Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How Important Is Rules Knowledge In Being A Good D&D DM?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Olaf the Stout" data-source="post: 3307123" data-attributes="member: 13703"><p>I'm not a fantastic DM by any means. I still have a long way to go in many aspects of the DM'ing craft. One area that I am slowly improving in, session by session, is rules knowledge. In the last year that I have been DM'ing I have found it to be one of the most important factors in being a good <strong>D&D</strong> DM (Please note the emphasis on D&D. I'm sure that rules knowledge is not as big a factor in being a good DM in many RPG's. However, I feel that it is very important in D&D.)</p><p></p><p>For example, there have been a couple of climactic final battles in my campaign to date. Some of them, especially the earlier ones, were flops. The PC's weren't really challenged at all as I underestimated what good tactics (which includes using your rules knowledge to your advantage) could achieve. One of them wasn't as challenging as it should have been because the main baddie was a caster. I don't have very good knowledge of what spells are the best to use in a given situation. As a result, the fight was a lot easier than it should have been.</p><p></p><p>Poor rules knowledge can also slow the game down and make things boring for the players as the DM searches around, trying to figure out what the rules are for a given situation or action. Sure, you could just make an ad-hoc ruling on it but sometimes the rule may change the balance of the game. It may make some things more powerful than others. It may disadvantage some characters over others, resulting in some players not getting as much enjoyment out of the game. </p><p></p><p>So what do you think? Do you need good rules knowledge to be a good D&D DM or can you be just as good without really knowing the rules and just making ad-hoc decisions on the fly?</p><p></p><p>Olaf the Stout</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Olaf the Stout, post: 3307123, member: 13703"] I'm not a fantastic DM by any means. I still have a long way to go in many aspects of the DM'ing craft. One area that I am slowly improving in, session by session, is rules knowledge. In the last year that I have been DM'ing I have found it to be one of the most important factors in being a good [B]D&D[/B] DM (Please note the emphasis on D&D. I'm sure that rules knowledge is not as big a factor in being a good DM in many RPG's. However, I feel that it is very important in D&D.) For example, there have been a couple of climactic final battles in my campaign to date. Some of them, especially the earlier ones, were flops. The PC's weren't really challenged at all as I underestimated what good tactics (which includes using your rules knowledge to your advantage) could achieve. One of them wasn't as challenging as it should have been because the main baddie was a caster. I don't have very good knowledge of what spells are the best to use in a given situation. As a result, the fight was a lot easier than it should have been. Poor rules knowledge can also slow the game down and make things boring for the players as the DM searches around, trying to figure out what the rules are for a given situation or action. Sure, you could just make an ad-hoc ruling on it but sometimes the rule may change the balance of the game. It may make some things more powerful than others. It may disadvantage some characters over others, resulting in some players not getting as much enjoyment out of the game. So what do you think? Do you need good rules knowledge to be a good D&D DM or can you be just as good without really knowing the rules and just making ad-hoc decisions on the fly? Olaf the Stout [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How Important Is Rules Knowledge In Being A Good D&D DM?
Top