It seems that I am going to get a chance to DM my first game here at the Inn.  Most Friday evenings I wander down to my local game shop to do a Magic the Gathering draft.  In the words of a friend, the place has become my very own Cheers Bar.  Minus the beer, I suppose.  Now I am hoping to get that group to branch out and I am going to run a D&D game for a bunch of those folks here at the Inn.  It should be fun and has the added bonus of bringing another half dozen or so avid gamers to the Inn.  Who knows, I first arrived here with a group looking for a site to host a game and have stuck around.  

Anyway, I have never GM'd a game in a format like this and was wondering if those of you who have had any suggestions.  What do I need to be sure to do or not do? 

There are a few questions I know I am wondering about, but am open to any advice you might have.

1.  What is the best way to handle dice rolls?  I have been in games that handled this in a variety of ways.  What would you recommend?  Why?

2.  I've seen people having trouble posting pictures.  But I also think this got updated recently.  Is there anything I need to know about this?

3.  How many threads can you have for one game?  Most seem to have a game thread, a Q&A thread, and frequently a recruitment thread that later goes dormant for obvious reasons.  Is it easiest to just post character sheets at the top of the Q&A thread?  

4.  I've seen many GMs reserve the top 10 or so slots of the Q&A thread.  Are there specific things you do with these or are they 'just in case' slots?  

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.  

I'm not going to pretend to be a competent DM on RDI, I think i'm decent in person but RDI i'm still learning quite a bit. So take everything I say with a grain of salt

1.  I would say you can handle the rolls, it makes things easier, keeps it honest.  I personally use a dice roller online that I am particularly fond of already and if a player wants to see the rolls, I can just screen shot it and send it to them.

2. I remember when I ran the dark sun campaign, most of the pictures I posted just had a link to imgur.  I don't recall how bad it was uploading pictures directly to the site but you can probably get away with it through image hosting files like that

3. I don't really know enough about that.  i think a lot of people do just post character sheets in the Q&A thread but I got no real clue

4. Again I don't know too much about it, it's nice to have to post quests, lore information and I personally post character sheets for people in supernatural, (tho if it's DnD and everyone knows the system, they can prolly post their own).  

Hey, Nomad! Welcome to the club.

1.  What is the best way to handle dice rolls?  I have been in games that handled this in a variety of ways.  What would you recommend?  Why?

Advice: I've used the Inn's die roller. It can email the player directly if you plug the email in. More recently, I've found roll20.net to be the best solution. Their die roller is pretty comprehensive and stores the rolls in the chat for reference. Plus, you can tie them into the character sheets and invite the players to roll bringing them into the game more.

2.  I've seen people having trouble posting pictures.  But I also think this got updated recently.  Is there anything I need to know about this?

Advice: That has been resolved. Just plug a URL into the "Add picture" feature when posting and you're good.

3.  How many threads can you have for one game?  Most seem to have a game thread, a Q&A thread, and frequently a recruitment thread that later goes dormant for obvious reasons.  Is it easiest to just post character sheets at the top of the Q&A thread?  

Advice: Every new thread adds the potential for confusion, so I usually keep it to the Recruiting, Q&A, and Game, but I know that Alacrity has done a Character thread as well. It really is a matter of preference.

4.  I've seen many GMs reserve the top 10 or so slots of the Q&A thread.  Are there specific things you do with these or are they 'just in case' slots?  

Advice: These are reserved for games where you need to introduce additional things to the players that will have import such as world structure, adventure information, rules, etc.

Additional Advice: I also keep the character sheets on Google Drive and share them with the players so they can edit them and check them as they need to. In addition, I've taken to adding the character sheets to roll20.net so their stats and skills can be tied right into the die roller and I can use the mapping tools.

There are a few questions I know I am wondering about, but am open to any advice you might have.

1.  What is the best way to handle dice rolls?  I have been in games that handled this in a variety of ways.  What would you recommend?  I recommend the DM does the rolls.  Of course that is because when I DM I sometimes "fudge" the rolls.  Either to kep the party alive or to keep an encounter interesting as needed.  If you are more interested in accurate rolls regardless of the outcome use the die roller or D20 site.  

2.  I've seen people having trouble posting pictures.  But I also think this got updated recently.  Is there anything I need to know about this?  Don't have much of any help on this one.

3.  How many threads can you have for one game?  Most seem to have a game thread, a Q&A thread, and frequently a recruitment thread that later goes dormant for obvious reasons.  Is it easiest to just post character sheets at the top of the Q&A thread?   You can have as many as you want but more than three gets messy.  Game thread, Q&A thread and recruitng is most common.  Character shets at top of Q&A is a good place. 

4.  I've seen many GMs reserve the top 10 or so slots of the Q&A thread.  Are there specific things you do with these or are they 'just in case' slots?    They are often reserved for the above mentioned character sheets or back story.