We have recently started playing DnD 5e with a group of real life friends. I have many years of experience with various PnP games under my belt and have also played DnD for a good amount of time and would call myself experienced.
My friends on the opposite have never played any PnP games. They are enthusiastic and willing to learn and creating our characters already went quite well – everyone got a character they are very happy with and understands their strengths and weaknesses.
The first campaign we played was led by me, it was a short, simple introductory adventure I made myself and was mostly built to show them the game mechanics by more than subtly hinting towards what they could potentially do in a situation (being on the look out for traps while in a cave system or maybe checking if the intentions of their opposite are what they seem to be, stuff like this). I think they got a good grasp of the game and when we ended the campaign at level 3 they were looking forward to playing another one.
For this second campaign one of the players now asked me whether they could lead it this time around. I would join the group with a fresh level 3 character. I agreed to this as I personally prefer playing over DMing. However, them being new they aren't too sure about most mechanics, how to balance out encounters in a decent fashion and so on. They created their own story, set in resemblancy of a fantasy universe they really enjoy, but in many occasions started asking me how to overcome some obstacles they are facing. Those are often related to language barrier problems as English is not their native language and it is sometimes hard for them to follow the English material and guides.
I have helped whereever I could, but it becomes increasingly hard to do so without getting to know the whole story beforehand.
So, with all of that backstory (sorry for the chunk of text) let me come to my questions:
-
How can I help our new DM to lead the campaign to be successful without getting to know all of it before we even started?
-
How can we all enjoy the campaign without me leading the group by pointing out mechanics/ideas all the time (which gets obnoxious I fear) that they might not have considered yet?
Update
Thank you for all your input, wanted to give a quick update: I talked to them regarding NathanS' answer regarding Co-DMing and they reacted really positive. We talked about the whole first chapter of their campaign and already found some issues and places where the PCs will probably not do what the DM intended. It was definitely a good idea to do this, I am now really looking forward to the campaign and how the others are going to play along (or not).
HellSaint's answer to give them DM tools is also definitely something I will keep in consideration for the future. I already translated some of my spreadsheets and will do so for some more and give them to them to work with. I will definitely try to provide them with tools in our native language so that the language barrier towards English is as minimal as possible. I started translating all spells and mechanics for that reason, too so that they have resources they can build upon.
Thank you all again for your input! I am now looking forward to a successfull campaign.
Best Answer
Be a Co-DM
This may not be your preferred option if you were hoping to simply be a player this time around, but judging by your situation, it sounds as though the current DM isn't quite experienced enough to do this by themselves yet. In this case, it might be worth Co-DMing this adventure, helping with things like balancing encounters and whatnot, but allowing them to decide the plot and what kinds of monsters should turn up.
As for your PC, they could essentially become a DMPC, where you don't make any meaningful decisions, deferring to the decisions of the rest of the group. However, playing a DMPC can also allow you to throw in an idea if the group is struggling to solve a particular problem (although careful not to give them "the solution" unless the DM is OK with it).
You could also embrace the character by having them suggest things that suit their personality, but isn't necessarily the best thing to do in the situation. For example, if your character was gung-ho, then they would suggest just rushing the enemies they have spotted ahead, even though there may be other options that the rest of the party can figure out. They will then see your PC as a character with their own ideas rather than simply a source of secret hints from the Co-DM.
This will, of course, mean that you'll know the story, and thus can't be surprised by the twists it may have or any other reveals and surprises, but this I'm proposing as an acceptable trade-off under the assumption that the current DM isn't quite ready to simply take the reigns by themselves. Of course, the intention here is to essentially "train them up" so that you can just let them DM in future (as and when they want to, of course) and you can just be a player (except when you want to DM, of course), but for now Co-DMing with them to help them out would be my suggestion.