Five Tips for New Dungeon Masters
by Mike Shea on 27 September 2010
A reader recently sent me a note stating that, while he had spent a lot of time in D&D, he had yet to DM and found the idea rather intimidating. What are the best things someone can do to get started running a game?
This type of question is probably best answered by Enrique over at the Newbie DM blog. Enrique's covered a lot of topics for new dungeon masters including his own starter kit for adventure in the Dungeon Master's Guide and an archive full of excellent articles for first-time dungeon masters.
That said, I have a few ideas myself. So today we're going to look at six tips a new dungeon master might consider when starting for the very first time.
Rule 0: Find a group
Finding a group of people who want to play D&D can itself be very challenging. For a first-time dungeon master you'll want to find some people you know and feel safe around people who won't give you too hard a time if you make mistakes. If you don't have a group right there, you might consider looking for a local RPGA group or using Meetup to seek folks out. Getting a group of people who want to play is probably the hardest part about playing D&D.
Rule 1: Start at level 1
You might be tempted to run a higher-level game based on a story idea you might have. I highly recommend avoiding running anything but a level 1 adventure your first time out. At level 1, things are simple. Monsters are straight forward, player powers are well understood. The game is at its simplest at level 1. That said, level 1 characters are still pretty fragile, even in 4th Edition. Be careful not to wipe out your group with some tough monsters. I wouldn't recommend any creature higher than level 2 or 3 in your adventure. Above all, try to keep the game simple when you first get started.
Rule 2: Worry about your adventure, not the campaign
Don't get too bogged down with some huge story idea in your head. Spend time worrying about the adventure you're going to run. Build a story around that adventure. If you have a setting in mind, get the baseline of the setting down and move on. Don't build out a city full of NPCs. Just make two or three. Keep it as simple as you can from the beginning and your adventure will go smooth.
Rule 3: Keep the game simple
Start with a simple outline for your game: Introduction, encounter, skill challenge, encounter, encounter. You can mix this up a bit, but it's a good structure to start with. Keep your introduction relatively brief. Don't read six pages of flavor text, get your players looking around and get them onto whatever quest you're going to line up for them. Stick to three combat encounters in your first game. Again, don't make them too tough at level 1 but be ready to scale it up a bit if you need. Maybe that big boss bad guy who got bloodied quickly just gained an extra standard action every turn. Don't build a storyline that's all twisty turny. Adventurers go into a dungeon to recover a lost artifact is a fine story for your first run out.
Rule 4: Rehearse
A few hours or the night before you plan to run the game, go over it in your head from top to bottom. Do you have all the materials you need? Do you have all the components required to make a good fun adventure? Close your eyes and go over the game in your head to prepare you before you actually run it.
Rule 5: Relax and have fun
Don't stress about things, particularly when the game itself is going. Just keep rolling on with the story. Keep it loose, let the players build the story as they go, and have fun. It won't go perfectly it NEVER does but you can keep it fun and keep it moving along without it being perfect. Just relax and enjoy it.
A final note. Wizards released the PDF copy of Keep on the Shadowfell, their first D&D 4th Edition adventure. It's one of my favorites I ran it as the first module for my current game and we still have story threads coming from it all the way to level 30. It's a good starter adventure at level 1. Give that one a shot and have some fun.
If you liked this article, you can get more DMing tips in my book, Sly Flourish's Dungeon Master Tips. You might also consider using these links to buy the Dungeon Master's Guide 2, the Monster Manual 3, the Player's Strategy Guide or bookmark this link to purchase anything from Amazon. You can also pick up excellent DM accessories like my favorite Gamemastery Flip Maps at Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.
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