Good Books for Wannabe DM

[Sado]

I may take the plunge here soon and try my hand at DM'ing. At first probably just for my brothers when I go visit the family in a couple months, to see how I take to it. I know there are a few books out there with advice on DM'ing. Not counting the regular DM Guide, what are some good ones?

 

[Saqhara]

Having just read through Fast Forward Entertainment's Orcfest I can strongly suggest that to you as it has something like 28 pages of advice before the module even starts. On top of that it has many sidebars of additions advice throughout the remainder of the adventure. I bought mine off of ebay but I would have gladly paid full price for it after reading it through.

 

[Buttercup]

The module Hamlet of Thumble has lots of good advice for the DM. (I haven't read Orcfest, but FFE had a habit of publishing d20 products that were grossly unbalanced, so caveat emptor!)

 

[haiiro]

If you haven't already, swing by http://www.roleplayingtips.com. There's a staggering amount of free and useful DM-oriented advice and ideas there, and the webmaster (Johnn Four, who has had a column in Dragon -- may now be in Dungeon -- for awhile) also offers the weekly collections of tips as an email newsletter.

It's easily one of the best gaming sites around, and you'll most likely find it useful throughout your DMing "career" (I know I have).

 

[Saqhara]

The module Hamlet of Thumble has lots of good advice for the DM. (I haven't read Orcfest, but FFE had a habit of publishing d20 products that were grossly unbalanced, so caveat emptor!)

Good point! I noticed that myself. How a group of 1st and 2nd level PC are going to handle 4 orcs an ogre and a level 3 orc ftr in one go seemed a bit optomistic. However, that taken into account the rest of the module's advice is still rather good.

 

[Ferret]

Surprising as it might seem I have never run a game using the DMG and we still had fun.

 

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

I find the Players Handbook more helpful then the D.M.'s guide.

 

[Galethorn]

On a similar note, what would people recomend for DMs (like me) who have been 'behind the screen' for more than a year, and read through the DMG multiple times, but still feel like novices?

 

[Rel]

I considered myself a "veteran GM", if not a master of the art, when I had been doing it for 20 years. Then a couple of years ago I got Robin Laws' Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering and I felt like I learned more in one evening's reading than I had in the last ten years I'd been GMing. I can't recommend this book enough in terms of what it teaches you about how to deliver what your players want in the game and how to do it, while making the game fun for yourself as well. Get it. Read it. Learn it. Love it.

Also try to get out there and play under as many other GM's as you can. If possible, attend one of the ENWorld Game Days or a local Con of some sort. Even if some of the games turn out to be less than stellar, you'll still learn something (maybe in the "what not to do" category). And if possible, find and play under a really good GM as often as you can. I had the pleasure of playing in one of Henry's games and I'm going to get to do so again in a couple of weeks. He somehow manages to keep the game at just the right point between the action and roleplaying through the entire session. That's one of the things I'd like to work on in my own game.

Good luck.

 

[Sado]

I considered myself a "veteran GM", if not a master of the art, when I had been doing it for 20 years. Then a couple of years ago I got Robin Laws' Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering and I felt like I learned more in one evening's reading than I had in the last ten years I'd been GMing. I can't recommend this book enough in terms of what it teaches you about how to deliver what your players want in the game and how to do it, while making the game fun for yourself as well. Get it. Read it. Learn it. Love it.


Good luck.

That sounds like what I'm looking for. A book specifically devoted to DM'ing. I've heard of it, I'll check it out.