Learn the Basic Rules:
This seems like a no-brainer, but it's an important step many people don't think about. I'm not saying you have to know every rule or that you will understand exactly how they all work but you should have a solid grasp of the basic rules. How do skill checks work? What kinds of things should be what kinds of skill checks? How do the basics of combat work?
You will have some reading to do. I wouldn't recommend necessarily reading the Player's Handbook (PHB) and the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) from cover to cover, they aren't (at least in my opinion) made that way. There are a few chapters you will want to read for sure though.
In the PHB:
You'll want to read (at minimum) the sections on Character Building and Combat. You can read through all the feats/classes/races/etc if you like, but I prefer to use them more as reference, if you're not familiar with the races and classes available, I would at least recommend reading the small overviews on each race/class.
For the most part, the only section you really NEED in here is the combat section, however reading the character creation sections will allow you to help your players create their characters if they need help, or rule on any rules/what's allowed questions they might have while creating their characters.
In the DMG:
I won't necessarily recommend reading this cover to cover, but you will probably want to cover all the information here at some point. I would recommend getting at least the basics like the chapters on combat and skill challenges.
The chapters on building an encounter and the DM's toolbox are not quite as necessary if you're using only pre-published adventures, but are a great help if you want to create your own adventures and stories. The section on experience and rewards is good as well.
Rules Compendium:
If you do decide to subscribe to DnD insider, there is a rules compendium included with it that has every rule for the game. It's a great resource for when you need to look something up quickly and I recommend it.
A Couple of Notes About "The Rules"
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” -Gary Gygax
This really illustrates how many DMs feel about the rules. There could be a rulebook thousands of pages long and it still would not be able to cover every situation that might arise in a game and they shouldn't have to. This is part of your job as DM, being able to think on your feet.
You will invariably have a player want to use a skill in a way you never imagined.
One "rule" that is tossed around when it comes to being a DM is to "always say 'yes' ". This is often misconstrued though. The idea behind this is that you don't want to shoot down a player's good idea. If your player says "can I do this?" instead of saying "no" a better answer is "you can try". Saying yes doesn't mean that the action will succeed, only that the player can attempt it. Perhaps that action will have a ridiculously high DC or perhaps it will have some added measure of danger should the player fail, that doesn't stop them from attempting it.
House Rules:
Since we're talking about learning the rules, this seems to be a good place to touch on the subject of house rules.
Everyone uses them. I have never run with a single group that plays the game exactly as it is written, every group has their own little rules that they come up with while they play, or that they've used before and like.
For example, my group really liked the auto-success/auto-fail when rolling a 20 or a 1 (respectively) on a skill check, as well as the idea of a botch in combat. (rolling a natural 1 is was called a "botch")
Some people don't like the idea of a natural 20 being a success on any skill check, personally I think this is fine as long as you balance it so people aren't going to constantly try outrageous and ridiculous actions just because "I might roll a 20". This is easily done. In our group, usually the more outrageous or crazy an action, the worse the penalty for failure.
ex. "Oh, you tried to sneak past a group of goblins in broad daylight? Well you failed, you get out into the open and are in the midst of the group before you realize that they've seen you. They all get a surprise round before you get to act... roll initiative"
Is this a little mean? Yes, but it will ensure that players won't try outlandish things just because "I might roll a 20 and succeed"
There are a few important things to remember when modifying the rules or ruling on a situation.
1.) BE CONSISTENT
I cannot stress this point enough. Be fair and consistent in your rulings. Did you rule that the heroes have to make a DC 20 Athletics check to climb the tree? Then the goblins coming after them have to do so as well...
No one wants to play a game where the rules are constantly changing on the DMs whim. Imagine playing something like Mario with your older brother or sister (yep, that means you're stuck as Luigi, deal with it). While you watch your sibling play, every time they press the A button, their character jumps and they're having a pretty good go of it. Then comes your turn to play, but you find that when you press the A button, your character only jumps 1/2 the time, or not at all. You're really not going to have much of a chance of keeping up are you?
The point here is that changing the rules is fine and encouraged, but make sure you are being fair about it. Personally, I'm always of the mind that story trumps rules. I would much rather tell a compelling story that my players enjoy and are interested in than to have the game devolve into a hack and slash or a hours-long sessions of people trying to figure out and argue over rules.
During the game, I try to limit the looking up of rules. When you are first starting out, you will have to look them up, one of the best ways to handle this is to assign someone to look them up for you when the situation arises. Once you are more familiar with the rules and more comfortable as a DM, you can forego looking them up and just make the decision on the spot. The caveat to this is that you make sure you notate your decision so you can either address it later (by looking up the rules) or so that you can continue to rule that way in the future.
2.) Be Fair
One thing that new DMs (and some much more experienced DMs even) seem to forget, or never learn, is that it's not you vs. the players. You are working with the players to create a good story. Your job is not to kill the players...
Let me quote Gygax again...
“The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own.”
There is really no situation where you should be actively trying to kill your player characters. Yes, you do control the monsters, but you should not be focusing on killing your characters. Respond the way you think the monsters would to the situation and let the dice fall as they may.
Your players, when left to their own devices, will come up with new and creative ways to get their characters killed, much more interesting than anything you could have planned... trust me.
3.) "Fudging" rolls
I wasn't entirely sure where to put this, but a rules discussion seems to be just as good as anywhere else. This is another situation that will garner split answers depending on the DM you ask. Some DMs (Chris Perkins of WotC falls into this category) fall into the "let the dice fall as they may" category. Others advocate for "fudging" rolls to save their players or even a quest-important NPC.
Personally, I don't fudge a die roll to save a player from something stupid they chose to do, however I have been knowing to "tune" an encounter mid encounter. This is a talent that is particularly useful for a new DM, or for one who is brand new to a system. If you are building your own encounters/adventures, there always runs the risk that you will design an encounter that is much harder than you originally thought. Perhaps you didn't really realize that the monsters abilities have a ton of synergy and the heroes are getting wrecked by something the shouldn't be. Adjusting these kinds encounters on the fly is an important skill There are multiple ways to do this, and they can depend on how transparent you choose to be with your players.
If you are putting things like defenses and HP on a whiteboard for them to see, it's much harder to fudge things in the midst of combat. If you are keep track of it somewhere the players can't see, you can fudge it, but they may start to wonder why "I missed on a 20 vs AC last time, but Jim the Barbarian just hit on a 19 vs AC."
One of the best ways I've found is to leave Defenses where the players can see them (to make turn taking easier/faster) and keep the HP yourself. This allows you to do things like change a monster to a minion (1-hit kill) on the fly or even just reduce the number of HP before something is dead.
I feel that a crucial part of fudging rolls to save players is to make sure they are not aware you saved them. You don't want you players getting into the mindset of "I can try this because if I fail the DM won't let me die."
The DM Screen:
To finish off, I'll throw in a post about the DM screen. I use one (actually borrowing one currently) of the official Wizards 4e DM Screens. I've seen people who use everything from a piece of cardboard with post-it notes to a handmade screen complete with artwork of their own and the information they want themselves.
The official one is excellent, and I would recommend it to a new DM just starting, it has all kinds of great references on it and will generally save you a TON of time when you're just starting.
Finally - some links to items I enjoy and would heartily recommend to any new DM:
That's all for this installment... Next time look for us to cover pre-made adventures vs. making your own and some tips on adventure building.
Until next time,
-Zach
Saw this linked on Reddit. As a new GM myself this is a good read!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it helped you out! Feel free to hit me up with questions or anything you think might be a good topic to cover in this series!
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