Mistakes I've Made As a Dungeon Master

You and your companions wake up on a sandy beach. You rub your eyes to try. Your head is aching and you feel as if you’ve filled with water and strung out to dry. You stand up, looking around. You see flotsam littering the shore as well as rocky crags a few meters into the ocean. That’s right. You and your companions shipwrecked. You were sailing until a storm hit. Next thing you knew, some creature had taken hold of your ship and drew you towards this island. Last thing you remembered was the ship being pulled under the waves.

You look up. The island seems to be home to a large jungle. 

It’s quiet, but you hear the lapping of the waves and almost the sound of distant drums. Curious.

What would you like to do?

Welcome back to the 11th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Together we are going to discover how to tell better stories as you dungeon masters sessions of D&D 5e.

As always, let me shout out Cowchy Audio who helps out with our audio on the show. Reach out to them for your audio needs by sending a direct message on Instagram to @ kahootaz and he’ll help you out too.

Now, let me tell you a few mistakes I’ve made while being a Dungeon Master (and more importantly how to fix or avoid them)

1. Not limiting players

Most of these mistakes are because I’m too nice of a person. When you decide you want to start a campaign set a number of players in your mind and stick to it. If you’re like me, you should set it two or three people lower than what you think because you’ll still somehow acquire a few extra players. Having lots of people is fun, but tough to manage. Stick with more manageable groups for better gameplay.

1. Giving too many magic items

I’m constantly tempted to give players awesome items way too fast. That just looks weird. You end up having level 2 characters with Legendary items. It’s just weird. I’d suggest giving no more than 2 magic items to your group in any particular dungeon. If you’re giving more than 2 items to the group in a session, that’s too many. Now the group can buy or make however many they have the resources for, but finding items is totally different. 

1. Making Dungeons too long

This is a mistake I made while trying to make the dungeon cool. If your group likes it, it’s not as big of an issue. Still, you shouldn’t make dungeons last longer than other plot points unless they are central plot points. If they are a side-quest, maybe 2-3 sessions. If they’re a major side-quest then maybe 5 max. It shouldn’t be any more than that. You don’t want your players forgetting what the goal of the campaign is.

1. Making Friendly NPC’s too strong

I made this mistake by making an NPC I knew would be traveling with the players. I didn’t want this guy to die so I made him a bit too strong. He deals way too much damage. As soon as we get out of this really long dungeon (eye roll) he is going away. No more helpful NPC that does a lot of damage and doesn’t die.

1. Shielding my Players

Sometimes I’m more lax on my players than I should be. I forget enemy resistances until it’s too late, or I give them enough healing potions or things like that. The best way to fix this is to grow a spine (talking to myself here). Their characters are going to fall, and possibly die. That’s just a fact of the game. I gotta get used to it (and you do too).

What mistakes have you made while DMing? What have you learned from it. Send your answers to @geronimolevis on Instagram and next episode I’ll shout you out and read your responses on the show.

Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully, you’ve learned from my mistakes and are becoming a better DM than I am. 

Until next time,

Let’s roll initiative.

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