Quick and easily digestible guide on how to DM like someone who knows what they’re doing.
The Game Flow
Remember these steps because they’re basically the entire game. This goes for nearly all RPGs, not just Dungeons & Dragons.
1. Set the scene:
- Describe the general area:
“It’s early in the afternoon and you find yourself in a forest. There’s a chill in the air and you hear the rustling of leaves in the wind.” - Point out specific landmarks and points of interest:
“A path leads to the north. You see the faint glimmer of a distant yellow light between the trees to the east.” - Mention any living creatures and NPCs;
A shadowy figure is following you from behind.
The players will lose their ability to pay attention to your descriptions once you mention any potential hostiles, so it’s best to end with that.
2. Prompt the players for action; ask What do you do?
When a player describes their character’s action, you need to determine two things:
- What are they doing?
- What is their action trying to accomplish?
For example, they might say that they throw a rock at a guard. They’ve told you what they’re doing, but you still don’t know what result they’re expecting. Are they trying to harm the guard? Or distract them to create a diversion? If you’re not sure, you need to ask.
In some situations, the player might describe their intent but not their action, for example by saying that they’re trying to distract someone. In such a case, you need to ask what they’re doing to accomplish that.
Once you have a clear idea of both their action and intent, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is there a risk of failure?
- Does failure meaningfully change the situation?
If the answer to either question is no, the action succeeds automatically. If the answer to both questions is yes, they need to make an ability check. Example: - “I open the unlocked door”. No risk of failure, the action succeeds.
- “I try to pick the lock on the door”. There’s a risk of failure. Failure likely won’t alter the situation, unless, for example, there’s a wandering guard who could spot them if they can’t pick the lock fast enough. In such cases, the player needs to make an ability check.
- “I want to jump across the bottomless pit.” There’s a risk of failure, and failure would result in death. Roll the dice.
4. The result
Describe the result of the player’s action, be it success or failure. Then, go back to step 2 and repeat until the scene ends. Once it does, go back to step 1. Repeat for about 4 hours.
Combat
Combat is the most rules intensive part of the game, but should narratively be fast and carry lots of tension. Focus on running it quickly and don’t let it drag on.
Initiative
Being slow here kills any tension you’ve built up for the encounter. Have everyone roll at once and get their numbers down quickly, for example by drawing a line in your notebook representing the numbers 0 to 25, and writing down the first letter of their characters’ names on the point on the line matching their initiative. A DM screen can be used similarly with hanging initiative trackers. This way, you don’t have to sort the initiative once you’ve noted all the numbers. Enemy initiatives can often be pre-rolled.
Player Turns
Quickly recap the situation and prompt the next player to act.
“Orfin, you’re up. Thari is bleeding out before you, and the orcs are charging towards Eryon who is struggling to fend of the goblins. What do you do?”
A short recap before every player’s turn keeps the scene in the mind’s eye of the players even when the mechanics interrupt, and helps them keep track of the situation. Remember: when thinking back about the battle, you want the players to picture what it looks like in the fiction, not the state of the battlemap on the table.
Once they’ve performed their action, describe the result as usual.
Enemy turns
Make sure you have your stat blocks ready. It’s best if you’ve looked over them in advance, especially for spellcasters and high CR monsters. Other than that, enemy actions are described no differently than else in the game.
Hit points
The terminology in D&D is a bit confusing and everyone gets this wrong, including every video game ever (with the exception of the Uncharted series). When Dave Arneson invented hit points back in 1974, he meant for them to be points that count down until you get hit. They represent a combination of luck, stamina, and plot armor. They are not the number of hits you can take before you get injured. Hits in D&D represent glancing blows, grazes, and tiring blocks and dodges. Don’t describe a sword hit as a chunk of flesh getting sliced off.
General tips
- The mind’s eye is key to an immersive and memorable session. Everyone should be imagining everything all the time. If you don’t describe the locations and NPCs, the image will be much weaker, and the session far less memorable.
- Descriptions can be hard to improvise and benefit from a few keywords in your notes.
- It’s easier to count up damage than to count down hit points.
- It’s good to be fast and accurate with numbers. But if you have to choose, being fast should be higher priority.
- Don’t neglect dangerous non-combat scenes that require lots of ability checks. Things like scaling tall cliffs, running across flaming rope bridges, and crossing precarious crevices are an important part of any adventure.
- Pacing:
- Fast scenes have a lot going on at once. They are intense, and too many of them becomes fatiguing. Examples of fast scenes include combat and chases.
- Slow scenes offer a chance to zoom in and focus on small details. Too many of them becomes boring. Examples of slow scenes include shopping and travel.
- Many scenes will fall somewhere in the middle, such as social interactions and general adventuring.
You don’t need to worry about pacing too much other than making sure to keep it varied.