Content

• To step
• Tips
• Warnings

The term Dungeon Master (abbreviation DM) was coined by Dungeons & Dragons © in the early 1970s, but has now become a generic term for anyone running a role-playing game (RPG). Technically, the title DM applies to Dungeons and Dragons, while GM (Game Master) refers to the "DM" for an RPG other than Dungeons and Dragons. Being a Dungeon Master sounds easy; you have everything under control and tell people what they can and cannot do, right? However, the truth is very different. Your task is to invent both the details and the challenges of the adventure, while ensuring realistic continuity of events in your scenario. You must also have a good knowledge and understanding of the rules of the game. While a good DM can make it an enjoyable experience for everyone, a bad one can mess up the whole game. The following information focuses mainly on D&D, although it is more or less general enough to be applicable to any RPG.

To step

1. Understand what a DM does. The descriptions you may have heard of a Dungeon Master will likely range from "the one who does all the work" to "the god of the game". These descriptions are usually exaggerations of people either not knowing what a DM really is or taking an extreme interpretation of a half-truth.
   • As a DM you control everything and everyone who is not a player (an NPC). That means that anyone or anything the players (the PCs) may encounter or interact with is controlled by the DM. However, the goal of any RPG should be a fun time for it each player. "Everyone" cannot be stressed enough. Your responses to the players, the situations you present, the challenges you create, the stories you build together should all be weighed up to ensure an enjoyable experience for you and the other players. In any case, you are not against the PCs. If your goal is to destroy the players' characters at every opportunity, then you are doing it wrong. Rather, you should strive to be honest and make it an enjoyable experience. This means that if the characters are going through a rough time, you make the monsters less powerful, but you don't change how they behave.
2. Know the rules. To be an honest DM, you are expected to master the rules of the game well. In this regard, consider yourself an impartial judge. Just as a judge cannot do his / her job without the law, a DM cannot run a game without knowing the rules of the game. In support of this, most RPGs provide rulebooks known as the "Core rulebooks". Anything considered Core is what you should be, at the very least, fairly familiar with.
   • In D&D, the Core books are the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master Guide, and the Monster Manual. The rest is not necessary for playing the game.
   • You describe the environment, control the plot and all elements of the game, including determining the outcome of the fights between players and dungeon inhabitants. If your players encounter a creature and choose a strategy, it is up to you to roll the die to decide the outcome of the battle - although there are specific guidelines under the rules, you can use your own judgment to influence the outcome in the best way to ensure the flow and continuity of the game. It's a daunting task, but gets easier with a little time, patience, and practice.
3. Prepare yourself well. For some DMs, the thrill of writing their own adventures and stories and then presenting them to the players is the reason for doing this. Others like to check everything. And then there are those who just act because they think the rest won't do it right. Regardless of why you do it, your preparation will make or break the game. The ways you can prepare can fill your own wiki, but here's the basics for the beginner DMs. Remember that everyone will be comfortable with different methods and it is best to use only those that work for you. Don't try to force yourself into something you don't like. Again, the end result should always be a fun game for everyone. If it starts to feel like work, don't hesitate to slow down.
   • If you don't have time between games, you can also work with modules. These are presented for characters between certain levels, with appropriate challenges. This is the easiest and fastest way to run a game as most of it has already been done for you. All you have to do is read the adventure. It is recommended that you read a few pages ahead from where you stopped in a previous session, just before the next game session, to refresh your memory for the rest of the game.
   • If you have a few hours to spare between gaming sessions, working with modules is still a good option. However, you can rewrite parts of a module to adapt it to the game or specific storylines that you run with the PCs. Changing location descriptions or replacing treasures found in the module with items more suited to your players is a good and easy place to start. As you become more proficient, you can extract entire encounters from one module and rewrite them for another. Not only will this let you pick out the best parts of an otherwise reasonable module, but players who may have read or gone through the module before will be in for a surprise!
   • Writing your own adventures is a possibility, but for new DMs it is still recommended to work with a module first so that you only have to focus on one concept at a time (learning the rules). Over time, you will be more likely to change things and write new screenplays. Taking encounters from existing modules and combining them into something new can be a good way to start. These can then be gradually replaced by your own work. Ultimately, what you want to achieve is for your campaign to unfold like a movie you'd like to see, creating a sense of mystery.
   • Many DMs spend a lot of time constantly re-reading the rule books. This is actually a form of procrastination. If you don't have anyone to play with - don't spend your time planning scenarios. Keep your ideas in mind and rather learn to be a good storyteller overall. The only way to become a valuable game master is to gain hands-on experience and learn from every mistake as it will bring you closer to perfection.
4. Make notes. During and immediately after the game session, make a few notes about what the players did, what your NPCs did, how your other NPCs and bad guys will react to new events, the names of NPCs you have made up while playing, and any others. details that are important to you.
5. Don't worry about mistakes. Sometimes things don't go the way you intended. Whether it's a mistake regarding a rule of the game or confusion about how a spell affects an NPC, or whether your carefully written adventure is being pushed aside by the players who think that any NPC you haven't written for is much more interesting than your quest to save 'the maiden', problems will arise. Often. The best tool every DM has in his or her toolbox is the ability and willingness to adapt to the circumstances.
   • If the problem is a disagreement over a rule, don't let this derail your game. Don't spend more than two minutes figuring something out unless the character in question could die from the result. Calmly explain your decision about how to explain the rules, indicate to look it up after the game or between sessions, and move on. Nothing is more deadly to a game than 15 minutes of bickering between two people while the rest of the group is bored. Keeping the game going is much better than stopping the game to get every detail just right every time.
   • If the problem is that the players did something you didn't anticipate, or want them to do ... be prepared to say "Yes" ... or at least not say "No". Some DMs can improvise well - do this if you can. If you're not sure about that, ask for a short break (people can go to the toilet, have some food, etc.) while you work out some ideas and make a quick draft plan for this new and exciting direction that the game is heading.
   • Don't back down if the players catch you breaking Dungeons & Dragons rules. If they point out that the wizard is wearing chain mail, nod affirmatively and be mysterious about it.
   • It's okay to come back to something if you've forgotten an important aspect.
6. Follow the golden rule of DMs: the players will always do something you didn't think about and never expected. No matter how many solutions or tangents you plan ahead, they are likely to pick the ones that you have not come up with. It is best that you accept this reality right now, otherwise you will run into frustrations quite frequently because this will happen ... over and over ... Don't let this discourage you though! This detail keeps the game exciting and surprising, which can be a lot of fun.
   • The players can be their own worst enemy. Their terrible imaginations can give you inspiration about your screenplay and how it unfolds.
   • If the players are lucky in rolling the dice and accidentally kill the main villain, let him go. Being honest also means that you dare to remember things.
   • If you really don't want players to go in a certain direction, there are ways to change this. You can infect certain areas, which in turn offers an opportunity for role play. An empire can be ruled by a dark lord. Or areas you want to visit can be excluded from the maps you create. You can also arrange for one of the players' equipment to be stolen. This will most likely cause them to follow you where you want.
7. Be involved, creative, and fairly realistic. Not only will this give the game more concrete direction, it will also make it more fun. Nobody wants to play a game where the dungeon master is constantly saying "Umm ... Well ... you know ... you just ... found a cave, yes that's it. And in the cave ... is ... mmm ... an imp. Umm ... What are you going to do? "Say instead," You are entering the cave, and its humidity overwhelms your senses. You hear an [imitate the supposed sound of an imp in the distance here]. If the player hesitates, let the imp attack. If the cave is empty, don't say this outright. Instead, you can say something like "You don't see anything."
   • You want to become such a good game master that the players are not munchkins but actually want to role-play. The more you can prepare, the easier it will be to give the players this confidence.
   • Remember, until you tell them it exists, no one knows what is written on that piece of paper behind your screen. Whether you read it directly or change details during the game, players will think it was meant to be if you don't tell them. Use this to your advantage.
   • Consider who you play with. If you have the opportunity to play with others, then you should seize it. Again, despite your careful preparations, things rarely go as planned. Since you are dealing with people, you can expect to be talking outside of the role-playing world, and you have to adapt to it. If the game does not develop according to the plan you set it up, try adapting your original ideas in new ways to the predicament of the current player.
   • Involve the players appropriately. Never fulfill the players' wishes directly. Their characters must be designed according to the rules of the game. They should be given goals that you can weave into the story you designed. Consider who the players' characters are. For example, let your unfriendly NPCs appeal to the player with the highest charisma.
   • The purpose of starting an adventure is to see and experience new things. Be creative with your descriptions and scenarios to give each location and interaction its own flavor. Don't just go on monotonously about the environment; change your voice to show that you really believe in it. Make up accents for the various NPCs to give your dungeon environment a bit more character.
   • Map the world. You can create figures and maps to make it easier to follow the battle. You can even design castles. If you are bad at drawing, there are ways to improve your fine motor skills.
   • However, don't let your creativity run wild. You want to create a consistent game world. While you can pretend you are in a fantasy world where magic is common, its persuasiveness needs to be consistent. Sticking to this guideline can mean the difference between captivating fantasy and a parody in which everything looks fancy and stupid.
   • Additional books (expansion books) have been designed for creating scenarios set in another franchise, such as The Lord of The Rings. If your scenario takes place in such a franchise, leave out the well-known main characters. Rather make up new characters yourself. If someone is lecturing you about the universe of the story, indicate that it is about your interpretation.

Tips

• One of the most important things for a DM is the ability to improvise quickly. Things never happen the way you'd expect. The players can kill the person who was supposed to give them vital information, or they can eventually go to the only part of the city that you haven't worked out yet. Come up with new things as you go along, but make sure to take notes so that you can include the new data in the story afterwards.
• For beginner DMs it is recommended to limit yourself and the players to the options / rules from the Core books. Not all supplementary books are equally balanced by comparison, and one player will soon be much stronger than the other. This is generally not a good thing.
• Rather than fighting a horde of weaker monsters, it can sometimes be a lot more fun taking on some stronger monsters. Fighting a horde of weaklings means that you have to roll a lot of dice very often. Inserting stronger monsters means you can focus more on individual strategy.
• Have an enjoyable time. It may seem difficult, but it will get easier. Just enjoy it. If your players see that you don't like it, they don't like it either.
• When you're just starting out, it's best to play with friends - a relaxed and familiar group of people will help everyone learn the game much more easily, especially if you can joke about it.
• There are generally two types of dungeon masters: the one who kills all player characters in the very first microsecond, and the type who prefers to make sure the player characters have a fun adventure; you can follow one of their characters if you want.
• Books are not necessary for all players; you can play just fine without it, but at least the DM should have one copy of it with them that can be shared.
• Make a file of names after your first game. Over time, you will find that you need names, so start keeping track of interesting names that you come up with or come across.
• You're not a good DM if you're just a referee (for example, you always only use dungeon ideas you found online). Feel free to use existing ideas, but make something your own (add your own samples and so on), but also try to invent an environment yourself by using your imagination.
• You can even come up with a number of possible encounters and then roll the dice during the session so that no one really knows what's going to happen. Well timed, the words "roll initiative" can be a powerful tool.

Warnings

• It is not always easy to get everything sorted out. Remember that evil is not stupid, it is simply evil. As the DM, your job is to be all three sides: the good, the bad, and the environment.
• Don't let yourself be intimidated by the other players. What you say is pretty much a divine law in your gaming environment.
• While your game environment (dungeon) should be challenging, you shouldn't make it impossible.What's the point of coming up with something that is too difficult for the PC (Player's Character)?
• Know when the amount of information you give players is too much, not enough, or just right. Keep your answers to questions concise and don't give away too much information.
• Do not let your players dictate how things should "be" or go because it is so in the novels or stories. Otherwise, a player who has read the thirty novels on which the world is based may try to manipulate you with knowledge that only he or she has. Ultimately, the DM has the final say on what does and doesn't exist. However, a balance is best - work with the players to include some of these details, as long as it doesn't give anyone an unreasonable advantage.
• Beware of rulers, lawyers, and metagamers, and don't try to torpedo their game just to punish them. Rather, come up with interesting ways in the game to interact with their characters.
• Some people really want to learn how to play D&D, others may just be interested in what you are doing and still others will just react meanly. As the DM, you should try to respect all three types. If you do this for the first group, you may be able to find a few new players (to join your new path as a DM'er), the second group of people can eventually get you to play, and for the third you can undo a myth. At the very least, you can show the players how to behave in those situations (because some players can get a bit too fanatic from time to time).
• Some people might think parts of your dungeons story are a bit silly (monsters hatched in a pumpkin farm down the road, all NPCs are alien invaders) but that's their problem and not yours. After all, it is your story.
• D&D can become addictive. Give yourself time to take a break from play mentally and physically - maybe even a fifteen minute break after every three hours of play is sufficient for most DMs. Don't exhaust yourself or the other players (this just makes everyone else moody, and makes the game less enjoyable).