Captain tycho wrote:1. I need a comprehensive and easy-to-use PC generator program and a DM-buddy type program. I've dled numerous ones, but they are either too simple or too complex for my tastes. I don't have the time to simply roll out dozens of NPCs and write their stats on paper, and for mapmaking, well, lets just say my drawing skills are 'subpar'.
There's the PC generator program that comes with the PHB (at least, it came with mine), but obviously you don't have access to it for some strange reason. I can't help with programs.
But some tips: don't roll for NPCs (unless they're going to be major, and I mean major - regular or semi-regular party members or the setpiece villian/kingpin/bossman and his lieutenants). If you want stats for NPCs use the default point-buy system: 15, 14, 13, 12 10, 8. Instant ability scores. Throw them in wherever the NPC needs them. Street thug? 15 in Str, 8 in Cha, and everything else in-between. Elven Archer? 15 in Dex, 10 in Con. Officious Expert? Put the high scores in the mental abilities and the low scores in the physical abilities. Everything else (skills, feats, equipment etc), wing it. You're not required to tell the PCs the stats and abilities of the NPCs, unless they happen to be regular party members in their own right (and even then, you should roleplay such revelations rather than tell them OOC).
As for maps, you don't have to be fucking michelangelo dude. Just draw something that looks like a floor plan. Add traps here and there. Make sure you mark down the type of trap and it's DC. Mark which rooms are barracks, the armoury, the prison pit and the loo. Go from there. It doesn't have to be super detailed or have an architectural history - such details can be adlibbed in during the game (if you want to do that, and the PCs more importantly want to sit around and listen to that).
2. The plot. I simply have no idea where to start. My campaign is set in the Forgotten Realm's setting, and I'm brimming with ideas, but I simply cannot seem to get my ideas onto paper. Everytime I do get something down, I reread it and it simply seems silly or just plain generic. I could defintely use some suggestions on how to set things rolling.
The DMG has 100 adventure ideas that can be useful to you. I can't think of any computerised help in this regard. Writing down a plot is one of those tasks which requires elbow grease, and sometimes burning the midnight oil ('cause it can take some time getting things 'right' before you're finally sick of the fucking thing).
You've got a setting, I take it? FR is the setting, so I'm assuming you're familiar with it? If you're familiar with the setting then setting up adventures in it becomes so much more easier.
Once the setting is taken care of, form a plot to take part in it. Don't plan it all out in excruitiating detail, because the PCs will fuck your plans up something shocking. ("The doors open... and there stands Darth Maul!" PC: "I shoot him with my blaster cannon. Hey, a natural 20! Another roll... and I hit! Let's roll damage... wow, Maxed damage! That means I deal [some stupidly excessive] points of damage! What does that do to the ol' horny devil?" GM tears up another villian character sheet...)
If you want to develop a far-ranging plot then keep things as loose as possible, but with a general goal in sight. Don't for instance over-rely on one villian. Maybe the PCs will butcher him in the first encounter. If such is the case, modify the plot to take this into account. Maybe the villian was actually a low-ranking member of some dark cult? Maybe the villian's apprentice betrayed the master (go back and re-read the session summaries - always record what happens in a session, especially if it doesn't go according to plan! - maybe the PCs were originally put on the quest by a shadowy figure, or some Cleric who they met wandering on the road, or whoever is essentially a throw-away NPC. That guy is now elevated in importance) and picks up the slack. Maybe he was never that impressive a villian in the first place, rather a flunkie for the evil organisation etc.
If you want a self-consistent storyline then plan out the beginning, middle and end. At least the important scenes. Think of B5 - a lot of it filler, with a few 'wow' episodes here and there. Plan out the 'wow' scenes for your game, leave the filler up to the PCs. They can do whatever the fuck they want 90% of the time, but when they face Skeletor in the Doomcastle then such-and-such WILL happen. Also, don't tell your players this. It should go without saying, but some DMs forget.
You're essentially a storyteller, and the PCs are semi-autonomous characters in the story-world. This doesn't mean they are completely empowered though - shit can still happen
to them, and there maybe nothing they can do to stop it. In fact, it's a good opportunity to role-play - when something happens to their characters, the PCs will be forced to react to something. Enlightened self-interest takes care of the rest (naturally, the PCs initial reaction may very well be to "burn everything in sight, worry about it later" - try to curb such destructive tendencies the
second they happen - I had a player who had the "quickdraw" syndrome. The first time he did it I made sure that drawing a sword, in the middle of a civilised town, wasn't a good idea).
This is all I can think of right now. Hope it helps, but it may not be the kind of help you asked for.
But that is certainly not me. I haven't even visited PA.
So I can't help you there. 
) This is just a rough-draft so far, and suggestions and comments will be accepted.