others is silently ambushed and captured by goblins. There's no way the rest of the party should be aware of their comrade's peril until they reach the ambush site themselves -- the goblins should receive a fair chance to ambush the rest of the party as well. Similarly, one of your players will occasionally want to signal you with his intention to undertake a secret action.
4. I believe that the ideal number of players in a D&D campaign ranges between six and twelve. (Others, including my esteemed editor, disagree.) If you have fewer than six players, you run the risk of placing the adventuring party in undue peril because key roles have been left unfilled. If you have more than twelve players, it starts to prove difficult to handle all the action and keep the group under control.
5. To speed play. Filling out the entire character sheet will guarantee that the players will precalculate all of their various bonuses, saving throws, and such. This will save a lot of time once the game starts moving. After play begins, it's a good idea to avoid interrupting the action for rules consultation as much as possible.
6. A DM's screen. Note that you don't necessarily need the official "store bought" screen, but it's very difficult to play the game without some sort of screen to hide your notes and maps. As long as you must have something propped up in front of your face, you might as well use it to house all the charts and tables you use frequently.
7. Because poison can kill an adventurer with a single dice roll. A weapon this potent should always be used sparingly and should never be employed against 1st-level adventurers. High-level adventurers tend to accumulate all sorts of spells, magic items, and abilities that will leave them with a few options even if a party member succumbs to the poison. First-level adventurers do not have access to any of these tools and consequently, a poison attack is likely to frustrate your players. Note that the new D&D game solves this problem by having most poisons inflict additional hit point damage or ability score damage.
8. Because the wizard is almost certainly much, much smarter. Failing to allow a monster or villain to take full advantage of all its abilities is one of the most common mistakes made by beginning DMs. A wizard, even a lowly 2nd-level wizard, is likely to employ all sorts of tricks, traps, and other clever means to repel intruders, while the ogre won't do much more than swing away with a club.
9. Roughly once a week. Usually, the longer the time that elapses between game sessions, the greater the likelihood that one or more players will lose interest. Playing less frequently than once a week runs too great a risk that the game will start to fall apart due to inactivity. Playing more often than once a week is possible, of course, but few DMs have that sort of spare time available.
10. The Third Rule of Dungeoncraft instructs you to roll a d6; 1-3 the action succeeds, 4-6 the action fails. When you're absolutely stuck, just flip a coin (or perform the die rolling equivalent), and move on. You're bound to find that this ersatz system is "good enough" so long as you keep the action moving.