Hey guys, ok so here's the deal, I love D&D, I love the lore, the game, everything, I don't get a lot of chances to play, but I felt I could be a could dm, so I have been trying dm, for the past couple years. Now here's the problem, none of my game has been good, I don't know what to do, I've tried published adventures, I haven't been able to run them well, I've tried to make some campaigns, now I have been told my story ideas are really good, but I'm just not good at actually doing them, I don't know what to do could you guys give me some tips on running games that will captivate players, ( also the published adventure I have done was the tomb of annihilation)
well in my opinion the combat was kind of boring and the story didn't really have any arc this was the campaign I made up, for the tomb of annihilation they said it was boring, I don't know to make the jungle exploration interesting to keep them hooked before they get to the main dungeon, also during that campaign, I couldn't figure out how to get them leveled up fast enough before they found the dungeon so i guess it was also pacing
You can make combat more interesting by using tactical challenges. Rather than a flat floor with walls ("fighting in a box") use areas with interesting terrain - ranged guys shooting down from a balcony... lakes in the middle of a chamber with something in the water and no obvious way across... that kind of thing.
Tomb of Annihilation is, by rep, a "hex crawl." Maybe go for a more story heavy published adventure like Dragon Heist or Strahd.
Also, before doing anything, why not ask them what they most like about D&D? Do this as a group, even before session zero. Ask them three things, and have them answer so that they all hear each other (they will get ideas from each other like this).. Question 1 - what's your favorite thing to do in D&D? Question 2 - What's something you've never gotten to do in D&D, but always wanted to do? And Question 3 - what's your number 1 pet peeve or thing you don't like about D&D?
Write down the answers and then use that to help you design. For instance, 2 of my players said they hate "mindless dungeon crawls" so I would not try to send them through such a thing. Instead I have tried to keep dungeons short and sweet, or provide mechanism for by-passing or circumventing most of the dungeon if they want to (ironically one of them seemed to get all into crawling through the dungeon anyway, after saying he didn't like that... LOL).
Another thing that might be helpful to you is to think about - what are the things about DMing that you enjoy? Do you like coming up with a story, or do you enjoy telling a story and seeing your players interact with it? Do you enjoy running combat encounters, or coming up with ideas for social encounters? Do you prefer using modules that let you explore different stories? I've often found that the best DMs were the ones who were having as much fun as their players. So to add to all the great advice here already, I would say work out what you enjoy about DMing, as well as talking to the players about what they want to get out of the game.
Sometimes I've found it helpful to do a "dry run" of adventures I want to run, especially if it's a new published module. It might sound silly, but reading through, figuring out how a party might move or react to different things, even down to practising running the combat encounters with dice rolls and tracking damage can make things go smoother on game day. This has also helped me get more interested and invested in the story, as I can imagine how my characters might have reacted.
And finally don't be too hard on yourself. After a game take the time to not only think about the specific feedback from players (e.g. combat encounters took a long time or weren't challenging), but also to think about something that you think you did well (e.g. described one encounter really well, inspired one of your players t do something really cool). DnD should be about everyone enjoying the experience!
Unfortunately, there are aren't a bunch of training courses for Dungeon Mastering like there are for leadership.
Wait what? Which internet are you using?
MCDM, GMtips, Dungeon Dudes, Nerd Immersion, DMlair, XPto level3, Mark Hulmes etc.
all have multiple series you can treat like training modules. As well as multiple great DM’s (some of the above) doing 2–3hr live streams where the do nothing but take questions about DMing.
you also have countless forums with guides and help, plus like - the very website your on - has loads of articles written by the games current creators on improving your DMing.
Then if all that fails you have a hundred lifetimes of D&D content through you tube, twitch or wherever you get your podcasts you can basically study like its dickens. Wether it’s Matt Mercer, Chris Perkins, Satine Phoenix, Austin Walker, Mark Hulmes, Jeremy Crawford et al, you can watch and dissect what you like about it and how you might want to replicate certain parts.
and that’s just skimming some of the cream from the stuff that’s free!
not picking holes in the rest of your advice but to claim there is no courses for training to be a DM is crazy talk.
Do you have any tips for clean narration for things that were referenced outside of the box in which it tells the DM what to narrate, please tell me so if you do. i am new to being a dungeon master
Do you have any tips for clean narration for things that were referenced outside of the box in which it tells the DM what to narrate, please tell me so if you do. i am new to being a dungeon master
Well, there are lots of ways. But these are the most common three that I know of:
For some folks, it’s easier if they write that stuff down first and have it ready whenever it’s needed.
For some folks, it’s easier to have a really good image of it in our minds so we can describe it like a picture.
For some folks, they just make it up as they go and then remember it afterwords to write down so they can keep it all straight down the road.
I think most DMs end up doing a little of all three. Not because we want to, but just because it ends up being necessary. There will be things that come up that we can’t plan for, and things we can plan for. We just do our best when we can and then do what we have to the rest of the time.
you know the places and people your players could meet so google image search scenes and characters that meet the criteria you are describing and then pull up that image and start describing it to players.
it will feel less prepared then you writing a block of text to read out and will be easier for you to do than just imagine it.
Artists don’t just assume they know how to draw something, they use reference, so use it to.
Hey guys, ok so here's the deal, I love D&D, I love the lore, the game, everything, I don't get a lot of chances to play, but I felt I could be a could dm, so I have been trying dm, for the past couple years. Now here's the problem, none of my game has been good, I don't know what to do, I've tried published adventures, I haven't been able to run them well, I've tried to make some campaigns, now I have been told my story ideas are really good, but I'm just not good at actually doing them, I don't know what to do could you guys give me some tips on running games that will captivate players, ( also the published adventure I have done was the tomb of annihilation)
Why wasn’t it good? You said your players gave you feedback so what was it?
pacing? Combat? Immersiveness? Etc
well in my opinion the combat was kind of boring and the story didn't really have any arc this was the campaign I made up, for the tomb of annihilation they said it was boring, I don't know to make the jungle exploration interesting to keep them hooked before they get to the main dungeon, also during that campaign, I couldn't figure out how to get them leveled up fast enough before they found the dungeon so i guess it was also pacing
This is legitimately the best advice I can give you:
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Maybe use the milestone method so you have full control on their level.
Other than watching Colville some ideas for you:
You can make combat more interesting by using tactical challenges. Rather than a flat floor with walls ("fighting in a box") use areas with interesting terrain - ranged guys shooting down from a balcony... lakes in the middle of a chamber with something in the water and no obvious way across... that kind of thing.
Tomb of Annihilation is, by rep, a "hex crawl." Maybe go for a more story heavy published adventure like Dragon Heist or Strahd.
Also, before doing anything, why not ask them what they most like about D&D? Do this as a group, even before session zero. Ask them three things, and have them answer so that they all hear each other (they will get ideas from each other like this).. Question 1 - what's your favorite thing to do in D&D? Question 2 - What's something you've never gotten to do in D&D, but always wanted to do? And Question 3 - what's your number 1 pet peeve or thing you don't like about D&D?
Write down the answers and then use that to help you design. For instance, 2 of my players said they hate "mindless dungeon crawls" so I would not try to send them through such a thing. Instead I have tried to keep dungeons short and sweet, or provide mechanism for by-passing or circumventing most of the dungeon if they want to (ironically one of them seemed to get all into crawling through the dungeon anyway, after saying he didn't like that... LOL).
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Another thing that might be helpful to you is to think about - what are the things about DMing that you enjoy? Do you like coming up with a story, or do you enjoy telling a story and seeing your players interact with it? Do you enjoy running combat encounters, or coming up with ideas for social encounters? Do you prefer using modules that let you explore different stories? I've often found that the best DMs were the ones who were having as much fun as their players. So to add to all the great advice here already, I would say work out what you enjoy about DMing, as well as talking to the players about what they want to get out of the game.
Sometimes I've found it helpful to do a "dry run" of adventures I want to run, especially if it's a new published module. It might sound silly, but reading through, figuring out how a party might move or react to different things, even down to practising running the combat encounters with dice rolls and tracking damage can make things go smoother on game day. This has also helped me get more interested and invested in the story, as I can imagine how my characters might have reacted.
And finally don't be too hard on yourself. After a game take the time to not only think about the specific feedback from players (e.g. combat encounters took a long time or weren't challenging), but also to think about something that you think you did well (e.g. described one encounter really well, inspired one of your players t do something really cool). DnD should be about everyone enjoying the experience!
Wait what? Which internet are you using?
MCDM, GMtips, Dungeon Dudes, Nerd Immersion, DMlair, XPto level3, Mark Hulmes etc.
all have multiple series you can treat like training modules. As well as multiple great DM’s (some of the above) doing 2–3hr live streams where the do nothing but take questions about DMing.
you also have countless forums with guides and help, plus like - the very website your on - has loads of articles written by the games current creators on improving your DMing.
Then if all that fails you have a hundred lifetimes of D&D content through you tube, twitch or wherever you get your podcasts you can basically study like its dickens. Wether it’s Matt Mercer, Chris Perkins, Satine Phoenix, Austin Walker, Mark Hulmes, Jeremy Crawford et al, you can watch and dissect what you like about it and how you might want to replicate certain parts.
and that’s just skimming some of the cream from the stuff that’s free!
not picking holes in the rest of your advice but to claim there is no courses for training to be a DM is crazy talk.
I find this video quite helpful, when it comes to combat:
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
Do you have any tips for clean narration for things that were referenced outside of the box in which it tells the DM what to narrate, please tell me so if you do. i am new to being a dungeon master
Well, there are lots of ways. But these are the most common three that I know of:
I think most DMs end up doing a little of all three. Not because we want to, but just because it ends up being necessary. There will be things that come up that we can’t plan for, and things we can plan for. We just do our best when we can and then do what we have to the rest of the time.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
This one describes me.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
This one describes me.
I write notes ahead of time too, but only to set the images in my mind. I don’t like reading off of a page while I DM.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Me as well.
I have ideas and options planned out in my head, but I have no specific ideas of what will happen.
I just adapt what the players react to my general notes.
The other methodology is to have a reference.
you know the places and people your players could meet so google image search scenes and characters that meet the criteria you are describing and then pull up that image and start describing it to players.
it will feel less prepared then you writing a block of text to read out and will be easier for you to do than just imagine it.
Artists don’t just assume they know how to draw something, they use reference, so use it to.
Outside of adlib and being creative (not to "cruel and unusual"), IDK
Rogue Shadow, the DM (and occasional) PC with schemes of inventive thinking