DM Tips to other DMs

[Rudar Dimble]

The DM has to find a balance between planning and improvising (don't know whether this is proper english ).

If you plan too much and players are doing something unexpected (remember they are humans, no machines) your campaign could be ruined.

If you don't plan at all, the story becomes confusing and not credible.

This balance can only be found by practise, practise and some more practise.

And remember, the goal of playing is:
HAVING FUN!!!! Give the players what they want. (high-level vs. low-level, rpg vs. lots of fights, etc)

[golem]

I have been a DM for seven years, a busy one, and I have seen many different kinds of players.

The main rule when DMing a game is this: Do not forget that your players are sentient human beings who reflect their personalities in their characters. I know a player who never played anything but a warrior for five years. This has several important effects in a session.

Also players are inclined to deter from the main plot continuosly. So my advice is 'never plan every part of your game'. This requires deep knowledge of the setting in which you play. (Somethings are not easy ) Only then you can handle every instant action the players take.

Core rules are just guidelines. Never stuck to them, 'cos they can not handle every situation you encounter.

Remember to behave TRUE NEUTRAL to your players. Do not be so harsh, also not so merciful. Punish them if they deserve. Mighty heroes are not found so often anyway

In short players are naughty people who keep on destroying your plans It just takes a little time to get used to handle them well.

One last thing: Experience is everything

[Tael_nightwolf]

I really think these tips will help out in my DMing perfetion since I am just beginning DMing

[Craig]

When planning you adventures calculate the levels of you players, whether or not they go up.

[Kevka]

Try to involve everyone who's playing. I had quiet players in the past who won't do anything unless instruted. It gets really irritating.

I also get lots of Munchkin players, who's sole purpose is to be the most powerful player. I don't tolorate that. First I warn them, then I send my "specail Wraith". Munckin players are not afraid of death, but level draining. They will cak there pants just thinking of being a level behind every one else.

[Serra_Angel]

Here's a tip. Always have some NPC (preferably epic level) to save the PC's asses if they do something stupid. Or use it to give them quests. When we asked our DM's NPC why he wanted us to do it, he said, "Because the deities won't allow me to do it" (he's the first archangel.... what the hell do you expect) and we are still going in that campiegn. having to play during lunch at high school is bad sometimes, such as when someone who is borrowing the MM forgets to bring it back.... (btw we are freshmen, and no we don't have cars). And, some of the PC's are stupid as hell. in the beginning, the cleric shot the fighter/wizard in the back with a composite longbow. then the fighter killed the cleric. damn it we lost our cleric lol. and preferably MEMORIZE the NPC's stats. it will save you lots of time. give them doomsday spells if you like. use them to save the PCs from the prismatic dragon they pissed off. lol

[Rob-hin]

Originally posted by Serra_Angel
Here's a tip. Always have some NPC (preferably epic level) to save the PC's asses if they do something stupid. lol

Bad idea...
It will take the pleasure out of the game. Whatever the players do won't matter since there is this uber guy (or gall ) will save their butts. Besides, if they do something stupid, they deserve to die. It will make the game more exciting for them as they'll do anything to keep themselves from getting killed.

[Kevka]

If it's an emergancy , you can have NPC's jump in to help.

But ONLY help.

Have them heal the party a little or cast a spell like bless.

Then the players can finish off the badies themself.

[Mattaeus]

When I DM’d I stick to a few good rules

1. Never, and I mean NEVER let a player bring in a character from another game. Transferring over the name exp lvl are fine and a choice of one or 2 magic’s if required and reroll stats. The reason I say this is because some players (Munchkins) think that they should be the most powerful character in the party and be able to do what they want in the campaign and they cheat. To this day I really don’t understand why not having a powerful and all mighty toon is detrimental to ones psyche.

2. Supervise all character creations and rolls. Know one ever got 3 18 rolls in a row without me watching, and keep notes on character stats, magic, HPs and skills.

3. Keep notes! Have a log book, write everything down that’s important; like major NPCs, dates, hoards, unfinished quests, unresolved situations, and as stated in 2. The more organized you are the harder it is for that 5th lvl toon to say “What do you mean you don’t remember giving me that +10 Holy Defender of Demon Slaying??”

4. Giving exp for not only killing monsters but evading them or getting out of a tough situation. If you show the characters that there are other ways of getting exp without killing everything they see, they become more willing to Role-play.

5. Now on the other hand a well played monster can be a lot of fun. Try taking that single monster against the party and using you brain to try to defeat them, or take a small party of low lvl monsters and use tactics. Iv mad a party of 4 6th lvls squirm from ½ a dozen Orcs that had high ground as an advantage as well as 50 to 90 percent cover and using Bows.

6. Don’t give too much at once! Dragon hordes are fun but they usually give WAY too much. I know your saying you don’t have to roll what they tell you to in the book. But its fun to! Especially when they see there treasure melt befor them from one to many dragon breaths…..it easily turns that 40,000 gold and platinum (not to mention the 300,000 copper) into a shiny new floor for that damp dingy cave!! Saves for anything magical and any gems as well as percent for how much platinum/gold/silver/copper where destroyed. I usually roll 2d4x10 as a start and dwindle down from there. Besides! If they got all that gold where the hell would they put it!!

7. Colorful NPCs, and plots as well as a good story line are good ways to keep your players interested. If they are interested in the story and want to see what happens they need to play right? But try to remember that you are the story teller and they are the players in you world; what they do and how they act change what the world is like around them, and you can never know for sure what the players are going to do.

8. I believe in being fare and giving chances in the game. I rarely kill a party off with no way out. For instance I had a mid lvl party get surprised by a haunt, well after a lot of bad save through the party got whipped out! Not killed just paralyzed until they where finished draining them at which point they would become part of the undead. The party in question had lackeys…followers, which were back at camp. Even though they were not even half there level they did have a number of them. To be fair I let the party play them as they went to rescue the heroes and put there fate back into the players hands.

9. Now stupidity on the other hand! If your players think there immortal and do acts of utter stupidity then they should be punished! A pally walks into a bar. To show off to his friends in a over full bar he pulls out a knife (not proficient in it) and throws it into a table to mark his territory and proudly says “Well sit here!” Fumbling his roll he misses the table and with a loud shriek a peasant grabs his chest as blood spits forth from his mouth. Within moments the bar becomes silent with anger as the parts path to the table is blocked with onlookers…they see the peasant slump forward. (surprise roll) within seconds of the death a roar begins, a chair flies across the room as the patrons become enraged. *combat round* …….The pally lost his paladin hood and forced change of alignment. Another piece of stupidity was a young mage with a wish ring! (I love them!) Wished a dragon hoard to be teleported into his tower. He specified the floor above him….45thousand tones of copper/silver/gold/platinum (it was a multiple dragon hoard) suddenly appeared and filled the next 4 levels above him. He heard a rumble and felt the floor shift under him, as he stood there waiting for it to stop he seen that one of the support walls next to him was vibrating and cracking….suddenly with tremendous force the center beam explodes into shards. I turned to him and asked what he was going to do…he replied “I’m going to wait and see if it looks like the floors going to come down”….you can use you imagination for what happened LOL.

But most of all HAVE FUN. If your not having fun something has to change

[drowassasin]

I always like to do what I call double DMing, which is where you get two people that work together on a storyline, then one DM presents the storyline as an adventure, and the other DM helps with details such as monsters, etc. because sometimes it can get confusing if you are trying to figure out what six people are doing as well as what the monsters are going to do in any situation. This may not work for everyone, but it really is worth a try. It has almost always worked in my group. Also, if the players are trying to take a break, let them break for a while, but eventually they either need to come back to the game or clean up. One more thing, don't continue an adventure your players are obviously bored in doing.
- "Aramil"
-The unkown

[FilipeTeles]

Put famous characters in your game(like Halaster,Szass Tam)and try to continue your campaign without making the players do another char everytime.This is a lot boring........
Sometimes your players could have a misterious power but because of this power the have to flee everytime because people are tryng to kill him(like baldur's gate),don't make them another normal adventurer...........

[VaniKoro]

1) Bring your players into the game by using props. It can really make the game seem real if instead of just telling your players they receive a blood stained scroll from the bishop, you actually hand them a blood stained scroll from the bishop. Use some calligraphy, age the paper, add water, fire, or blood stains as appropriate. You can give them a burnt map with dwarven runes on it that they have to figure out how to decipher (hired NPC for example, or maybe one of the group speaks that form of dwarvish?).

Originally posted by Rob-hin
Bad idea...
It will take the pleasure out of the game. Whatever the players do won't matter since there is this uber guy (or gall ) will save their butts. Besides, if they do something stupid, they deserve to die. It will make the game more exciting for them as they'll do anything to keep themselves from getting killed.

Agreed.

[Elgoras]

1. if players are just searching for treasure hide a valuble item and if they pick it up have it end up bing a animated object. Ex. under a table theres a stased mitheril long sword if player finds it have it be animatered object and lung at the played.

2. if the paty is fighting a battle and a player isn't helping have a assasen vine grab him from behide and if the players don't help him he dies but if they do help him a player gets slamed into a coner and gaged on

[Rob-hin]

Originally posted by Elgoras
1. if players are just searching for treasure hide a valuble item and if they pick it up have it end up bing a animated object. Ex. under a table theres a stased mitheril long sword if player finds it have it be animatered object and lung at the played.

I planned something like this too, the whole room had to come alive. A golem, animated objects and a .... forgot the name (a sort of shapeshifter that looks like objects and uses sticky slime)
Unfortunately, the players were a bit beat up and I desided to only use a weak golem and the sifter, it was still pretty cool though.

[Mulligan]

Originally posted by Elgoras
1. if players are just searching for treasure hide a valuble item and if they pick it up have it end up bing a animated object. Ex. under a table theres a stased mitheril long sword if player finds it have it be animatered object and lung at the played.

2. if the paty is fighting a battle and a player isn't helping have a assasen vine grab him from behide and if the players don't help him he dies but if they do help him a player gets slamed into a coner and gaged on

1 Bad advice. Players should not search for treasure unless they are in an interesting, SAFE area or they have defeated some foes, but to PUNISH them for doing it are wrong IMO.

2 Very bad advice. If you do this many times you'll end up playing as DM without players..... If players don't help he DIES ? No Save ? No Escape ? No way of saying "i erred", "i'm back on track?". Don't go there....

I am a DM of 16 years now, and this thread is full of good advice, I'm also a player, and i've made lot's of bad descisions over the years, but my group is content, and that satifies me.

I just wan't to give a really horrible example of DM'ing, from when i was younger, with a crazy DM.

In one session we met both Jesus and Hitler and did the "Alice in Wonderland" adventure, all inside a spaceship that'd crashed. And when players complained he did one amazingly horrible thing; he took a candy in his mouth and rolled it around in an ashtray full of ash and promised 10.000 XP for anyone eating it !!

DON'T EVER GO THERE !!!

After this session i left for good and started my own game, 15 years back and that game (my) still runs. Occasionally i tire of beeing DM, then my world is open for the players to run mini-campaigns in, or we play modules that can fit anywhere. One of my best friend is an Amazing "Dark Sun" DM, but he don't know much about rules, so we help eachother.

The best advice i can give is:

1-) Listen to your players, their actions affect your game-world as much as it affects them.

2-) You are there to help others have fun. If you remember this it's easy to share the fun.

3-) Tweak the rules, always. When something doesn't work as you like, make it work, and be fair.

4-) When all players/party's agree something's broken, like the Ranger in 3E/3.5 D&D, fix it with your own tweaks, but be careful of unbalancing effects.

5-) Have the Player's actions affect the world; new spell invented ? unless secret have Mage-guilds inquire. Pc's did something really STUPID ? Let them suffer for their actions, but don't kill them, instead let them have a chance to remedy themselves ( a new quest ?).

6-) above all : Have Fun