Let the players try anything, don't tell them no. They may fail at what it is they are attempting, but there isn't any reason they can't try it. If you haven't described something well enough and they ask if they can do something you think they should know they clearly cannot do, re-describe that section trying to make it sound extremely difficult/impossible, but if they still want to try anyway, let them.
If your players specify that they want to 'knock the guard unconscious,' and they succeed, do not then tell them that the guard is DEAD. Because- whoopsies, they never told the DM they wanted to stabilize him. Even though they specified 'knock out.' Even though you never allowed them a perception check to see if he was in danger of dying. So, now that player is a murderer, and you force an alignment change upon them. And they are a wanted criminal.
Do not set up story events that your pc's have no part in. They should not be spectators or bystanders in the big events. They should not be powerless to effect any change on the story while your npc's do everything.
Everything in here is really great advice, I have been considered the worst DM and the Best by certain groups i have been with and we are all flawed. But here some suggestions.
Either be great at improvisation or plan everything.
Encourage your players to take notes and you yourself should do this. If your starting with a one shot or module. make sure you know it but be prepared to improvise anyway. Your there to have fun to. So if it wacky and makes everyone laugh or have a good time let it slide. If your going create your own magic items :) Make them fun or make them limited. also dont hand out alot of magic weapons unless you are prepared to explain it for story reasons.(i.e - I planned a level a beholder fight for my party of level 3 adventures, the beholder is CR 14 i believe. Through investigation they learned this beholder apparently had narcolepsy. I built in a mechanic where after each of his turns he had to make a con save or he fell alseep again. I also gave them a temporary dagger made from a unicorn horn and their Retribution feature in the side bar of the Monster manual. To make a Temporary Magic Dagger of Aberration slaying with 1 charge.)
They key i find to long lasting games and fun games is Player development of your world. If your playing in faerun this is largely done for you. However a habit i have gotten into recently is asking them to make 3 npcs, and I dont care how developed they are. some players give me just names and things like He they type of person whose a charlatan bard. for example.
In one of my most reasons games this lead to a character named Elva theran, who is played by linda. Who created a Wood elf Noble, who spefhically in her backstory ran away from her betrothed. The entire first arch among their exploration of the new land to which she and the others sailed to, was a prologue to the Drow war against the Wood elves for the insult of their Princess refusing to marry the Drow prince in my world. She has since married the drow prince and is trying to end the war as Queen of the Drow, however the Drow, have killed her grandmother a npc she made, imprisoned her sister a npc she made who was a army general, and Murdered her brother who is to be reincarnated into a Arracroka (however they spell it) I made Elva's Crown of Lolth a Simple Head band of intellect with some drow spell casting modifications.
Players as much as they may at times fear it, also really do want worlds which feel alive or have consequences to them. They want times where it silly. as well and I mean I allowed players to attack with Fishburgers as a thrown weapon which did 1 damage. to harpies they were fighting. I also allowed one of the players cats who is very vocal during are games if it funny grant the party inspiration at times.
You need to know your worlds rules, limits and expectations. You should also know in a homebrew setting, if there any cultures or societies who disagree with these Rules or rejected them in place for their own.
Also fun magic items will be something your players always want to use. Be it a Weathering changing orb, which can be used or like the item below.
magic item - Leomund's Tiny Master Theratre. This Wooden box opens up to reveal a entire play stage, equiped with costume rooms, 10 puppets and various of puppet weapons, a stage and a red curtain, even little puppet attendees. When activated roll 1d6, That is the play which the puppets who become animated preform. It takes 1 hour to preform the play, at the end of that hour if you watched it compelation roll 1d6 and apply the effects, up to 4 people can watch any play at a time. Lemonud's Tiny Master theratre than must recharge for 7 days before use. However if during this time you may set the stage up again and insist on a encore. Roll 1d20, on 18,19,20 the agree to preform a encore of the last preformed play. on a 1 the timer resets and no encores will be preformed. All effects disappear after a long rest.
1. Romeo & Juliet 1 - Expertise in Persuasion 2 - 1 extra attack 3 - Expertise in Invetigation 4 - Expertise in Preception 5 - You gain a alchemist satchel which you can gain healing draughts from (see alchemist) 6 - The first time you die before your next long rest, you immediately recover full hit points though your still prone.
2. Midsummer night dreams 1 - Expertise in Preformance 2- Gain the wildshape feature, counting your class level as druid for deteriming use and CR 3- Expertise in Animal handling 4- Con Saving throw proficieny 5- Gain, Elvish, Slyvan and 1 other langague 6- Gain the use of Trickery domain, counting your levels as a cleric for determing spell casting.
3. Morte D'arthur 1- Your Weapon gains Runes which declare it Excalibur, it a Dragon slaying weapon. 2 - You gain Spell resistance 3- You Gain 1 luck point 4 - Gain a Celestial Steed which resembles a White Warhorse. 5 - You gain proficieny with Martial weapons 6 - When you next are reduced to 0 hit points, you may choose to give up to 3 allies inspiration
4. The Monkey King 1 - Gain ally, This ally is a Horse, but use the stats for a Golden Dragon, only you may ride it it may ploymorph into a golden dragon if you die in battle 2 - Gain ally, This ally is a Wereboar, He is equiped with the magical 'Reaper' it appears to be a simple gardening hoe,but he claims it takes peoples souls 3 - Gain a spell scroll of Planar Binding 4- Gain a ally, this ally is a water Nyphm 5 - Gain the summon beast spell, this maybe used to only summon monkeys who will fight for you. 6 - Gain ally, This ally is a Immortal Celestial Fiend, When he is killed he immediately comes back to live at full hit points and 1 level higher. He equipped with a simple quater staff with a reach of 30ft instead of 5ft
5. Beowulf 1- Your strength is Increased to 24 2- You gain Favoured enemy choosen when you roll this 3- You gain amphibous and waterbreathing trais while in heavy armor, in addition heavy armor only slows you down in water while in combat 4- Expertise in Deception 5- Gain The Folk hero Feature. 6 - All encounters which drop Gold,Silver or copper or platnium, the amount of the pieces dropped are tripled.
6. Monty Pythons Quest for the holy grail 1- Gain a follower, they are halfling with 24 strength, and Haver's Handy sack, equiped with two coconuts. Will not fight. 2- Disengage becomes a free action but to gain this benefit you must Exclaim that your not running away 3 - When you take damage you may Proclaim it just a flesh wound and roll 1d10, reducing damage taken by the die roll (useable 5 times) 4 - You may cast Tasha's Hideous laugther Using cha for spell dc, once. 5- You Gain 3 Uses of Cutting words From the bard 6 - You Gain the Holy Hand grenade of Antioc (Legendary Artifact) 60/120 thrown. Choose a square within range, all enemy creatures within 60ft must make a DC25 Con save or be effect as if they had been hit by a weapon of slaying for their type, if there are more than one creature type effected, each creature is effected as though they were struck by a weapon of slaying spefhic to them. If the Holy hand grenade is used against a creature with sharp pointy teeth, the creature with sharp pointy teeth immediately is disgntergated with no save. Using this weapon takes both your bonus action and action.
As Honking Juggalo said, Your not playing against them, your goal is not to get a TPK, however thats not to say be kind and allow them to be dumb and abuse your kindness, if they hug a owl bear in the wild...it probably going to react badly, or if it doesn't, maybe it hugs them back...maybe you just wrote your first adventure hook. animals in this area seem to be more aware and intelligent and the players want to know why.
You wont be able to prepare for everything no one can, but improvise. the best tool a DM can have is becoming a Good liar, stealing from your players better ideas they mention during table talk. or simply the art of "I meant to do that"
As some of the others mentioned. Speak to the players, find out their playstyles, if you alot of differnt styles, try to develop archs or sections of large encounters, like dungeon crawls or social political segements which speak to a wide range of style.
Also ask your players to build adventurers, Great detailed backgrounds are great but if that person has no reason to go off and quest...it can make buy in hard or hard on you as a DM to get them to fit in.
Also find out what type of players they are, are the Power gamers, murder hobos, a Session zero is good for this, I have also seen some people play level 0 sessions with each indiviual character. To learn about their character and playstyle.
Be open of what you want from the game as well. Make sure though your not trying to kill them. but that death both has meaning and consequences behind it. Personally I have Matthew Mercer Taldorei campagin guide and excursively use his alternate death rules now and resurrection rules cause it makes death real an a moment of oh shit.
What works for me or any of the other experienced DM's may not for you and the best thing about being a dm is sometimes your **** ups, and learning and developing your style.
Make sure you know the rules, and Terms. When your characters reach level 3 and choose their archtypes, level 2 for some. level 1 for a cleric. read over the abilities and make sure you know.
Also dont be afarid to go against WoTC printed material if it doesnt work or you have a "better" way.
Time management is huge espically when the parties spilt off... it will happen yes it there memes of dont spilt the parties but it will happen at some point, some people would rather shop and some would rather stay at the bar and get drunk, gamble, see a show featuring lady bits.
If your going to do story quests per your players. Which is something i do, If there are any questions themes or desicions you want, talk it over with the player and get their approval. I did this recently with one of my players who is playing a Shifter from Unearthed arcana, who was owned as "dog" by a Noblemen in my world, however said noblemen used her as a hunting dog and his favourite hunt was people...he also would take of her lady bits periodically. This was something i wanted to clear with her not only cause she was a woman but because I didnt want to freak anyone out. with her story quest I actually discussed it with my whole party so that i made sure everyone was cool with these darker themes being explored in our game world and sessions.
I personally hate playing said noble and i feel dirty after doing so or writing sessions he is in...but The players realize in character the power he has over this PC , how her personality immediately shifts when around him to a subserviant and broken women which compared to her normal Barbarian character is huge adjustment. They party wants to kill him and on some level so does the Shifter PC but she also thinks it hopeless and that it wont slove anything, though she hates how when he around she reverts to her "slave" training and ways and cant be her confident, rage filled murder and vengeful self. IT kinda like the I thought of the perfect thing to say to him after he leaves a scene every time. LOL which has made a great dynamic.
Try to limit ums, ahs, sometimes you still use them as it hard not to or a pc asks random out of the blue questions but try to remove them unless it incharacter.
Use body langague if in person or on line as it will change how u handle that character dramatically if your sitting, hunched, straight slumped if you can do voices do it but be careful to remeber their voice
As others have suggested, the perhaps most important skill you can master is being able to improvise. Just remember, if you're not an expert at it to begin with, don't worry, you'll get better at it over time. First few campaigns I DMed I wasn't all that good at improv, but I got far better at it as I went along and now I can wing it with ease if I have to when my players go off the rails.
Also, some newer DMs can get hung up on trying to make NPCs distinct. I know some DMs that feel like they're not doing a good job if they can't do a bunch of different voices. In my experience, it's not different voices that players remember, it's mannerisms. Have a bookish scholarly NPC you want them to remember? Give the NPC a lisp or maybe a slight stutter, or if you wear glasses (or get a pair of reading glasses as a prop) be constantly adjusting them while talking as that NPC. Have a cowardly little thief the party goes to for info around town? Be constantly looking around or over your shoulder while talking as that NPC or flinch a bit every time a different player addresses that character. If you can do a bunch of different voices, that's great too, but don't hesitate to throw those mannerisms in the mix. There are plenty of times when my players forget an NPC's name, but they easily fall back on something like "hey, let's go talk to that twitchy guy at the inn."
DO NOT SHOW FAVORITISM! One player in our group is an INT-based Sorc/Pally, who is allowed to 'craft spells', has a hippogryph mount, knows 10 languages, has the shadowmonk's shadowstep ability (still don't know the 'justification' for that one...), is the party's main damager and main healer and (other than locks) main utility person (most traps are magic-based that have to be disspelled, not disarmed.) The other players? A rogue/assassin, who only finally got a surprise round snk atk when the dm played her character in her absence. A cleric who has his spells nerfed or rendered inert unless he roleplays prayer everyday (and who quit because of it.) A ranger w/ magic initiate owl familiar which was plane shifted away w/in hrs of first being summoned and inexplicably not allowed back in game for months, and then was nerfed with 'lowlight' vision instead of dark vision. A fighter who took damage, but even when healed still has a 'broken arm' that doesnt heal unless he finds a cleric and spends 9000 gp, and so is one-armed and cant use his glaive.
Your answer for one player cannot be YES, if your answer to all the other players is usually NO. Especially if those NO'S and YES'S deviate from the RAW. At this point, some of the players are just hanging back, because why bother when there's an army of one/ superman to do everything?
DO NOT SHOW FAVORITISM! One player in our group is an INT-based Sorc/Pally, who is allowed to 'craft spells', has a hippogryph mount, knows 10 languages, has the shadowmonk's shadowstep ability (still don't know the 'justification' for that one...), is the party's main damager and main healer and (other than locks) main utility person (most traps are magic-based that have to be disspelled, not disarmed.) The other players? A rogue/assassin, who only finally got a surprise round snk atk when the dm played her character in her absence. A cleric who has his spells nerfed or rendered inert unless he roleplays prayer everyday (and who quit because of it.) A ranger w/ magic initiate owl familiar which was plane shifted away w/in hrs of first being summoned and inexplicably not allowed back in game for months, and then was nerfed with 'lowlight' vision instead of dark vision. A fighter who took damage, but even when healed still has a 'broken arm' that doesnt heal unless he finds a cleric and spends 9000 gp, and so is one-armed and cant use his glaive.
Your answer for one player cannot be YES, if your answer to all the other players is usually NO. Especially if those NO'S and YES'S deviate from the RAW. At this point, some of the players are just hanging back, because why bother when there's an army of one/ superman to do everything?
Jesus Christ, what a terrible DM. The DM and that player need to have their solo campaign solo rather than acting like other players are welcome. Find a new DM.
I know this thread is kind of old, but I just read through it as a new DM myself. I was inspired to DM for a couple of reasons, but one is that I've been playing with an incredible DM for almost two years now. As a player, I like that my DM:
1. Isn't afraid to kill characters, constantly putting characters in deadly situations, but usually with some sort of out ("they're honorable, so if you surrender, they will imprison you..."). No deus ex machina, but players and characters alike are forced to think through the scenario. When you come out on top of an enemy you've been afraid of for two months, you leave feeling like a million bucks.
2. Gets excited when players foil his plans (or when incredible dice roles foil his plans). Awards points for style, balls, and solid RP - ie, entering an obviously trapped situation because of your character ideals. The DM always rewards this behavior. He also enjoys being challenged - hey, why would X be in Y location? It could be his idea all along, or it could have been a mistake; it doesn't matter, he always comes up with a great reason. It makes us feel like asking questions, rolling perception/knowledge, etc. are truly meaningful.
3. Walks us through the thinking of NPCs and mobs sometimes. When we're attacking one major opponent, for example, he might sort of think aloud huh, who would they attack first? One time my character and a partner used a potion of the giant (or something) even though she only had a borrowed mace and a sheet to wear. The NPCs immediately dispelled her potion, not the effect on her partner the actual figher/tank/dangerous one, because they looked at that and thought "she must have something up her sleeves, no one would be that stupid" when really like, we were just kinda kinda ballsy.
Deus ex Machina, means the god in the machine, which means, in literary terms, when an inexplicable- usually previously unrevealed- character or event or force of some kind literally swoops in from nowhere to save the protagonist from something, usually something that otherwise would be the end for the protagonist. Examples from popular fantasy literature include: the Eagles rescuing Bilbo, and later also Frodo & Sam in The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings; and Harry Potter's wand saving him at the end of several of the books.
Avoid this when DMing. Players do not want to feel powerless and insignificant while some greater power takes over and does all the rescuing/killing/whatever. If the DM is constantly pitting PC'S against encounters that are way too difficult for them to overcome on their own w/o help, that DM needs to reevaluate the CR process, and in the meantime, fudge numbers like crazy so it seems like the characters are doing things on their own.
I am a player in a current campaign. Many times we should have died and didn't. Every time it was on account of npc's saving us. Once, when we were all lvl 6 or so, the DM brought in a lvl 20 Paladin to one-shot a boss before 3 of 5 of the PC'S could even get to the fight. Never has the party been just the PC's. There is always at least one, if not several, npcs controlled by the DM with us. Making matters worse, he often roleplays them as questioning the players' decision-making about taking on an encounter right after rescuing them. "Perhaps you should be more careful," etc, when we were very clearly railroaded into said encounter.
Also, don't pit your players against impossible timelines. E.G., 'You must reach boss X in 30 minutes, or the whole town will die. You are 25 minutes away. You have no spell slots, no potions, almost no hit points, and virtually no hope of winning, let alone surviving. Go.' (And then it's at this point I will refer you to the Deus ex Machina.)
Bad.
On the flip, consider rewarding players for desired behavior, rather than complaining about the lack of it. If you want more role playing, reward good RP with xp, or magic items, or ice cream, or something. If you want players to be excited about puzzling out your devious traps or puzzles- xp, magic, something. Don't be the DM who ONLY rewards xp and magic upon surviving combat. That will train your players to only look forward to combat, and merely put up with the stuff that gets between them and combat.
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Let the players try anything, don't tell them no. They may fail at what it is they are attempting, but there isn't any reason they can't try it. If you haven't described something well enough and they ask if they can do something you think they should know they clearly cannot do, re-describe that section trying to make it sound extremely difficult/impossible, but if they still want to try anyway, let them.
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
If your players specify that they want to 'knock the guard unconscious,' and they succeed, do not then tell them that the guard is DEAD. Because- whoopsies, they never told the DM they wanted to stabilize him. Even though they specified 'knock out.' Even though you never allowed them a perception check to see if he was in danger of dying. So, now that player is a murderer, and you force an alignment change upon them. And they are a wanted criminal.
Do not set up story events that your pc's have no part in. They should not be spectators or bystanders in the big events. They should not be powerless to effect any change on the story while your npc's do everything.
Everything in here is really great advice, I have been considered the worst DM and the Best by certain groups i have been with and we are all flawed. But here some suggestions.
Either be great at improvisation or plan everything.
Encourage your players to take notes and you yourself should do this.
If your starting with a one shot or module. make sure you know it but be prepared to improvise anyway.
Your there to have fun to. So if it wacky and makes everyone laugh or have a good time let it slide.
If your going create your own magic items :) Make them fun or make them limited. also dont hand out alot of magic weapons unless you are prepared to explain it for story reasons.(i.e - I planned a level a beholder fight for my party of level 3 adventures, the beholder is CR 14 i believe. Through investigation they learned this beholder apparently had narcolepsy. I built in a mechanic where after each of his turns he had to make a con save or he fell alseep again. I also gave them a temporary dagger made from a unicorn horn and their Retribution feature in the side bar of the Monster manual. To make a Temporary Magic Dagger of Aberration slaying with 1 charge.)
They key i find to long lasting games and fun games is Player development of your world. If your playing in faerun this is largely done for you. However a habit i have gotten into recently is asking them to make 3 npcs, and I dont care how developed they are. some players give me just names and things like He they type of person whose a charlatan bard. for example.
In one of my most reasons games this lead to a character named Elva theran, who is played by linda. Who created a Wood elf Noble, who spefhically in her backstory ran away from her betrothed. The entire first arch among their exploration of the new land to which she and the others sailed to, was a prologue to the Drow war against the Wood elves for the insult of their Princess refusing to marry the Drow prince in my world. She has since married the drow prince and is trying to end the war as Queen of the Drow, however the Drow, have killed her grandmother a npc she made, imprisoned her sister a npc she made who was a army general, and Murdered her brother who is to be reincarnated into a Arracroka (however they spell it) I made Elva's Crown of Lolth a Simple Head band of intellect with some drow spell casting modifications.
Players as much as they may at times fear it, also really do want worlds which feel alive or have consequences to them. They want times where it silly. as well and I mean I allowed players to attack with Fishburgers as a thrown weapon which did 1 damage. to harpies they were fighting. I also allowed one of the players cats who is very vocal during are games if it funny grant the party inspiration at times.
You need to know your worlds rules, limits and expectations.
You should also know in a homebrew setting, if there any cultures or societies who disagree with these Rules or rejected them in place for their own.
Also fun magic items will be something your players always want to use. Be it a Weathering changing orb, which can be used or like the item below.
magic item - Leomund's Tiny Master Theratre. This Wooden box opens up to reveal a entire play stage, equiped with costume rooms, 10 puppets and various of puppet weapons, a stage and a red curtain, even little puppet attendees. When activated roll 1d6, That is the play which the puppets who become animated preform. It takes 1 hour to preform the play, at the end of that hour if you watched it compelation roll 1d6 and apply the effects, up to 4 people can watch any play at a time. Lemonud's Tiny Master theratre than must recharge for 7 days before use. However if during this time you may set the stage up again and insist on a encore. Roll 1d20, on 18,19,20 the agree to preform a encore of the last preformed play. on a 1 the timer resets and no encores will be preformed. All effects disappear after a long rest.
1. Romeo & Juliet
1 - Expertise in Persuasion
2 - 1 extra attack
3 - Expertise in Invetigation
4 - Expertise in Preception
5 - You gain a alchemist satchel which you can gain healing draughts from (see alchemist)
6 - The first time you die before your next long rest, you immediately recover full hit points though your still prone.
2. Midsummer night dreams
1 - Expertise in Preformance
2- Gain the wildshape feature, counting your class level as druid for deteriming use and CR
3- Expertise in Animal handling
4- Con Saving throw proficieny
5- Gain, Elvish, Slyvan and 1 other langague
6- Gain the use of Trickery domain, counting your levels as a cleric for determing spell casting.
3. Morte D'arthur
1- Your Weapon gains Runes which declare it Excalibur, it a Dragon slaying weapon.
2 - You gain Spell resistance
3- You Gain 1 luck point
4 - Gain a Celestial Steed which resembles a White Warhorse.
5 - You gain proficieny with Martial weapons
6 - When you next are reduced to 0 hit points, you may choose to give up to 3 allies inspiration
4. The Monkey King
1 - Gain ally, This ally is a Horse, but use the stats for a Golden Dragon, only you may ride it it may ploymorph into a golden dragon if you die in battle
2 - Gain ally, This ally is a Wereboar, He is equiped with the magical 'Reaper' it appears to be a simple gardening hoe,but he claims it takes peoples souls
3 - Gain a spell scroll of Planar Binding
4- Gain a ally, this ally is a water Nyphm
5 - Gain the summon beast spell, this maybe used to only summon monkeys who will fight for you.
6 - Gain ally, This ally is a Immortal Celestial Fiend, When he is killed he immediately comes back to live at full hit points and 1 level higher. He equipped with a simple quater staff with a reach of 30ft instead of 5ft
5. Beowulf
1- Your strength is Increased to 24
2- You gain Favoured enemy choosen when you roll this
3- You gain amphibous and waterbreathing trais while in heavy armor, in addition heavy armor only slows you down in water while in combat
4- Expertise in Deception
5- Gain The Folk hero Feature.
6 - All encounters which drop Gold,Silver or copper or platnium, the amount of the pieces dropped are tripled.
6. Monty Pythons Quest for the holy grail
1- Gain a follower, they are halfling with 24 strength, and Haver's Handy sack, equiped with two coconuts. Will not fight.
2- Disengage becomes a free action but to gain this benefit you must Exclaim that your not running away
3 - When you take damage you may Proclaim it just a flesh wound and roll 1d10, reducing damage taken by the die roll (useable 5 times)
4 - You may cast Tasha's Hideous laugther Using cha for spell dc, once.
5- You Gain 3 Uses of Cutting words From the bard
6 - You Gain the Holy Hand grenade of Antioc (Legendary Artifact) 60/120 thrown. Choose a square within range, all enemy creatures within 60ft must make a DC25 Con save or be effect as if they had been hit by a weapon of slaying for their type, if there are more than one creature type effected, each creature is effected as though they were struck by a weapon of slaying spefhic to them. If the Holy hand grenade is used against a creature with sharp pointy teeth, the creature with sharp pointy teeth immediately is disgntergated with no save. Using this weapon takes both your bonus action and action.
As Honking Juggalo said, Your not playing against them, your goal is not to get a TPK, however thats not to say be kind and allow them to be dumb and abuse your kindness, if they hug a owl bear in the wild...it probably going to react badly, or if it doesn't, maybe it hugs them back...maybe you just wrote your first adventure hook. animals in this area seem to be more aware and intelligent and the players want to know why.
You wont be able to prepare for everything no one can, but improvise. the best tool a DM can have is becoming a Good liar, stealing from your players better ideas they mention during table talk. or simply the art of "I meant to do that"
As some of the others mentioned. Speak to the players, find out their playstyles, if you alot of differnt styles, try to develop archs or sections of large encounters, like dungeon crawls or social political segements which speak to a wide range of style.
Also ask your players to build adventurers, Great detailed backgrounds are great but if that person has no reason to go off and quest...it can make buy in hard or hard on you as a DM to get them to fit in.
Also find out what type of players they are, are the Power gamers, murder hobos, a Session zero is good for this, I have also seen some people play level 0 sessions with each indiviual character. To learn about their character and playstyle.
Be open of what you want from the game as well.
Make sure though your not trying to kill them. but that death both has meaning and consequences behind it. Personally I have Matthew Mercer Taldorei campagin guide and excursively use his alternate death rules now and resurrection rules cause it makes death real an a moment of oh shit.
What works for me or any of the other experienced DM's may not for you and the best thing about being a dm is sometimes your **** ups, and learning and developing your style.
Make sure you know the rules, and Terms. When your characters reach level 3 and choose their archtypes, level 2 for some. level 1 for a cleric. read over the abilities and make sure you know.
Also dont be afarid to go against WoTC printed material if it doesnt work or you have a "better" way.
Time management is huge espically when the parties spilt off... it will happen yes it there memes of dont spilt the parties but it will happen at some point, some people would rather shop and some would rather stay at the bar and get drunk, gamble, see a show featuring lady bits.
If your going to do story quests per your players. Which is something i do, If there are any questions themes or desicions you want, talk it over with the player and get their approval. I did this recently with one of my players who is playing a Shifter from Unearthed arcana, who was owned as "dog" by a Noblemen in my world, however said noblemen used her as a hunting dog and his favourite hunt was people...he also would take of her lady bits periodically. This was something i wanted to clear with her not only cause she was a woman but because I didnt want to freak anyone out. with her story quest I actually discussed it with my whole party so that i made sure everyone was cool with these darker themes being explored in our game world and sessions.
I personally hate playing said noble and i feel dirty after doing so or writing sessions he is in...but The players realize in character the power he has over this PC , how her personality immediately shifts when around him to a subserviant and broken women which compared to her normal Barbarian character is huge adjustment. They party wants to kill him and on some level so does the Shifter PC but she also thinks it hopeless and that it wont slove anything, though she hates how when he around she reverts to her "slave" training and ways and cant be her confident, rage filled murder and vengeful self. IT kinda like the I thought of the perfect thing to say to him after he leaves a scene every time. LOL which has made a great dynamic.
Try to limit ums, ahs, sometimes you still use them as it hard not to or a pc asks random out of the blue questions but try to remove them unless it incharacter.
Use body langague if in person or on line as it will change how u handle that character dramatically if your sitting, hunched, straight slumped if you can do voices do it but be careful to remeber their voice
As others have suggested, the perhaps most important skill you can master is being able to improvise. Just remember, if you're not an expert at it to begin with, don't worry, you'll get better at it over time. First few campaigns I DMed I wasn't all that good at improv, but I got far better at it as I went along and now I can wing it with ease if I have to when my players go off the rails.
Also, some newer DMs can get hung up on trying to make NPCs distinct. I know some DMs that feel like they're not doing a good job if they can't do a bunch of different voices. In my experience, it's not different voices that players remember, it's mannerisms. Have a bookish scholarly NPC you want them to remember? Give the NPC a lisp or maybe a slight stutter, or if you wear glasses (or get a pair of reading glasses as a prop) be constantly adjusting them while talking as that NPC. Have a cowardly little thief the party goes to for info around town? Be constantly looking around or over your shoulder while talking as that NPC or flinch a bit every time a different player addresses that character. If you can do a bunch of different voices, that's great too, but don't hesitate to throw those mannerisms in the mix. There are plenty of times when my players forget an NPC's name, but they easily fall back on something like "hey, let's go talk to that twitchy guy at the inn."
DO NOT SHOW FAVORITISM! One player in our group is an INT-based Sorc/Pally, who is allowed to 'craft spells', has a hippogryph mount, knows 10 languages, has the shadowmonk's shadowstep ability (still don't know the 'justification' for that one...), is the party's main damager and main healer and (other than locks) main utility person (most traps are magic-based that have to be disspelled, not disarmed.) The other players? A rogue/assassin, who only finally got a surprise round snk atk when the dm played her character in her absence. A cleric who has his spells nerfed or rendered inert unless he roleplays prayer everyday (and who quit because of it.) A ranger w/ magic initiate owl familiar which was plane shifted away w/in hrs of first being summoned and inexplicably not allowed back in game for months, and then was nerfed with 'lowlight' vision instead of dark vision. A fighter who took damage, but even when healed still has a 'broken arm' that doesnt heal unless he finds a cleric and spends 9000 gp, and so is one-armed and cant use his glaive.
Your answer for one player cannot be YES, if your answer to all the other players is usually NO. Especially if those NO'S and YES'S deviate from the RAW. At this point, some of the players are just hanging back, because why bother when there's an army of one/ superman to do everything?
I know this thread is kind of old, but I just read through it as a new DM myself. I was inspired to DM for a couple of reasons, but one is that I've been playing with an incredible DM for almost two years now. As a player, I like that my DM:
1. Isn't afraid to kill characters, constantly putting characters in deadly situations, but usually with some sort of out ("they're honorable, so if you surrender, they will imprison you..."). No deus ex machina, but players and characters alike are forced to think through the scenario. When you come out on top of an enemy you've been afraid of for two months, you leave feeling like a million bucks.
2. Gets excited when players foil his plans (or when incredible dice roles foil his plans). Awards points for style, balls, and solid RP - ie, entering an obviously trapped situation because of your character ideals. The DM always rewards this behavior. He also enjoys being challenged - hey, why would X be in Y location? It could be his idea all along, or it could have been a mistake; it doesn't matter, he always comes up with a great reason. It makes us feel like asking questions, rolling perception/knowledge, etc. are truly meaningful.
3. Walks us through the thinking of NPCs and mobs sometimes. When we're attacking one major opponent, for example, he might sort of think aloud huh, who would they attack first? One time my character and a partner used a potion of the giant (or something) even though she only had a borrowed mace and a sheet to wear. The NPCs immediately dispelled her potion, not the effect on her partner the actual figher/tank/dangerous one, because they looked at that and thought "she must have something up her sleeves, no one would be that stupid" when really like, we were just kinda kinda ballsy.
Deus ex Machina, means the god in the machine, which means, in literary terms, when an inexplicable- usually previously unrevealed- character or event or force of some kind literally swoops in from nowhere to save the protagonist from something, usually something that otherwise would be the end for the protagonist. Examples from popular fantasy literature include: the Eagles rescuing Bilbo, and later also Frodo & Sam in The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings; and Harry Potter's wand saving him at the end of several of the books.
Avoid this when DMing. Players do not want to feel powerless and insignificant while some greater power takes over and does all the rescuing/killing/whatever. If the DM is constantly pitting PC'S against encounters that are way too difficult for them to overcome on their own w/o help, that DM needs to reevaluate the CR process, and in the meantime, fudge numbers like crazy so it seems like the characters are doing things on their own.
I am a player in a current campaign. Many times we should have died and didn't. Every time it was on account of npc's saving us. Once, when we were all lvl 6 or so, the DM brought in a lvl 20 Paladin to one-shot a boss before 3 of 5 of the PC'S could even get to the fight. Never has the party been just the PC's. There is always at least one, if not several, npcs controlled by the DM with us. Making matters worse, he often roleplays them as questioning the players' decision-making about taking on an encounter right after rescuing them. "Perhaps you should be more careful," etc, when we were very clearly railroaded into said encounter.
Also, don't pit your players against impossible timelines. E.G., 'You must reach boss X in 30 minutes, or the whole town will die. You are 25 minutes away. You have no spell slots, no potions, almost no hit points, and virtually no hope of winning, let alone surviving. Go.' (And then it's at this point I will refer you to the Deus ex Machina.)
Bad.
On the flip, consider rewarding players for desired behavior, rather than complaining about the lack of it. If you want more role playing, reward good RP with xp, or magic items, or ice cream, or something. If you want players to be excited about puzzling out your devious traps or puzzles- xp, magic, something. Don't be the DM who ONLY rewards xp and magic upon surviving combat. That will train your players to only look forward to combat, and merely put up with the stuff that gets between them and combat.