D&D General The Best DM Advice Was Writren in 1981.

[MGibster]

Here's some more excellent DM advice, also from 1981 (from page 25 of the Expert Rulebook):

In recent years, I've done my best to stop overusing dice when I run games. I started my minimalist dice rolling in my Vampire 5e campaign and still sometimes I found myself kicking myself asking why I asked for a dice roll. There was a situation where the PCs heard the song "Boris the Spider" by The Who and I made the PCs roll to recognize it. Why? Knowing who sang the song was more interesting than failure and failure really wouldn't have had any consequences. Bad, GM! Bad!

From Cook & Moldvay, in adventure module "X1: The Isle of Dread," written for the Expert Rules boxed set (the 'E' in my beloved BECM edition):

More good advice. Over the years, I've seen a few players who thought they had script immunity have their characters engage in reckless actions and were surprised when they met a grisly fate. Uh, the characters met a grisly fate not the players.

 

[Voadam]

There is lots of DM advice in D&D books that goes different directions. DMing is a lot of art that can be done different ways and with different guiding philosophies.

Latch on to the parts you like and enjoy.

 

[el-remmen]

So I don't think it isn't any wonder that some folks think D&D should be.... tougher? That players need to "earn" things?

I think this but also adhere to the the advice reposted in the OP and follow-ups.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

 

[darjr]

I think this but also adhere to the the advice reposted in the OP and follow-ups.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

If your group is having fun more power to you.

 

[Hriston]

Just to nitpick, the edition is B/X. BECMI did not begin its run until 1983.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Self-Proclaimed Grognard here...

From Cook & Moldvay, in adventure module "X1: The Isle of Dread," written for the Expert Rules boxed set (the 'E' in my beloved BECM edition):
View attachment 148908

Absolutely. This falls into the Basic books "BE FAIR!" directive.
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The error I have seen DM's make is "It's a door", "It's a door", "It's a door", "It's a door", "It's a slightly purple door with the iron bound straps looking like they were sort of sub-set into the wood. It also has a slight glisten to it, like dew on morning grass. "It's a door", "It's a door", "It's a door"...etc.
..
Basically telegraphing "this foe is beyond you...". Which, from personal Player experience, completely destroys my sense of "I get to choose for my PC", because I now have information I never get except when the DM wants to say "Oh, this monster will kill all of you. Don't go that way".
..
So, while I agree with the advice, the DM has to take care to "be fair"...and in this case, it means trying to give roughly the same 'amount' of information when describing things, unless the Players specifically states an action that would give them more/less info.
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At least that's how I've interpreted it in conjunction with other advice.

And also:
History became legend, legend became myth, and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. I appreciated the reminder this morning...I need to keep this in mind more often.

Yup. Another prime example of why re-reading the "boring" parts is always a good idea!
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Many DM's just read the 'rules' when they come up in play. They never spend the time to read all the other 'boring stuff'. "I need to read the Initiative and Two-Handed Weapons section", but "...meh...I don't need to read the section about coins and economy". Often it's in the sections that DON'T have anything to do directly with the PC's capabilities that get's overlooked out of a desire to "get to the good stuff" (re: combat, big plot twists, important NPC interactions, etc).
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Worst...todays "adventure modules" tend to try and encourage the same mindset: "Ignore the boring stuff...get straight to the EXCITING stuff!". Yes, Players, and the DM, need to be excited about playing the game...obviously...but when you sit down and the game starts with an explosion, followed by 39 more explosions, well, after about the 4th or 5th, it's no longer "exciting"...it's just expected.
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The rest of this thread has more great advice! I still go back to the back of my Basic Book (Moldvay version; 1981) once or twice a year and just re-read the "Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art" part.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Malmuria]

Another interesting quote from the 1ed DM guide:

In many situations it is correct and fun to have the players dice such things as melee hits or saving throws. However, it is your right to control the dice at any time and to roll dice for the players. You might wish ta do this to keep them from knowing some specific fact. You also might wish to give them an edge in finding a particular clue, e.g. a secret door that leads to a complex of monsters and treasures that will be especially entertaining. You do have every right to overrule the dice at any time if there is a particular course of events that you would like to have occur. In making such a decision you should never seriously harm the party or a non-player characterwith your actions. "ALWAYS GIVE A MONSTER AN EVEN BREAK!"

Is this good advice? Down this path lies railroaded dragonlance modules

 

[DND_Reborn]

Is this good advice?

As far as the bolded reference goes, if the outcome is so necessary to me as DM, I don't allow the players to roll.

It is my choice as DM when dice are rolled, not the players'.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Also from 1981, also from "The Isle of Dread":
View attachment 148910

Ooh, definitely going to have to remember this one in the future. Pretty well puts the lie to claims that D&D wasn't concerned about balance until some recent change.

As far as the bolded reference goes, if the outcome is so necessary to me as DM, I don't allow the players to roll.

It is my choice as DM when dice are rolled, not the players'.

To me, it reads like good advice for bad ideas. Having outcomes "so necessary to [you] as DM" sounds like putting the game on fixed rails no matter what, which...isn't good. Now, if it's "fixed rails because the players are cool with that," sure, knock yourself out. But that advice, read out of context, becomes "Always fudge whenever you feel like it," and I would emphatically call that bad advice.

 

[overgeeked]

From Cook & Moldvay, in adventure module "X1: The Isle of Dread," written for the Expert Rules boxed set (the 'E' in my beloved BECM edition):

Not quite. Moldvay & Cook did B/X. The previous editions of Basic and Expert to Mentzer's BECMI line. But yes, the B/X books and early adventures have DMing advice that holds up to this day.

 

[overgeeked]

Is this good advice? Down this path lies railroaded dragonlance modules

That's why I'd rather run an open-world sandbox game. There's a dragon in this area. If you go there at 1st level...you will die. Whatever story a D&D game has is what emerges from actually playing the game. Wandering monsters and random rolls and all. I'm not pushing a story on the players and there's no railroading. I'm not invested in any particular outcome. I simply populate the world and get to be as surprised as the players when they encounter things and how the players react to them and try to overcome them...or simply run for their lives when over their heads. I really dislike that "perfectly balanced to the party" advice. That along with fudging roll is best left in the bin where they belong.

 

[aco175]

I wonder how much the advice has chanced over the last 40 years? A lot of things from older editions have changed, so why wouldn't this general information. Some of it talks about scaling each encounter to match the party to keep them alive and I have seen discussion here about having a living world where some places are too tough for the PCs. Generally there should be some clues though. Not sure how much else from the, "Don't be a jerk" and "everyone should have fun" general advice has changed

 

[MNblockhead]

Worst...todays "adventure modules" tend to try and encourage the same mindset: "Ignore the boring stuff...get straight to the EXCITING stuff!". Yes, Players, and the DM, need to be excited about playing the game...obviously...but when you sit down and the game starts with an explosion, followed by 39 more explosions, well, after about the 4th or 5th, it's no longer "exciting"...it's just expected.

I think this has a lot to do with WotC knowing its audience. Increasingly, gaming groups are running shorter sessions. Even kids don't seem to have the same amount of time for gaming that I had when I was young.

Not many people want to spend half of a 2-3 hour session on a random encounter or exploring hexes.

But I agree with your sentiment. My game sessions are 8 hours for my D&D campaign. Generally one a month. I would rather have fewer but longer sessions. I rarely get the sense of exploration and player agency in shorter sessions. The exploration pillar seems to be the weakest in most modern campaigns.

 

[guachi]

My way of skipping the boring stuff and getting to the exciting stuff is to poke and prod the players to take faster turns in combat. Sitting around waiting for a player to decide what to do is the boring stuff. Players who barrel through combat, that's fun!

 

[Umbran]

and some people worshipping the RAW:

Is worshipping the words of the ancients any better?

 

[DND_Reborn]

To me, it reads like good advice for bad ideas. Having outcomes "so necessary to [you] as DM" sounds like putting the game on fixed rails no matter what, which...isn't good. Now, if it's "fixed rails because the players are cool with that," sure, knock yourself out. But that advice, read out of context, becomes "Always fudge whenever you feel like it," and I would emphatically call that bad advice.

We seem to have issues understanding each other sometimes I think.

I am not saying characters can't do what they want (I've had to scrap entire adventures due to player choices...), but the rules (even in 5E) are the DM calls for the rolls. If something is impossible, it is impossible and there is no point in asking for a roll. If something is so simple as to be automatic, no roll is needed. It is a waste of time.

But even if I mean turning a hit into a miss because I need the bad guy to get away for a later scene is perfectly valid. The bad guy flees, the players still cheer, and the adventure can move on to the next chapter.

So, I am not talking about "Always fudge whenever you feel like it", but when it furthers the story and makes the game more enjoyable it is good advice. Allowing the dice to rule the table instead of the DM is BAD advice.

 

[Azzy]

The original DMG is riddled with advice

Though a lot of it exists in random places and not where you'd expect to find it.

I love the 1e DMG, but Byzantine doesn't begin to scratch the surface.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

The best advice written is useless if nobody ever reads it. So if you only read one system or edition, who knows what else you might be missing?

At the table, having fun is the most important goal—more important than the characters’ success in an adventure. It’s just as vital for everyone at the table to cooperate toward making the game fun for everyone as it is for the player characters to cooperate within the adventure.

-Dungeon Master's Guide, pg. 4 (2008, 4th Edition)​

 

[AtomicPope]

Over the years I've relied more on events or exposition to warn the PCs what could happen. D&D is a game of dice and numbers. Telling the players what they see is not enough, you have to show them. Rolling damage in front of the players is important. For the T-Rex scenario I would have the T-Rex attack an animal like an apex predator would and roll the damage dice in front of them. The moment they see those d12s rolling across the battle mat with a ridiculous attack bonus behind it they would think twice.

Exposition doesn't always work, and it failed in my most recent session. The PCs were freeing children from the Red Hand of Shargaas. One of the guard dogs was Magebred, able to speak and wasn't happy living with a cult of cannibals. He warned them about the Red Hand, all of his terrible powers, and what he would do. Well, the dice were in my favor because they said, "that didn't sound so bad" right before I dropped two nat 20's in a row and cut down half of the party under the cover of magical darkness. They were told the Red Hand would trade with them, as he had something he didn't want and didn't know how to get rid of it. At least they remembered that part because it was really close to a TPK and it saved them.

As an aside, The Red Hand of Shargaas is underconned in 5e. For a CR 3 they can easily take on an entire CR4 party, which is what happened with a little help from two Orc meat shields.

 

[Lyxen]

Is worshipping the words of the ancients any better?

Well, see the rest of the thread, I personally think it's absurd to worship only some selected sentences of the books and totally ignore the others, even though it's the same author(s) explaining their game. Understanding the intent is actually often more important than the words themselves. Missing that, and you might end up trying to dry your cat in a microwave, for example.