What is the #1 most important thing to remember about DMing?

[jbear]

Nothing to add, the top ones 've all been taken ....

Establishing a trust relationship with your players is really important, and it needs to go both ways.

 

[WayneLigon]

"Always Be Prepared To Change Things On The Fly"

I ran my first ever convention game a little while ago. It was a straight-forward survival-horror Western using Savage Worlds. A combination of an insane preacher-man and some tainted water had turned an entire small town into cannibals.

The scene is set. The PCs have finally arrived in the town and are just beginning to figure out what is going on. It's hushed as they realize just how deeply in the mire they are, miles from help. A curtain moves in a house, two small figures peep out.

One of the players makes the idle comment that if it involves killing kids, even zombie kids, he'll have to step out for the rest of the session. Fair enough: every player has that One Thing They Will Never Do and this was his.

Gears spin, a few notes get made, and the house becomes the last stronghold of the uninfected because they were one of the first settlers here and thus had their own well and didn't drink from the town's common well.

 

[buddhafrog]

Cultivate your smiles. and most of all and .

A well chosen smile can make the players pee their pants. It tells them that you are... up to something, even if you have no idea what to do next.

The Auld Grump

This is simple and very true. And very funny.

 

[howandwhy99]

#1 Do NOT tell the players what is behind the screen.

This is probably the hardest thing for a new DM / referee. I know you really, really want to tell the players what they missed or some secret about something they haven't figured out yet. But it pays off enormously in the long run to stay silent on all of it out of game. The players are going to learn a ton of stuff as they play anyways, divulging secrets out of game robs them of this pleasure, more than the instant gratification can make up for.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Personally, I release a lot of information about how I come up with things; playing in one of my games is almost like watching a movie with director's commentary. I've found it helps people have more fun when they understand why I had to deus ex machina something or change a class ability of theirs, etc. I also consider that hopefully whenever we can no longer play together my players might become DMs (and we do occasionally trade DMing duties around) so I think it's important to incorporate an element of teaching into my DMing so people at least know what the challenges are, what the work is that goes into it, and how I go about solving problems.

I do keep some things very carefully concealed however...

 

[The Shaman]

Okay, the absolute most important, never forget unequivocally must-have thing that no dungeon master should ever be without is . . . is . . . uh . . . wait, I just had it . . . hmmm . . . I know it'll come to me . . .

 

[TarionzCousin]

"Use your experience to keep learning and improving your skills."

or

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

 

[TheUltramark]

I guess if I were to give a serious answer:

plan for EVERYTHING - and know going into it, the players won't do ANYTHING you planned.

-or- you aren't writing a choose your own adventure book, role play your adventure as if it were just another character in the story

 

[nedjer]

Commitment! You know you're on the right track when you start collecting locks of players' hair, and maybe the odd nail clipping, to make the voodoo dolls work better.

Just don't get caught collecting nail clippings off bedroom floors at six in the morning. Players' mums come down hard on that kind of thing for some reason

 

[Krensky]

The players aren’t your enemies.

They’re your entertainment.