How to improve at DMing?

[Painfully]

DMing is an artform. You have to keep doing it to get better at it, and you need to collect good feedback from your players. There is no substitute for experience. Learning to be a better DM depends a lot on how you interpret and use the feedback you get to improve yourself and the game.

Watch other experienced DMs. Especially handy if you visit GenCon or other conventions. Go ahead and play too, but watch how the DM handles things. Watch and learn. You can always get nosey after the session and pick their brains if they let you. Most DMs have no problem sharing how and why they handle things the way they do.

Although D&D is NOT storywriting, per se, it contains all it's essential elements. Find good books on storywriting and practice picking apart movies and books that you're reading already. Plot, characters, conflict, foreshadowing, climax, all of those things are important to a good DM.

Since the DM is also a bit of a performer, in the sense that he must roleplay many different NPCs, a good book on character development, or acting classes, can be important to help provide variety. Practicing different voices, mannerisms, and maybe having a few different character props handy can really add to the "in character" mood of the game. You're not likely to give quite the performance that an actor might, but your players will appreciate the effort.

Suspense. A good D&D game has lots of surprises. Timing yourself for dramatic effect can be just as important as the plot itself. Try to keep your players curious, wondering, hoping, desiring, and occassionally dreading, what is about to happen next.

There's just too much more to mention. Pick up a good book on storywriting and see how that goes. It's nothing you probably didn't read about in English class, but promptly forgot after your exam. Do your homework! And happy DMing!

 

[Celtavian]

Re

Randomling,

Here are the two most important things you can do to be a good DM:

1. Run the game as often as you can: This is how you learn the rules, so you make sure to apply them on the fly.

Every aspect of D&D can be learned with practice, and that is why running the game often helps.

2. Pacing: This is an often overlooked aspect of DMing, yet incredibly important. Pacing is probably the single most important element a DM must keep in mind when running an adventure.

If the game slows down too much or goes too fast, you lose your players interest. I know this is a somewhat ambiguous response, but the old cliche "keep the story moving" is true in D&D as well as writing.

A boring story can be made more interesting with good pacing and a very interesting story can be made boring with bad pacing.

Just try and keep the story moving. Don't get too caught up in the mechanics, but don't ignore them.

And one last time, keep the story moving forward...)

 

[Eudaimic]

Not much to add really, but I'd like to emphasize the 'try to find what you excel at'-part. I for instance have a tendency (and has had ever since I was wee, much to both my parents and teacher's dismay) to be loud and dramatic, waving my arms around, playing 2-3-4 characters at a time. Being all over the place, getting the players out of their seats to act things out with me.

But if that's not who you are, then there's no use in trying to do it, you players/friends will merely find it awkward, as will you. (Though you can always try it on).

As for plot and story. Try this out. Write down all the individual ideas you have. Connect the ones you can. If you're anything like me, you'll end up with large holes all over it. Nevermind those.
Simply start the game (though, it's always nice to know more or less what happens on a session to session basis). You can always figure out what's supposed to happen next session based on what the players do.

A good idea is to have various loose ends that you can mold into whatever you need. An old friend of one of the players father (who died in the way) lives in the next city. No need to figure that out until the players are nearing the city. And afterwards you can always turn him into an agent of the enemy or something...

 

[Storminator]

<Much SNIPPAGE>
Since the DM is also a bit of a performer, in the sense that he must roleplay many different NPCs, a good book on character development, or acting classes, can be important to help provide variety. Practicing different voices, mannerisms, and maybe having a few different character props handy can really add to the "in character" mood of the game. You're not likely to give quite the performance that an actor might, but your players will appreciate the effort.

The recent Dragon has a great article on using just a couple of cues to ground your NPCs. I used in over my New Year's Eve game and it worked great. Even tho he had a very minor part, my players aren't likely to forget the Red Wizard's apprentice. With one gesture, a different posture and a couple of perfect insults, he really came alive.

PS

 

[randomling]

Just a quick "thank you everyone" (and bump)!

The problem is (partly) confidence... when people say "work on your strengths" I tend to go "what strengths?" I'm having a hard time working out what I'm actually good at without constantly saying, well I made a mistake there, and there, and there... so part of the question is how to stop being so self-critical?

 

[Storminator]

Being good at something doesn't mean you never make a mistake. That would mean being perfect, and we'd have to kill you for that.

Ask your players. You're DMing, right? So why do they let you DM? DMs that really suck lose players of inspire their players to DM. If you have players that aren't rebelling, tell them you want to improve and you need their feedback.

PS

 

[Quickbeam]

1) Ask for player feedback after your sessions. Not too long ago, our group shifted DM's for awhile -- in part because I wanted to play for a bit (I'm back DMing), and in part because one of the players wished to try his hand at running the show. After each session, we sat around and openly discussed what had gone well and what needed some additional attention/preparation before the next session. These comments were fair and constructive appraisals, which yielded praise and criticism in equal parts. Over time, our new DM showed drastic improvement and the postgame discussions drifted away from being suggestion periods and became excited reviews of the fun we'd had that night.

2) Stop being so hard on yourself. Accept that you do have strengths, and your players will let you know what they are. Additionally, your own level of comfort should be a tremendous indicator. Making the occasional mistake doesn't make you a poor DM -- it makes you human .

3) Don't worry about what other DM's do in their games. Instead, find what feels right for you and your group and stick with it.

 

[Painfully]

No matter how bad you think you are, just keep DMing. If you play with friends, they'll give you enough chances to "fix" whatever rough spots you think you have.

There are no shortcuts for experience and practice. Keep DMing. Keep asking for feedback. Keep trying new things. And don't forget to keep it fun

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I've played under randomling, and she is doing herself down by saying her DMing sucks. It doesn't.

BUT, the advice I would give you (and I have given it to you, face-to-face) is that you need to think more about the tactics of your monsters, simply by looking at what they are good at and making them do it. Got sneak attack? Have them ambush. Big and tough? Stand and fight. Cast spells? Stand at a distance. Etc.

Oh, my general piece of DMing advice is: Don't write stories, set up situations.

For example, I DMed for randomling today. She had 4 8th level characters. I simply took two ideas:

1) A Red Slaad acting really chaotically in the way of the journey.

2) Hill Giants are attacking a village.

I then improvised the PC's getting a commision from the head of the Watch to go to a small village near to the city and deal with the Giant raids, and they met a Red Slaad on the way. There you go, 3 hours of game off two situations. And it makes a great story.

Of course, I understand that to develop the story requires many other skills, like foreshadowing, keeping track of NPC's and NPC groups, recurring foes, etc etc. But the simplest adventure is a simple situation that the characters walk into.

Hope it helps and encourages you, randomling.

 

[Dash Dannigan]

I've found that gaming "around" is helping me out alot. I DM pretty regularly but I want to 'know" what other good DMs do in their games (I don't stick around long in games that I don't think the Dm is very good). I incorporate what parts of the DM style I like and leave the rest. What I get is a smorgasboard of what I like best in DMing. Really I can't stress it enough to have good rolemodel DMs to work towards even if they are just examples you read on the net and other stroies. As a beginning Dm it gives something concrete to copare what you do in your games and make a fair evaluation of how to improve your DMing.

Best of luck, and the continuing desire to become a better DM is already 50% along the way towards becoming a respectable and much-reveried DM!