DM Tips - 12 Dungeon Master Tips; Quick-Fire Edition

12 Quick Dungeon Master Tips for Every DM

Some of my posts are very verbose when discussing the importance of a DM tactic. In this case, I wanted to burn through as many quick DM tips as I could. So here goes:

1. Prepare NPC Names

Think of a name. Write it down. Think of another, Write it down. Keep a pad of names handy, or if you use a computer for your games, use a google doc to manage names. This will allow you to make up NPC's on the fly. I keep a list in a spreadsheet with labels for appropriate races and genders, so I can just hit filter, male, half-orc and come up with Kazmarak the Foolish. Simple, and you can build on it over time.

2. Characters Don't Just See a Dungeon

"You walk into a dungeon, and you see a goblin!" Lame. The experience a character would have would not just be plain sight. What are the other senses? What about that goblin? "The door to the dungeon creaks open, protesting the movement in its rusty hinges. The damp, musty smell is only overpowered by the stink of the unwashed goblin ahead or you, to the right. He audibly spits, and murmurs something in harsh tones as your torch light reflects off the blade of his dagger." I pictured my childhood friend Jeff's Grandma's creepy basement that I never wanted to into when I wrote that. There is an experience you should be showing your characters, not a sight you should be telling them.

3. Let Players Write the Campaign When You Can

Players have great dungeon mastering ideas. "I wonder if there's a back way in; can I search for a hidden door?" That's fantastic. Sure you can. With his excellent wisdom check, you make up a back door, and make an addendum to your map of the dungeon.

4. Know the Difference Between Arguments and Bickering

Are your players in the heat of figuring out how to best handle a situation? Then they are arguing about tactics, and are engaged in the story enough to be passionate about it. Let them argue for a little bit. Are they bitching at each other about a rule? Then they are bickering, and nobody's having fun. Read the next DM Tip.

5. Stop the Bickering with Encounters

Have they been standing around, bitching? Or even in the case of the good argument above, is it only half the party in the argument? Are the others bored with it? Even worse, are people not paying attention because they are texting their wives, boyfriends or someone else? "Roll initiative." That will wake them up. Then again, not all encounters have to be combat. Arguing about how to break into a palace? Have the guards patrol the other side of the fence, and watch as they all of a sudden are concerned with getting back to the action.

6. What if the Party Wasn't Here?

The world your players are in isn't stationary. If the goblins are attacking a village, and the players happen to be here to thwart them, that doesn't mean that the goblins did't have a plan, and won't react accordingly. It might be time consuming preparation-wise, but if you know what the opponents and NPCs were doing before the players intervened, it will be so much easier for you to make them react and adapt to the situation.

7. Opponents are Not Their Die Rolls

Perhaps an extension of the above rule, it's important for you to realize that the stats in the monster manual aren't indicative of a thinking, feeling, rage-filled or terrified creature. They should act as if they were smart. For instance, when raiding a bandit lair, wouldn't the leader order his bandits to take a prisoner, so they could find out how their lair were discovered? Wouldn't bad guys want hostages? Wouldn't they say....avoid the tank and try to take out the wizard to lessen the threat? Players HATE it when the bad guys are smart. Make them spend more time planning by making all of your bad guys smart.

8. Document Treasure Before the Game

Does it make any sense whatsoever that a bugbear would have a magical sword and not use it? How about a dragon with a wand of fireballs? Make sure you know what the loot is going in, so it can be incorporated as a part of the story.

9. Know Your Common Monsters

This is invaluable, and with experience, it will come naturally, but it certainly wouldn't be a waste of time to jot down some throw-away stats for the opponents your party is most likely to meet. Not only will you not have to look it up in the monster manual later on, but you also won't have to plan out the HP and AC of any of the monsters. I've got a pretty sweet guideline, that almost all enemy parties have a leader, and although almost all goblins are the same, stat-wise, but one of them has a set of leather armor, and his handaxe is better than the clubs the rest of them carry...so there is one more difficult opponent than the rest, and that monster can give the others orders. It also allows the realistic sense that were the leader to be killed, perhaps the rest would be afraid enough to retreat. Again, something that thinking, feeling monsters would do, run away when out-numbered or out-matched. And it will drive your players nuts when they get back to the main force and warn the BBEG.

Here's a sample table I made for first or second level adventures. I have all of this memorized since I use them so often. But just to demonstrate:

Race	Hit Points	Armor Class	Damage Dealt
Human	6	12	1d6
Goblin	5	10	1d4
Orc	10	11	1d8
Leader	Race+2-5	Race+1-2	Race by weapon

10. Side with the Players

Your options are limitless, theirs are not. If things are going badly because they are acting like fools (like by not running away), that's fine, but if its because you have made a too-difficult challenge, start fudging your rolls or offering opportunities that shouldn't happen. If a situation arises where you aren't clear on the rules, never side on the part of the dragon. He doesn't need the help, he's a dragon.

11. Write Everything Down

Don't leave loose ends at the close of a session. You won't want to try to remember how things ended next session. Also, did the NPC limp? I'll talk about this at length in a different post, but make sure you wrote down his name, his notable feature, and where the party can find him (if he is marginally important), so later he doesn't get confused with someone else. It will help create continuity in your world when the limping pickpocket still limps 6 sessions from now.

12. Roll with It

Don't get hung up on your adventure design. Players will break it. Players will ignore it. Players won't fall for it. But if they are trying hard enough to do any of those things, then they are having fun, and screw your adventure. The fun is more important.

Full disclosure: much of this is a restatement of an excellent list of DM'ing advice I found online. Feel free to check out the original here