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Message: <blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8489429" data-attributes="member: 86653">Not many resources that I know of. DMing is like improv and stand up and public speaking and problem solving and fiction writing and a dozen other things rolled into one. There's a lot of "you have to do it to do it". But there's some stuff you can definitely practice.One of the most useful resources I know of for DMing in general is Mike Shea's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. It's not practicing DMing away from the table, but it's focus is on what to prepare so that you can improv once you're at the table. Making maps and handouts and lists of names, etc, so that you're not stuck mid-game without these things that it's generally hard to improv. Focused prep, basically.The imagination is a muscle, basically. If you don't use it, it atrophies. Read fiction, watch movies, read poetry, look at art. Fill your brain with the kinds of things that inspire you. The things a DM can explicitly practice away from the table are kinda limited. Practice saying boxed text so that it doesn't sound like boxed text. Rewrite it so that it's more natural sounding for you. Practice writing and reading aloud descriptions for towns, villages, people, roads, etc. Find great fight scenes in fiction and read them aloud. Write your own fight descriptions and read them aloud. Pick up some screenplays and stageplays and practice orating. Hone and craft those until they sound good to your ear. Practice describing physical actions of people you see. Even if it's on TV. Either in your head if you're not alone or out loud if you are alone.If it's improv that is the bit you're wanting to work on, grab some improv books from the local library Viola Spolin is one of the big names. There's also Second City and various other improv troupes that have put out books and lectures and courses. Biographies about famous improv performers, like Tina Fey, have some info about how improv helped them. Using the exercises from the instructional manuals could help. There's also Improv for Gamers. A lot of it is about not shutting down others ideas and just going with whatever organically manifests. Gamers typically have some version of "say yes" or "yes, and" that comes from improv.It depends on the skills you think are lacking. Storytelling? Read up on story structure and dramatic pacing. Hamlets Hit Points and other stuff by Robin Laws can help. Engagement? That's usually a question of pacing. It's especially hard to do in combat...and the larger the group, the longer between turns. Again, studying storytelling and pacing can help. But so can changing things up so the players are more engaged when it's not their turn. Things like having them roll defense instead of the DM rolling attacks can keep them more engaged with the mechanics. Hopefully something in that rambling nonsense made sense and might help.</blockquote>

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