How to Be a Better DM

Weekly Tips and Tricks on Thursdays

Listen as we talk about how to craft amazing stories for yourselves and your players. Join hosts Justin Lewis, Tanner Weyland, and Cayden Ottley every Thursday morning.

All Episodes

February 19, 2026

Fixing Tempo: Athletic Conditioning for the Heartbeat of Your D&D Games

Welcome back to today’s show.Today we talk about tempo, using 2 analogies.D&D is like music.D&D is like a heart.If you understand those

February 16, 2026

Pauses and Silences: What we say by not saying

DISCLAIMER:The musical composition is called 4’33”, by John Cage. (Forgot to say the name). It can be found here: https://youtu.be/TrlKxV5KWJo?list=RDTrlKxV5KWJo Welcome to

February 12, 2026

Brevity: Say Less To Do More

Doesn't it always feel like you have to fill the silence? Or explain better—explain more, even? As a DM, do we say

February 9, 2026

3 Things Your Table Will Thank You For

In this special episode of Creative Contraband, our host shares some hard-earned life advice for DMs.Today, Danny’s yapping serves up valuable lessons

February 5, 2026

Tips for Campaign Planning: A Secret of Successful Session Prep

Welcome to How to Be a Better DM.Today, we continue our talk about campaign prep.In addition to the episode 2 weeks ago,

February 2, 2026

Character, Role and Archetype: The layers of a good NPC

Welcome to the third episode of Creative Contraband! This time host Danny Barrett dives into the ins and outs of PCs and

January 29, 2026

Every Player Gets A Turn: Tips to help every player be part of the action

Some players talk a lot. Others only pipe up at specific moments. But how can you, as the DM, make sure everyone

January 26, 2026

Rituals in Art – Infinite solutions in a simple concept

In the second episode of Creative Contraband, host Danny Barrett takes us on a journey that blends psychology and performance. From beers

January 22, 2026

Campaign Planning: The Secret Solve to Session Planning

The true secret of great session prep isn’t a framework for session prep.It great campaign prepWhich just so happens to be something

January 19, 2026

Deus Ex Machina – Examples from Cinema and How to Avoid It

In the first episode of Creative Contraband, we meet host Danny Barrett to tackle a problem every long-form storyteller faces: How do

January 15, 2026

Should D&D Players Set Goals Too?

With the new year in full swing, your mind might be on goals for your next campaign or for your own personal

January 8, 2026

Be a Better DM: 6 Ways to Actually Improve this Year

Welcome to today’s episode.Today we talk about how to actually improve this year.​Start recording your sessions​Use the Dungeon Master Level Up Guide