Hello loyal readers! It’s been a few months since my last post, and that’s mostly due to a lack of questions, so if you’re reading this: send a question to onedieshort@gmail.com! Remember: as an authority on Life, the Universe and Roleplaying, I’m in no way restricted to answering Roleplaying questions alone. So, send me any queries you might have about Geekdom, Nerdery, Roleplaying, or general life advice. I have opinions on everything. And you need them.
This week we’ve got a fairly complex question about the nature of good DMing. It comes to us from Grace:
Hi! I am a very new dm, but I feel like I’m always missing something when I dm, and my adventures feel bland, structured, or random. I feel like part of this is that the players are having trouble being creative or contributing to make the plot line compelling or funny. I’m not blaming them in any way, I’m just trying to figure out why the adventures and campaigns I do feel so bland and boring. I love playing and I’m always very invested and enjoy the other campaigns. I worry I am leaving out key components, or maybe just minor ones that make an adventure fun. Please let me know. Thank you!!!!-Grace
Honestly, it’s hard to even know where to start with this one. I could post a bunch of links to my treasure trove of previous blogs about how to be a good DM (which I will later), but there’s something about the sincerity and desperation of your question that really has me wondering:
What the Hell makes a good DM anyway?
Once upon a time, in the Waybackwhen times, I was convinced that nothing trumped story. Story was everything. But as I pondered your question, I realized that we’re still playing a game. When that game gets lost, we might as well be reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book. (Side note: anyone born after the 90’s might not even know what these books are, but they were what made me realize I needed roleplaying games in my life).
A Roleplaying Game has to be both a game and a theatrical experience, not one or the other. Much of the criticism of 4e D&D revolved around its bias toward game mechanics and battle maps, and the uncertainty over whether or not it was trying to be a crappy war game, or a crappy roleplaying game. For the sake of argument, we’ll assume that your players all want to be playing a Roleplaying Game, and therefore appreciate both sides of the coin.
So, if everyone wants to be playing the game they’re playing, why isn’t everyone having a good time?
There must be balance in the Force!
Once we acknowledge the two paramount factors (the Roleplay and the Mechanics), we need to ask ourselves as a DM: Which is most important to me, and which is most important to my players? My assumption from the question would be that you are seeking a better Roleplaying experience. The desire for deeper player investment and a humorous good time for all, means you want what most good DMs want: to tell a great story. I’ll get to how we can do this in a bit, but the biggest question you need to answer is part 2: Which is most important to my players?
I know players can be annoying, and often get in the way of proper storytelling, but without them we are nothing but failed novelists. A few key questions every good DM should know the answer to are:
- When are my players having fun?
- Am I having fun when they’re having fun?
- Where are my dice?
The most important thing every new DM should do is talk to their players and observe their players. I would argue that observation is even more important than talking, because players are like children (as I’ve noted on many occasions). They think they know what’s good for them, but when you force them into the unknown and the uncomfortable, they’ll often have more fun than they expected. Take careful note of the times your players seem most joyful, most attentive and most excited to be their characters. This will guide you more than any player questionnaire or discussion.
Something that inevitably arises in player groups is disparate desires and goals. Not everyone wants the same game, but the hope is that the majority of the group can mostly agree on what a fun session is. There will often be at least one outlier, and we can try our best to keep them happy some of the time, but majority rules in roleplaying. If most of the people are happy, that’s close enough, because there’s always another group to join for the problem child. (And if you’re a player that can’t ever seem to find the right group, you should reconsider your personality).
Okay, so let’s assume we know what the players want, we know what we like as a DM, and everyone is mostly on the same page. Then:
Why isn’t everyone having Fun?
There’s a bit of a tell in your question for me, and it’s this bit: my adventures feel bland, structured, or random.
Each of these issues can stem from separate causes, but they can also share a single root cause: DM uncertainty. If you don’t know what your goal is with a campaign or an adventure, your players will have a hard time figuring one out for you. I’m a huge proponent of improvisational skills in a DM, but these come with time, and need to be built out of structure and planning.
In order to create a compelling story, we need to commit to ourselves. Developing confidence as a new DM is one of the hardest things to do, but also one of the most important. You need to know what you do well in order to really step into the role. Is it humor? Is it suspense? Mystery? Action? Intrigue? Figure out what you love and know, and focus on those elements. You need a little bit of everything to make a truly compelling story, but doing them all well is not essential.
Think of your DMing like a book or film – genres exist for a reason. Most stories include many of the same elements, but each genre has its own focus. Don’t get mired in the trap of epic fantasy storytelling if that’s not your thing! Branch out, explore and trust your gut. Nothing makes for a bad story quite like forced, trite, storytelling.
The last point I want to make here is this: being a DM is hard. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication to do it well, and it isn’t for most people. There’s a reason a lot of DMs end up being “Forever DMs” (aside from our massive egos and obvious control issues) – not many people want to take on the work. If it’s not for you, that’s fine. Half-assing an adventure can be a worse experience than not playing at all. But if being a DM is what you want to do, then put as much spare time and effort into it as you can. Your players will be thankful. And if they’re not, they’re probably not worth your time.
I hope this somewhat vague post was helpful, and if you have more questions in the future once you tease out what your specific issues might be, I’d be happy to tackle those as well. But if this was entirely useless for you, here’s some links to my previous blogs about essential DM skills:
Ask the Dungeon Master 