#dungeon master tips
DM Tip: Being a better Storyteller
I talk a lot on this blog about constructing better stories, but I frequently forget to talk about what I call “Tableskills”, those parts of the DM’s craft that are less about formulating plots and laying out narratives than they are relating those narratives to the people around the table. The thing is, teaching tableskills is a lot harder than just suggesting ideas about stories that could be told, as every DM or prospective DM has their own particular type of storytelling that they’ll grow into as they master the art. As such, there’s no hard and fast rubric I can pass down, only the things that have improved my own performances over time.
The basics: The DM Narrator Loop
I’ve been playing d&d for well over two decades now, and I’ve never heard the DM’s art summed up any better than this video by VOX: Describe, Decide, Roll.
- You as the DM Describe what situation the party is in and ask them what do they do next ( in a very leading tone, pulling them forward or offering them direct choices)
- The players Decide among themselves what they’re going to do, with clarifying input as needed.
- If anything needs to be decided by dice, youRolland figure out the outcome, then you snap right back to the descritption phase.
Keep doing this and your party will be guided along your storiy at a steady clip while having a lot of fun. Keep rolling to when it’s really important, and you’ll be doing just fine.
All Killer No Filler
The most basic trick I’ve learned for tabletop storytelling is asking yourself “ what’s the most interesting thing that could happen this session “ and then telling a story abouthow the party gets from where they are to where that interesting thing happens. Sometimes that interesting thing kicks down their door and forces them to react, other times it doesn’t quite happen on time, and you need to elude to the fact that it’s about to happen next time they play. Sometimes your players will take the initiative upon themselves to make interesting things happen, ranging from deep roleplay moments to taking an unexpected narrative turn and throwing all your plotting out the window. Learn to love when this happens, but don’t rely on it. Players should be given the spotlight when they stand up and take it, but that doesn’t mean you should shove them on stage before they’re ready.
Because you’re running a live session and thus have limited “screen time” in which your interesting thing might happen, you should focus on scenes that push the party forward, building narrative momentum while offering the party a chance to break off and do their own thing. “Does anyone want to do anything before we X” and variations of it is your best ally here, as including a pending time limit spurs the party to act before circumstances change while also giving them a direction to fall back on when they don’t want to make a decision. This is where radically open world/hands off DMs fail, because the players showed up expecting to be part if a story rather than entirety making their own fun while a friend if theirs silently chides them for not pretending to be an elf good enough. TLDR:Always be moving towards something interesting happening inside the session, but never be afraid to detour when it looks like your party is going to do your job for you.
Economy of Information
I often have a problem with expressing my ideas to other people because I either trip over myself trying to get out all the data required at once, or I leave people hanging because I presume they can infer what comes next. Naturally this is a trait I’ve had to train out of myself when I’m being a dungeonmaster and I did that by studying a bit of cinematography. Movies are not subtle about how they want you to feel at any given moment: If the audience is supposed to be on edge, the surroundings are eerie and the music is discordant, if you’re supposed to like a character they’ll either be reminiscent of a wholesome archetype or the camera will deliberately show them doing something nice. Don’t sweat the details when you’re describing a scene or doing background world building, paint in wide strokes and then fill in the details as necessary. Likewise, don’t let your scenes dawdle, bake in a reason why the scene is going to end before too long and use that as a ticking clock to spur your party into action.
When in doubt, be a Cartoon
As gritty as some people like their tabletop roleplaying, at the end of the day it’s just a big game of pretend, and in my experience the best way to tap into my player’s emotional base is to engage the sense of play they’ve been fostering since they were kids. Unsure how to describe something? Picture how it’d look in a disney movie and your word-picture will come across clearer in your player’s minds. Not yet confident enough to RP a nuanced NPC? Overact like a caricature of who you’re pretending to be, and you’ll suddenly have a lot more wiggle room to play with. However gritty some people profess to like their tabletop gaming it’s all a big game of pretend in the end, and the way you engage your party’s emotional core is by appealing to that sense of play they’ve been holding on to since they were a kid.
Follow the Fun
It took me a while to realize that “fun” was like oil in the engine of any d&d game, and that the primary job of the storyteller was ensuring that it was properly circulating throughout the session. Not enough fun? whole thing grinds to a halt and playing feels like pulling teeth. Too many sessions like that and a campaign falls apart. It takes a bit of practice as a DM, but try to be attentive for when fun “bleeds out” of your campaign. Players beating their head against a puzzle? Skip it, try a different sort of puzzle next time. Someone doesn't’ enjoy shopping trips? give em something to do while the rest of the party is perusing. Combat bogging everyone down? Experiment with techniques to make it snappier. Keep up this mindset and your games will be pumping along like a precision engineered machine.
Fail Faster
I’ve listened to this video so many times I could probably repeat it as liturgy. Just like any performance art, the main metric for advancement is realizing where you’re doing poorly and then figuring out ways to improve upon them. Sooner you figure out what you’re doing on and why, the sooner you can try out ways to fix them, and the sooner you can find things that works. Take on an experimental attitude towards your own works, if something is hard: find a way around it that works for you.
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So, you enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons, yes? I’m sure we’ve all seen those YouTubers or podcast campaigns with elaborate setups, a shelf full of sourcebooks, hand-painted minis in fancy glass cases, and a designated table just for DnD with a screen inlaid. But what if you can’t afford all that? What if you don’t have a steady flow of income, or you can’t drop 50 bucks on a sourcebook? Well, you’re in luck. This is:
Dungeons and Dragons (on a budget)
For context, I’m a minor. I’m unemployed, since I live in a small town and am not old enough to get a job, and the most money I get per year is from birthdays and holidays. You might be in a similar situation, or you have rent, food, and gas to pay for and not enough money to spend on expensive amenities. Trust me, you don’t need all those fancy doohickeys to enjoy a nice round of DnD. So let’s rifle through my kit. To start,
My DM screen. This is the screen that came in the DnD Essentials Kit. Trust me, the Starters and Essentials Kits are worth their weight in gold. They’re often cheaper than the sourcebooks and come with an incredible amount of information, and even an adventure for your party to play through. These are definitely a worthwhile investment.
Next up,
Dice! I have a total of 11 sets, with a handful of individual dice. You do NOT need this many. Just one set for you, and maybe some for your players if they don’t have them, that’s enough. You can buy them in groups of 5 or so sets on Amazon.
Now, for the most important thing.
Notebooks! If you don’t have sourcebooks, these are your next best bet. The two I use most often are those on top. In the black one is information you need to make a character or NPC, as well as a standard inventory. The History of Magic book has a summary of every spell from the sourcebooks from Cantrips to 9th level. A lot of this information can be found on the internet for free. This takes a long, long time. But if you have more time than money, these will be worth your while. The other notebooks can be used for organizing campaigns, taking notes, keeping track of combat, etc.
Now for the fun part.
Making things! The spellcards I made for my cleric, so he knows what his spells do. And those towers in the back are dice towers made of paper, tape, and cardboard. We use copy paper to track maps and initiative, we play on our grandma’s kitchen table, the players’ character sheets came from the essentials kit, I make smaller character sheets for prominent NPCs, and I draw pictures of NPCs and regions to help my players understand everything better. So get creative!
If you can afford sourcebooks and still have enough to survive and pay to take care of yourself and those who depend on you, they are a worthwhile investment. I’d definitely pick up the Player’s Handbook to start. Xanathar’s and Tasha’s Cauldron are also great sourcebooks. These are all of the sourcebooks I own.
I hope you enjoyed this look through how I run my homebrew campaign, and I hope you got some useful tips! Remember, your survival and well-being is top priority. Don’t buy an expensive sourcebook if you can’t afford to eat without that extra 50 dollars. Survival first, comfort second, DnD third. And you don’t need to buy expensive things to play. You can have just as much fun with a piece of paper and cardboard miniatures as your map.
Happy pillaging, and stay safe!
