First time D&D DM - few questions

[Aval Penworth]

particularly since I prefer to make my die rolls in the open.

Whaaaaaat? Why would you do that? Experienced players can work out the opponents stats in a few rounds with open rolls.


@wolf63 I think NPC cards/ sheets are very valuable. You need to have a lot of prepared NPCs. Excellent advice.

Plus Juggers really knows what he is taliking about. Sage advice.

[Midgardsormr]

Whaaaaaat? Why would you do that? Experienced players can work out the opponents stats in a few rounds with open rolls.

Because it eliminates my temptation to fudge rolls to save the party.
Because my players don't really metagame all that much.
Because I keep things moving quickly enough that they don't have time to do a whole lot of calculations before their turns come 'round again.
Because even if they do figure out the enemy's stats, that's not all that unrealistic. Most experienced fighters can manage to gauge an opponent's skills after fighting them for a short time.
And because it doesn't spoil anything if they do figure it out.

[Aval Penworth]

@midgardsormr.. Well if your players are able to avoid metagaming, okay. I have a couple of players who would completely change their tactics depending on how many damage dice I rolled.

I do agree that some open rolls add to the excitement of the game, however.

I actually use an electronic database rather than actual cards...but I still think cards are a good idea. I also have sketches of key NPCs which I display while the characters are interacting with them.