DM'ing: How to Start

I've been approached by multiple people in the course of my D&D career who have mentioned or asked about becoming a DM. Every time someone brings it up, I usually get excited. There are few things in life that I have studied and practiced more than being a game master. This is not limited to simply D&D mind you, but to almost every aspect of gaming. Through my World of Warcraft career I have been a party or raid leader at every possible opportunity. Whenever a board game comes on the table, I usually try to take the reigns and lead everyone in the right direction to start understanding the rules and getting the most out of the gameplay. These are the kinds of things that a DM does.

The Dungeon Master is in no way in charge of the actions that the party takes though. They can't give orders to the players, but simply tell them the reaction to every one of their actions. One of the in game PC's is usually the one who does the leading, but the DM leads in a different way. It is of great responsbility to the DM to keep the players interested in what is happening in the world. It is also of equal responsibility to the players to let the DM know that certain aspects of the world are no longer interesting to them. They can do this by direct means, such as plainly telling the DM, or subtle means, such as looking for or inventing quests that have yet to be alluded to.

These are some of the basic precepts to being a storyteller and a world master, but how does one start? Like THIS!:

Step 1: Just start. There's only two good ways to learn, do it yourself, or do it with someone else.

Apples had her first DM'ing experience by teaming up with me for a large session amongst our college friends. We had discussed it for a long time, and eventually decided she would do a sort of apprenticeship under me. We worked out storylines and geographies together, but I did most of the world making. She took care of a lot of the details at that point. When the sessions actually ran, we would have one person take over as storyteller, and another person as the combat referee. The game was successful for the length that it lasted, and all had fun. Apples soon took over her own game though, and was learning a lot from being forced into both roles at once. She soon learned how mentally tiring it can be, but all in all, she did a great job.

The other method, my method, had a lot more failures in it. I played two sessions of D&D with my oldest brother before I found that I really wanted to play it a lot more. Very few of my friends had ever heard of it, as I had very few friends at that age anyway. I picked up DMG for the 2nd edition books and read through the whole thing. I also read the entire players handbook, and over time the entire monstrous manual. 5 years later I was DM'ing in high school for a small group of friends, and having a blast. Those 5 years carried a lot of utter failures and ridiculous jaunts, but you have to start somewhere. As my body matured, my gaming became more sophisticated, and I slowly added more players of different backgrounds under my belt. Every new person I DM'd for was a new lesson in how my games should run, and eventually I learned the ultimate lesson: It's all about fun. No matter how many times anybody tells you, that is what it comes down to in the very end. However you manage to get there with your gaming group is the actual difficult part, but every group will either find that, or disperse.

Step 2: Learn the Rules

Plain and simple, pick up the PHB and read every rule that applies to combat and character creation. You will often find that you are the one that everybody asks the questions of. The questions come fast at times to, so it's good to have a bag of tricks up your sleeve just in case. One of my favorite tricks is to answer a question with another question, or perhaps put some mystery behind it. "How come he gets to be a Dragonborn, but I can't?" "Good question, maybe you should go on a quest to find out." or "The book says scale mail costs 45! How come he's charging me 100g!?" "Why would he charge so much for scale mail?"

Making a mistake at times can often lead you into a quest or a chance at a unique RP encounter without you ever planning it. Mistakes can be what keeps the world fresh and interesting. However, eventually the mistakes should be sieved out to a minimum, and the fresh and interesting should be as intentional as possible.

Step 3/4: Make Some Encounters/Create A Story

These two steps are completely interchangeable. Sometimes if you have a story, you can just throw some monsters in there for fun and excitement. Conversely, if you have some great encounters planned, figure out how the players will end up wandering into them! Sometimes it can be easier than you think. A good adventuring group should be wanting some adventure anyway; make it easy to find, and give them so good rewards for it!

More next week.

-Lance of the Hill People