Tips for a New Dungeon Master
This is what I am most excited to speak about. I have been a Dungeon Master or DM for a group of my friends over the course of a year. We have never finished playing, but we have taken a extended brake due to everyone's schedules no longer working together. When playing Dungeons and Dragons, there are two roles that need to be fulfilled: The players/player characters, or PCs; as well as the DM. The DM is a story teller of sorts, one that sets up a plot and engages those playing in all sorts of quests and activities to do and explore. Bringing their imaginations to the table with events that are going on as well as characters that are non playable (NPCs) to interact with the PCs. It has been debatable as to how a DM should be, and most people would rather be in the world that someone creates, than being the "entertainer" for everyone else. I became a DM so my friends and I could gather around a table weekly and do something we all had interest in and just bond. Everyone had experience with Dungeons and Dragons, but no one really wanted to put in the effort of hosting and DM'ing. I will be covering some essential tips that I think are needed to understand before starting a session to better prepare for inexperienced DM's.
Tip 1: Establish grounds as to where the campaign is taking off and where everyone finds themselves in this.
When taking the reigns, I developed a lot of story and created a world for my players to soon inhabit. And when it finally came to the first session, the hardest thing that I encountered was starting off the very beginning of the story. Being completely new to this, I developed much of the world, and didn't really think there would be much of a need to tie the players together. I quickly learned that it was a failure waiting to happen because I didn't consider every character's backgrounds.
I recommend a session 0 to happen, which doesn't need to be in person, but it does need to have some voice communication among everyone. This informs the players of the characters that they are playing and where they are coming into the campaign. The DM introduces the beginning of the story and then the players need to creatively tie their roles into where session one picks up. It isn't the DM's responsibility to do this. It will end up with the DM looking unprepared for the complexity of the party that will be engaging in the campaign.
Tip 2: Find a balance of rail-roading the story and giving your PCs freedom of choice.
There has been a debate on which is preferred when it comes to DM'ing, however, I think there needs to be implementation of each depending on the situation. Rail roading means that you are guiding the party on the story and not giving them the ability to have creative freedom. The story is just as much theirs as it is for you. Even though have created the plot and are guiding the party through it, you should allow all to try things their own ways.
Now if the party is taking advantage of the freedoms they have, then there is a need for some rail roading because they may not be following the plot of your story what so ever. Or sometimes they are following the story too closely, which has happen to me in my last campaign and I wanted the members to take their time with the objective because they needed to gain levels to be able to fight this strong boss. Every time they would try to straight shoot the campaign, I would throw turn of events into the situation to make the party focus their efforts in alternate spots. As a DM, this is a essential tip because it gives control and takes it away from the PCs, allowing them to make their own decisions but give the illusion of choice as well.
Tip 3: Improv is essential to a fun campaign.
The reason I say this is because even though you have designed a campaign, it doesn't mean by any chance it will go the way you hope it to. Unless, you of course railroad it to the point where its basically you telling a story and PCs rolling for hits. The PCs take the story on twists and turns you may not be prepped for, or they could miss a dungeon you have slaved away to create. This is totally fine, in fact, it brings new elements that the DM never really knew existed.
When starting my campaign, the PCs interacted with a stall merchant to gain a quest. I didn't know what to do so I through a quest at them that I had to come up with on the spot. I later went home and planned some background with this new NPC and it ended up developing major plots in the city that I had not originally thought of. It helped make the story that much more complex and allowed the players to take different options to the over arching plot.
Also, if the party comes up with a creative solution, always allow them to follow through. More importantly, never say no or that they cannot do that action. Unless it is warranted due to the situation at hand. The more you say no to your PCs, the less they will want to try and do and also lose ambition to keep participating.
Tip 4: Provide consequences to all actions.
This takes time to realize when new to being a DM. Reason for it, is a lot of new DM's give their PCs freedom in all aspects and no repercussions to their actions. Sometimes, the party may get carried away and start making unethical decisions. This is a term that is considered "murder hobo-ing." Which basically means that the player might just go around killing innocent people because they think it is an okay thing to do.
If actions like this take place, make a consequence to it. The party kills innocent people, then the town's guards come after the party to throw them in jail cells. The DM has control over everything and can even make it so the guards are too high of level that they cannot defeat them.
I had a PC in my party that was a rogue and all the player wanted to do was steal from every individual that he encountered. It was in the PC's background story that they are a thief, which explains why my friend was playing the character the way he did. However, it was annoying the other players with the frequency at which he was attempting to steal. To punish the player, I gave him enchanted gloves that gave him some good advantages, but at the same time, were cursed with the ability to scream when ever he would attempt to steal. This would attract attention to him and get him in trouble with some of the royal guards. He was also unable to take the gloves off once he put them on.
This is an example of consequences that also were in the party's favor. Because of the curse, it made the player stop stealing every chance, and instead, focus more on building his characters morals and abilities. Developing the party as a whole as well. It was a small price to pay but he was also rewarded with the enchanted gloves that made his play style better.
There are plenty more tips that can be provided in this blog, but I believe the four that I have covered are essential to starting off on a good note. The role of the DM is very intimidating when you are new to Dungeons and Dragons, however, it can be a very fun one once you get your footing. It is like all things, practice makes perfect. Who knows, maybe you will adopt a similar style like mine and just wing the whole session. I used to plan and prep for hours a week. But after I got used to the play style of my characters, I stopped prepping and let them develop the story.
Being a DM is a challenge, but it can be very rewarding. And once you start DM'ing, you will forever be a DM. Good luck with your first session!!
Tip 1: Establish grounds as to where the campaign is taking off and where everyone finds themselves in this.
When taking the reigns, I developed a lot of story and created a world for my players to soon inhabit. And when it finally came to the first session, the hardest thing that I encountered was starting off the very beginning of the story. Being completely new to this, I developed much of the world, and didn't really think there would be much of a need to tie the players together. I quickly learned that it was a failure waiting to happen because I didn't consider every character's backgrounds.
I recommend a session 0 to happen, which doesn't need to be in person, but it does need to have some voice communication among everyone. This informs the players of the characters that they are playing and where they are coming into the campaign. The DM introduces the beginning of the story and then the players need to creatively tie their roles into where session one picks up. It isn't the DM's responsibility to do this. It will end up with the DM looking unprepared for the complexity of the party that will be engaging in the campaign.
Tip 2: Find a balance of rail-roading the story and giving your PCs freedom of choice.
There has been a debate on which is preferred when it comes to DM'ing, however, I think there needs to be implementation of each depending on the situation. Rail roading means that you are guiding the party on the story and not giving them the ability to have creative freedom. The story is just as much theirs as it is for you. Even though have created the plot and are guiding the party through it, you should allow all to try things their own ways.
Now if the party is taking advantage of the freedoms they have, then there is a need for some rail roading because they may not be following the plot of your story what so ever. Or sometimes they are following the story too closely, which has happen to me in my last campaign and I wanted the members to take their time with the objective because they needed to gain levels to be able to fight this strong boss. Every time they would try to straight shoot the campaign, I would throw turn of events into the situation to make the party focus their efforts in alternate spots. As a DM, this is a essential tip because it gives control and takes it away from the PCs, allowing them to make their own decisions but give the illusion of choice as well.
Tip 3: Improv is essential to a fun campaign.
The reason I say this is because even though you have designed a campaign, it doesn't mean by any chance it will go the way you hope it to. Unless, you of course railroad it to the point where its basically you telling a story and PCs rolling for hits. The PCs take the story on twists and turns you may not be prepped for, or they could miss a dungeon you have slaved away to create. This is totally fine, in fact, it brings new elements that the DM never really knew existed.
When starting my campaign, the PCs interacted with a stall merchant to gain a quest. I didn't know what to do so I through a quest at them that I had to come up with on the spot. I later went home and planned some background with this new NPC and it ended up developing major plots in the city that I had not originally thought of. It helped make the story that much more complex and allowed the players to take different options to the over arching plot.
Also, if the party comes up with a creative solution, always allow them to follow through. More importantly, never say no or that they cannot do that action. Unless it is warranted due to the situation at hand. The more you say no to your PCs, the less they will want to try and do and also lose ambition to keep participating.
Tip 4: Provide consequences to all actions.
This takes time to realize when new to being a DM. Reason for it, is a lot of new DM's give their PCs freedom in all aspects and no repercussions to their actions. Sometimes, the party may get carried away and start making unethical decisions. This is a term that is considered "murder hobo-ing." Which basically means that the player might just go around killing innocent people because they think it is an okay thing to do.
If actions like this take place, make a consequence to it. The party kills innocent people, then the town's guards come after the party to throw them in jail cells. The DM has control over everything and can even make it so the guards are too high of level that they cannot defeat them.
I had a PC in my party that was a rogue and all the player wanted to do was steal from every individual that he encountered. It was in the PC's background story that they are a thief, which explains why my friend was playing the character the way he did. However, it was annoying the other players with the frequency at which he was attempting to steal. To punish the player, I gave him enchanted gloves that gave him some good advantages, but at the same time, were cursed with the ability to scream when ever he would attempt to steal. This would attract attention to him and get him in trouble with some of the royal guards. He was also unable to take the gloves off once he put them on.
This is an example of consequences that also were in the party's favor. Because of the curse, it made the player stop stealing every chance, and instead, focus more on building his characters morals and abilities. Developing the party as a whole as well. It was a small price to pay but he was also rewarded with the enchanted gloves that made his play style better.
There are plenty more tips that can be provided in this blog, but I believe the four that I have covered are essential to starting off on a good note. The role of the DM is very intimidating when you are new to Dungeons and Dragons, however, it can be a very fun one once you get your footing. It is like all things, practice makes perfect. Who knows, maybe you will adopt a similar style like mine and just wing the whole session. I used to plan and prep for hours a week. But after I got used to the play style of my characters, I stopped prepping and let them develop the story.
Being a DM is a challenge, but it can be very rewarding. And once you start DM'ing, you will forever be a DM. Good luck with your first session!!
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