How to improve at DMing?

[Dungannon]

I'm sure most of my points have been mentioned elsewhere, but here's a few guidelines I always tried to follow when I DMed.

1: Do it regularly. Whether it's every day, once a week, once a month, or whatever. And try to keep your gaming sessions to a relatively consistent length of time (usually 4-5 hours a session is what I did). Try to figure out a regular schedule. This way you know how much time you have to plan between sessions and you know, generally, how much of the adventure will be covered in a given session.

2: Be consistent. If you make a judgement call, stick with it. Don't let your players try to "persuade" you, or talk you out of your decisions, unless they can provide an overwhelmingly convincing argument. Your job is to challenge them and part of that is making them play through situations that aren't always in their best interests. Remember, it's your game and you're in charge.

3: Be flexible. The players won't always do what you want them to and forcing them to strictly follow a specific path or plotline isn't in anyone's best interest. Always keep some mini-encounters available for when they decide to take a leftturn in the middle of the adventure. Don't worry about getting them back on track immediately, let them take tangents even if it fills the whole gaming session. Sometimes the little side things can be more entertaining than the main adventure. And you always have the downtime between sessions to figure out how to get them back on track.

Well that's about it. And I've been following your PbP, randomling. I think you're doing a very good job of DMing that. Especially considering the band of social misfits and ne'er-do-wells you're running the game for.

 

[randomling]

This is all really encouraging. And it's always nice to have one of your players say you don't suck!

I'm going to keep DMing (though possibly find different players or bitchslap the ones I've got till they co-operate) -- practise is the key, right? DMing online is much easier, as one of the things I find difficult is having players spring surprises. If they do it in a post, I can take five minutes (or two hours) to think about it and come up with a good response. Thinking on my feet has never been my best skill!

Dungannon: thanks! And thanks to everyone who's been contributing, in fact. Most helpful. DMing is sadly going to have to take a backseat to keeping on top of my life this semester () but I'm going to keep my hand in with the PbP and the occasional session.

Everyone is so nice on ENWorld...

 

[Buttercup]

... so part of the question is how to stop being so self-critical?

Sadly my friend, this comes with having two X chromasomes and living in this time & place. I feel your pain, trust me.

But to give you some specific advice that has worked for me, set some small goals for yourself.

For example, this week, go and download Jamis Buck's NPC generator if you haven't already, churn out about 100 NPCs of various classes and levels (including hordes of commoners & experts) and think up one tidbit of information about each one. Lucia the barmaid's boyfriend is cheating on her. Stanwick the blacksmith's brother disappeared last year. Grogdag the half-orc bricklayer loves poetry. And so forth. Then take all these NPCs and organize them in a notebook by class and level. Now you have a stockpile of NPCs that you can use when your players want to talk to someone they meet in the street, tavern or shop.

Other small goals might be:

1. Really learn about all of the spells that your PCs usually have memorized. Got a wizard who is fond of Magic Missile and Cat's Grace? Make sure you know those inside and out, so you never have to refer to the book to see exactly what they do. Don't worry about learning all of the spells in the PHB right now. Just learn the ones you need to work with.

2. Pick a few monsters that you usually use, and really learn about them. This might mean that for the next adventure you only use orcs. That's ok. Then learn everything there is to know about orcs. After that, move on to bugbears, or ghouls, or whatever.

3. Read the Black Pages, which you can get to from the news page of this site. Eric Noah wrote them back when 3E first came out, to help people understand attacks of opportunity, 3E combat, and several other basic concepts. Read them over and over until you really understand.

If you look at all the things you don't know all in a big lump, you just get overwhelmed. But if you break what you don't know down into small parts, you can easily tackle them one or two at a time. This way you also have a sense of accomplishment to motivate you to continue.

Good luck, Randomling. You can do this!

 

[Buttercup]

DMing online is much easier, as one of the things I find difficult is having players spring surprises. If they do it in a post, I can take five minutes (or two hours) to think about it and come up with a good response.

Exactly. That's how I learned. You can make up for a great deal given enough time to reply.

 

[randomling]

Wow, Buttercup. Thank you! Tomorrow is definitely going to be a day for Google and floppy disks... Specific goals are really useful because otherwise I just wither into sitting around and doing next to nothing...

I'm loving online DMing. It's so liberating -- face-to-face DMing always feels like incredible pressure -- and my players are a hundred times nicer (though I can't fault Tallarn, who is someone I game with in real life, but wasn't in the group I complained about).

And yes. I'm going to be a better DM. Players shall cower before me!!!

 

[Buttercup]

Jamis Buck's NPC Generator:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/news...wdownloaddetails&lid=171&ttitle=NPC_Generator

Jamis Buck's Treasure Generator:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/news...loaddetails&lid=182&ttitle=Treasure_Generator

Jamis Buck's Dungeon Generator:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/news...nloaddetails&lid=159&ttitle=Dungeon_Generator

The main EN World download area:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index

Attacks of Opportunity by Eric Noah:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/news...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=20&page=1
(I don't know where the other stuff he wrote is these days, sorry.)

Have a good time!

 

[maddman75]

If you need help with tactics, come by the rules forum with a given situation. The gurus over there will tell you how to lay the smack down. .

 

[Larry Fitz]

To figure out what you are good at consider this, what do enjoy most about Dming, odds are whatever aspect of DMing that is, is the one of the ones you are better at than others. For me the keys to great DMing are making the game memorable, and keeping the players looking forward. Try to not finish a session with everything wrapped up nice and neat. As to how to make sessions memorable, include props occasionally, really flesh out a couple of NPC's to the point where you know them as well as you would your own PC. By doing that you get better at immersing yourself in the role of an NPC, and after a while, all (or most) of your NPC's will jump to life more readily. Also, you will find that running combats is easier if you have a battle mat and figures (or even just counters) it makes visualizing the combatants easier and cuts down the amount of description required of you during combat.

 

[Darrin Drader]

There's been some really good advice thrown out here so far, so I'll just go with what has worked for me in the past.

keeping the players interested enough to come back: There's really two elements here. The first is providing action. I once ran the first game of a campaign where no one there had met before, and I really needed to interest them in the campaign in order to make them want to come back for the next session. I made sure to throw a lot of action into it to keep it interesting. The scenario wasn't all that complicated - the party had to rescue some people that would later become party members from within a kobold's wooden stronghold. They had help from an NPC paladin. Though kobolds are not the world's most challenging opponent, the players were hooked after their atempts to infiltrate failed and they had to resort to combat. In a matter of rounds the players secured one of the 4 towers and started shooting lit ballista bolts at the other sections of the keep. A short time later the keep was ablaze and the party had to move quickly to search the place for their missing companions before they were killed by the fire the PC's started. By keeping the action cinematic rather than simply hack and slash, I was able to hold their interest.

The next thing I did was to foreshadow future events. Obviously you don't want to give away too much information at once, but it is good to keep a long list of secrets the players don't know and then try to reveal one secret every game session. What this does is make them want to continue digging until they find out what truths lie at the heart of the campaign.

As for handling disruptive players, this isn't the easiest thing to deal with. Often times they're disruptive because they're bored. If that's the case, you should pull one of them aside and ask why they're acting that way. It could be that they want to hack and slash rather than do a lot of roleplaying. It could be the other way around too. While both elements are necessary to a good game, some gamers definitely prefer one to another and you should find out which type of group you have.

Also, try to minimize distractions. Keep the TV off, the Magic cards put away, and take specified breaks for eating. Its amazing how much small destraction detract from the overall gaming environment. Also, make sure tha the gaming environment is adequat. I played in a short lived campaign where the setting for the game was just wrong. The DM's non-gamer spouse was constantly interrupting, the room was extremely humid, and the only seating was an uncomfortable couch. This just didn't work well. We could have been gaming at a hobby shop a few miles away where there were nice long tables where we could sit, comfortable chairs, and of course all the gaming materials we could ask for in case we suddenly might need a supplement we didn't have.

Hope that helps a little. I've been DMing for the past 13 years and playing for the last 18. I definitely prefer to DM, and I know that it can be kind of rough finding your niche when you are just beginning. Definitely don't give up on yourself. Its OK to give up on some players though.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

Just to add some more of my own experience. Here are some things I do:

1. Roleplay the NPC's in an interesting manner, especially the major ones.

Have your NPC's shout insults and challenges at your PC's during battles. Have the NPC's parley with the characters. If one of the PC's is knocked unconcous or held, have the NPC use them as a hostage. Anything to make the NPC's more interesting.

Example, your PC's are fighting a priest of Bane. He casts command on one.

Instead of just saying roll your save. Have the priest spit out some dialog, even if it is cliche such as the following:

Bow down before the power of the Black Hand!!

Most players are itching to roleplay. They love it when the DM throws them some bones. Really helps them get into the character and that is one of your jobs as DM.


2. Do little things to make the campaign world seem more interesting such as keep track of the passage of time and track spending at Inns. A short interaction with a barkeep or a change in the weather adds flavor to the game.

I use a notepad to keep track of time so that I always know what month, day and year it is. You can use this in a variety of ways such as character birthday parties and changing weather.

For example, you can have the players trudge along through a snowstorm just to add a little flavor to the campaign world.

3. Keep a campaign notebook: Track events in your campaign.

The following events are the most important to keep track off:
a. Escaped major enemies or even minor ones if you want to surprise your party.

b. Completion of major quests: If your character complete a major event, you should keep track of it and encourage the players to make note of it. The completion of quests is how PC's gain prestige or notoriety.

c. Special Events: If the the characters are knighted or given land. You should not this in your campaign notebook. Any other special events should be kept track of as well.


These are a few of the things I do to make my game more interesting. My players seem to enjoy it as it builds tension and gives the fantasy world they are playing a more realistic feel.