by Joseph Mohr

Created on: March 23, 2008

Being the Dungeon Master puts you in control of the game. You create the world. You create the story. And you enforce the rules of the game. But this all comes at a price. You lose the ability to sit back and just enjoy the game. You must spend a great deal of time before each game in preparation.

There are, however, some important tips that can improve the quality of the experience for you and for the players:

1. Turn off the TV and any other possible distractions during your gaming session.

2. The larger your group the more difficult it is to control the game and keep it on pace. Try to limit the group to 5 of 6 players if you have not had a great deal of experience at being the DM.

3. Make your own campaign. Modules generally are one shot affairs and are difficult to string together into an effective and interesting campaign. Many of them are horribly written and are just giveaway dungeons that ruin the balance of your game.

4. Mix things up. Not every adventure should place in an underground dungeon complex. Good adventures can happen in cities and towns, on mountain tops, in caves, under water, in the astral plane, on other planes, in castles, in the wilderness and in many other places. Moving your adventures around can keep things interesting for a while.

5. Use a DM screen and do some of the important rolls in secret behind the screen. Some rolls, such as finding traps, only the DM should know the result for. If a player failed the find traps roll then he should discover this when he or some other player later set the trap off.
Also, it is difficult to keep the players in the dark when they can see your maps and your notes. Keep a screen between you and them to prevent this from happening.

6. Detailed preparation is the key to being a good Dungeon Master. When I prepare my notes for a dungeon I keep a very detailed map key with the description for each room written out at the top of my notes (the part that I read to the players) and then DM only portions of the notes below that. I always list the entire stat and important info for each monster type in my notes as well. This is important to do because you do not want the game slowing down while you have to go rummaging through the books each time the party encounters something. Include other important details as well. Key items the players have should also have descriptions.

7. Handouts are a favorite of mine. When I make my notes I do it all on a computer and then print the whole thing out for each dungeon. I

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