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One of the hardest jobs in playing a roleplaying game is that of the Dungeon Master, or Storyteller. Sure, you cannot play without players showing up at your table to participate, but, without a good Dungeon Master (DM for short) what are the players going to do? It's the DM that brings the players back again and again to tackle the challenges of the game. Whether it's a custom designed dungeon crawl put together by the DM himself or a published module direct from Wizards of the Coast, just having words on the paper doesn't make it a memorable adventure. The DM is responsible for bringing the page alive in the minds of his players so that they live the adventure, and want to know what lies beyond the next door, staircase, or forested trail.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:off ice:office" /

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I have been playing D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) since I was 7 years old. I have played under many different DMs in all the various editions of the game, not to mention several other games that came about after D&D hit the scene in 1974. in the 31 years that I have been involved in the game, I have also found myself the most common DM in our groups. In that time I have come up with several little tips and tricks to making the game move smoother, and to draw the players into the adventure.

1. Come prepared for your game. I'm sure this advice has been stated before, but it cannot be stressed enough. Now, by being prepared, I don't mean there's no running a game by the seat of your pants, coming up with the encounters as you go along. That can be a very fun method of play on occasion. Some of the greatest DMs I know do exactly that. What I mean by come prepared is have your rulebooks handy. Know where you left off last session. Have an idea of what kind of adventures your players enjoy. Have your rulebooks and charts and everything handy so you can quickly resolve any rules aspects of the game and let the roleplaying take over. If you do use a published or pre-prepared adventure, make sure you look it over, be familiar with the encounters, the areas, the monsters and tactics they should use. An intelligent monster is going to fight intelligently, unintelligent creatures are going to follow their instincts and attack according to their species norm. Know what creatures are in encounter areas around those that the players are going through. Parties that make a lot of noise are going to attract other monsters from other "zones" of the adventure

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