5 Tips for New Dungeon Masters

So you’re a new DM, and you don’t know if you’ll be good at the role or not. Don’t worry, though, because DMing is a series of making and learning from mistakes. If you’re looking tips on how to be a better DM, then I imagine you’ve already gone over the basics like ‘knowing the rules’ and ‘understanding stat blocks’ and such. This post is meant to go a little bit deeper and focus on the roleplay experience of tabletop games, which is something many people seem to neglect. Let’s get started!

1.) Yes, and / No, but

This concept is integral to the improv acting process, and it is dead simple. Whenever someone says something that establishes something new about the world or the situation your players find themselves in, it is very important to go along with it. Nothing feels worse than being completely shut down when trying to do something.

There are two variations, and I’ll go over each one separately. The “Yes, and” variation is an affirmative take on whatever the player says. It establishes that what the player said is true within your world, and then you build on it with the second part.

“This town is filled with crooks and thieves.” → “Yeah, I was robbed here last time I visited. I was lucky to escape with my life!”

The second variation is “No, but”, but the important part about this variation is that it doesn’t shut the player’s idea down fully and completely. It takes what the player says, and changes it from a complete truth to a matter of perception.

“This town is filled with crooks and thieves.” → “This town does have a reputation for being scummy, BUT it’s only the wharf district that is crime-ridden. The rest of the town is quite lovely.”

You can see how both can build on the world and the players’ understanding of the setting in different ways, and they both feel natural without getting combative.

2.) Take notes about what the players say

Players love it when their backstory has an impact on the campaign. Keep a note of what each player character’s backstory is, how the player reacts to certain events in the campaign, or if a player says something intriguing. Let’s say a player makes an off-handed comment about his parents being killed in a war a decade ago, and your campaign takes a turn into the nation that slew that player character’s parents. Why not have the man who did it show up? You wouldn’t have that personal connection between player and campaign if you didn’t note down that off-handed comment.

3.) Improv can flesh out your world

This one requires just a tiny story. I recently ran a campaign based on Fallout, but in a fantasy setting. Instead of nukes destroying the world, it was wizards. Very cool, I might write about it in the future. But the setting isn’t what this point is about. We had a tiefling in the party with horns and wings, so she was called a “demon deer” by the other party members. The tiefling, Meri, objected, saying that “deer don’t have wings.”

This is where the interesting thing happened.

My tongue got twisted in my mouth, and I replied in character “Not anymore.”

I didn’t back track. I didn’t say I mispoke. I just rolled with it. Now I have an entire species of extinct deer in my world that used to have wings. That’s the power of improv if you just let it happen. Those deer will be coming back in a later session, when my players start to run into temporal anomalies.

4.) Your job is to make sure the players have fun

Any TTRPG game is a collaborative narrative experience between you and the party. Some games are difficult, and the DM is trying to kill the party, but with so many tools at the DMs disposal, if he was to actually try to kill his player characters he could do it instantly. The goal is to make sure the players are having fun. And the players have fun when they feel like they have control over their actions and outcomes. In other words, player agency is key for your party to have fun. Each table will have different definitions of what fun is, however, and that’s important to establish before the campaign even starts. My current group loves the roleplaying and inter-personal relationship aspect of the game more than the actual dice rolling, so we focus more on that than combat. It’s been a blast.

5.) Flub rolls for the narrative

Did your Barbarian attempt to do something super creative and badass, but he needs to make an impossibly high DC to succeed? Would the story be much more enjoyable if he did succeed? Then the DC doesn’t have to be so high, or you could give the player advantage for being so creative. You’re the DM, you’re the god at the table. You’re trying to make good memories, and if the best memory will be the Barbarian being a badass, then you should try to facilitate that to the best of your ability. Without ruining the experience, of course. Winning all the time lessens the impact of it, after all.

6.) BONUS: Communication is necessary

This is a secret bonus tip that is important both at the table and away from it. Communication is key for everything, everywhere. Setting expectations about what the campaign is going to be, communicating with the party about composition and what everyone’s playing, and even being able to tie character backstories together are just a few examples of how good communication can enhance the game for everyone.

Outside of the game, making sure everyone is happy with the campaign, quashing any disagreements or frustrations before they can explode, or simply just checking in to reaffirm friendships are all super important aspects of communication. And it goes beyond just the party as well. Learn to communicate in your life, and you’ll quickly find that people treat you better, you get what you want easier, and you’ll feel happier about your friendships and connections. And yourself.

You now have a few more things in your head to consider. The next step is to implement at least one of these 5 (6) tips into your next session. Or your first session, if you’re still brand new to the hobby. If you keep just one of these tips in the back of your mind when you’re DMing, your players will think you’re a natural DM and you were meant to be one. A fair warning, though, once people know you’re a good DM the chances of you playing as a player drop pretty substantially. Welcome to the head of the table, DM! It’s the start of a new era for you.