- So, you're a new dungeon master about to run "Dungeons & Dragons" for the first time, are you? You typed help into Google
and you ended up here. Welcome. (laughing) Today we'll be discussing 15
things all new DMs should know. And if you still have questions, I have a massive library
of videos covering all things dungeon mastering
that you can binge on, have almost weekly Q&A live streams where you can ask me your questions, and I have a welcoming and
friendly Discord community full of fellow dungeon masters who can help. Now that we got a bunch
of plugs out of the way, woo, let's to do this. They're like, "This guy is crazy. Let's go to the next video
that Google recommended me." Number one, you'll never feel
like you're ready, just start. No matter how much you
read the rule books, no matter how much you flesh
out your campaign setting, no matter how much you
prep that adventure, no matter how many times you study the manual you'll be running, no matter what you do,
you will never feel ready. I'm not ragging on being prepared either. Some of the very best
dungeon masters prepare their butts off for their games. You do want to prepare, but there's gonna be a point
where you just need to start. Put that group together,
pull that trigger, and start running D&D for your friends or that crew of crazy strangers
you assembled on Roll20 or my Discord server because
lots of people find D&D groups on my Discord server. There's another plug for ya. I'm so good at this. Number two, you don't need
to know all the rules. First, for anyone who
thinks it's even possible to know all the rules, yeah, you're wrong. There are far too many
rules for any one person, even if they wear the
mantle of dungeon master, to have memorized. Now, should you just
flagrantly ignore the rules and just wing everything? No, of course not. It's crazy talk. It's just stupidity. You just playing random? "I just made up a game. I don't even know the rules. We're gonna call it D&D, but if you look at it, it
resembles nothing to D&D." Some of you are like, "Luke, Luke, I've been in those games. I've been in lots of those games." Yeah. (laughing) Anyway, running a game like that would be as foolish as trying to
memorize all the rules. You can't be like, whoa, either extreme. Either extreme is probably not gonna work. So, read the rules, have a good idea of where
to find specific rules when they come up in the game, and to make a good effort. But, don't feel like you
need to know everything. I've been running fifth
edition for, I don't know, half a decade now with at least
one group every single week, and I don't have everything memorized. And I still bust out the
books and look things up from time to time. Number three, start small. The act of creation is something that inspires many game masters. Some of us are content with
creating cool adventures and terrifying monsters, but others strive to
create entirely new worlds within which those adventures take place and those monsters dwell. And there will be a strong
temptation to create everything, to have it all done and
ready and fleshed out before you begin playing. You must resist that temptation. And even more than that, I
advise you to start small. Only create one adventure
for your players to go on. Only create one town and
perhaps flesh out the forest to the north and the swamp to the west. But that's it, that's it, no more. That's enough to start playing the game and then you can expand on it as you go. By the way, if you're looking for high-quality dungeon master resources you can use in your games, my "Lairs & Legends
Kickstarter" is launching soon. It will consist of two
beautiful hardcover books, containing fifth edition adventures, maps designed for use
on virtual tabletops, puzzles, traps, new
monsters, NPCs, villains, stand-alone encounters, and more. All of the content is
designed to be easy to use at the game table, especially
for new dungeon masters and will reduce your prep
time and improve your games. Click the "Lairs & Legends"
link below to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live. Number four, you don't
need to run your game like a famous DM on a D&D show. More so, I might add, that if you try, you'll probably fail. I know that everyone is captivated by famous dungeon masters
running D&D shows. I mean, look at the success of shows such as "Critical Role." Many DMs aspire to run games as fun as those shows are entertaining. However, I must caution you, especially since we're talking to potential new dungeon masters here, that those are D&D shows. Are they playing D&D? Yes, they are. Is it scripted? No, I don't think it is. But, it's still a show whose primary goal is the entertainment of the audience and all of the cast members
work together to that end. You are not running a D&D show. Well, at least I think you're probably not trying to do that. Instead, you're running
a D&D game I'll wager and your primary goal
should be the entertainment of your players. Can you learn things from those DMs on those shows you watch? Absolutely, of course you can. But, if your expectation
is to run D&D games that look like what you see on TV, you're probably gonna end up disappointed and that's okay, because number five, your players aren't judging you as much as you think they are. Dungeon masters worry too much. "Am I a good DM? Are my players having fun? Do my players think I suck, but they just don't wanna leave because they don't
wanna make me feel bad." Look, my advice is to
stop beating yourself up. Most players just wanna
hang out with friends, eat junk food, kill monsters,
experience a cool story, and laugh together at equally hilarious and stupid moments that arise in the game. And, I might add, many
players are just grateful to have a dungeon master who is actually running the game for them, because there are lots of people
who want to play the game, but they can't find
DMs to run it for them. So, relax. If you see your players
laughing and smiling, if they come back week after week, then you're probably doing just fine. By the way, if you're enjoying this video, perhaps even finding it mildly useful, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment for the algorithm down below, let YouTube know your
favorite flavor of asparagus and that I don't completely suck. Favorite flavor of asparagus (laughing). I just increased the Google
search results for asparagus. Like, what flavors of asparagus are there? And Google's like, what's going on? Pro tip, there are nine
flavors of asparagus. You let me know what
those nine flavors are down in the comments and
you're gonna get a bonus prize. Number six, you don't
need fancy miniatures to run an amazing game. I know they look cool. I know they do, but you do not need to dump bunches of money
into buying cool terrain and miniatures to run a great
game for you and your players. Terrain and minis can
enhance the game, to be sure, but there are thousands of groups that have a blast every week without them. So, if you don't have the budget for them, or you don't want to invest a
bunch of money into the game before you really get serious about it, that's perfectly fine. You can run theater of the mind. I even recently made a video
with tips on how to do so. And your game can still be
plenty levels of awesome. Number seven, you will
have bad game sessions and that's okay. Even experienced game masters
have crappy game sessions. It happens. Don't be surprised when a
game session completely bombs. I mean, you're just starting out. So, it's probably gonna
happen from time to time. I mean, nobody, nobody
learns to fly a plane without crashing into cornfields at least a few times, right? Am I right or am I right? (giggling) Anybody who can fly a plane? You let me know in the comments. I'm right. Many cornfield has died
in a blaze of flames and explosions from
planes crashing into them. We all know this, it's common knowledge. Anyway, the important
thing is to not give up, don't beat yourself up, and
learn from those bad sessions. What went wrong? What didn't work? How can I make it better for next time? Number eight, your fun matters too. Dungeon masters always worry
about their players having fun, but never forget that your
fun as a dungeon master is important too. D&D is a game. Why are you playing it
if it's not to have fun? My guess is you're
probably not getting paid to be a dungeon master. I mean, right? Right? I mean, you're lucky
if they bring you pizza and chips or something. And half the time you
gotta buy it yourself. So yes, you want to run a game
that your players will enjoy, but you need to also run a
game that you will enjoy. For instance, I personally
love tactical combat. If I ever had a group of players that didn't want combat in their game, like you can go on to Twitch,
the D&D area of Twitch, and watch games like all day long that have like no combat in them. They're just sitting around and talking. And yeah, I could not
play a game like that. I'd just be bored out of my mind. Anyway, if I were in a game like that, my players didn't want
anything to do with combat, I would probably step down and let someone else run that game. It just wouldn't interest me. That would be a hard pass. I'm not really knocking
games that don't have combat. I'm just really saying that
I like combat in my D&D game. That's all I'm really saying here. 'Cause it is like 90% of the rule books have to do with combat. That might give you an inkling as to what the D&D game was kind of made. I don't know. I'm just spit balling here. Anyway, next point here, also remember that your
players share responsibility for the fun. Everyone at the game table
should be contributing positively to the atmosphere and making
the game more enjoyable by their presence. When you discover that you have a player who is a complete downer and overall detracts from everyone's fun. Maybe they want to argue about everything. Maybe they have a pissy
attitude that kills the vibe. Whatever it is, it's
time to consider a game in which that player is not there. "What's that mean, Luke? Hm, what does that mean?" Number nine, the DM presents situations, the players create the solutions,. The players and the dice, write the story, not the dungeon master. Let me repeat. The players and the dice write the story, not the dungeon master. You are not writing a story. As the DM, you create
situations, adventures, problems that your players'
characters engage with and try to overcome
through their PC abilities, dice rolls, and brainpower. What happens as a result of
all of that coming together is the story. But the dungeon master does not determine what will happen before the
game session even begins. That's not a game, that's
a frustrated novelist who can't get published, forcing their half-baked
novel upon their players. If I just offended you, that may have been slightly intentional 'cause don't do that. It's not fun. Let me be clear though. Forcing your story upon the players is not the same as running
a linear adventure. Linear adventures are perfectly fine. You don't have to run a sandbox, especially as a new game master because the fact of the matter is that true sandboxes are
very challenging to run. And if you wanna learn more about this, I do have a video titled the
"Sandbox Versus the Railroad" on this topic, as well as on
the topic of linear adventures, which often get mislabeled as railroads. They're not, they're two different things. I feel strongly about this. Could you tell? Number 10, no matter how much you plan, you won't be able to escape improvisation. It is the nature of D&D that your players will do things that you can't anticipate and you'll need to think
on the fly and improvise. Now, many people will quip, "No plan survives first
contact with the players, ah!" And then use that to
justify not planning at all. Those people are morons. Don't listen to them. Sorry if that's you. You know, leave your
angry comment down below, our complaint department
addresses all grievances in due time, I assure you. Because the fact of the matter is that the more you plan, the
easier it is to improvise. So, still plan, still be
prepared for your game, however, expect that you
will need to improvise from time to time and then
just do the best you can. And also realize that you'll
get better at improvising as you get more experienced
at running the game. Number 11, follow the rules in the books. Dude, dude, you just
started playing the game. You don't even know all the rules, let alone the reasons behind
why the game designers made them the way they did. My advice is to play the
game for a year or two, using the rules as
written, often called RAW, so that you get a feel for
them and understand them better and the rationale behind
them before you start making a bunch of house rules. Not right now, but my friend
that Dungeon Coach is like, "But Luke," and I'm just like, "No!" This is where we have a disagreement and our two channels fight
each other to the death. Number 12, communicate with your players. As I mentioned before, I have a weekly live streams
where I answer questions from viewers and I crap you not, the answer to 80% of the questions I get essentially boils down
to, talk to your players. Your players are always
ignoring the plot hooks for the adventures you prepare. Talk to them, ask them to just go on the adventure you prepared so you're not winging
everything, freaking out, and getting frustrated. Go over expectations. No unauthorized dice touching. Dice touching, this is stupid. What stupid book was that in? I think it was in "Tasha's"
where they're like, "You know, go over game expectations,
including dice touching 'cause not all groups
agree with dice touching." I'm like, oh, shut up. Really? Shut up. Dice touching. Don't touch my dice. Don't touch my (beep). Maybe people do get triggered by that, but they need to calm down. Holy crap. Geez (laughing). They're just dice, buddy,
you're gonna be okay. Sorry, I just offended more people. It's what I do around here. But seriously, you really should talk about the sort of role
playing behavior that is okay and what's not okay. So just, I don't know,
role-playing a rape scene? Most folk are probably not
gonna be comfortable with that. So, if you don't have the common sense and discretion to just not do it, then maybe you should talk
to your players first. And for me personally, whenever I get frustrated
with something in the game, I just level with my players, "You guys, the constant side conversations are making it hard for me to run the game. Could we save those for the breaks or pre and post game or something?" Remember, your players
cannot read your mind. If there is an issue, you need
to let them know what it is and see if there is a resolution
the group can decide upon. Number 13, avoid the
scheduling spiral of death. This is what you should do. Pick a reoccurring day
of the week and time that most players can
make most of the time and then stick with it. My Curse of Strahd group
plays every other week on Sunday at 4:00 PM. That's our schedule. We stick to it. This allows for everyone in
the group to plan for the game in advance and usually be there. This is what you should not do. Wait until the end of a game session to figure out the next
time the group can play, according to everyone's
calendars and schedules. This results in infrequent
and sporadic game sessions that often cause the campaign
and game to fizzle out. This is also what you should not do. Only play when everyone
can make the session or reschedule if everyone can't be there. This has the same effect. Infrequent games and
campaigns fizzling out. We call this the scheduling
spiral of death around here. Case in point, my Youngling Game seems to have recently suffered this fate. We only ever played when everyone could make the game sessions
and we'd always schedule the next game at the end of the session. Now, I know this was not a best practice. I know that this was probably eventually gonna cause everything
to go (crashing sound). And yeah, but it's the way we did things for reasons that I won't go into here. And now that game appears
to have fizzled out. It sucks too because I really
loved playing with those kids. They were like in high school by the time. Yeah, they're like high school now. So, they're still kids. I'm like, I'm an old man. I can still call them kids. Number 14, avoid saying
"No," instead ask "How?" First, it's okay to say no when a player wants to do something. However, before you
just rule something out, ask the player how their
character would do X thing. It's possible they will think of a way that it might be possible, possible that it might be possible. And then you can let the dice decide. And if they can't think of
how it might be possible to accomplish X thing, well then they usually talk
themselves out of even trying and you don't even have
to tell them, "No." you can also use the classic, "Yes, but," where their PC can attempt X thing, but have limitations or grave
consequences if they fail. "Can I jump across the crevasse?" "Well, you can try, but it's a long and difficult jump. If you fail, you're probably
gonna fall to your death." And failing all of that,
it's okay to just say "no" when a player is simply
asking for the impossible. Number 15, D&D is not dungeon
master versus players. I don't know if this was in the
rule books when you read it, but it was there for me. "Dungeons & Dragons" is
not a competitive game. There are no winners and losers. A dungeon master
shouldn't have the mindset of trying to beat the players' characters. That's silly to begin with. and if a dungeon master
really wanted to do that, all they need to have is 100
ancient dragons swoop out of the sky, game over. Beating the BCs would be trivial. It's meaningless. Instead, a game master should be striving to deliver a challenging, but rewarding game
experience to their players. And the game master, while
playing the monsters to win, because bad guys definitely want to win, should also be rooting for the players and hoping that they
overcome the challenge and that the bad guys lose. Click on the screen now to
binge another fine DM Lair video or to become a DM Lair patron and get an issue of "Lair
Magazine" every month. And until next time, eat your asparagus. "But what flavor, Luke?"
