We all know and love the stories created by amazing dungeon masters like Matt Mercer and Brenden Lee Mulligan, but how does someone like me become someone like them? What are the fundamentals of being a dungeon master? Naturally, after doing a podcast like How to Be a Better DM for so long, I would have some thoughts on the matter. So here is my short list of dungeon master fundamentals that every prospective DM should start working on to become the very best dungeon master possible!
Before going on, I want to let you know though that in no way do I believe that this list is exhaustive or comprehensive. I’ve probably missed a few things. If you think I’ve missed one, then comment below with your thoughts and maybe we can grow this list. Otherwise, enjoy.
The first thing every suitable Dungeon master needs is a great imagination and excellent creativity. Luckily for you, you’re human, which means you are incredibly creative and have lots of excellent ideas. As a species, it’s literally one of the significant things that set us apart from other species. You don’t see monkeys scheduling a weekly game to play with their friends, although I don’t speak monkey so I’m not actually sure about that.
The second fundamental dungeon-mastering skill you need to develop is a certain flexibility. Your players will ultimately create all sorts of hair-brained schemes to mess with you or they’ll just come up with all sorts of ideas that you’ve never even thought of. When this happens you’ll need to think on your feet and put out some sort of answer. Often, these moments can lead to you scrapping your entire plan because the players “don’t want to go in that very interesting door”. I’ve had moments where an entire encounter is just gone, poof, because my players decided not to pursue a hook.
You will have to learn how to organize things. Put the right things in the right place. This means you need to learn how to schedule sessions and keep yourself prepared. You’ll need to learn how to keep notes and keep your thoughts in the right order. You’ll need to write story ideas and session prep in the right way. You don’t need to be organized to the point where you know every little thing you’ll say, but you will need to be able to keep yourself organized. Your players will rely on you so if you aren’t organized then your players will definitely not be organized.
This is probably the hardest skill you’ll need to develop to become a very good dungeon master. In your DMing career, you’ll have many different types of players. Naturally, some will try your patience. Some will purposefully annoy you or get on your nerves. Others will simply try their best but not quite grasp the rules of the game. With each, you’ll want to dole out a good measure of patience because even the most annoying player can turn their life around and all players start out as a noob. Practice being patient (but don’t let people walk all over you) As long as their intent is pure, let them play.
With these fundamentals taken care you, you’ll be in great shape on your DMing journey. If you get discouraged, don’t worry, it happens to all of us. These are all skills that you need to develop and that will take time. As you go through your DMing journey, let us go with you. Join us on the podcast How to Be a Better DM to get tips for your Dungeon mastering so you never hit another roadblock alone again.
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