Summary

• Don't be afraid to hide your dice for a touch of mystery and excitement during gameplay.
• Treat your players as collaborators, not adversaries, for a fun and engaging D&D experience.
• Keep the pace of your game in check by curbing table talk and deciding when to intervene.

So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and become a Dungeon Master. It's an exciting role that bears a lot of responsibility. As Dungeon Master, you are in charge of running a game of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons for a group of pl🦋ayers. Y𝕴ou could follow published modules, or run a homemade campaign.

It’ll be your responsibility to prepare content for the other playe♕rs to play through🌺, play as NPCs, control monsters in combat, and act as a referee when necessary. Hopefully, this list of tips will help your first DMing experience go a little smoother.

Updated January 10, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: A new edition of Dungeons & Dragons has graced shelves both online and at hobby stores across the world. With this comes more rules, some changes to spells, and loads of new content; all of which is, of course, completely optional. A new edition means new players will hear the call for adventure, and ultimately new DMs will try out the role of helping tell their story in the epic fantasy world of D&D. Here are some things to keep in mind, whether you're a first-time DM or a lifelong one.

27 ✃ Make Your Players Roll, Often ♒

Th🐽ere can be a period of time when you're describing what is happening around the players and the various actions of the NPCs where D&🌳D can sound more like an audiobook. It can be a good idea to sprinkle in some player rolls here and there to break up the downtime.

Some DMs will even have players roll for no reason at all from t♋ime t🗹o time, both building the tension and keeping the players intrigued.

Thes🍸e can be completely mundane rolls as well. Not every✤thing has to be a death-saving throw, just a roll to keep your players feeling like they are interacting with the world around them. Let them roll for miniscule things to move the plot along, or just to notice hidden details in your world.

26 🍌 Set The Scene

For first-time DMs, it can be easy to rush through to the next bit of action, especially when you're hosting ❀an adventure of your own making. Take your time, and make sure to set the scene for your players.

Not everything has to be in exciting detail, but describing the feel of a town or the basic layout of a new r♉oom can help your players feel like they're there, and help them get ideas on how to interact with the world.

This can even be done mid-c🌃ombat as the world around them ♐reacts to their choices.

25 ♛ Know When To Set A Table Rule

Most parties have 🏅some table rules after playing together for a while. They're just those little rules to help streamline play, or make things a ♑bit easier for you or the players. There's no right or wrong time to set up a table rule.

Ju✨st make sure to discuss it with your table, adjusting said rules as you need with player feedback. Some of the most important ones can go beyond the game and instead focus on how players i♊nteract, either online or in person.

24 Use The Rule Of Cool ꦐ

A fan favorite for tablet💃op players of all types. The Rule of Cool is exactly what it sounds like: if it would be cool for you to allow a character to do it, they can do it. Knowing when to use this option can make for some gre൲at stories.

These are usually little things that either bend smaller things in the game action economy or the effects of a spell. It's not something that should be used in every situation, but 𝓡when used at the right time, it can be the perfect end to a boss fight, a stressful puzzle, or even a side quest.

23 Let Everyone Have A Say 🔯

Every player is diffe༒rent. They all have their own comfor🅷t levels, especially where RP and speaking out in a group come into play. As your game goes on, make sure everyone is getting their say at the table.

Even if someone is easygoing and usually just agrees with the more outspoken party members, give them th🔯e room to express their ideas. They ﷽may surprise you, or at least they'll know they're a welcome member of the team.

22 Know When To Hide Your Dice (O🅷r DC)

As a Dungeon Master, you often make rolls that can majorlyꦉ influence the players and the campaign. When it comes time to roll their dice, new DMs usually fall into two camps: those who show their rolls or the DC, and those who don’t.

Neither of these styles is wrong. Public view means that you’re less likely to be accused of cheating, but if you hide your dice, you can — occasionally — fudge the numbers in favor of your players, like when it will save a characte🉐r.

Ev𝐆en if you like to show an open hand, it can be more dramatic and thrilling if you hide some of your dice rol♏ls. For example, if the player rolls insight versus deception to see if a captive is lying to them. If they lose the roll, they know that the captive is lying to them even if their character shouldn’t and would be far more tempted to act on that metagame information.

Hiding that information gives an air of m꧋ystery to the whole thing and allows players to express themselves in ways they wouldn’t have otherwise. And in this example, if they’re🃏 waylaid, it’s just another opportunity for more adventures!

21 Don't Treat Players Like Opponents

While players control their characters and DMs control their enemies, you shouldn’t treat your players as adversaries. At its heart, D&ཧD Fifth Editi🥃on is ultimately a collaborative storytelling experience, with players charting out their path through the DM’s challenges.

When it comes to difficulty, you have to strike a balance. If encounter🅷s are too easy, players feel like they’re not being challe꧋nged and might get bored.

If the encounters are too difficult, they might get frustrated and quit or party wipe long before the end of the c🧜ampaiꦺgn.

As the DM, your role is to challenge and engage your players, and to that end you might harm or even ki🐲ll their characters, but that should never be the point of the game for you. Plus, it really kills the vibes. At the end of the campaign, players should feel like their characters overcame many great challenges and the whole group should feel like they have many great stories to tell of the adventure.

20 Know When♛ To Curb Table Talk

In D&D (and likely any Tabletop RPG), players will talk to each other, out of character and often not about the game at hand. This is known as ‘🔯table talk’ and while it’s not🍸 inherently harmful, it can be annoying, and sometimes even mess with the pace of the game.

Another type of table talk is when players discuss the game out of character, likely to plan their next move. This is generally less disruptive to the ga🗹me. If you can get them to do it in character instead, this can enrich the game. Otherwise, don’t let them deliberate for too long.

As a DM, it’s 🍎your job to get your players to continue the game, but you don’t want to come off as aꦅ tyrant in doing so. In general, you can allow table talk and even participate, but if it starts feeling like you’ve been off-topic for too long, gently remind them of the situation their characters are in and ask them what they want to do next.

19 Don't Let NPCs Completely Overshadow Players

While games will often have a cavalcade of interesting and endearing characters, you need to remember that the players came here to play and if you let your NPCs run all the action, i💧t’s just not fun.

All this goes double for DM Player Characters. They’re viewed with suspicion in the community for a reason. If you have one in play, make sure they’re there to assist and to bolster the numbers of your characters, not to steal thಞe show.

In general, try not to take agency away from your players and give it to your NPCs. Even if 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an NPC is important to your story, it’ﷺs ultimately your players who should drive the action. NPCs can come to the rescue🎀 and even sometimes lead a charge, but remember that your players’ characters are the stars of the show.

18 Prepare Content 🔯Without Overdoing It

When preparing your session, finding a balance in your work is crucial. You don't need to have everything ready because that will cause severe burnout before the game even begins. However, just winging the whole session won't suffice either. A veteran DM can do that occasionally, but🅘 that won't be enough for an ongoing campaign.

Always prepare to do some improv🧜. After all, even the most well-behaved players will throw you for a l𓃲oop. It's part of the fun!

You need to see how much is enough for you and remember that the players will also dictate how the story unfolds, not just you. Prepare the city they'll visit, the people who live ther🅰e, and minor problems, for example, but let them traverse the area and decide where they'll meddle.