The term Dungeon Master (DM for short) was coined by Dungeons & Dragons® in the early 1970s, but has over time become synonymous with anyone running a RPG (although, generally, the DM title applies to Dungeons & Dragons, while GM [Game Master] refers to the "DM" of RPGs [RPGs] other than that). Being a Dungeon Master may seem simple; you control everything and you simply tell others what they can and cannot do … This couldn't be further from the truth. You are responsible for creating the details and challenges of the adventure, while maintaining the realistic continuity of events in your dungeon. You also need to have a good knowledge and understanding of the rules of the game. While a good DM can create a fun experience for everyone, an inexperienced one can ruin any game. The following steps are modeled after D&D, although they are more or less generic, just enough to apply to any RPG.
Steps
Step 1. Understand the role of the DM
Descriptions you may have heard of a Dungeon Master probably range from "the one who does all the work" to "you are God here". These descriptions are often exaggerations by people who are unaware of what a DM really is, or who interpret half the truth in an extreme way.
As a DM, you control everything except Player Characters (PC for short). This means that everything and characters that the PCs encounter or interact with are controlled by you. However, the purpose of any RPG should be to entertain and amuse "all" the people involved. Your responses to players, the situations you present, the challenges you create, the stories you put together - all of these should be balanced in order to provide a fun experience for you and your players. Always keep in mind that you are not against the PCs. If your goal is to damage the PCs at every opportunity, then you are almost certainly wrong
Step 2. Know the rules
As a DM you are required to know the rules of the game well. Thinking of yourself as an impartial judge may help; just as a judge cannot do his job without knowing the law, so a DM cannot run a session without knowing the rules of the game. To help you with this task, most RPGs provide simple introductory manuals, known as "Basic Manuals". You will need to have at least a decent understanding of everything considered "basic".
- In D&D, the core books are the Player's Handbook, the DM's Guide, and the Monster Manual. The rest is additional, and should not be considered strictly necessary for running a game session.
- You have to describe the environments, manage the plot and administer all elements of the game, including determining the outcome of the battles between players and creatures in the dungeon. If your players encounter a creature and choose a battle plan, it may be up to you to roll the dice and decide the outcome, and even if the rules apply specific guidelines, you can use your judgment to better manage the outcome., in order to maintain the smoothness and continuity of the game. It is a tall order, but it will get easier with time, patience and practice.
Step 3. Get ready
Some choose to become DMs for the exaltation that comes from writing their own stories and adventures to present to players. Others do it for the sense of justice they can offer, or simply because they can control anything. For still others, it is simply their turn for the current session. Regardless of the "why" you do it, what can make the difference between a successful session and a failed session is the "how" you do it. The ways to best prepare yourself might fill an entire wiki, but we'll just talk about the basics for novice DMs here. Remember that everyone will be comfortable in different ways and situations, and your best bet is to use the methods that work best for you. Don't try to force something if you don't feel like it. Again, the end result should be a fun play session for everyone. If it seems like too much of a job, don't hesitate to cut it down a bit.
- If you don't have time between game sessions, consider the adventure modules. These cater to characters within certain levels, with challenges created to fit these levels. This is the fastest and easiest way to conduct a session, as almost everything is already prepared for you. The only thing you need to do is read the adventure. It is useful to re-read, before a session, the pages following the point where the previous session stopped, in order to refresh your memory on the game in progress.
- If you have a few free hours between game sessions, using modules is always an interesting option. However, you could rewrite parts of the form to fit the current session or to adapt the story to the various PCs. A good place to start is to change the location descriptions or replace the treasures found in the module with items more suitable for your players. As your skills progress, you will be able to extrapolate entire passages from one module and insert them into another. This way, not only will you be able to basically use the best parts of a "mediocre" module, but players who have already read or browsed through that module will have a nice surprise!
- If you have a lot of time or love writing stories, writing your own adventures is a possibility. If you're just starting out as a DM, it's still advisable to use one module first, so you can focus on one thing at a time (at first, it's about learning the rules). Either way, you will be more inclined to change things and write new scenarios. A good start can be to use the situations from the published books and write the links between them yourself, and then slowly begin to replace the published works with your own.
Step 4. Take notes
During and immediately after a game session, be sure to write down some notes on the exploits of your PCs, on those of your NPCs (non-player characters), on how your NPCs and Villains respond to new events, on the names of NPCs you may have. invented on the spot, and other details that you may find important. This will help build continuity of the game, and allow you to use previously encountered NPCs as recurring characters. A good side effect is that you can limit the amount of NPCs in your story, in order to keep confusion to a minimum and allow for more character development, or more depth.
Step 5. Be willing to make mistakes
Some things will not go as you planned. Whether it's a mistake about how a rule works, or the effect of a spell on an NPC, or the fact that players can throw away your well-built adventure, believing that an NPC you haven't written anything about is MUCH more interesting than your "save-the-maiden" quest, trouble will happen. Frequently. The best tools in a DM's toolbox are the ability and willingness to deal with problems.
- If the problem is a disagreement about a rule, don't let that derail your session. Don't spend more than two minutes checking everything, unless the character in question could die from the result. Calmly explain your decision on how to proceed, and be sure to check back after the game, or between sessions, and move on in the meantime. Nothing spoils a game more than wasting a quarter of an hour getting two players to agree while the rest of the group gets bored. Managing the game wisely is better than killing it by trying to perfectly arrange all the details in every situation.
- If the problem is that the players have done something you did not anticipate, anticipate, or did not want them to do … be willing to say "Yes" … or at least, don't say "No". Some DMs can make things up on the spot - if you can, do it. If you don't feel comfortable doing such a thing, ask for a little break (your friends can go to the bathroom, get something to eat, or whatever) while you write down some ideas and outline a short plan for this new and exciting. direction they are taking.
Step 6. The DM's Golden Rule
Players will always do something you haven't thought of and couldn't have predicted, even in a million years. It doesn't matter how many solutions or directions you planned: your PCs will probably go to the one you didn't anticipate. You should accept this fact now, to avoid frequent frustration when such a thing happens… again and again and again… don't be discouraged! This detail keeps the game exciting and surprising for you, which can be a lot of fun.
Step 7. Be sure
This will make the game not only more decisive, but also more fun. Nobody wants to play if a DM puts it this way: "Mmmm, so … so … you just discovered … mmmm, a cave, yes. And in the cave … mmm, there is … a demon … mmmm. So, what do you do? ". Instead, say "You come across a cave, and what do you find? A demon! What are you doing?". Getting ready is a good way to get comfortable. Remember that no one knows what is written on the sheet of paper behind your folder. Whether you read it directly or change details as you go, they will think it was all set up, as long as you don't tell them. Use this to your advantage.
Step 8. Be involved, creative and reasonably realistic
Don't just mention the setting; also change your voice to show that you really care. To add some flavor to your dungeon, also try to simulate the accent of the various NPCs. Also, the purpose of going on an Adventure is to see and experience new things. Be creative with your descriptions and scenarios to best characterize each place and interaction. Don't let your creativity run wild, though. There is a thing called a "suspension of disbelief", which you need to establish. Even if you pretend to be in a fantasy world where magic is common, there are rules that govern it. Keeping your job within these rules can make the difference between an engaging fantasy story and a parody where everything seems silly and far-fetched.
Advice
- Don't "stop" someone from doing something. If you're trying to lead your characters to a place, don't just say "You can't go there"; rather, try saying something like "A girl nearby says it just happened to the
. You want to go check it out? "You can also have them roll the" perception "dice to see how much they want to go there. In this case, set a low DC (Difficulty Class). - Have fun. It may seem difficult, but it will get easier over time. Just keep having fun. If your players see that you're not enjoying it, neither will they.
- One of the most important things for a DM is the ability to think on the spot. Things will often happen that you did not expect. Players could kill the character who was supposed to provide them with vital information, or they could end up in the only area of the city that you haven't detailed yet. Invent on the fly, just making sure you take notes so you can incorporate them later in the story.
- When you are a beginner, play with friends; a group of people in a relaxed and familiar atmosphere helps anyone learn the game better, especially when you can joke about it.
- Instead of fighting a horde of weaker monsters, fighting a few (but tougher) monsters is often more fun. In the first case you need to roll a lot of dice, in the second you can focus more on individual strategy.
- Start an informal discussion. Over time you will find that, playing with the same players, you will discuss a few minutes before the session starts. This is good practice. It lets you load up players, gives you time to check everything you need and be ready to go, as well as answer possible questions and know what everyone else has been up to since your last session. In any case, don't make the discussion last too long: the ideal time is between 15 and 30 minutes. More time would just burn out the daylight (well… something like that).
- If this is your first time as a DM, it is highly recommended to limit yourself and the players to the rules / options contained in the Basic Manuals ONLY. Not all expansion manuals balance well together, and in this case you may end up with one character that is too powerful compared to all the others. Generally, this is not a good thing.
- Description is very important in D&D. Unlike a movie or TV show, players are actually watching the DM. The better your descriptions are, the more vivid they will be for your players, making the game better too. Example: "A terrible stench comes out of the cave entrance. Water is dripping around its mouth, creating two small streams along the rock floor. There appears to be a channel carved into the rock."
- Bank of Names. Create a name bank of sorts right after your first session. Over time, you may find yourself running out of names, so start keeping track of interesting names you come across.
- Manuals are not entirely necessary for all players; you can do without it, but at least the DM should have a copy of each, so that he can share it with others around the table.
- You cannot consider yourself a good DM if you limit yourself to being a referee (for example if you only use dungeons found on the internet): so use the ideas of others, if you want, but make them yours (adding your monsters or whatever you prefer), and finally create dungeons using your imagination to the fullest.
- There are generally two types of DMs: those that kill all players during the very first microsecond, and those who like to give players an adventure; if you want, you can follow one of these two personalities.
Warnings
- Don't be intimidated by other players. In your dungeon, what you say must be taken as divine law.
- D&D may be a drug, but it's a game after all. Give yourself some mental and physical rest from the game; even just a fifteen minute break every three hours of session can be enough for most DMs. Don't try too hard on yourself or your players (this puts everyone in a bad mood, and the game stops being fun).
- Watch out for specifiers, lawyers and meta-players - don't play their game just to punish them. Instead, find interesting ways in-game to manage their characters.
- Find the right amount of information to give your players: not too much, not too little. Keep your answers to their questions concise, and don't give too many details.
- Don't be swayed if your players try to import things "as they should be" based on published novels or stories. Otherwise, that one person who has read all thirty novels might try to manipulate you with his knowledge. In the end, it is the DM who has the final say on what exists and does not exist. Either way, the best thing is balance - work with your players to incorporate some of those details, as long as they don't give someone an unreasonable advantage.
- Alignment can be an "uncomfortable" situation from time to time. Remember: the bad guy isn't stupid, he's just bad. As a DM, your job is to represent all three aspects: the good, the bad, and the scenery.
- Even if you want to make your dungeon difficult, don't make it impossible. What sense would it make it too difficult for the PCs?
- Some may think that some parts of your dungeon story are silly (monsters raised on pumpkin farms, or NPCs who all turn out to be alien invaders)… this is their problem, not yours: after all, it's your story.
- Some people seriously want to learn how to play D&D, others may simply be interested in what you do, still others may have a bad opinion of the game. As a DM, make sure you respect all three types of people. This way you could get new players from the first type and (with a little patience) from the second type, and make those of the third type change their mind, dispelling a myth. Finally, it will show your players how to behave in these situations (because some players get too zealous, from time to time).
