DMing tips from a Newb

This post brought to you by the bit of a spat going on between Monsters & Manuals and The Tao of D&D. The former advocates 'just do what works for you' while the latter points out 'what does works mean?'
I think 'do what works for you' is honestly pretty decent advice, though I do understand it's not very specific.

I've DMed in 3.5, B/X E and 4th.
I am very much 'just do what works for you' but I'm going to try and off offer some meaningful, hopefully helpful definitions of works here. So, definition of something working, from a rules perspective is:

  1. Is understandable/comprehensible. It doesn't have to be logically consistent, but it needs to be actually usable at the table. This is fairly subjective; for me, standard B/X D&D initiative is unusable, as are the different weapon speeds; so I don't use them. You can only learn this by doing.
  2. The rule is not clumsy/does not negatively impact the action and progress of the game.


Here are the basics:

  1. The best way to learn and grow as a DM is to do the thing!
  2. Creating your own world, your own stories, is not super difficult but doing that AND being a rules adjudicator adds overhead. So, don't. Run an existing setting, run pre-made dungeons. You can roll your own later!
So, with that in mind, here are some suggestions for a new DM.
  1. Figure out what game you want to run. For the purposes of this post, let's assume you want to run some flavor of D&D because it's my blog and that's what I have the most experience running and playing.
  2. Watch some actual plays on youtube or Twitch, just to make sure that you're still interested. 
  3. Assuming you still are, try and find some free versions of the rules. LotFP and LL have free versions available as do 3.5 & 5th ed D&D. My personal fave is B/X Essentials right now.
  4. Read through the rules. Anything that doesn't make sense, highlight in the .pdf, don't worry too much.
  5. Go back and skim the rules , reading the highlighted sections more in depth.
  6. If it makes sense now, delete the highlighting. If it doesn't, leave it.
  7. Go back and double check anything that is still highlighted. If it doesn't make sense on a 3rd pass you're going to need to do some more research to understand it as written. So try and find some good houserules online.
  8. Find a good module to run. If you're running something B/X derived, I suggest Tomb of the Serpent King by Skerples (with art by Scrap Princess).
  9. Read the module! Highlight anything that doesn't make sense (assuming .pdf copy).
  10. Skim the module, delete any highlighting that makes sense now.
  11. Anything that still doesn't make sense is a potential pain point. Google it and use suggested alternatives. If you don't find a good alternative, then..don't worry about it.
  12. Get some friends! Set up a time to game. I suggest 2-4 hours of game time.
  13. Take notes on anything you find confusing, or anything that isn't fun to you. Run it as is anyway.  If you're at a loss for what to do, make shit up. Players want to do something not covered by the rules? Let them, just use the nearest mechanic (You want to trip? Uhhhh, make an attack roll, but no damage, they're tripped).
  14. At the end of the game, ask the players if there was anything in the session that they found confusing, or that compromised their sense of fun. Write that shit down.
  15. Find help on forums for anything confusing/clunky. If it's something commonly ignored/changed, try changing/ignoring it. Try a few variants, but stick to one variant per session and talk to your players about it!

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