Adventures are the best tool for a new DM. These books contain an entire game for you to run, complete with premade NPCs, balanced encounters, maps, places, descriptions and even a plot. There are two kinds of adventures, 1st party and 3rd party. 1st party adventures are made by Wizards of the Coast, the company that writes and published D&D. These are made by the same people who wrote the game and are what you will usually run as a DM. 3rd party adventures are made by anyone else and can be of varying quality. There are entire publishers like Frog God Games that make well designed 3rd party books for D&D. Others might come from less reputable sources and might not be balanced. Make sure to do your research before running a 3rd party adventure. These are tried and true stories that will ensure you run a great game. Another useful tool are Campaign Settings, which is just the setting backdrop of the story. These only define the world in which a game will take place and expect you to fill in the rest. Adventures can sometimes come with an entire campaign setting, or only a small section of one needed for the story. The Campaign Setting for the 5e adventures is the Sword Coast Adventures guide for the world of the Forgotten Realms. Writing your own stories will be covered in the Intermediate section of this guide.
