How can DMs improve? What makes a good DM?
Psion
Adventurer
I think knowing your weaknesses and being willing to either work on them or work around them is a big step. NPC characterization is not my strong suit, e.g.
I also think that running what you love is a big step. Sometimes it shows when the game or campaign style isn't your favorite.
I also think that running what you love is a big step. Sometimes it shows when the game or campaign style isn't your favorite.
Crothian said:
A simple game you can play with someone via aim or irc : timed stories. You are given some basic premise, and have to write a short story using that premise and you have a time limit. You might have a round where you write comedy based on it (think improv ala 'who's line is it anyway?'), dramatic stuff, descriptive stuff, etc. Generally the last person to write a description gets to choose the next premise. Skills improved : improv (obviously), being able to take some concept which you normally wouldn't consider in a context and run with it (say you had to write a dramatic short story about a cow burping or something - not easy), general writing/speach skills.
Getting involved in some debates/arguments where you have to use logic to defend your point is also a useful diversion in DM downtime, since it helps you organize thoughts in a coherent matter.
These suggestions come from a DM who feels the most accomplishment when he manages to get his players to sit down and hammer out intricate plans to accomplish some goal, or spend hours trying to convince each other to do something or change their ways or whatnot - basically when he can sit back, listen to a story unfolding and generally not do any work, so use them in that context
.
SweeneyTodd
First Post
What ForceUser said.
Unfortunately, pulling that off requires everyone at the table, players and GM, to think about why they play, what they want to get out of it, and be able to communicate that. I don't know if people can do that are all "great players", but they're certainly rare.
I don't think that applies solely to gaming, though. Every social group from friends to families (and especially marriages/relationships) needs the same thing, and lots and lots of them lack it.
Unfortunately, pulling that off requires everyone at the table, players and GM, to think about why they play, what they want to get out of it, and be able to communicate that. I don't know if people can do that are all "great players", but they're certainly rare.
I don't think that applies solely to gaming, though. Every social group from friends to families (and especially marriages/relationships) needs the same thing, and lots and lots of them lack it.
delericho
Legend
I tend to divide DMing into three distinct skills. These divisions are, of course, arbitrary, and there is a degree of overlap between them. However, I do find it helpful. The three areas are as follows:
Rules mastery: Should be obvious - knowledge of the rules, how to apply them, and when to ignore or change them.
Story mastery: Everything to do with plot, characterisation, and so on. Basically, anything that you would find in a good novel falls under this category.
Table mastery: People skills. This is your ability to deal with or prevent disputes, to build a good group, and to enforce your authority when it is required.
Any or all of these can be improved, but the techniques for doing so are very different in each case.
Rules: This is the easiest of the three to improve, because it's almost purely mechanical. The DM can just sit down with a PHB and create lots of characters, run lots of battles, and generally test the rules, until he's confident with what he's doing. Practice makes perfect, and by testing the hard cases, the DM will become better able to make judgements on the fly. Also, long practice will reduce your need to check books during play, and give you a guide to where you might want to ignore the rules to speed play.
Useful techniques: I've found cheat sheets very useful here. When preparing an encounter, if you know there's some odd factor that will apply, write it down in a prominent place. If an NPC spellcaster uses lots of buff spells, note down all the effects that apply, in all the possible combinations (to deal with Dispel Magic and similar effects). If your players favour particular tactics, note the rules surrounding those tactics.
Story: Read lots of books, in lots of genres. Watch lots of TV, particularly shows in the genre your trying to emulate, but also good shows in any genre. (If you can stomach it, watching soaps can be helpful - the depth of the characters here is not great, the acting is poor, and the plots are very simple. However, these are all due to the extremely high rate at which these things must be produced, and a lot of the same pressures apply to DMing.) One book I found extremely useful was "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" (thanks to Monte Cook for recommending that one), because, again, a lot of the same pressures apply.
Useful techniques: The most useful trick I know here is the compilation of lists. Lists of names, lists of cool words (with meanings), lists of trades, lists of trees, flowers, brush-strokes, architectural styles, colours, character traits. Lists, lists, lists.
Table: I found this to be the hardest area to develop, because it's the one that you can't really prepare for. All I can recommend is that you practice this. You might want to consider volunteering some of your time to a local youth group - dealing with difficult teens seems to be good practice for dealing with difficult gamers
Useful techniques: Keep the game flowing, don't be afraid to make a ruling and stick by it, and when things get difficult, diffuse the situation with a winning smile.
I hope some of that is helpful.
Rules mastery: Should be obvious - knowledge of the rules, how to apply them, and when to ignore or change them.
Story mastery: Everything to do with plot, characterisation, and so on. Basically, anything that you would find in a good novel falls under this category.
Table mastery: People skills. This is your ability to deal with or prevent disputes, to build a good group, and to enforce your authority when it is required.
Any or all of these can be improved, but the techniques for doing so are very different in each case.
Rules: This is the easiest of the three to improve, because it's almost purely mechanical. The DM can just sit down with a PHB and create lots of characters, run lots of battles, and generally test the rules, until he's confident with what he's doing. Practice makes perfect, and by testing the hard cases, the DM will become better able to make judgements on the fly. Also, long practice will reduce your need to check books during play, and give you a guide to where you might want to ignore the rules to speed play.
Useful techniques: I've found cheat sheets very useful here. When preparing an encounter, if you know there's some odd factor that will apply, write it down in a prominent place. If an NPC spellcaster uses lots of buff spells, note down all the effects that apply, in all the possible combinations (to deal with Dispel Magic and similar effects). If your players favour particular tactics, note the rules surrounding those tactics.
Story: Read lots of books, in lots of genres. Watch lots of TV, particularly shows in the genre your trying to emulate, but also good shows in any genre. (If you can stomach it, watching soaps can be helpful - the depth of the characters here is not great, the acting is poor, and the plots are very simple. However, these are all due to the extremely high rate at which these things must be produced, and a lot of the same pressures apply to DMing.) One book I found extremely useful was "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" (thanks to Monte Cook for recommending that one), because, again, a lot of the same pressures apply.
Useful techniques: The most useful trick I know here is the compilation of lists. Lists of names, lists of cool words (with meanings), lists of trades, lists of trees, flowers, brush-strokes, architectural styles, colours, character traits. Lists, lists, lists.
Table: I found this to be the hardest area to develop, because it's the one that you can't really prepare for. All I can recommend is that you practice this. You might want to consider volunteering some of your time to a local youth group - dealing with difficult teens seems to be good practice for dealing with difficult gamers
Useful techniques: Keep the game flowing, don't be afraid to make a ruling and stick by it, and when things get difficult, diffuse the situation with a winning smile.
I hope some of that is helpful.
Gulla
Adventurer
I think that what makes a good DM/GM is different from group to group. I have won 'Best GM' awards at cons for sessions that I my normal players would not like at all. So a good GM for a given group is one that makes everyone (including himself) enjoy the game.
Get feedback. Every so often ask your players what they think about the game. And when everyone (out of courtesy) answers "it's nice and fun" ask more detailed questions about what they think is best, what they enjoy most and what they would change. That way you can at least know what to improve. How, is a different case, but unless you know what to improve you are risking changeing the best part (often for the worse).
And don't be afraid to use a game-day or parts of one to talk out of character as players and GM about what you would like the campaign to be. Unless you get the players to talk about what they want you have to be very lucky, extremely skilled and a mind reader to get it right.
Håkon
Crothian said:
Get feedback. Every so often ask your players what they think about the game. And when everyone (out of courtesy) answers "it's nice and fun" ask more detailed questions about what they think is best, what they enjoy most and what they would change. That way you can at least know what to improve. How, is a different case, but unless you know what to improve you are risking changeing the best part (often for the worse).
And don't be afraid to use a game-day or parts of one to talk out of character as players and GM about what you would like the campaign to be. Unless you get the players to talk about what they want you have to be very lucky, extremely skilled and a mind reader to get it right.
Håkon
Henry
Autoexreginated
There was on one website about five years ago, an exhaustive list of activities that would improve your DMing as well as story-telling skills; unfortunately, I have long since lost this web site and its list. It contained things such as:
--Go on a nature walk
--Go horseback riding
--Read certain specific books on Roman and Medieval military life
And a host of other activities. If this sparks memories for anyone, I'd LOVE to both have a copy of that list and post it here, because it seemed to me a series of excellent suggestions for both becoming an excellent DM, and for regaining a lost creative spark.
Other suggestions I'll let alone: reading your players and designing adventures for their emotional "kicks" to playing are well represented.
I will add that another good idea is watching other DM's wherever possible; Not to critique them in front of people, but to look at what they do, at what tricks fall flat to a gaming table, what neat things they do that you never considered before, but go off well or seem like great ideas. Studying successful people's habits is something that is a good idea in D&D as well as in life.
--Go on a nature walk
--Go horseback riding
--Read certain specific books on Roman and Medieval military life
And a host of other activities. If this sparks memories for anyone, I'd LOVE to both have a copy of that list and post it here, because it seemed to me a series of excellent suggestions for both becoming an excellent DM, and for regaining a lost creative spark.
Other suggestions I'll let alone: reading your players and designing adventures for their emotional "kicks" to playing are well represented.
I will add that another good idea is watching other DM's wherever possible; Not to critique them in front of people, but to look at what they do, at what tricks fall flat to a gaming table, what neat things they do that you never considered before, but go off well or seem like great ideas. Studying successful people's habits is something that is a good idea in D&D as well as in life.
Here is one of the best pieces of advice I read on improving your GM skills.
Choose one aspect you want t o improve on. Like Maybe it is bringing your NPC's to life making them more interesting etc. Concentrate on this one thing for 2-3 sessions until it starts to become a habit. Then choose your next weakness say giving more lively combat descriptions and work on it for 2-3 sessions.
Its easy to develop the needed skills this way. You simple make a list of what you want to improve then make a big sticky note of which one you want to focus on and stick it in front of you duringthat session a constant reminder of what you are focusing on.
Realize also that you will want to revisit some of these as time goes by becuase you will probably slip slowly back to old habits which is fairly normal. I have to go back every few months and visit my weak points.
Another thing that helps me is to do a survey every 4-6 months my players. Its easy to do and worth taking say 1/2 a session to do so. My survey is simple Name 3 things you like about the game, GM style or anything else dealing with the sessions (such as time or place you game, other players etc), Name three things you dislike, name one memorably scene from the past 10-12 sessions.
Tell everyone to work on this alone then maybe compare notes. The idea is to avoid a bunch of Dittos from the group.
It helps to open the dialogue between the players and GM.
Later
Choose one aspect you want t o improve on. Like Maybe it is bringing your NPC's to life making them more interesting etc. Concentrate on this one thing for 2-3 sessions until it starts to become a habit. Then choose your next weakness say giving more lively combat descriptions and work on it for 2-3 sessions.
Its easy to develop the needed skills this way. You simple make a list of what you want to improve then make a big sticky note of which one you want to focus on and stick it in front of you duringthat session a constant reminder of what you are focusing on.
Realize also that you will want to revisit some of these as time goes by becuase you will probably slip slowly back to old habits which is fairly normal. I have to go back every few months and visit my weak points.
Another thing that helps me is to do a survey every 4-6 months my players. Its easy to do and worth taking say 1/2 a session to do so. My survey is simple Name 3 things you like about the game, GM style or anything else dealing with the sessions (such as time or place you game, other players etc), Name three things you dislike, name one memorably scene from the past 10-12 sessions.
Tell everyone to work on this alone then maybe compare notes. The idea is to avoid a bunch of Dittos from the group.
It helps to open the dialogue between the players and GM.
Later
Vraille Darkfang
First Post
Leadership & Management skills.
You are the leader of a small group of people (players) trying to get certain objectives accomplished (adventures) for a defined purpose (fun, usually).
You need to be authoratative enough to keep your game & players on track, but not so draconian the feel they hear the 'train whistle'.
You need to be able to interpret the rules quickly & efficiently. You need to know the rules well, but don't feel the need to memorize them. Try to be fair & consitent when making rulings. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know, for now we do this, I'll read up on those rules before the next session & tell everyone what I found out". (Rules lawyers can make this a headache, but I'm usually able to to be both authoritative and democratic enough to reach a temporary settlement without the game grinding to a halt.
A lot of what makes a good DM is good people & speaking skills. (Not something gamers are known for). But, just because you have problems inter-acting with a cashier, or would rather jump out a plane wihtout a parachute than give a public presentation, doesn't mean you lack those skill sets.
Some of the best DM's I've been under are normally shy & reserved outside of the game. For myself, my experience as a long-time DM has really improved my public speaking & inter-personal skills. While I don't relish a command position, I can do it very well.
The best way to become a good DM is to PLAY under a good DM. Sort of like an apprenticeship. It's probablly the best way to learn. Of course, finding a good DM can be very challenging sometimes.
You are the leader of a small group of people (players) trying to get certain objectives accomplished (adventures) for a defined purpose (fun, usually).
You need to be authoratative enough to keep your game & players on track, but not so draconian the feel they hear the 'train whistle'.
You need to be able to interpret the rules quickly & efficiently. You need to know the rules well, but don't feel the need to memorize them. Try to be fair & consitent when making rulings. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know, for now we do this, I'll read up on those rules before the next session & tell everyone what I found out". (Rules lawyers can make this a headache, but I'm usually able to to be both authoritative and democratic enough to reach a temporary settlement without the game grinding to a halt.
A lot of what makes a good DM is good people & speaking skills. (Not something gamers are known for). But, just because you have problems inter-acting with a cashier, or would rather jump out a plane wihtout a parachute than give a public presentation, doesn't mean you lack those skill sets.
Some of the best DM's I've been under are normally shy & reserved outside of the game. For myself, my experience as a long-time DM has really improved my public speaking & inter-personal skills. While I don't relish a command position, I can do it very well.
The best way to become a good DM is to PLAY under a good DM. Sort of like an apprenticeship. It's probablly the best way to learn. Of course, finding a good DM can be very challenging sometimes.
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