How to Not Suck as a Dungeon Master

Here's a shortlist I've compiled to allow Dungeon Masters (DMs) to create an enjoyable environment for all when playing D&D, Shadowrun, or any other tabletop RPG.


1.   Facilitate differences of play
One of the most annoying habits of a DM is that they try and railroad you into the way they want to play. Which is ridiculous because it's about the players not about the DM. You should adapt to the player's play styles, not your own. Allow players to explore, test the rules, or act out their character. This doesn't mean you can let them break the rules, but even allowing a player to attempt a futile action and failing, is much better than not being able to do anything at all. This is a mistake many DMs make, especially rookie DMs.

An example of what not to do was with a dear friend of mine. We'll call him Jimmy. Now Jimmy had this epic adventure planned for us and he wasn't going to let us mere players screw it up for him. No, he decided to try and control the adventure instead of letting ourselves create our own adventure. Granted, we were all learning how to play and DM this game, but it quickly turned into an agonising time when our more experienced friend called him out on it. Jimmy didn't like it, obviously, but our friend was right. You cannot decide how the players are going to play. If you can let players play the way they want, then everyone will be happy.

2.   Don't over plan; learn to improvise

This may seem like a backwards rule, but let me explain. In my experience DMing, I've found that if I have a perfectly detailed adventure, ripe with plot twists, epic monsters, and interesting characters, it often falls to the wayside when someone decides to try something stupid and roll a 20 (my house rules are rolling a 1 is an auto-fail in a REALLY bad way; a 20 is a you-defied-all-odds roll). 

"No matter how well-planned your adventure is, there will always be one player who will fuck it up."

For example, I had this awesome quest laid out for this group of mine. Unfortunately, only 2 of 5 players could make it but we decided to play anyways. I had this idea of a side quest for such an occasion. It was perfect. Everything was ready...then within minutes of starting it all came crashing down. The quest started out with the adventurers talking to this nun about some of her sisters disappearing in the night, and she asked them for help. One of the players was a 'try and break the game' sort of player and decided to throw this demon blood on the nun (he collected it from an earlier play session). He rolled a 20. Of course he did. So I had to come up with something on the spot. I cannot say that he didn't hit her with it, or that it had no effect. You're putting an evil, otherworldly substance on a person of faith; something had to happen. I proclaimed that she started to melt into this thick goo-like substance and a portal into the netherworld opened up beneath her, pulling her mass of ooze inside. The same player next turn says, "I jump in it". I let him try, of course. What sort of DM would say no to that! An asshole that's who. Again...natural 20. He jumps in and the other player, stunned, also rolls a 20 and jumps in. This is an ordeal now.

For the next 2 hours, I had this two-man team running around the netherworld killing monsters in a creepy, sadistic environment. It was all improvised and it was fucking awesome. The overall point I'm making here is this: No matter how well-planned your adventure is, there will always be one player who will fuck it up. And the great part is, that's okay. I had more fun DMing that session than the rest of my over planned adventures. Since that day, I've learnt to have a basic plan and story line, plan for contingencies, then be able to hopefully improvise the rest. It's a great way to learn how to think on your feet.

3. Don't be a dick

This rule is much more up to interpretation, but I felt like invoking Wheaton's Law to help describe this. Remember that as a DM, your goal is to be tough, but fair, allow the players to play how they want within the rules of the game, and for everyone (including you) to have a good time. This does not mean that you, the all-powerful DM, can decide to kill characters on a whim or send your party into monsters who will kill them in one-hit. That is not fun (most of the time). If a player needs a roll of 20 to do something awesome, but he rolls a 19, perhaps explain that he failed the action, but is able to try again next turn since he almost made it the first time. Setting up your party for success, while not being too lenient, is something that is learnt over time and changes from party-to-party about what's an acceptable level of difficulty. In short, don't be a dick just because you control the monsters.

This is by no means a complete or even good list, but it's what works for me. It might work for you too. My advice if you want to start DMing: play with some good DMs. You'll learn more from observing how they run the adventure than by reading about it.

Fin.