Anyone have experience and want to share basic advice to help us get started?
Level 1: Keep the game moving.
Try to keep a mental "out of combat initiative" list, or go around the table asking people what they want to do in turn. Try to give each player 45 seconds - 1 minute of spotlight time and allow other players the freedom to jump in on other people's "turn", but if they take more than ten seconds stuck on a decision tell them to think about it and skip to the next person.
Now, there are rare times when this isn't a good idea. I was in a game one time where the party was split on an important decision and we spent four hours arguing over what to do without ever rolling dice. The DM sat back and watched, bringing up questions of his own from time to time or asking the quieter members of the group for their thoughts.
If the problem is big enough, it becomes the game. If the problem is small, move on.
Level 2: Describe the environment in terms of the PC's trained skills.
I learned this from Chris Perkins and
the first Acquisitions Inc. podcast. Timestamp is 27:15. In the clip, one of the player's makes a joke about wanting to one-shot the boss of a dungeon from the entrance, without going in.
One of the most important skills for someone that wants to be a great DM and storyteller is "Yes, and". It's a rule from improvisational theater. Whatever your players want to do, take that energy and redirect it to your planned adventure or, if you can't, redirect it to some form of conflict to keep the story moving.
Skills are a great way to do this. Describing the world in terms of their trained skills adds a unique flavor for the players and help make the game more immersive. How does a Cleric see this dungeon? A rogue? A Fighter?
Every time your player uses a skill, give them something. If it's a success give them something real and useful. If it's a failure, give them something interesting that hints at what's to come, and when they roll a critical failure give them false information.
"I don't trust this guy, I roll an insight check." *Critical Failure* "Okay, your character senses that this guy is out to get him" (He wasn't.) Or, "Your instincts are normally pretty good about people. Your gut tells you there's something wrong with this character (there is, but because of the low roll and the way you're constantly giving bad information on critical failures they'll think you're lying.)
"I want to check for traps. I roll perception. *Critical Failure* "Okay, you find a trap." "I do?" "Yep, you find a series of pressure plates in the floor that are going to take you a significant amount of time to clear." "Okay, well we avoid the traps." "Uh, no, you're surrounded in traps. Traps are fucking everywhere. It's like you're at an anime convention." "Okay, I try to disable one of the traps to clear a path." "Roll thievery." *Thievery roll doesn't matter* "Cool. Turns out those weren't traps, just the pattern of the floor." "... Fuck you."
Level 3: Be a troll and constantly fuck with your player characters. They'll love you for it.
I couldn't do this until I was comfortable with the mechanics of running tabletop games which took me several years. Once I learned this my games became way more fun and my campaigns became long remembered highlights of gaming. "Remember that time X happened. Fuck you, I'm still pissed."
Try to get a feel for where the scene you're in is going. How do your players think this scene will end? Once you identify the momentum of the scene, it's your job to subvert it.
For example, your players are bartering with a shop keeper. How will this scene end? Your players are expecting to make a deal and leave. Don't let them. Maybe as they're walking out they notice one of their items is missing. Maybe the villain kicks open the door and starts murdering civilians. Don't give them what they're expecting, ever.
"This is the scene where the players buy gear."
Wrong.
"This is the scene where the players think they're buying gear, but they're really buying stolen goods."
Or
"This is the scene where the players think they're buying gear, but the gear is enchanted with paralysis spell, and the party wakes up in bathtubs full of ice and their kidney's are gone."
I once ran a Keep on the Shadowfell game, and after the party cleared the dungeon, saved the town, etc. They came back to Winterhaven to a big celebration. Carnival masks, ticker tape parade, giant banner running across town "Thank you Heroes!"
The players were like, "WTF? How do they know about this?" Then when the party reached the center of the crowd I pulled the rug out from under them. Another party of adventurer's were on stage stealing the credit and glory. When the party leader started to object, the crowd turned on them, glazed looks in their eyes, hypnotized by the bad guys.
"The Lord of Winterhaven, under mind control, orders the crowd to arrest you. Are you going to kill the people you spent the last 4 game sessions trying to save, or will you run away, or will you surrender? What do you do?"
They surrendered, and I rubbed the salt in their wound. "The bad guys laugh at you as the town guards move in. The Lord leads the peasants in a rousing cheer for Winterhaven's heroes, and the last thing you see as the guards lead you away in chains is the the party leader's smug grin."
That's the kind of cliff hanger you want to end your gaming sessions on. "Okay, see you next week." "What? We're stopping here? WE'RE STOPPING HERE?" "Yep."