How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM

Being a dungeon master: The Best and Worst Things“Where are they?” You ask as you shepherded into this enormous cavern.“Wait. Soon, you will see.” Gavrat responds. You’ve never liked dealing with the ratlike shifter. Even though most of his features are human, the ratlike features on his face are unsettling. Particularly the teeth that stick out under his rat-like nose. He guides you through the rocky outcroppings until you all see tremendous mushrooms start to fill the back end of the cavern.“We don’t have time for this Gavrat. Where is the patron and what kind of job is this?” You ask impatiently.“Don’t worry. Just ahead.You continue walking with Gavrat and walk deep into this grove of giant mushrooms. Suddenly, Gavrat stops. “We are here.” he says with a smile.You only hear silence.“Gavrat, if you’ve led us here on a wild goose chase, I will skin you alive.”“Do not trouble the rat man. I am here.” a strange voice says. “I am the one you seek.” You look around but you see no speaker. Suddenly you see the large mushroom in front of you start to turn and move towards you. You notice arms, a mouth and eyes. The myconid emanates a cloud of spores that hits you and suddenly you hear, “I am Hymotobor. I have a job for you.”What would you like to do?Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis, and together you and I will learn how to tell better stories as we DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.As you may have noticed, lots of things are changing on the podcast. I hope you like the changes but if not please let me know. Go to our new Instagram @howtobeabetterdm and let us know!Now being a DM isn’t all fun and games… we’ll technically it is, cuz this is just a game.Sometimes being a DM can be downright difficult, fortunately, othertimes, being a DM is the greatest thing in the world! So let’s get down to real talk. What are the best and worst things about being a DM?The best thing about being a DMNot having to rely on someone else to initiate D&DIn my experience, finding a DM that can keep up the campaign every single week can be difficult. Sometimes people just lose steam. The sucky part is that you still want to play D&D. Being a DM means that you can always at least control having something prepared to play. The hard part is finding people to play with you.Seeing the wonder in your player’s eyesThere’s something magical about creating a story and shepherding people through it. I can remember a few moments specifically. When my players in my current campaign were going through a haunted mansion and some undead guards were about to fight my group. One of my players recognized the sigil of the guards and the nation where they came from. He started reciting the national oath of that country. Because it was such a cool moment, I had the undead guards join in, and instead of fighting the group, the guards passed by them. My players all looked like those anime characters with their big shiny eyes when something amazing happens. It was awesome. Being able to help create that is something special.Walking through my ideasAs a DM, when you come up with a cool idea, you can actually play through it. I remember as a Player I would think of all sorts of cool things that I would love to see. As a DM, I can actually put that stuff in. More often than not, that means my stories are too chock full of stuff and perhaps a little too bloated, but that’s something I’m working on. At least, I don’t have to have a little black book of all my cool ideas that I will never ever use.Knowing the StoryOne of the best (and worst) parts of being a DM is knowing how the story ends. I get to know what’s coming up and what my characters will face. Sometimes, I have a terrible poker face and this is just really hard, but other times, I get to hide behind an impassive face as something really cool, or really terrible is about to happen. One of my characters was just bitten by a werewolf and I got to watch as my players slowly came to understand that the curse of lycanthropy was transferred to this player. Lots of TalkingAs a player, I often worry that I might be talking to much or hogging all of the playing spotlights. Surprising, I know right. As a DM, I don’t have to worry about this. The game doesn’t function unless I say stuff. It also doesn’t function unless the players say stuff. So it helps to create a natural balance of talking a lot and then shutting up and letting the players talk.Worst things about being a DM.Not everything is milk and cookie though. Sometimes, being a DM is downright hard.Knowing everythingI think the absolute worst thing about being a DM is that you do have to know everything. Or at least you have to know where to find it in the fastest way possible. If you don’t, it’s not a big deal, but you have to think on your feet and give an answer that satisfies the group. If you don’t then the group probably won’t play with you for very long.Dealing with that one playerI also hate having to deal with that one player. That one player can take many forms. Sometimes, it’s a couple players who are just too talkative and not serious. Sometimes it’s dealing with that beligerent player who wants everything their way. Sometimes it’s dealing with your wife who wants you to let her apply sneak attack even though she didn’t hide on her previous turn… Not naming names Mikayla, but if you’re listening to this, I’m talking about you. I’m just kidding, I love my wife. But seriously, you have to know how to deal with an uncooperative group. That is hardBeing the energizer bunnyOften times, we play D&D at night. As the DM you are the metronome for the group. If you are low energy, then the group will likely be low energy. That gets tiring and at the end of a long day can be really hard. If your group isn’t helping with the energy then it can feel like an uphill battle. Doing the HomeworkThough it can be fun, you do have to do the homework and prepare the story. That can get difficult when you’ve got an otherwise full schedule. Despite the worst things, being a DM is still worth it. I challenge you to try and see what you think.Thank you so much for listening to today’s show. Stay tuned after to hear some announcements but we’ll be back next week for another episode.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Join Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. DiscordBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Save time with Roll and Play PressSave yourself some precious time with Roll and Play Press. Go to https://session0studios.com/rollandplay and use code BETTERDM10 at checkout.Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.

You all reach the bottom of the ladder after climbing down it for an hour and a half. Halfway down, your wizard cast light to give you all the ability to see. You find yourselves in a roughcut chamber with a ladder that ascendes up towards where you came from. You also see a solitary door. After a few minutes, Herath is able to unlock the door and open it creakily. Beyond your group sees a sloping tunnel that dives deeper into the earth at a gentle decline. You group presses on and walks the path for another half hour. You and your group are used to the constant noises of the upper world. Down here you hear silence and the constant vibrations of the moving earth. Silently your group reaches the point where the tunnel branches. It diverges into 3 separate tunnels. Each tunnel looks natural. Your sight penetrates 30 feet into the darkness but you see no signs to indicate which tunnel to take. What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 35th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis and together we will learn how to tell better stories as dungeon master a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.We’ve all been a DM, we’ve all had good sessions and bad sessions. But how do you know what makes a good D&D session? It’s not always easy making a good D&D session, but it is always fulfilling. So here are some telltale signs of a good D&D session.Players have funThe most important thing for a D&D session is that your players have fun. That includes you since you are a player as well. So do whatever you need to make the game fun. If halfway through, you aren’t having fun, then you gotta change things up. Some ways try and make it more fun: Simplify: make things easier to comprehendEnergize: just add more energy to what you are doingTake a breakDo something funnyAdd in a twistSkip over boring stuff.Players are interestedObviously this is an aspect of the the players having fun, but the story needs to be interesting. That’s why we play D&D rather than other table top or video games. It’s the stories. So are there moments where your players are interested in what happens next. Two of the best ways to do this are first, adding a cliffhanger, but more importantly, conflict. The best part of any story is its conflicts. If a story has no conflicts, it is not a story. So add conflicts. Conflicts between the characters and NPC’s and between the characters and time and all sort of conflict. That’s how you draw in your players. Something memorable happenedA session is great when you can look back with your friends and say, “You remember when…. That was so cool or crazy or weird.” A good example is in one of my one-shots, one of my players killed an enemy that ended up blowing up cause two of the other players’ characters to die. It was funny and unexpected. It’s something we’ll all remember for a long time. Good D&D session.The session fits the mood of the playersSometimes the players don’t want a rootin tootin shootem up session. Sometimes the players just want a shopping session. So dangle different flavors in front of your players and the ones that your players interact with the most is the one you should give them more of. Be aware that what they want during the session will likely change from hour to hour and being a good DM  means that you understand what your players want. The perfect D&D session is an illusive thing. A ghost, a phantom, a shadow, yet made of pure crystal, platinum and gold, it’s worth more than all the loot in the universe. Creating the perfect D&D session is impossible, yet the goal of every DM. I wish you luck on your quest to create the most amazing D&D session. But until you become the ultimate master of the universe, at least these tips can help you create good sessions that your players love.Thanks for listening to today’s show. What do you think? Am I wrong? Did I miss anything? If so, then send me a message on Instagram. You can also share the show with someone else and talk about it with them. Would you like to play D&D with me? If so, then sign up for the newsletter and get access to monthly sign ups for a session with me or one of the other hosts. Sign up at https://how-to-be-a-better-dm.captivate.fm/subscribeThanks again for listening to today’s show. We’ll be back next week for another episode but until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Save time with Roll and Play PressSave yourself some precious time with Roll and Play Press. Go to https://session0studios.com/rollandplay and use code BETTERDM10 at checkout.Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.Join Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. Discord

The party walks out into a clearing. Traveling through the jungle had taken longer than expected. You’d followed the young girl’s tracks but that didn’t make traveling through the brush any easier, especially for Medic. In the clearing you see a clean cut wood house on stilts high above the jungle floor. It was as if a home had been built on a watch tower. Smoke rises lazily from the chimney. That’s when you realize how quiet it is. As you traveled through the jungle, you’d heard every sort of creature imaginable. Now you hear nothing. Suddenly the door opens up and a man steps out onto the deck of the house. He has a brown vest on with a black beard, no mustache and flowing black hair. He holds his hands on his hips with a crooked smile on his face.“I suppose you’ve come for my girl.” The man says in a rough deep voice. His tone is somewhat mocking.Brennor steps forward and say, “There’s more of us than of you so it would be wise to hand her over lad.”“I can count master dwarf.” The man says wryly. “I don’t think the odds stack up in your favor though.” And with that the man begins chanting something and waving his hands as his eyes light up with a strange white light.You look to Malfius who has already begun a Counterspell. Malfius finishes but nothing happens. Malfius tries again, but nothing. The man on the deck smiles and says, “Oh that won’t work with me. I’m a different breed altogether.” and then thrusts his hand forward and opens it and you and your companions are assaulted with shards of thick ice.After the barrage, you all stand up and look at each other.What would you like to do?Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis and together you and I will learn how to tell better stories as we DM sessions of Dungeons & Dragons 5e. As I’m been making this show and putting out this content, I’ve realized that it’s very possible that you the listener, not you, no the other one, yes you! The one who is pointing their finger at themselves and mouthing, “me?” Yes. I’m talking to you. You might not be a DM yet, but you’re interested in becoming one. You have one questions on your mind, “Am I ready to try being a DM.?’Well Mister! I’m here to tell you yes!Well, mostly yes.I guess the answer is it depends. You have a desire to try.The first and most important thing you need in order to be ready to try being a dungeon master is simply the desire, nay the interest. Everything else can be developed and acquired. If you don’t want to be a DM, then doing it for more than a one shot will be very difficult, nay impossible. If you’re listening to this episode and your friend is pressuring you to try being a DM but you have no real curiosity or interest in doing it, then don’t do it. I mean it’s alright to try it, but you don’t need to prepare to become a DM. Becoming a DM requires a lot of commitment and a shifu.You can explain the basic rules to someone who’s never played.Go find someone who’s never played D&D but is open to the idea. If they aren’t open, they’ll likely not care about you explaining the rules, therefore they won’t pay attention. So find this neophyte to the D&D ways and sit them down and explain how you play. Don’t go too in depth, but just enough to whet their whistle. If the very idea of that scares the living daylight out of you, then you gotta do some reading my friend.You Have an IdeaEvery great campaign needs twists and surprises. Even if you use a premade campaign, you’ll still want to add your own flavor to the game. That means you’ll want to be able to create story lines that are interesting. Now, obviously doing that well takes practice. To start off make sure you have some sort of idea. What I mean is most DM’s at one point of another have been doing dishes, or laundry or showering and then randomly will have a bizarre, strange interesting idea of some sort of campaign to do or a one-shot or something to make a story more interesting. Have one of those. The best part is you can make yourself come up with something. So if you’re struggling, then do this. 1. Grab piece of paper. 2. Grab a writing utensil. 3. Write down your favorite fantasy setting (for example, Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance, etc.) 4. Write down your favorite thing about that setting (is it the giant war balloons, or the code of honor of one of the order of nights, or is it the snarky attitude of most of the characters). 5. Add that idea to an encounter you might come up with.I chose the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson and what I liked most (aside from the variety of characters) was the magic system. So maybe I could have my players face someone whose magic system is completely different. One of my players might cast dispel magic, but it doesn’t work because in a way, it’s not magic. See. Simple idea that makes a side quest interesting.You’re comfortable performingThis one is a gut check. As a DM, you are a storyteller, a writer, and a performer, an actor. You’ll act out the various characters that your players will come in contact with. That said, if you are uncomfortable describing things or being somewhat whacky in front of other people, you may not have as much fun at being a DM.HUGE CAVEAT! One of the reasons I love Dungeons and Dragons is that it does push some of us out of our comfort zones. I myself am a somewhat more reserved person, but D&D has helped me be more expressive in front of my friends and be ok performing and putting on a show. I also think being a DM is great if you have trouble public speaking. It’s a wonderful way to push yourself past your limits and have fun with friends at the same time. So if you aren’t perfectly comfortable performing in front of others, that’s ok, just practice until you get that way.The most important thing to remember is that yes, you are ready to try being a DM. No DM is perfect at the get go. I distinctly remember one week where I was frustrated with myself because the session didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I felt like I sucked and then the next week I felt much better because the session was way more fun. There’s a learning curve. Hopefully, this show helps  you get over it faster, but it’s still there.Thanks for listening to today’s show. If you have any feedback I’d love to hear. Just send me a direct message on Instagram @geronimolevis and I’ll be sure to respond. Or if you just love the show, give us a rating or review wherever you are listening to this.If you’re interested in getting even more content like this and maybe even an opportunity to play D&D with me or one of the other hosts, sign up for our newsletter. It’ simple and free and best of all you get extra stuff. Who doesn’t like that. Just go to :https://how-to-be-a-better-dm.captivate.fm/subscribe and subscribe.We’ll be back next week for another fun show.Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Save time with Roll and Play PressSave yourself some precious time with Roll and Play Press. Go to https://session0studios.com/rollandplay and use code BETTERDM10 at checkout.Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.Do You Want to Earn some Money?🎲 Want to Earn Some Extra Gold? We’re offering a referral incentive for our professional Dungeon Mastering services! Here’s how it works: 1️⃣ Refer someone to session0studios.com/prodm 2️⃣ They sign up for a free consultation. 3️⃣ They mention they were referred by a podcast listener. 4️⃣ We DM an unforgettable session for them. 5️⃣ They get 10% off their booking. 6️⃣ You get 10% of what they paid—straight into your coin purse. 7️⃣ We celebrate with a virtual high-five. 🙌 We run games for private groups and corporate teams—whether it’s a one-shot or a long-term campaign. 💰 Want to earn some gold and help someone level up their game night? Send them to session0studios.com/prodm and start earning today!

You and your companions get off the boat and onto the dock of New Tuyen. You look around letting the sights and sounds greet you. You walk towards the city and allow yourself to acclimate to this new city. You first notice all the green. The buildings and roads are all made with a green material. After talking to a local citizen, you learn that the material is actually a moss that is particularly dense and sturdy. You also take in the smells of local street vendors who season their meats with intoxicating spices. Your stomach rumbles and mouth salivates as you pass one particular stall. The thing that strikes you the most are the people. You’ve heard about genassi but you weren’t prepared for this. Every person you has the form and shape of humanoids but instead of skin you simply see and element. One man made of fire walks past you without burning you and immediately after a woman made of shifting sand walks by without leaving any sand behind. Each person wears clothing like normal and their bodies are shaped like yours, but they seem so foreign. Especially alien to you are the space genassi. Their bodies looks like fields of stars and hair look like nebula. You’ve never seen anything so beautiful yet strange. Welcome to New Tuyen.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 33rd episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis. Together, you and I will explore how to tell better stories for yourself and your players as you DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.We all know that planning D&D sessions is tough. Most of us do it only so we can play the session. There are those few of us who are masichists at heart and enjoy the torture, but I’m not talking to those freaks today.Instead, I’m talking to the other freaks who don’t necessarily love preparing for D&D sessions, but still love playing the game and being a DM anyways.You’re probably asking the question, “How much should I plan for my D&D session?”You’ve got lots of things to worry about in your life. You probably have a job, kids, a spouse, other hobbies, your physical fitness, dog, parents, friends, and everything else that’s going on in your life. You can’t plan every move your players would ever make. Well, I’m gonna give you a simple answer and a more complex answer. The simple answer is you should plan more than you think you should but less than your players think you have.Simple right. Well, let’s unravel that just a little bit.Plan to finish what you’ve started.I’ve covered this before, but you need to plan to finish what has been started in the last campaign. This is the minimum requirement. Right now in the campaign I’m leading with my players, I have two characters who just started two separate combat encounters while the rest of the party is back at camp trying to long rest. So naturally, I have to prepare these two separate encounters. For me that looks like reading into the capabilities of the adversaries that will be fighting my players and making sure I know what they can do and what they will most likely do. This also means thinking of the motives behind my players and their enemies to try and guess the most likely way things will go. But, knowing my players, it’s likely that I can’t predict what they will do and that’s ok.2 -3 Paths.After finishing these two encounters, I’ll likely have an opportunity to ask, “What do you want to do now?” That means the players will have to think about all the many options they have to do stuff and pick something. Again, there’s no possible way I can predict everything they are going to do. So I pick three possible paths that the players can choose. I’m not really at liberty to discuss the paths I’m preparing for my group now because one of the players is now a host on the this show (aka Cayden Ottley). Random Encounter FodderIt also helps to have some tables for random encounters in your back pocket. If you are playing a premade campaign, they’ll likely have some made for you. I think it’s also fun to add in IF - Then situations. For example. One of my players has a certain homebrew item that I gave to her many sessions ago. Since she attuned to it, I’ve had her keep track of how many monsters she’s killed with it. She finally reached 10 kills. Because of that, it’s triggered something new that will happen in the next session when she falls asleep. You can create all sorts of If - Then situations to help you plan what happens. If Player So and So does This and That then the Unexpected happens. Finish the next path stepping Stone.I say a good rule of thumb is to plan past at least one next major stepping stone. There’s a chance you won’t finish it, but on the off chance you do, at least you’re ready. This means that at a minimum you have a general idea of everything that happens in the dungeon for example. You know where the rooms are and you know how it’s all gonna go down (more or less, usually a lot less).Remember it’s a skill.Planning D&D sessions is above all else a skill and therefore requires practice. There will be sessions where halfway through you realize you have nothing else prepared. That’s ok. There will also be sessions where you finish the night and realize you didn’t get to half of what you had prepared. That’s an awesome feeling. As you go through playing D&D you’ll learn instinctually how much to plan for each session.It all has to relate to the playersIn listening to Writing Excuses this week (that’s a podcast about writing books), the hosts talked about world building. They said that everything you build for the world is only interesting in as much as it relates to the characters who are infinitely more interesting. I say prepare as much as you want to, but always make sure it relates back to the characters and the players. Get the essentials down (what’s going to happen next session) and then prepare some fun stuff for your players. Some people say if it stops being fun then stop prepping, but at the same time, prepping has to get done, so I say, use your best judgement and just try your hardest with it.I hoped you liked today’s episode. If you would like more of today’s content, then sign up for our newsletter. https://how-to-be-a-better-dm.captivate.fm/subscribe You can even sign up to play D&D with me!Thanks again for listening to today’s episode. Come back next week for another amazing show.Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Do You Want to Earn some Money?🎲 Want to Earn Some Extra Gold? We’re offering a referral incentive for our professional Dungeon Mastering services! Here’s how it works: 1️⃣ Refer someone to session0studios.com/prodm 2️⃣ They sign up for a free consultation. 3️⃣ They mention they were referred by a podcast listener. 4️⃣ We DM an unforgettable session for them. 5️⃣ They get 10% off their booking. 6️⃣ You get 10% of what they paid—straight into your coin purse. 7️⃣ We celebrate with a virtual high-five. 🙌 We run games for private groups and corporate teams—whether it’s a one-shot or a long-term campaign. 💰 Want to earn some gold and help someone level up their game night? Send them to session0studios.com/prodm and start earning today!I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith. Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.

You all enter the doorway at the back of the chamber. This dungeon had given you and your companions many challenges. You’d almost lost McGregor in the first room and as you descended lower, each level became harder.In this last chamber, you’d expended all your magical energy just trying to put this pit fiend down. You look back at the demon, already its body is starting to turn to sludgy black ichor. You turn and follow your friends.You all walk down a long stone hallway and enter a very small room. In the room there is a single stone dais on which rests a very strange object. There’s what looks like a box with a round pane of glass on one side on a stand inches above a slab of something grey with square pellets on it. As you get closer, you see the pellets all have a single character on them. They’re arranged in some sort of grid pattern. You reach out and touch one. You hear a click. Instantly, the glass pane on the box lights up and you see moving particles of black and white and you hear a faint buzzing. You reach your hands toward the glass pain and you feel energy dancing on the surface. You touch the screen and flash!You open your eyes and find yourself surrounded by numbers and lines of light. You are in a very strange place that seems all angles and lines. There is nothing organic here. Instead of dirt, you stand on what feels like a mix between glass and metal and off in the distance you see the large gathered lights of a city at night. What would you like to do?Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and together you and I are going to explore how to tell better stories while you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Have you ever wanted to play D&D with people but you were separated by time and space….?Well as far as the time thing goes, can’t really help you. I’m fresh out of Tardis’ and Delorians.But the nice thing about living in the technological age is that distance is relative. You can now play D&D online with your friends or family, or complete strangers.But what do you need to play a session online? What a great question. Let’s dig in.Video conferencing toolAside from the basic essentials of needing a story and players, you need a medium through which you can all communicate. Obviously you can use free options like Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangout. Honestly, you could play just over the phone (but your minutes will probably go way over your monthly budget). I wouldn’t recommend playing over the phone because having that visual component is so easy, affordable and just really nice! If you are looking for just a video connection tool, I would say Zoom or Google Hangout, but the drawbacks are that you can’t do them for really long sessions. So my next recommendation would be a platform.PlatformAfter a video conferencing tool, the next thing to have would be a platform that syncs together all the players and everything that’s going on. I prefer Roll20. It allows you to use Video as you play and it also syncs the rolls of all the players and adds a lot of cool features that the DM can use. I am not affiliated with them but I really like what they do.VisualsThe next thing I would say you need is visuals. When I say need here, I more mean “it’s really easy to add and it’s free so you’d be really stupid and lazy not to add it.”  The point is there are so many free options out there that taking the time to make your sessions better takes just that time. For visuals again you can literally google cool maps and stuff and then slap that into a word doc or paint and have your players tell you where to move shapes that represent them. Obviously you can always use theater of the mind, but I personally love to look for tools to help immerse my players.MusicAfter visuals, the next thing to think about is audio. Because everyone is already in front a screen, adding cool audio effects is nice and honestly a lot easier than doing it at the table because you as the DM are already on the computer. If you get really into it you can look for voice changing softwares to help make each of your NPC’s unique. I really like how Mark Hulmes did this on High Roller’s Aeirois because it really made you get the feeling of the NPC’s.A strong internet connection.The biggest drawback to playing online is that you are at the mercy of your internet speeds. Said another way, you never have to wait for the other players at the table to buffer when you are playing in person. So, to get the best experience while playing D&D online, you gotta look for ways to improve your internet speeds. You also need to help your players when they have troubles. Sometimes your players just can’t make it happen and you have to be ready as a DM for that. Those are all the things I think you absolutely need or are at least free for the most part so there’s really no excuse for not doing them. Obviously you can look into getting a microphone or a webcam if you want to do this more often, but that’s going to cost you some money. I realize that you are spending tons of money as it is on this hobby so hopefully we can give you some great tips that don’t break the bank.If you do want tips and insights into some of the higher tiered Dungeon Master tools, sign up for our newsletter. You can go to https://how-to-be-a-better-dm.captivate.fm/subscribe and subscribe for monthly updates, new content, homebrew items and even opportunities to play D&D with me and our other hosts. With those games, it’s first come first serve so better sign up quickly.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or suggestions for the show on Instagram @geronimolevis and we’ll chat there.Come back next week for another amazing show. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith. Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.Do You Want to Earn some Money?🎲 Want to Earn Some Extra Gold? We’re offering a referral incentive for our professional Dungeon Mastering services! Here’s how it works: 1️⃣ Refer someone to session0studios.com/prodm 2️⃣ They sign up for a free consultation. 3️⃣ They mention they were referred by a podcast listener. 4️⃣ We DM an unforgettable session for them. 5️⃣ They get 10% off their booking. 6️⃣ You get 10% of what they paid—straight into your coin purse. 7️⃣ We celebrate with a virtual high-five. 🙌 We run games for private groups and corporate teams—whether it’s a one-shot or a long-term campaign. 💰 Want to earn some gold and help someone level up their game night? Send them to session0studios.com/prodm and start earning today!

In this podcast, the hosts announce the launch of Monsters.Rent, a subscription service for D&D minis, and a new community for Dungeon Masters. They discuss YouTube rabbit holes and entitled behavior, share their current interests and hobbies, talk about the challenges DMs face, and emphasize the importance of personality traits in character creation. The hosts also introduce the purpose of the podcast and provide DMing tips for enhancing storytelling.

Sorry I'm a day late uploading! Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-page By subscribing, you'll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, home-brew content and more. In today's episode, we talk about how to prepare your players for a D&D session. We discuss things like useful materials for players, Rules and mechanics of gameplay, and giving players feedback on how to enhance their gameplay experience. Please leave a review if you enjoy the episode, and feel free to reach out to us with questions or topics you'd like to see in the future! Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith. Start Leveling Up As a DMWouldn’t it be nice to gamify your dungeon master abilities? In D&D, characters can reach level 20, so why can’t dungeon masters? We’re happy to tell you that now, you can. We created the Dungeon Master Level-Up Guide. It’s a simple tool to gamify your progression to higher and higher levels of dungeon mastering. It includes Dungeon Master Levels 1 to 20 with associated XP requirements as well as a long list of Dungeon Master activities that will give you XP. Each activity has a Challenge Rating and an XP amount. In order to level up, all you need to do is find out how much XP you have, find out how much you need and pick activities to try. You can get the Dungeon Master Level-Up guide for free by going to session0studios.com/newsletter/, sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you the Level-Up Guide. Finally, leveling up as a DM can be as fun as leveling up a character. Level Up GuideGive Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.

You all finish your long-rest and you wake up to a bright, if not bitter cold winter morning. The view from the mountaintop lookout on which you slept is breathtaking, as is the chilling wind that blows. You all slept comfortably thanks to the warmth of the fire.As you all wake up you prepare for the day, memorizing your spells, stretching your sore limbs and generally preparing yourselves for whatever may come next, except one of you.Roen the druid, as you wake up you are met with the sight of a small brown squirrel sitting before you, patiently waiting for you to awaken. Tied around the squirrels neck is a tiny scroll of parchment.Naturally, you reach down and untie the scroll and unroll it. As you do, the squirrel scampers off into the trees.The scroll is very small yet is crammed with writing. The writing is clumsy as if it was written with charcoal rather than a quill and ink. On the parchment is a line of text that turns your heart to ice.“Help. Captured by Xyxyx in Waterdeep. Cynthia.”And that is where we will end today’s session.Welcome back to the 29th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft better stories for yourself and your players as you DM Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Before we get to the show let’s go through a couple of announcements. First, I hope you all enjoyed our last episode where you all met our new team member, Tanner Weyland. If you have any comments or questions for him or me, send us a direct message at @geronimolevis through Instagram.Next, today’s show is brought to you by our monthly newsletter.You can sign up using the link in the show notes and get access to extra tips on being a DM, behind the scenes content and extra homebrew pieces that you can use in your campaigns. You can also sign up to play a one-shot with myself as your DM. This is first come first serve so sign up for the newsletter and let’s play a session together.Now, to the show.Planning your sessions can often be the most difficult part of playing D&D. Sometimes it helps to have a general structure to your sessions. Well let’s look at this simple D&D structure.What happened last timeOne of the most important things you can do to start off a good session is a recap of the session before. This gives your players a chance to get into character and into the game. It also serves as a nice way to transition out of friendly chatter and into playing a game where you have to be quiet while the DM talks. Lastly, it’s great to remind your players what happened last because they’ve probably forgotten. Resolve what happened last timeFinish what you started last time. If you had just started an encounter, then run the encounter. If you left off on a cliff hanger then run through what implied the cliff hanger. Sometimes though, it makes for a nice twist to not resolve what you started but that is an advanced technique.Ask about Character’s BackstoriesAt this point, ask if every person’s back story has been featured lately. If not, add in something that relates to the backstory of someone. It doesn’t need to be in depth but it can be. Add the next main plot pointThink about the next logical plot point and prepare that. Pretty simple. Just beware, you will not be able to plan for everything. I like to ask myself the question, “What would I logically do next?” And then I prepare for that. Then I ask myself, “If I didn’t do that, what would I logically do?” Then I prepare for that. Then we end up doing neither of those things and doing something completely random that my players came up with at the moment. Se la vie.Prepare at least one encounterMost often your players expect to fight something  So I find it helpful to have at least one combat encounter in my back pocket. The best way to do this is using D&D Beyond’s encounter builder. It’s a great way to save an encounter and then go in and tweak it a bit when things have changed but you still need an encounter.Plan for the cliffhangerThe last thing you want to do is plan for a probable cliffhanger. I say probable because there’s no way of knowing exactly where the session will end. You’ll have a lot of input but so will the players. For me good cliffhangers are right before big encounters, or right after a reveal of something, or when there’s a twist. You’ll want to be thinking about your cliffhanger during the session so that you can prepare for it and possibly even change it.There you go, a simple session structure that should help you figure out what your players will be doing next session.Was this helpful? If it was please leave a rating and review so others can bask in the glory of Dungeons and Dragons!I’d also love to know what you think about the show. So send me any comments or questions in a direct message through Instagram @geronimolevis and I’ll be sure to respond.Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter to get even more D&D secrets and shortcuts as well as the opportunity to play a one-shot with me as your DM.Come back next week for an amazing episode but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Start Leveling Up As a DMWouldn’t it be nice to gamify your dungeon master abilities? In D&D, characters can reach level 20, so why can’t dungeon masters? We’re happy to tell you that now, you can. We created the Dungeon Master Level-Up Guide. It’s a simple tool to gamify your progression to higher and higher levels of dungeon mastering. It includes Dungeon Master Levels 1 to 20 with associated XP requirements as well as a long list of Dungeon Master activities that will give you XP. Each activity has a Challenge Rating and an XP amount. In order to level up, all you need to do is find out how much XP you have, find out how much you need and pick activities to try. You can get the Dungeon Master Level-Up guide for free by going to session0studios.com/newsletter/, sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you the Level-Up Guide. Finally, leveling up as a DM can be as fun as leveling up a character. Level Up GuideGive Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith.

Welcome back to the 28th episode of How to Be a Better DM.Today I get to introduce you to my new team member Tanner Weyland!Before we go on, I’d like to invite you to sign up for my monthly newsletter in which you’ll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, homebrew content and more. Sign up for this newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageToday we talk about what makes a perfect DM.Here are some highlights of the show:EnergyUnique creativityAllowing the characters to do their own thingNot being harshMentioned in this episode:Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith. Start Leveling Up As a DMWouldn’t it be nice to gamify your dungeon master abilities? In D&D, characters can reach level 20, so why can’t dungeon masters? We’re happy to tell you that now, you can. We created the Dungeon Master Level-Up Guide. It’s a simple tool to gamify your progression to higher and higher levels of dungeon mastering. It includes Dungeon Master Levels 1 to 20 with associated XP requirements as well as a long list of Dungeon Master activities that will give you XP. Each activity has a Challenge Rating and an XP amount. In order to level up, all you need to do is find out how much XP you have, find out how much you need and pick activities to try. You can get the Dungeon Master Level-Up guide for free by going to session0studios.com/newsletter/, sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you the Level-Up Guide. Finally, leveling up as a DM can be as fun as leveling up a character. Level Up GuideBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

You face your aggressors stoically. They scoff at you and you feel the presence of one as he edges around to flank you from behind.“Leave me alone. I’ve never done anything to you guys,” you say.The older boy looks at you and then looks at his thug-like friends. “You’re a freak, an orcish freak. You always will be.” He then nods to his friends.You feel a rock hit you in your shoulder. It stings and you turn to look at the thrower. At the same time you feel a stick hit the back of your leg. You feel your knee buckle. You start to feel tears flow to your eyes. You throw one punch and land it on someone’s face. You immediately feel one then two then three fits hit you in differently places, You instinctually fall to the ground and ball yourself up. Despite your efforts, you still feel flashes of pain in your head, your gut, your spine. As the beating goes on, you realize they aren’t going to stop. You weakly whimper out a pathetic, “please..”Your eyes fade to black. You hear, “I can save you.”You don’t even question it. You respond, “please save me.”When you open your eyes, there are four bodies on the ground. Four young boys lie at your feet. Your hands are smoking and for once, you feel no fear.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 27th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and today you and I are going on a journey. That’s right. We are going to explore what it takes to create amazing experiences for yourself and your players as you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.  It’s going to be a back and forth and hopefully we each learn something.Before we go on, I’d like to invite you sign up for my monthly newsletter in which you’ll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, homebrew content and more. Sign up for this newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageIn the January issue of the newsletter you’ll get a special opportunity. There will be a link to sign up to play in a one-shot with me as your DM. It’s first come first serve so make sure to sign up fast. It’ll be a one-shot online and it should be a lot of fun… I hope. So sign up for that newsletter and let’s get to know each other.I also want to take a moment and share my gratitude with you. You’ve made this podcast possible and I just want to say thank you.Now why would you plan a session 0? What a great question.First, you should probably know what a session 0 is if you’ve never heard about it. I won’t go into too much detail here but a session 0 is a first session of a campaign where things aren’t completely set in stone. You get to play the characters before having to commit to them.So why would you plan a session 0?Well there are a few benefits.You can spend more time with each individual playerOne of the nice things about session 0’s is that you can split them up. For example, if you are having a campaign of 5 players, you can have a session 0 with 2 of them, 3 of them or even one of them. I don’t really recommend doing it with just one, but you could. You can have a session 0 with just 2 of your players which makes it more intimate and helps your player feel like you care about them and their character because you do.You can have your players play test their characterWe’ve all had players who’ve played a character that they weren’t really into that much. Playtesting during a session 0 allows your players to see what the features, spells, actions and abilities actually do in a live session. This changes it from, “That sounds really cool,” to “that was really useful and really cool.” I truly hate it later in the campaign when I start to wonder if a player is having fun. A session 0 can help them find the character they love and will have lots of fun playing.You can have your characters meet each otherOne of the biggest thorns in my side is figuring out a way to get the characters to meet each other without completely distrusting each other and somehow finally forming into an adventuring band. I don’t know why but it’s really hard for me. With a session 0 you can actually play the moment when 2 characters meet and become friends. This makes it easier when in session 1 you have all the characters meet and a few of them already know each other. Critical Role does this really well in their 2nd Campaign on Youtube. You can help set expectations before getting too farAs a DM you might have to train your players. This means you’ll probably have to help them understand that your campaign will likely take months and that it will be a commitment and that you expect them to give time and energy just as you will (though as the DM you will give way more). Obviously things change and people have to constantly be shifting their priorities which is ok. What isn’t ok is someone starting to be a flake on session 2. That’s not ok. You need to let them know that and any other expectations you have (such as no phones at the table or other rules you like to have).You can ask your players what sort of things they want from the campaignIt’s one thing to ask, “Do you want more combat, role-play or a mix of both?” and it’s another thing to have your players do a big role-play scene and then find out they don’t really like that. You can ask them real-time what sort of things they like and what they didn’t. This lets you tweak your campaign to fit what your players want.You can teach each player how to play their characterEach character will generally have a lot of bells and whistles. It will take some time learning how to play your character. Most players generally like to try new classes so if they had a barbarian last campaign they might try a spellcaster this campaign. That means they’ll have to learn a whole new set of rules. A session 0 is a nice way to gently introduce them to those new rules and help them learn how to play their character correctly. I’ve mentioned before the sorcerer who wanted to walk first into the dungeon. A session 0 is a great way to teach them sorcerer squishy get dead quick. That way, they don’t die in session 1.You can play out backstoryMaybe one of the coolest benefits of a session 0 is that you can actually play through part of the character’s back story. That way when your character tells the rest of the group that they met their warlock patron at a cookout for a local bardic group, the player actually knows the details. Using the session 0 to help the characters flesh out their backstory works the best when it features the reason the characters started adventuring. That way their motives are fresh in the players’ minds.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Like always, I’m super appreciative of your patronage. I’m very grateful that you listen week in and week out.If you get a second, please leave a rating and review so that others can find this show.We’ll be back next week for another episode. Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Give Us a Rating and ReviewYou obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.I Made a CR 100 MonsterI made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith. Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Start Leveling Up As a DMWouldn’t it be nice to gamify your dungeon master abilities? In D&D, characters can reach level 20, so why can’t dungeon masters? We’re happy to tell you that now, you can. We created the Dungeon Master Level-Up Guide. It’s a simple tool to gamify your progression to higher and higher levels of dungeon mastering. It includes Dungeon Master Levels 1 to 20 with associated XP requirements as well as a long list of Dungeon Master activities that will give you XP. Each activity has a Challenge Rating and an XP amount. In order to level up, all you need to do is find out how much XP you have, find out how much you need and pick activities to try. You can get the Dungeon Master Level-Up guide for free by going to session0studios.com/newsletter/, sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you the Level-Up Guide. Finally, leveling up as a DM can be as fun as leveling up a character. Level Up Guide