Comments on: Leveling Up As An Inexperienced DM

By: Let Me Tell You About My Campaign: Age of Awakening : Critical Hits

Let Me Tell You About My Campaign: Age of Awakening : Critical Hits — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:23:13 +0000

[...] I explained in my post about being an inexperienced DM, my first attempt at running a D&D game was during my first year of college. After its very [...]

By: joshx0rfz

joshx0rfz — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:55:10 +0000

I was one of the players for Bartoneus guest DM session and it wasn’t as bad as he makes it sound, but now that I know he is embarrassed by it I will have to make fun of him for it. It also involved strange illithid fantasies…

I’ve always had the trouble of starting games with a grand vision in mind and then getting killed by the details (player scheduling, minor writing issues, commitment, etc). Part of the problem may be that I haven’t really found a system I enjoy running but the major part is a great deal of rookie mistakes like the ones you’ve mentioned. Good stuff.

By: Tyson J. Hayes

Tyson J. Hayes — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:41:40 +0000

Practice is what I’ve found helps out the most, and the willingness to fail. Some of my best games have been come up with on the fly and stories have been propelled forward because I was willing to take a risk.

The more I read about 4e the more I want to play it, I would probably start with a prebuilt, for me these are great intros, it allows a greater flexibility to focus more on the rules when needed, as your not having to come up with the stories and characters.

May I suggest keeping a good campaign log? Jot down what you did during the game, and solicit player feed back, write it all down and review it periodically. I’m positive it’ll bring the quality of your game up.

By: Bartoneus

Bartoneus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:38:27 +0000

@Sucilaria: Yea that’s a good story, thanks for telling it.

@LordVreeg: I find that Sucilaria and I can come up with some great ideas for her character in the campaign together, but because she’s a player I also can’t discuss larger plot issues with her. So I feel your pain! Dave and I had a shared wiki but we separated it by game because there is limited overlap at this point and some potential minor spoilers between the games, now we’re migrated both games over to Obsidian Portal for technical reasons (and because OP is really good).

@TheMainEvent: Good luck with that, your Deva is reincarnated in my game’s time as a male prostitute. Can’t wait for you to come over and RP that with me.

@Mike: the benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks!

@NewbieDM: You’re quite welcome! I actually started writing this post back in May when my game was 10 adventures in with the title of “Concerns of an Inexperienced DM” but since then I’ve found that I’m getting much less concerned with things and becoming more confident / skillful. I think the point where things snap into place for a DM is different for each person, but for me it helped having the momentum of an ongoing campaign to keep me going. I was very concerned this game would fizzle out after 6-7 adventures like my previous ones, but now that I’m WELL beyond that point I’m settling in and relaxing a lot more. Also I think a big factor was that running a “school game” means your campaign is governed by the school schedule, which can be a big problem. Also having a TON of interested players helps too.

By: newbiedm

newbiedm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:30:21 +0000

I hate to spam the comments but I forgot to add that I created a group over at the Wizard’s community, and it is thriving.

It’s dedicated to new DM’s (like Bartoneus and I), and there are over 200 members now and activity is quickly building up. If anyone is interested visit it at:

http://community.wizards.com/new_to_dming
.-= newbiedm´s last blog ..Calling the DM Hotline =-.

By: newbiedm

newbiedm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:06:16 +0000

Señor Bartoneus, thanks for the nice words. I too am feeling the same new dm anxiety and self-doubt as yourself. I’d love to know if there ever comes a point in a dm’s career where something snaps into place and you become self-confident.

Looking forward to sit with you at next year’s gencon and actually game together.
.-= newbiedm´s last blog ..Calling the DM Hotline =-.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:06:25 +0000

Yeah, having a wife in your game is both very awesome and a challenge (far more of the former than the latter). I have to hide all sorts of things so she doesn’t clue in before it shows up in a game. Like that awesome tip on using minions to give solos a heal-check saving throw against daze and stun effects.

It’s great to be married to a gamer.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Four Tips for New Dungeon Masters =-.

By: TheMainEvent

TheMainEvent — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:59:54 +0000

I am only playing in Dave’s game to ruin your campaign world.

By: LordVreeg

LordVreeg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:14:14 +0000

Sucilaria, I never exected to be responding to this particular issue. I’ve had to shut my wife out of some of my best brainstorms since she runs an Assassin/Priestess in my most active live group.
I think one of the things that drove me to online plotting was the inability to bounce plotlines at my wife.

Though it is strange that all of her good ideas for spells show up on the game wiki pretty quickly…:)

Danny, do you and Dave collaborate on a shared wiki?
.-= LordVreeg´s last blog ..edited Taking Damage =-.

By: Sucilaria

Sucilaria — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:53:25 +0000

Hey, tell the story about how you keep bringing back your charismatic Illithid character, and how your wife sees it coming since she’s played in all your games