How do you you teach some one how to be a good DM???

[smilinggm]

I am a member of a fairy large gaming club with about 45 active members. My wife and I are two of the most poplular DM's in our club. The problem that we have is that we do not currently have enough DM's to meet the demand for games. So I am trying to figure out how to take a group of volunteers, and to teach them how to be a good DM.

The problem is that I do not know where to start. I would only take players who know how to play the game. But being a good DM is more than knowing the rules of the game. A good DM should also be able to tell a good story within the game. I can teach the rules but how do you teach someone to be a story teller?

Any Ideas???

 

[ThirdWizard]

Start slow. Just concentrate on the basics. Don't even think about storytelling.

There are many different aspects to being a DM that are separate and can be looked at independantly. Offhand, there's adventure design, running combats, and creating and playing NPCs. More advanced, there's pacing, adjudicating unexpected events, and campaign crafting. But, don't worry about the advanced stuff.

For running combats, they need to have a good understanding of various monsters so they can run them, and they have to be able to control several combatants at once. This is probably the easiest to learn. Let them run a few. Pull out some pregen characters, pick some monsters and run it. Then pick some new monsters and run another one. Keep doing that. Then work on descriptions and things of that nature.

Tell 'em what you do when DMing, what goes through your head, why you do what you do. Take examples from games they've played with you. Why did you choose what you did? If they had done something different, what would have happened?

For example, when helping my friend on his first DMing, I told him a little trick I had. If it is hard to predict how easy or difficult an encounter is going to be, start off small, and if it isn't what you wanted, have more enemies show up, based on how the PCs are doing. First adventure, he used it to good effect, a bounty hunter we were fighting whistled and had his dog show up to help fight. Little things like that really help beginners out.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Play in their games, tell them what you found fun, what went well, and what went poorly.
Pick up some good modules and help them go through running them. It's surprizing how many people (me included) think they know exactly how to run a good adventure without seeing how other people do it.

Help lines and group support are good things. If the DMs can talk about their expierences, they'll be able to learn from eachother's expierence as well as their own.

But, mostly, find people who want to do a good job at it.

 

[LostSoul]

I can teach the rules but how do you teach someone to be a story teller?

Don't come up with a plotline.

Get the players to write up backgrounds and NPCs. Have them start the PCs off with some kind of big event that shoves them out the "door" and into the world of adventure. (eg. "Yesterday, Bob was working on the farm, when orcs attacked! They killed his ma an' pa, kidnapped his sister, and left Bob for dead. Now he's out for payback.")

Come up with a number of NPCs that are linked to the PCs, and to each other. Define those relationships. When the PCs do something to one NPC, it should have a ripple effect on all the others. (eg. Bob's pal Sam is a soldier working for Dan the merchant. Bob and Sam kill all the orcs. But Dan was selling supplies to the orcs - he was dependant on them - and now he's going to go broke because of what Bob and Sam did. And maybe he'll get Sam back when his back is turned...)

Give the players a lot of choices and dilemmas. These choices should be about their characters (and the player's own beliefs). Make the choices more than which dungeon to go looting in. Instead, make it personal. (eg. Bob and Sam can go to Orcwood or into the Dungeon of Doom. Bob wants to go slay orcs in the Orcwood and save his sister. Sam wants to go save his wife in the Dungeon of Doom and slay vampires. If they go into the Orcwood, Sam's wife is as good as vampire spawn. If they go into the Dungeon of Doom, Bob's sister is orc food.)

Consider playing a game that is not D&D.

 

[Umbra]

Have them play in a game you or your wife runs. The other spouse observes the group in action. Afterwards the both of you talk to the would-be DM's about what they enjoyed or didn't enjoy and you explain what techniques were used.

They then practice these skills with each other.

Model the behaviour, explaining why you did what you did, how you did what you did and finally let them practice it.

 

[Rasyr]

Teach them some about some of things you do to prepare for games. Run it like a little workshop. There are a number of things you do to prepare ahead of time, or things you do during a game. Isolate those things and then teach them how to do them. Here are a few examples:

Things like how to plan "random encounters". For me, I determine what might be encountered in a given area (according to where the party is heading) and then do little write ups, on index cards or such for what might be encountered (plus a few write ups for things in different directions). Then when an encounter is needed, I select one that appropriate. Thus the actual random part is when and where the encounter is, not what it is. And I include just "sighting" a monster as an encounter as well. So one encounter might be seeing a huge dragon flying across the sky some distance away.

Teach them about how to bring a party together (always one of the toughest things for me).

Teach them how to run a combat. Set up a combat scenerio and run through it with them. Give them tips about what you are doing and why. Then have each of them run the same or maybe different combat encounters. With either you or your wife as a player, and the other of you working with the fledgling GM (i.e. sitting behind him and giving pointers, not actually running it). Do this a few times, with the "helper" GM being less and less active each time until they get the hang of it.

Teach them good GMing habits such as

• How to avoid railroading players
• How to adapt when players do not follow any plots set up for them
• How to quickly adjudicate a situation not covered by the rules
• How to keep the game moving
• About the importance of always giving PCs a chance (i.e. no killing them off-screen)
• How to determine how much treasure to give out
• How to determine ELs and CRs and how to use them effectively
• The importance of not having PCs being overshadowed by NPCs

In the GM section of HARP, there is a small list of general tips for newbie GMs. Draw up something similar for your "trainees". Give them concrete goals and such to work towards. Remember to not focus just on the good things, but also the bad things and how to avoid doing them.

And remember, they may not catch on right away, and it may take them some time to fully integrate the lessons you teach them. Not everybody will learn at the same rate, to make sure to be patient.

 

[Kuld]

Well, tell them that they aren’t going to be good enough. Tell them that they aren’t smart enough or quick enough to possibly run a game. Is that what they want to hear?

I’ve heard it all before. People wanting to be a DM and asking everyone around them if they think that they would be good at it. My philosophy: Do it. Show me what you got, mate!

Like many things in life, you can teach someone a thousand times, but they don’t learn until they do it for themselves. Some people aren’t good at it at first, but you play in their games, give them advice, and let them go again. If they are serious about DMing then they will improve.

 

[Storminator]

Let them run a game with some forgiving players. If the players are all good, and they know it's a rookie DM they're trying to "train," they'll go with the flow and let the DM learn all the little skills that are required when things go well. Nothing kills the learning process faster than trying to master advanced skills (dealing with troublesome players) while still unsure of the basics.

I'd set up a regular workshop to talk about DMing. Have a few rookies start DMing games, and get them regular chances to talk to each other and you (or your wife) about their experiences.

PS

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Let them run a game with some forgiving players.

THIS is excellent advice. The only way I've found to reliably create good DMs is for the prospect to DM with a group that gives constructive feedback on the game and assists the DM in becoming a better DM.

Everything else, I've found, sounds simple on paper but are actually somethings most of us have mastered over time, trial/error, and plain luck.

Another idea may be to have them sit behind the screen with you and see what you do, how you do it and why you're doing it. Sort of like On-the-Job training, if you will.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Some good advice here already. I would also give them a link to ENWORLD and one to Johnn Fours excellent roleplaying tips online. There are vast resources to be mined from both.