DM Tips to other DMs

[Maeglor]

setting & practicals

As all DM's have to manage their prep time - for both their and the players' sanity, it's always a good idea to focus on details that will be the most useful and versatile. One of the best I've found is setting. By that I mean both the terrain/ecology and the human (or otherwise intelligent) aspect to the world your players are in. If you spend a lot of time developing this, it gives a load of benifits:

1) Details, details.. Nothing helps getting into the role-playing like feeling you're actually there, and nothing does that like detail. The more descriptive you can be, whether its the color of the trees, or the myriad factions of the bartending guild, the less we feel like we're goofy kids sitting in a basement.

2) Motivation. Knowing the world your NPC's/monsters are in lets you know why they act the way they do. This allows for a lot of sponteneity encounter-wise. Say you roll an ecalypse (shadow horse)... If you're in the deepest, darkest corner of the plane of shadow, it'll hide. If you're in the night layer of the beastlands and exotic hunters abound, it might have merely lost its owner and be friendly. Knowing setting gives you a solid foundation for building motivation onto random (or unexpected PC-driven) events. And if you want your campaign to have a realistic, slightly chaotic feel, you'll need plenty of random or unexpected (by you, the DM) events. This adds to the whole idea that the players are running the story just as much as you are - i.e. you don't know everything that is going to happen.

3) Innovation. Knowing where they are gives the players an edge when trying to be creative in their actions. You can't very well think to knock a pillar onto a chained basilisk without noticing that the pillar has a discolored, crumbly patch on one side.

There are plenty of other advantages, but I think these get the idea across. Oh, and here's a practical map-making idea I got from a friend last year. Take a sheet of poster board, draw a grid, and laminate it. Use dry-erase markers to draw terrain on it for your PC's. Feel free to add pillows, books, lincoln logs, etc. to fill in terrain. It makes for an easily changeable, but solid way of conveying the setting.

[MikeCooper]

dont think that dm'ing an evil party is easy... you will get yourself in way over your head and than regret ever playing.... Especially if you have good roll players. My group decided to start a new campaign and all the players would be evil and eventaully become a party, after like 10 sessions we were finally grouped... Than once we were grouped, my character taking on "the monster personna" ended up killed 3 of the party members and dying to the last one. Campaign over...

[Magpie]

The main thing in DMing is to be able to describe a world in words and twist it into a spectacular adventure, instead of die and numbers.

[Rudar Dimble]

Make sure the world lives. When do PC's go wandering the planes and return to their home city after years, have some girl that used to be the youth-friend of one of the PC's get married with the PC's former (youth)nemesiss.

Make sure you know everything about your own world, escpecially NPC's.

Have a note ready with ten male names and ten female names, in case you have to come up with a name for a NPC. If you have to think about a name, it takes away the credibility of the NPC

It's cool to meet a (high level) NPC who seems to know everything about the PC's and who apparently even speaks the drow language, when there is a drow PC. But don't make every 10+ level mage be omniscent. It's very frustrating for the PC's and not very credible (was your own 16th lvl mage omniscent...NO!)

Prepare a few random mini-quests in advance, so you can throw them in, whenever you like.

And last....credibility, credibility, credibility, and oh, ehm...credibility!

[Mr.Waesel]

Remember that the players can leave at any time.

[Math Mannaman]

My advise is to write down creature and monster Stats before the game on some scratch paper. Nother better than playing a game and seeing a DM pick up the moster manual....hmmmm.....that will really take the effect out of "all of the sudden..."

[AarronIkarus]

Here's one for ya'...

Let the players run the game. I don't mean let them be the DM, but let them decide how the game will go. They are the one's whose lives depend on how well they play. Let them be the ones who make the decisions. Granted, this makes for much more work for the DM as he/she needs to have a considerable store of backup material ready if the players choose a path other than the main quest/adventure, but it does allow for many more opportunities for good roleplaying.

[AarronIkarus]

Yet another...

To go along with the 'avoid powergaming', avoid the Monty Haul style, too. Getting treasure is fun, but if the characters get too much, too fast, it kind of defeats the purpose of going on further adventures.

[thekyngdoms]

[QUOTE=AarronIkarus]To go along with the 'avoid powergaming', avoid the Monty Haul style, too. Getting treasure is fun, but if the characters get too much, too fast, it kind of defeats the purpose of going on further adventures.[/QUOTE]

I agree.

My tips:

1) Have good adventures that keep your players on their toes and entertained. Nothing worse than coming away from a session asking yourself why you'd bothered turning up at all. I played in a game like that and it was awful. I quit in the end and found a new group. Much more entertaining and enjoyable

2) Balance. Keep your games balanced - from magic items, to encounters, to party treasure. Imbalance will just kill the fun eventually. Either the players will get slaughtered or they'll slaughter everything in sight. Either way, they'll soon get bored.

3) Be fair. It's not an us versus them game. And players hate it when they think you're being underhand. It can lead to all sorts of tensions within the group.

4) Know the basics of the rules. It really helps. We all make mistakes and there are plenty of times where the RAW just don't cut it, but having a grasp of the rules will keep things flowing and give the players confidence that you know what you're talking about

5) Have fun. Others have said, but it's worth mentioning again. If it ain't fun, then change things around. Not every session can be spectacular, but if the majority are just plain dull, then you need to sit down and spice things up a little.

6) Put a little effort into it. In my experience, the most boring campaigns are those where the DMs just don't do any work. It just becomes a rambling, endless procession of illogical encounters and implausible plots.

[Oskatat]

For an evil campain:
Let the players know, thoroughly, that there is evil and evil:
Evil for the sake of evil (psychopathic mass murderer)
Evil to accomplish a (evil) goal (ruthless murder of a competitor)

If an evil party comes together, make sure they have something in common, like a common goal, to keep them cooperating, plus someone who would toast/fry/squash/break/eat them if they fail or turn against each other. They are evil, so friendship might not work (loyalty, friendship and love are still possible!!! not all evil characters are demon/devil like), but fear should do the trick just fine. And in the end they can go kill this master who's been terrorizing them together (unless its a god).

*****
I had fun with a drow "lord" (lady in fact) who charged the party to gather more 'power' for her, like an army or strong adventurers. She charged them not to squable and had an army of drow, drow assasins and other connections to find traitors of her cause, and killing (one of) the others was betrayal. It happened once, but the players learned from his fate (graphic description of his fate only available for players and DMs above 18).
*****

One other tip, dont get upset if players correct you. You are human, you make mistakes, you learn from mistakes. How would you know you made a mistake if one of the players wasnt kind enough to point it out? This excludes smarta$$ing

[Nekasrof]

Getting into the game

Perhaps some of these are a given, but here are some things I find helpful when DMing d20 Modern

1. I always use character names, and never player names. It's just one little touch that helps people get into their characters. I never ask a player what their character is doing, I simply refer to the player as though they are the character.

2. I like to add in minor details. Adding and creating a deep setting gives the characters room to explore. Example: The sky at night has a green arch spreading from the northern horizon to the southern horizon that appears at dusk and slowly moves across the sky, disappearing at dawn. When I first described the arch, I was being artistic, but the players quickly started using it to tell time and I am certain it will play a major role in future quests.

3. i like to describe combat and give wounds. I answer questions like "What stopped the attack from being successful?" Did the character dodge, did he use his shield, did the blow glance off his natural armor, did his inertial barrier stop the attack, or did the enemy outright miss with the character having to do anything? Example: If a level one fast character with 10 hit points is hit for 8 damage, he just got seriously messed up. Depending on the source of the damage (slashing, piercing, fire, bludgening), the sort of scarswill vary, but that hit is going to leave a mark if it is not healed with magic, and sometimes I even have magically healed wounds leave trace marks.

[FlashBack]

Well i'm a DM fairly short and a player for about a Year, i've seen 2 different styles of Dmíng from my friends when i was player:
1: making it up while sitting there, the weirdest situations and EVERYTHING was allowed.
2: Planning everything, reading everything 3 times, if there is a small discussions about a rule, look it op (which takes lots of time..) and the fun Rp'ing wasn't really allowed (like casting a lot of Illusions on 1 person for 1 day, he would smack your ass... )

well, since i've been a Dm, (i play 3.0 and 3.5 in a mix...) i tried to compromis it all, i know the rules fairly well, and if there is a discussion about a rule, i simply make up a compromis! this has gone fairly well now, but the players want more and more...(lvl 11) i've got 2 players who play almost perfectly, going allong with my story not TOO much f***ing around...but the rest is just doing what they want, not even aware of the story...
i put some reasonable amount of monsters in, and some role-playing, there own choices are sometimes a problem so i have to forbid it sometimes, also 2 players always want to kill 1 player if he doesn't gives his money or something like that, what should i do against it...??

[Pellinore]

This all sounds like good advice from good DMs. I have been playing since I was 6 and I am 35 now... and I have seen some great, good and terrible DMs. Creating paranoia in players is priceless. Guiding the players to the right end of an adventure is your goal but it is also your goal to make it hard on them and to test their abilities and their creativeness. If its not a challenge, they will grow very bored very fast.

I have seen first time players out think seasoned veterans by having a fresh outlook. Help new players out and if you have a group of old players and a new one...make the new person feel as if they are important and not just a tag along. I usually aim a lot of the plot and dialog their way and nudge things toward their character to solve. Good players should help in this, too.

More advice...beware the players when they huddle up in a corner before a big battle. They can come up with some wonderful tactics! The DM should also play monsters with the intelligence they have and not just an mindless obstacle. I one whipped a level 12 party with some kobolds who were just 4 hp but nasty cunning.

[Oskatat]

I know. Kobolds are fun. 6 4hp kobolds in a clearing make a lvl 6 encounter, with all the traps and tricks they had, including passages for small creatures only in dense undergrowth.
since It probably should be another thread, like 'encounter ideas, I'll stop now.

For online forum campaigns, making descriptions is sometimes too much work, which holds up the game. A nice option is to make another thread where you only can post and make a story version of the adventure there. Players can then enjoy the actual playing and then (if you're a decent writer) enjoy the graphic descriptions

[Tarl the Wicked]

Once and Future DM

I've been a DM off and on for several years. In fact, my sign is a charicter from a game I used to play in (A Lawful/Evil Priest of Set, boy what fun!)
I currently run a game that has charicters from about 8 years of campaigning from the group. I have incorporated many aspects of Planescape and Plane hoping is common.
Now, that said,
Many of my players have extremely powerful charicters, but regardless of how powerful a charicter is always remember that on his home Plane, a God is, well, a God/ you can't Kill him.
I often put my players in very dangerous positions. It is not unusual to have a party lose members to being captured or killed. (Many spells and abilities will keep your player from losing the charicter, but once he is gone from the adventure I do not allow him to return). All my players have multipul charicters. If the goup they are running falls/is captured/incapacitated, they can always come to rescue them with another group.
On the point of trying to kill your players charicters. If you really wanted to it would not be to hard, but set up my monsters/encouters for the high level group as if THEY are the monsters and I want my charicters to survive. This makes your monsters tough without being overpowering.
On the subject of the rules being guide lines, I agree. This can also apply to the monster manuals. Just becaus it says Orcs are 1 hit die, does not mean that there are not 10 or even 100 hit die Orcs out there. Also, playing in the pplanes, keep in mind that the higher level Demons and Devils from the manuals can be 'types' or 'classes', not single individuals.
Finally, I always give my players an out. Most of my adventures can be solved with or without violence. If the players really work at it they can get the scroll from the lich king without killing him.

[Tarl the Wicked]

Add on

Something I left out. If your players want to roll up new charicters and run them with the old, let them, good players can keep weak charicters alive running with higher level party members. This will give you the realism (sp?) of not always having all you players being the same level.

[Meh]

one ting that I liked when My DMs incorperated it, food and sleep. Often people get so in depth they forget to be realistic, here is one scenario that happened in a campain with the said DM:

Player: I cast magic missle at the two orcs, two at the bigger one, one at the small one.

DM: you sucessfully cast the spell, but due to your lack of food you have had these dreary day in the desert, you lose you cocentration and the missles go astray, dissapearing with a slight poof in the sand.

This is realistic, as it reminds players to stock up on provisions as you would have to in an adventure.

[Oskatat]

sleep is always in. it gives your persuing monsters time to catch up and set an ambush

and yes, penalties for such things are usualy good. though I would never say a magic missile missed personaly. many things miss, but magic missile is unique in that its an always hit, except when dealing with magical barriers as shield

[Amari Evengfall]

I have been the only DM of any group I have played in for eight years, and am proud to say I have introduced many people to D@D.my quote is even a line one of my DMPC's have said.my best adivce to remember that everyone has a mind and lives in this world. they are not there for the pc's to talk to for a monet or to kill, some have families and friends, and most people are simple.remember is that no one would attack somebody for no reason, even if it's as simple as they like to hear people scream. it helps if characters face someone more powerful then them. if they are smart, they may try to figure out why they are attacking and work it out.

I also like to give the NP'S the same advantages I give the pc's and PC's the same disadvantages I give to NPC's



and of course, beware the blue lightening. how you use it it you write on a piece of paper
"you have been hit by blue lightening," it deals hp plus con D100 damage. a fortitude saving throw will take off a quater of a half of one percent damage. I have never been hit with it, nor have I ever used it, but I know a few who have and most refuse to ever play again.

[Pellinore]

As a DM, I have always rewarded intelligence and insight. I would give greater rewards to parties who found peaceful solutions to a problem rather than fighting.