DM Camp

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

My FLGS has been having a hell of a time rounding up enough DMs to have enough tables for all the players that want to play Encounters on Wednesday night.

Any other stores having a similar problem? How did you solve it?

I'm thinking about leading a "how to dm 4e" minicamp to try and train and recruit new DMs to the game.

If you play 4E but don't DM, would something like this get you to make the leap?

Experienced DMs: What topics should this cover and how would you present it?

Regardless of which RPG system was used, have any of you tried something like this before? How'd it go?

 

[Oryan77]

My FLGS has been having a hell of a time rounding up enough DMs to have enough tables for all the players that want to play Encounters on Wednesday night.

Put all of the female players at their own table and I guarantee a bunch of dudes will all of a sudden want to DM for those open tables. Problem solved, no need to thank me!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Do a DM Workshop - Get a couple of DM together and build a lession plan (look around this site for topics) and then put together a power point, some documents and do the workshop over a couple of days. Proved a DM around about after the session, where each student use the material with the others.

Ideas for Topics:

• Using Descriptive Adjectives in game to reflect Damage
• Describing a 10 X 10 Room
• Making Combat Fun & Fast
• 10 Questions to build Background
• Crazy Voices - are they personality of the NPC
• Index cards - the secert tool of the DM
• Making Protagonist not just bad guys

 

[TheClone]

My greatest pain in the ass before dming is reading the damn books. And for D&D you do not only have to read player books, but there is also a DMG. So maybe it helps to make an abstract presentation about the DM tips WotC gives.

The second issue is experience. You need to do it to learn what works for you and what does not (and not only therefore the camp is a great idea). You could give the other to-be-DMs the basic facts: Group level, player number and encounter toughness (or even XP budget) and maybe a roughly sketched room (size, entrances and whether it's a dungeon, a temple or what else). Then have them build an encounter. Select monsters, place them, set up tactics. Afterwards let them flesh out their room (or some pregenerated you give them). Let them make up a description of the rooms that can be presented to players. Maybe it is a good idea, if using a pregenerated room, to have 2 (or more) of the guys use the same room to be able to compare or get more creative input from the other guy with the same room. But that may also end up in a nasty competition (nasty because you can't judge or rank creativity easily). In the end you may even play some of them, if there is enough time to see how it works out. It's all about hands on experience. When you try to DM you will see it's much easier than you thought.

This camp may then solve how to dm encounters, which is fairly enough for D&D Encounters as I see it. Camp level 2 then would be "How to build adventures and campaign".

And by the way: Will the guys be "certified DM" afterwards?

 

[level1gamer]

Here in Tucson, AZ the guys that run our Meetup group and our local gaming association SAGA have put on gamemaster conferences. The third one will be in a week in a half. It's organized through the local meetup group: The Third Quarterly Annual Gamemasters Conference - The Tucson RPG Guild (Tucson, AZ) - Meetup.com

It's basically just a series of presenters talking about various aspects of running games. It's more about teaching DMs to be better DMs than to teach people to become DMs. Still it has been a great event.