I've been DMing for a few years now, and I'd like to improve my game. However, all the DM guides I can find are written with brand-new DMs in mind, and I can't find any for seasoned DMs looking to polish their style. So, what tips do you guys have for someone who knows the basics and is looking to move on to "lesson 2," so to speak.

That's an incredibly broad question. Are there particular parts of your skillset that you feel like you need to improve on?

I would suggest watching Matt Colville's and Matt Mercer's Youtube series' if you haven't already. There's a bunch of great stuff in there for newbies and vets alike.

I would encourage you to find a mentor or 2 if you can. Someone you know who you look up to is great, but it can always be someone online that you read a lot of their stuff and they resonate with you. You'd be surprised how giving people are of their time and advice if you approach them asking for help (PS: not me, I'm not that good).

Record yourself. It can be pretty confronting, but recording yourself (video, if you can) is a great way to refine your style. You may pause a lot longer than you think. You might hum and har a lot more often that you realised. Maybe you speak to fast when you get excited. Maybe you're amazing and you need to hear that too. But self reflection and self awareness are very important attributes.

Hopefully some others chime in with some good resources for you. Best of luck, may you roll nothing but 20's!

Look at it this way. Its a forever learning experience. I started playing back in the mid 80s and most of it has been as a DM. I think I have played as a player character 3 times in total. I am still learning. Look up Matthwe Colville and also How to be a great Game Master on youtube. If you have not seen this stuff you are missing out. These two guys are a treasure trove of info for not just DMs but players as well. There are also a bunch of monster lore videos on youtube as well. Great stuff. Nice thing is that you have the internet to research things and there is a ton of info that can be found.  

I third the above posts, but some skills that I have always considered DM 2.0 material:

• Crafting your own campaign setting
• Being conscious of multiple timelines. The Villain(s) is/are doing stuff when the players aren't confronting them, plans aren't stagnate until the players get there. Players choosing to act on one issue may have consequences for not acting on a second.
• Monster tweaking, not just hit points or damage, but really changing the way a monster works to challenge the assumptions of PC's. Dael Kingsmill/MonarchFactory has a great Halloween video of how to completely re-think ghosts in D&D. It's really awesome, and has got me thinking a lot more outside the box with regards to some of my villains.

I agree to the advice from the other posts above as well. 

Something small I would also recommend is simply trying to get more feedback from your players, past and present, even if it is an anonymous one page survey. Try to get them to respond in specifics; "How do you feel I run combat, any feedback? How do you feel I roleplay social settings, do you hate the voices I do, do I respond effectively in character to your in character questions? How did you feel the overall story went, did it have a good A,B,C flow, did you feel your actions were worthwhile, was I keeping you motivated" In pretty much every profession, and you can treat being a DM as a profession, you need feedback to know if you're doing a good or bad job. If a mechanic hit the hood of a car with a hammer to change a tire, and every customer left without complaint or feedback, he'd probably think he was doing a great job!

Intro to DMing 101: 

Grab some players
Grab the core books, or starter kit
Play the game, generally a module.
Look up D&D material online and/or at your LGS (local gaming store)

That's really all there is to it. 

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Advanced DMing

Start your own homebrew content, usually by modifying modules or pieces of modules rather then running them by the book.
Find players that aren't in your normal social circle.
Start seeking constructive feedback.
Look up new and different approaches from other DMs, further research online or at the LGS

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Mastering DMing

Complete homebrew content, from characters to worlds, items and spells, creatures and more.
Teaching new players and new DMs how to get into D&D
Find material from DMs that you don't agree with and figure out why. 
Look, objectively, at your style and see what can be improved.
Start playing drastically different styles of games: If you like Hack & Slash, start playing a Mystery/Intrigue game.
Purposely put yourself outside of your comfort zone.

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This may not be perfect, but it's pretty much the approach I took over the course of my DMing career. 

Advanced DMing tips ... (?)

1) Create your own world and storylines. Make them realistic, logical and consistent.

2) Any world is a complex place, have at least 2-7 possible simultaneous storylines evolving in the world. The players may or may not interact with some or all of them.

3) Know the background, rough layout and factions of your world. If the players go somewhere you don't expect then they should NEVER know it. The world should flow as seamlessly as you make it up as you go along as when they enter an area you have prepared. The ability to improvise as required is a key element but your players should never really know it. Eventually, you may be able to improvise the entire adventure from the rough outline you have in mind as long as you are very familiar with both your world and the source material (monsters/likely opponents/possible magic items).  P.S. Some preparation will always make things go smoother and make you feel more confident but being able to flesh things out based on character actions really makes the game world feel more dynamic. However, no matter what happens, the world has to behave consistently with its own internal logic.

4) Characters usually start small and create a place for themselves in the world. Try not to script things to prevent the characters growing and developing in weird and awesome ways.

5) Know how the game rules work in your world (though it is still ok to make a mistake). Ideally, you don't want to have to refer to the rule book to figure things out. If the situation is up to you to adjudicate then make your decision and move on - revisit later if needed - but listen to the players if they object and address the concerns as needed.

6) Remember that a DM adjudicates the interactions between the players and the world. The DM isn't on the side of the monsters or on the side of the players. They create the narrative and story that the players interact with and adjudicates that interaction. Try to remain mostly neutral :)

7) Developing some voices and your role playing never hurts. It can be fun when the DM throws some voices and role playing into significant NPCs but you don't need to be great at it (you just need some enthusiasm and a willingness to try - you will get better at it over time)  ... there are few DMs who are actors or voice actors ... and those seem to end up on youtube/twitch :)

Quote from David42 >>

Advanced DMing tips ... (?)

1) Create your own world and storylines. Make them realistic, logical and consistent.

2) Any world is a complex place, have at least 2-7 possible simultaneous storylines evolving in the world. The players may or may not interact with some or all of them.

3) Know the background, rough layout and factions of your world. If the players go somewhere you don't expect then they should NEVER know it. The world should flow as seamlessly as you make it up as you go along as when they enter an area you have prepared. The ability to improvise as required is a key element but your players should never really know it. Eventually, you may be able to improvise the entire adventure from the rough outline you have in mind as long as you are very familiar with both your world and the source material (monsters/likely opponents/possible magic items).  P.S. Some preparation will always make things go smoother and make you feel more confident but being able to flesh things out based on character actions really makes the game world feel more dynamic. However, no matter what happens, the world has to behave consistently with its own internal logic.

4) Characters usually start small and create a place for themselves in the world. Try not to script things to prevent the characters growing and developing in weird and awesome ways.

5) Know how the game rules work in your world (though it is still ok to make a mistake). Ideally, you don't want to have to refer to the rule book to figure things out. If the situation is up to you to adjudicate then make your decision and move on - revisit later if needed - but listen to the players if they object and address the concerns as needed.

6) Remember that a DM adjudicates the interactions between the players and the world. The DM isn't on the side of the monsters or on the side of the players. They create the narrative and story that the players interact with and adjudicates that interaction. Try to remain mostly neutral :)

7) Developing some voices and your role playing never hurts. It can be fun when the DM throws some voices and role playing into significant NPCs but you don't need to be great at it (you just need some enthusiasm and a willingness to try - you will get better at it over time)  ... there are few DMs who are actors or voice actors ... and those seem to end up on youtube/twitch :)

 

 

 

 These are great, thanks! I'll try and think about the "multiple stories" one especially!

Have at least 1-3 “side quests” present themselves during larger adventures. The players will miss 2/3 of them, that’s okay. When those problems “get resolved” by NPCs the players will get the feeling that the world is growing and changing around them. For example: 

my players were just in the fanciest, most expensive tavern in town. The best ale the characters have ever tasted was selling for 1copper/tankard and the place was half empty at the busiest time of the evening. Nobody thought to ask the owner why. When those same characters come back to town after their latest adventure the ale will be 1silver/tankard and the place will be packed. When they inevitably ask the owner about it then, he will tell them he was having some “problems” but a group of adventurers fixed it and now business is back to normal. 

Give them the feeling of a living world, not just a string of adventure that always wait for them.