The very first time I DM'ed...

[Glyfair]

Wow. I honestly don't remember any details from the first time I DM'ed. All I remember is that I ran my brother through the sample dungeon in the original D&D basic set. That was almost 30 years ago.

 

[Gnome Quixote]

To the original poster, the #1 thing is for everyone to have fun, including you. Even with the challenges, did you enjoy DMing?

Oh, very much--even more than I expected to, actually. The pbp game in particular is teaching me a lot as oddball situations come up that I didn't anticipate--the whole Entangle thing, then hurried attempts at diplomacy while everyone's tied up, etc., forcing me to look closer at rules I've otherwise glossed over and interpret them to suit the situation. While I've been trained by my DM to expect the PC's to go off the map early and often, I figured I'd find that kind of thing to be a major pain in the neck. I'm surprised to discover that I actually really dig it when they take a left turn where I expected them to go straight.

 

[IamTheTest]

My first time I made a player cry. The player was 22 at the time.

 

[Berandor]

The first time I DM'ed was a Planescape adventure. I'd been playing for a year, and it was ten years ago. I DM'ed the adventure out of the Planescape boxed set, pretty much as written save for the planescape slang, "cant". I had a gnome fighter/wizard with Str 18/00 and Int 18, which I still remember because he rolled in front of me and the became the dart-throwing killer machine of doom for the two fights they had.

I made a big mistake because when the party annoyed/upset the helpful plot device lich (who had captured them), I disintegrated one of the players. Thus endeth the session and my first campaign.

I still loved it, just as I do nowadays (but I think I've become a little bit better at this).

I took three important things with me that day:
-> Be flexible enough to allow for a lich having prepared Hold Person even if it's not on the character sheet
-> If the party is sitting around, doing nothing despite having incentive to do so, let something unexpected happen (here, I had mephits appear and attack out of thin air)
-> If your "normal" DM has a control fetish, he'll walk out on your campaign first chance, a lesson that got hammered down in campaigns #2 and #3.

 

[Berandor]

While I've been trained by my DM to expect the PC's to go off the map early and often, I figured I'd find that kind of thing to be a major pain in the neck. I'm surprised to discover that I actually really dig it when they take a left turn where I expected them to go straight.

I don't think there's anything better than being fairly certain what will happen, and then the players surprising you totally with either a genius idea or a madcap plan that, thanks to some lucky dice, works out perfectly.

The joy of DM'ing: Knowing and controlling the whole game world, and still being surprised.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

The joy of DM'ing: Knowing and controlling the whole game world, and still being surprised.

Essato.

The only two people who played when I first DMed have probably forgotten the entire experience. I know I never repeated it to anyone. I went to school the next fall and started DMing a second game. Then I DMed a third game. By the time I got to college three years later I was starting to figure it out. I still mix up powers and abilities and stat blocks.

Hang in there. That's pretty darn good for a first time out!

 

[BlackMoria]

The first time I DMed, I made plenty of mistakes. No one noticed because we were all learning this new game called D&D and noone DMed before, I being the first.

Live and learn from the mistakes and don't sweat it if it doesn't seem like it is working out well. Chances are good that noone is noticing if everyone is having fun.

DMing is part art and part technique and everyone who tried it takes time for find their legs. Anticipate that you are not likely to 'get it right' the first few go arounds and learn from the failures and the successes. And above all, have fun with it.

 

[punterke]

I think I first DM'ed about 8 years ago but I don't really remember many details. I even asked my sister who was one of the players and she even doesn't remember. I think I focussed a lot on combat, less on character development and the other role playing bits. But then our group was really into combat as well.

I do remember why I became DM: our first DM who was an older guy (about my age now I think: 25-28) who we met on a magic the gathering meeting and asked to DM for us (we were teenagers). After about 5-7 sessions he sort of vanished (relationship problems I guess and he moved). So someone had to take over. If I look back on it, I sort of think I wasn't ready for it. I certainly changed my own vision on rpg's.

Me and the rest of the group stopped after 1 or 2 sessions under my DMship. I sort of hoped that when I studied at a university, I'd play more ad&d than I did but I was terribly wrong. Apart from about 2 rare sessions as a player I did nothing. I just recently picked up the game, refreshed myself with the new rules, formed myself a new group and well, next friday is my first session. It sort of brings back the feeling of being 17 again.

 

[Merkuri]

My first time I made a player cry. The player was 22 at the time.

Whoah... care to elaborate on that? Was that a good DMing moment or a bad DM mistake (or something completely unrelated)?

 

[Gilladian]

I can't remember my first DM experience. It must have been back in about 1976, and it may have been Gamma World. I know that was my first significant attempt to run a "campaign" and it worked out okay. We played six or eight sessions, anyway, which was as much as any campaign held together back then. Mostly we ran pick-up games at the shop.

But what taught me to be a GOOD DM was a few years later when I had 10-12 players (all male, between about 16 and 22 yrs) and I was the 18-20 year old girl. None of them wanted me to be the DM, but they'd proven they couldn't do it, so I took over. Soon they were begging to be let into the game. I learned to control pace, give everyone equal face time, manage combat by multitasking, etc...

I blame DND for all my interpersonal skills