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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7768277" data-attributes="member: 4937">DMing is mostly lonely fun.&nbsp;&nbsp; That is to say, to be successful at it, you must enjoy spending many hours each week preparing notes on your game.&nbsp; That is I think the thing that DMs have to understand the most.A novice DM should limit their ambitions.&nbsp; The easiest thing in the world for a new DM is to bite off more than they can chew.&nbsp; Find out if you enjoy preparing to run a game.&nbsp;&nbsp; Initially, plan only 3-4 weeks in advance.&nbsp;&nbsp; That way, you can at least get one good adventure in if it turns out that you don't actually enjoy preparing a game.&nbsp; Most likely, you should begin by adapting a prepared adventure module for play.&nbsp;&nbsp; Here, the fact that the game is your own is great advice.&nbsp; Fill in the details you think the module leaves out.&nbsp;&nbsp; Fix what you think it gets wrong.&nbsp;&nbsp; Focus on story elements that you think might be cool but which the published work pays little attention to.Above all, minimize the amount of time you spend fantasizing about individual scenes, particularly if you are fantasizing about how the players will respond to the stuff you are preparing.&nbsp; Understand that you are preparing possibilities, and that (almost) nothing is going to happen like you think it will.One of the hardest things about DMing is that as a social activity, it may turn out that the group you are in and for which you've prepared an adventure, won't really enjoy it.&nbsp; Sometimes this is your fault.&nbsp; Sometimes, you can be a decent DM that has prepared a good game, and the problem is that you are not all on board the particular sort of fun that you've prepared to have.&nbsp;&nbsp; That's no one's fault.&nbsp;&nbsp; An experienced DM will be able to figure out what his player's enjoy and tailor the game for that, but there is a limit to that sort of thing in that the DM must have fun as well, and there are some groups where you might be perfectly happy as a player, but don't enjoy DMing simply because it's not rewarding enough for you after doing all that labor to prepare the game.&nbsp;&nbsp; Remember, you the DM are a participant in the game too.&nbsp; You are in some sense always sacrificing for the sake of the game, but the game has to be fun for you as well (and perhaps for you above all).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7768277, member: 4937"] DMing is mostly lonely fun. That is to say, to be successful at it, you must enjoy spending many hours each week preparing notes on your game. That is I think the thing that DMs have to understand the most. A novice DM should limit their ambitions. The easiest thing in the world for a new DM is to bite off more than they can chew. Find out if you enjoy preparing to run a game. Initially, plan only 3-4 weeks in advance. That way, you can at least get one good adventure in if it turns out that you don't actually enjoy preparing a game. Most likely, you should begin by adapting a prepared adventure module for play. Here, the fact that the game is your own is great advice. Fill in the details you think the module leaves out. Fix what you think it gets wrong. Focus on story elements that you think might be cool but which the published work pays little attention to. Above all, minimize the amount of time you spend fantasizing about individual scenes, particularly if you are fantasizing about how the players will respond to the stuff you are preparing. Understand that you are preparing possibilities, and that (almost) nothing is going to happen like you think it will. One of the hardest things about DMing is that as a social activity, it may turn out that the group you are in and for which you've prepared an adventure, won't really enjoy it. Sometimes this is your fault. Sometimes, you can be a decent DM that has prepared a good game, and the problem is that you are not all on board the particular sort of fun that you've prepared to have. That's no one's fault. An experienced DM will be able to figure out what his player's enjoy and tailor the game for that, but there is a limit to that sort of thing in that the DM must have fun as well, and there are some groups where you might be perfectly happy as a player, but don't enjoy DMing simply because it's not rewarding enough for you after doing all that labor to prepare the game. Remember, you the DM are a participant in the game too. You are in some sense always sacrificing for the sake of the game, but the game has to be fun for you as well (and perhaps for you above all). [/QUOTE]

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