Advice for improving as a DM

[MerakSpielman]

Advice for improving as a DM?

You're a good DM when your players are having a great time.

You're a better DM when your players are having an even better time.

So find out what your players would like you to do and do it better.

My players have been bugging me for more detail. Better "flavor text," as it were. This is a problem because I never can be sure what they're going to do or where they're going to go. They always come up with a plan that surprises me, or a way to reach their goal that I didn't account for. That leaves me stumbling for words.

So MY goal for improving my DM-skills is to get better at ad-libbing flavor text. Make it look like, no matter what they do, it's all part of the detailed, ongoing story.

 

[Thyrkill]

Thank you very much for the amazing responses...it makes me feel a lot better knowing that there is a community out there that actually gives a I really appreciate the imput. Thanks again.

Matt

Now to look for a game to play in

 

[scourger]

Yeah, the best advice here is to play more to be a better DM. Especially if you can find games with other people to play in.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

no, it was a joke. i just feel bad that i will most likely stop palying dnd because of -----ing college

Don't be discouraged, bud. I graduated from university 10 years ago, and I have a wife and daughter, and I'm still playing D&D and D20 Modern. It can be done, man!

 

[MDSnowman]

On top of all the advice given by others I also recomend imersing your players in the world. In my Mutants and Masterminds campaign I write little interludes and E-mail them to the group during the week. These are simple passage to describe things that the players have no way of seeing, to interoduce new storylines before their ramifcations actually effect the heroes, and to show the immediate effects of their deeds.Nothing makes a player feel better than seeing a villain's displeasure when they are foiled, and nothing freaks them out more than the Villain just smiling at the news that his/her plan was foiled... like that was the expected outcome all along. This is working wonders for my M&M game, and I plan to do the same thing in the Ravenloft game I've been planning since the womb.

 

[Vlos]

Well, just figured I would throw my 0.02$ in as well.

As stated by playing in other games (different GMs) you will learn a lot of styles. But just don't play in them, observe as well. Especially if its the same group (just different player GMing). See what the players react to, and what they like/dislike.

Player questions, I always find it useful to ask the players what they like. As stated everyone will probably give a different answer and some won't even know (giving vague answers). For example I love to create, probably why I like GMing. But in game I love to find raw materials my character can make into things, magic items or what not. Some players will like Diplomacy related stories while others will just like the combat. Obviously if you have a mixed group finding a nice balance for all is the trick.

As stated also I always write notes down. I use to just use plain paper but then found I lost many notes, so now I always buy composition books and just write in there. When I think of something I find 3 blank pages and write down what I am thinking. Then at a later date I come back and fill in more information. If its a big story arc idea I usually leave a few more blank pages.

As for coming up with story arcs, I use to buy almost everything gaming related and steal parts for my own custom worlds. Now I rarely buy modules and just come up with my own ideas. Also get a lot fo ideas from movies and adapt them. For example Alien, great movies, but easily adaptable, rather than a space ship, its a burried civilization or pocket dimension with a portal/rift into the current world. Also forget the source but it was an article about how people can just take a newpaper and use the articles of everyday and adapt them (I think if might have been in a dragon mag awhile back).

Rules, obviously everyone has house rules, I love browsing the boards and then finding rules others use. I often post them to my co-players and see what they think. Sometimes we test them out some times they just get put in memory for a later game.

Tracking everything. This is the hardest. I have seen many people use books, I usually buy a Subject Notebook ($1.50) and keep a log for every campaign. Then when every we game I just put my notes in there. What the party killed found, what I told them, etc. Then before each game I can just review the last sessions notes. Also if a player asks something about a piece of information they had found a while back its easier to find.

Game preperation, I like to prep as much as I can before hand, but this will depend on the time you have and your comfort level. I will usually write down all the monsters I plan on using and then their stats. I won't write everything down, but mostly what I need to run the encounter. Then try to only reference the books when needed. This keeps game play going better. Some people just use book markers in the books they need rather than copy the information. Some of the newer computer programs go a long way in doing this as well.

Well getting long, so best I can say, if you got players your probably doing fine, ask them how you may improve?

 

[Dreaddisease]

Just more reitteration on what has already been said.
Read a lot of books, all genres (Biographies, Political conspircacy, westerns, etc...). Watch a lot of movies, all genres (well you can skip a few). Go to acting classes. Go to creative writing classes. Scan the Internet a lot. Visit a foreign country (not Canada, unless you are canadian then not the US). Go to the urban community (there is a lot of things you can learn from an inner city that can be adopted). Read mythology. Steal ideas from other people (especially here).

Many authors get into a funk where they continually write the same story over and over again (see Clive Cussler and Whatshername Steele). It doesn't mean they are any less of a writer, but maybe just stuck. Just start picking up new ideas by doing the above things.

That is all I can advise.