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10 Tips to Being a Better Dungeon Master – A Dungeons and Dragons Guide
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<blockquote data-quote="robus" data-source="post: 7607182" data-attributes="member: 6801558"><p>An interesting list, not sure I agree 100% but it’s a decent starting point.</p><p></p><p>1. Make it your story.</p><p>I think the best goal is your (DMs) story mixed in with the PCs stories. In other words they contribute the subplots that engage their characters (and thus the players). What mystery lurks in the PCs backstory?</p><p></p><p>2. Make critical failures...</p><p>I borrow from the Star Wars RPG and try to make a natural 1 result in a setback (despair in SW lingo) during combat, rather than make the PC suffer individually. For ability checks that roll bat 20s you can also use the triumph mechanic to give the PCs some extra bonus.</p><p></p><p>3. Party rules. I would rule out intra-party conflict unless the table are all very good friends that are pretty chill. players can get quite testy. Definitely try to establish how loot is divvied up, and what happens when players miss sessions (does their PC get XP?)</p><p></p><p>4. Lay down your rules. Absolutely.</p><p></p><p>5. Sit down and talk. Sure. (you might consider splitting this list into two (three?) sections: Prepping the campaign vs. Running the campaign)</p><p></p><p>6. Recap. Recapping is key. I played in a game where the DM didn’t recap at the beginning of the session and it sucked. I absolutely disagree with having players do it, they generally forget a lot of stuff (not because they don’t care, but because they’ve not spent the last few days thinking about the game like the DM has) The nice thing about the DM doing it is they can then smoothly continue narration into this session ending with a call to action.</p><p></p><p>7. Pre-rolling. Definitely figure out your random encounters before hand so you can prep the monster stat blocks before (something you don’t cover, but i think is key to smooth performance during the session.) I also recommend pre-rolling initative the PCs at the start of the session and at the end of each encounter. This avoids the “combat swoosh” transition that rolling for initiative can trigger. Instead the DM can smoothly switch from unstructured to structured rounds.</p><p></p><p>8. Memorizing rules. Agreed. The key things to remember are which ability applies to what kind of action (not skill, ability). Players can ask to apply a skill if appropriate. Also remember the core DC table: 10- easy, 15-medium, 20-hard. Finally remember to apply advantage/disadvantage when appropriate. The combat rules aren’t hard to remember and because it happens a lot it soon becomes second nature.</p><p></p><p>9. Notes. Agreed. The best time to take notes is right at the end of the session when everything is fresh.</p><p></p><p>10. Resources. While the DMG does have useful info, I find its presentation to be entirely backwards. Every DM needs to read the last section, so it should be first. Most DMs will find useful info in the middle section but not until they’ve mastered the last section, and some DMs will find value in the first section, but not until much later in their practice. However, the encounter building guides in Xanathar’s Guide are very convenient for new DMs (much simpler than the ones in the DMG, highly recommended.</p><p></p><p>11. Every table is different. One thing DMs forget is that their table is entirely unique and how they play dramatically affects the perceived challenge of adventures and encounters. If your table is finding an adventure too easy, turn up the difficulty dial (by either adding monsters or swapping for more challenging ones). Same for too hard, turn it down. Your job is to make the session an entertaining and challenging experience. Bored or frustrated players are not going to keep coming back for more.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="robus, post: 7607182, member: 6801558"] An interesting list, not sure I agree 100% but it’s a decent starting point. 1. Make it your story. I think the best goal is your (DMs) story mixed in with the PCs stories. In other words they contribute the subplots that engage their characters (and thus the players). What mystery lurks in the PCs backstory? 2. Make critical failures... I borrow from the Star Wars RPG and try to make a natural 1 result in a setback (despair in SW lingo) during combat, rather than make the PC suffer individually. For ability checks that roll bat 20s you can also use the triumph mechanic to give the PCs some extra bonus. 3. Party rules. I would rule out intra-party conflict unless the table are all very good friends that are pretty chill. players can get quite testy. Definitely try to establish how loot is divvied up, and what happens when players miss sessions (does their PC get XP?) 4. Lay down your rules. Absolutely. 5. Sit down and talk. Sure. (you might consider splitting this list into two (three?) sections: Prepping the campaign vs. Running the campaign) 6. Recap. Recapping is key. I played in a game where the DM didn’t recap at the beginning of the session and it sucked. I absolutely disagree with having players do it, they generally forget a lot of stuff (not because they don’t care, but because they’ve not spent the last few days thinking about the game like the DM has) The nice thing about the DM doing it is they can then smoothly continue narration into this session ending with a call to action. 7. Pre-rolling. Definitely figure out your random encounters before hand so you can prep the monster stat blocks before (something you don’t cover, but i think is key to smooth performance during the session.) I also recommend pre-rolling initative the PCs at the start of the session and at the end of each encounter. This avoids the “combat swoosh” transition that rolling for initiative can trigger. Instead the DM can smoothly switch from unstructured to structured rounds. 8. Memorizing rules. Agreed. The key things to remember are which ability applies to what kind of action (not skill, ability). Players can ask to apply a skill if appropriate. Also remember the core DC table: 10- easy, 15-medium, 20-hard. Finally remember to apply advantage/disadvantage when appropriate. The combat rules aren’t hard to remember and because it happens a lot it soon becomes second nature. 9. Notes. Agreed. The best time to take notes is right at the end of the session when everything is fresh. 10. Resources. While the DMG does have useful info, I find its presentation to be entirely backwards. Every DM needs to read the last section, so it should be first. Most DMs will find useful info in the middle section but not until they’ve mastered the last section, and some DMs will find value in the first section, but not until much later in their practice. However, the encounter building guides in Xanathar’s Guide are very convenient for new DMs (much simpler than the ones in the DMG, highly recommended. 11. Every table is different. One thing DMs forget is that their table is entirely unique and how they play dramatically affects the perceived challenge of adventures and encounters. If your table is finding an adventure too easy, turn up the difficulty dial (by either adding monsters or swapping for more challenging ones). Same for too hard, turn it down. Your job is to make the session an entertaining and challenging experience. Bored or frustrated players are not going to keep coming back for more. [/QUOTE]
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