How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM 5 Tips to Improve your Writing
You run frantically through the streets. The cold winter air bites at your face, though the stinging in your eyes comes not from the frigid wind but from the tears streaming down your face. You and your companions manage to climb the ladder onto the wall and then quickly let down a rope on the otherside. Before you know it, you’re running aimlessly through the woods.
“Ulv, what happened back there?” Hipam asks.
In your mind you see you, Judir and Cojari talking to the rebel leader in his jail cell. Suddenly, you were surrounded by guards, and then your brother appeared from behind them. He mocked you and instructed the guards to take you all into custody. Then you heard a faint drum beat. Judir rushed forward and began fighting like a mad man. Utter chaos ensued. Judir fought with your brother and then the sound of a knife running through a man’s belly. Judir fell. Then it was just you and Cojari. As the guards turn on you and Cojari, you remember hearing a drum beat and then one final chant. You saw a flash of light as Judir became an orb of fiery red light. Suddenly, you were flung to the ground.
You came to and everything around you was dust and smoke and fire. Cojari was unconscious and being put in chains by a group of guards. Judir was completely gone. Your brother rose to his feet unsteadly staring daggers at you. To your left you saw a hole in the wall that hadn’t been there before. You saw a hole that lead to freedom. You jumped.
“We failed.” Was all you replied. “We failed”
Those words seem to chase you deep into the wintry night filled with smoke, snow, and tears.
What would you like to do now?
Welcome back to How to Be a Better Dungeon Master. I’m your host, Justin Lewis and together you and I are going to learn how to craft better stories for yourselves and your players as you DM sessions of D&D 5e and soon-to-be One DND.
No matter how you slice it, you have to prepare for your D&D sessions and campaigns and that means writing in some way shape or form. Well, to become a better dungeon master then, that means you’ll have to become a better writer. But how exactly does one do that? Don’t worry, today I’ll give you 5 simple tips to do just that.
But before we do that, I have some housekeeping items to go over.
Announcements
First let me give an enormous thank you to Rob, Tony, Jeff, Chaz, and Mark who joined me last Saturday for a very fun one-shot. They were excellent players, and if you’re listening to this, I want to let you know you actually discovered the secret ending to the one-shot so congratulations on that!
Remember, if you want to watch the upcoming one-shot with Bone Daddy Rob completely for free, just go to betterdungeonmaster.com/watch at the appointed time. I’ll let you know when that is via the podcast and our Instagram.
Now, let’s get to today’s topic!
Before I go on, I need to say that I am not a professional writer. I do not have an English degree. Instead, I’m like you, a dungeon master who loves the hobby and wants to improve any way I can. These are some things that have helped me over the years. There are probably a few tips out there that I’m missing. Maybe you can help fill out this list. I also want to note that I’m purposefully keeping this episode short. I have a list of tips and I’m only doing a portion of them in an effort to make the episode more digestible. I’ll come out with an extension to this list in a future episode.
Write a Lot
The first thing you need to do to become a better writer is to write, a lot. Just like any other thing in life, the only way to improve is by practicing. Having these weekly episodes to write has been an amazing exercise for me. Not only do I have to write in a way that sounds natural when speaking but I also have to think about the words I use. I also have to prepare for my D&D sessions and have the opportunity to work on one-shots for the podcast. Suffice it say, I have made a lot of progress (even though to you it might not seem like it), for me I’ve seen a lot of improvement.
Show your Writing To Others
Not only do you have to write a lot, but you should show your writing to a lot of people whose opinions you value. This isn’t an ego trip. Instead, this is a fact-finding mission. Your goal is to genuinely find information on the quality of your content. Pick two or three people that you really trust. Ask them to read through your content and then give you some advice on what could make it better. Before you send over your writing (whether for D&D or otherwise) make sure you explain to them the stakes of the situation. Make it extremely clear that this is a life-or-death situation! Well, the life of your writing skills or the death of them. Tell them that if they aren’t brutally honest they are killing your chances of improving your writing and making an impact with your words. You have to convince them to tell you how they really feel. Help them understand that their role is crucial to you becoming the best Dungeon master the world has ever seen!
Read a Lot
Aside from writing a lot, you need to read a lot. I don’t just mean reading fiction either. We’ve had several guests on the show who have touted the benefit of studying history and using real moments to inspire fictional ones. When you read you can do it for a multitude of reasons. You might read to learn about the style of one of your favorite writers, or you might read to consume content and learn the material. Still, you might just read for the fun of it. I wouldn’t neglect this last reason either because if you forget the joy of reading, that may be step 1 in forgetting the joy of writing.
Revise and Edit (Even Other People’s Work)
If you’ve listened to the show before, you know that I love the youtube channel called Pitch Meeting. The owner of the channel pokes fun at massive plot holes in movies and TV shows in a very comical way. You also should practice spotting these plot flaws and even simple ways your work can be better. You should even do it for other peoples’ work too. Though, a small pro tip, don’t give them “advice” unless they ask for it. No one wants that. Instead, do mental exercises of what you’d do to improve other people’s work and why.
More importantly, though, you should be going over your own work multiple times. Admittedly, this is where I most often fall short. It’s been a failure my entire life. I’m a discovery writer which is OK, but I tend not to revise and edit, which is not OK. If nothing else, read what you write out loud and you’ll spot a lot more errors than you would otherwise.
Learn the Basics of Writing
When I was 19, I went to Italy on a mission for my church. My friend’s dad gave me a book on English grammar to prepare for learning the language. He explained that to learn another language, I’d need to understand how English and language in general work. He was right. You too need to do the same thing. To be able to speak the language of good writing and therefore good DMing, you’ll need to learn a little more about the basics of the English language (or whatever language you DM in I suppose). You’ll also need to learn the basics of writing as a whole. Dive into conflict, setting, character, voice, and other aspects of good story writing. You probably already know this, but my go-to is the podcast Writing Excuses because honestly, it is so good. I’m not an English major as I’ve already said and Writing Excuses cuts story writing down into manageable chunks.
Conclusion
No one is going to randomly become the greatest writer ever tomorrow. In fact, there’s a good chance you and I won’t even be decent writers tomorrow, but I promise you this: by practicing these tips, we will become better writers, and that means better Dungeon Masters. That’s all we need.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. If you have any thoughts you’d like to add, send them over to us on our Instagram at @howtobeabetterdm.
Most importantly, start practicing. If you haven’t been a dungeon master quite yet, what the heck are you waiting for?
We’ll be back next week for another amazing episode of How to Be a Better DM. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll the initiative.
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