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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowslayer" data-source="post: 2653973" data-attributes="member: 8400">1. Understand the basic nature of the particular game you're playing. All RPGs are not the same. D&D, at its root,  is essentially about gaining enough resources and experience to power up. And it is reasonable for a player to assume there will be plenty of opportunities to do so. Other games may have a different core idea. 2. Know the rules. and the reasons for them. Don't change them unless the players are on the same page as you. And certainly don't change them until you've gained mastery of the rules as written.3. Study modules that are professionally developed.  Play lots of them before you start developing your own.4. If you're just starting out, just concentrate on the game....the rules, attacks, movement, damage, skill use etc. Making sure everyone's "roleplaying" is up to snuff can come later after you've mastered them.5. Understand the flow of information. Start small and build. It's amazing how many experienced DMs will lay down 50 pages of homebrew info and expect you to actually know each detail without having to say "which guy is that again?" or "thats the place to the north with the Lizardmen, right?" This isn't a college course, most guys won't soak up that much info. You can ask them to read it, but don't expect them to KNOW it. IMHO the best D&D stories are fairly straightforward anyway. 6, Gain enough table experience to learn to be your own best critic.  You will learn what things youre good at and what things you aren't. Player criticism and advice is fine, but if you're the DM, its your right to run the sort of game you're best equipped to play. There's a sentiment that the DM should adjust to the player's tastes. This is somewhat true, but it only goes so far. They have to adjust to you too.When it comes to gaining table experience, take notes. After you run a game, write down the stuff that went well (you want to learn from the positives too) And write down the spots where things got clunky...Spots where the players didn't understand exactly what was going on, spots where you had to stop for 10 minutes in the middle of combat to look up a rule, spots where everyone drifted off to sleep, or spots that got slow because you didn't organize propoerly. Try and figure out how to fix those rough patches and how you will apply this knowledge at the next game meet.  Repeat till all goes smooth.Hope this helpsTrev</blockquote>

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