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

The grand city of Tornlock boasts a population of 100,000 citizens. From the port district to the affluent Crown district, many call this city their home. In a city like this though, many find themselves in less than fortunate circumstances.You and your companions find yourselves in an Inn, sleeping when a loud knocking on your doors awakens you. It’s a member of the guard. He informs you that Lawmaster Sotan requires your immediate presence. After you and your companions prepare yourselves for the day, you follow the guard out the inn and into a slightly overcast day. The guard leads you down main streets, side roads, and eventually leads you to an alleyway in a darker part of town. He leads you toward a small huddle of guardsmen in the center of the alley way. As you approach, a head raises from the group and signals to you all a basic, if not taciturn greeting. It’s Lawmaster Sotan. You and your companions had worked with the Aasimar on a few occasions and your dealings had always been cordial and productive.“Good morning adventurers. I apologize for the inconvenience at having to wake you at such an early hour, but it could not be helped. Please inspect the grisly scene before us and tell me what insights you can glean. We will talk more after you’ve had a chance to examine the corpse,” Sotan says as he beckons you and your companions forward.The group of guards part and you encounter one of the most grisly scenes of your life. A pastel purple tiefling lies on the ground, eyes wide open starting silently into the gray sky. The body lies with arms and legs akimbo, tied to four posts stuck in the ground. A look of deep fear and consternation adorns the face, frozen in time forever. You also notice the tieflings chest andbelly are flayed open revealing the internal organs of the once living tiefling. Blood has splattered all over the alley way and footprints of blood leave down the opposite side of the alley.You turn to talk to Lawmaster Sotan, but not before he says, “This is the third victim exactly like this in 15 days. We need your help.”What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 16th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m here to help you create better stories for yourself and your friends while you play Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Thanks for coming back for yet another episode. I really appreciate your patronage and your support. So let’s get into today’s episode.As you build out your stories, one-shots and campaigns, you’ll indubitably need resources. Whether you need maps, monsters, or motivation there are many places to find what you need. Here are my top places I go for resources.Google searchAlmost without exception, a simple search on the internet will give me a quick path to what I need. Now, obviously this will take you to the place you need to go, but never underestimate the power of a Google search. For example, I built out a one-shot recently and I needed a very specific type of monster. So I just searched on Google and it took me to what I need. The only caveat here is that if you are streaming or putting your content out commercially, you need to make sure that whatever stuff you pull from the internet is ok to use in that way. InstagramThis is more of passive method for finding cool things, but as I scroll and I find cool things, I just save them in different saved collections. I have a collection for Monsters, Items, simple hacks, Story Hooks and more. Specifically with monsters, items and story hooks there are many Instagram profiles out there that constantly put out new monsters, items and story hooks. I would share them but I have not gotten the ok to so if you want to check them out go to my Instagram @geronimolevis and go to the list of profiles I follow and give it a look.D&D BeyondI know I talk a lot about D&D Beyond but specifically for monsters, it’s very useful (specifically the encounter builder) but finding monsters, spells or items is really easy because you can just search (just like on Google) and generally it comes up. You can also find other peoples’ homebrew content which is nice when you want to supplement what you already got.PinterestWith my earlier Google Search my internet safari eventually took me to the wilds of Pinterest where I indeed found the monsters that I was looking for. I simply copied and pasted the images of the monsters and their stats into the doc in which I was preparing my one-shot and boom, I was good to go. Again, here you have to get the go ahead before you use the content in a commercial way but for home games, Pinterest is great.Other PeopleA great resource that many people never tap into is other people. I know in a personal way, I recently had a few moments of collaboration with a friend creating a murder mystery dinner party. Now obviously that’s not D&D but the principle still applies. If you need help, just reach out to a fellow Dungeon Master and ask a simple question of, “What would you do if you were planning this type of session?” Works wonders and you become better friends.There you have it. 5 non-sourcebook places to go to get the content you need to Dungeon Master an epic session of D&D. I’d love to continue the conversation so reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis and let’s continue the fun.We’ll be back next week for another fun episode.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Why Listen to Ads?Ugh, another ad break. Let’s be real—ads are the worst. If you’re anything like my wife, you’d rather quit a show entirely than sit through another ad. So why suffer? Just skip them. Join our Patreon at patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and enjoy ad-free episodes with exclusive patron-only content—all for just $5 a month. Look at you, all fancy with your uninterrupted listening experience. So stop wasting time on ads (like this one). Go to patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and upgrade your listening today!PatreonDo 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!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.Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

You awake in the log cabin in which you’d taken shelter the night before. You look around at the warm crackling fire in the giant hearth. The large white bear that led you to the cabin lies at the foot of the fire. You and your companions slowly awake. You look around and notice one figure not of your company sitting at the large oak table in the corner. His feet are up and he sits smoking a slender pipe. You stand and draw your sword. “Who are you?” you ask.“Well that’s a fine hello to someone who was gracious enough not to kill you in your sleep while you sleep in his bed,” the man retorts.You pause, then stow your blade.“That’s more like it.” The man says as he snuffs his pipe. He stands. “Welcome to my cabin. I am Lord Gelick Grayson of The Kingdom of the Golden Deer, but you may call me Judir Fiendirsen. I am your adopted uncle.”What do you do?Welcome back to the 15th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Together we will discuss tips for how to create more immersive stories for you and your friends as you dungeon master a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.As always, I’m excited to hop into today’s show, but first off one announcement. I am working on getting new team members on the show. It’s looking pretty good, but if you want more people on the show, make sure you share the show with your cool DM friends to make sure we have enough support for the show.Anyways, to today’s show.With all the many books produced by Wizards ofthe Coast, it can be somewhat difficult knowing which books to read and which to buy and in what order. So here is my take on things. As a bonus, I’ll tell you whether to buy the book in print, or through DnDBeyond. Obviously, you’d want them both in physical format and in digital format, but my recommendations are assuming you will only buy one format (like most normal people).First there is one caveat. If you are never planning on playing using DnDBeyond or having your players use DNDBeyond then obviously your buying choices will skew towards the physical format.With that said, here are book recommendations.Players HandbookEvery Dungeons and Dragons player should have access to a Player’s Handbook. It will teach you the basic rules as well as give you the basic gamut of character options. This is the first book any DM should buy. If you have this book you never need to have to depend on others in order to play D&D (aside from the fact you need others to be players in your world). This is also the first book you should read. This will help you know the rules and be able to guide your players through the game. As far as whether you should buy this in physical or digital format, I would say digital format all the way. This allows you the search the book for rules as well as give you the opportunity as a DM to have your players to use DND Beyond to make their their characters. It makes things way easier as a DM. Plus it is slightly cheaper.The Monster ManualThis book is extremely helpful for knowing new and exciting monsters to pitch your players up against. Throwing your players in encounters of the same type of monsters over and over will get very boring. You’ll also be very bored as a DM unless you can find cool baddies to fit into the dastardly plans you make. Honestly, I am torn between whether you should buy the book digitally or physically. On one hand, i love looking at the pictures and reading the book. On the other hand having it digitally makes it so much easier to use the DNDBeyond Encounter builder because the stats for the monsters are provided in the encounters when you have the digital version of The Monster Manual. So really it depends on what you value. I think this one might be a both scenario.The Dungeon’s Master GuideEvery DM should read this manual. There are many topics I’ve thought about covering on this show that I’ve held myself back simply because you can get the same content from the Dungeon’s Master Guide. You’ll learn how to really craft great stories and all the extra rules that will make it more fun. You also get access to tens of magical items that will make your campaign. I don’t see the tremendous need to have this book in digital format other than being able to use the magical items in conjunction with D&D Beyond (which you can add the items to your homebrew collection anyways) and the ability to search through rules and such. I don’t see it as particularly necessary to have it digitally.Other SourcebooksThis is the other category. Here basically spend your money buying books because you’ve gotten the previous 3. The exact books you get will depend on what types of campaigns you want to run as well as what character options/items you are looking for. For example, I was very interested in the artificer class and the Warforged race option so I bought Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Since I wanted those character options, I bought the book digitally so my players could use them too. This is where you’ll really build out your collection of dungeons and dragons sourcebooks.There you have it. Let me also take this moment to say that I have no affiliate to D&DBeyond, it’s just a great tool. There are other tools out there, but this is the tool that I use right now.Do you have any thoughts on which books to buy? Let me know your thoughts by sending a direct message on instagram to @geronimolevis .Remember, keep supporting and sharing the show so we can add more people to the show and get you ever better content so you can create better stories while playing D&D.We’ll be back next week, until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Why Listen to Ads?Ugh, another ad break. Let’s be real—ads are the worst. If you’re anything like my wife, you’d rather quit a show entirely than sit through another ad. So why suffer? Just skip them. Join our Patreon at patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and enjoy ad-free episodes with exclusive patron-only content—all for just $5 a month. Look at you, all fancy with your uninterrupted listening experience. So stop wasting time on ads (like this one). Go to patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and upgrade your listening today!PatreonGive 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.Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.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 walk slowly through the town. The sky is mottled gray and a slight breeze chills your skin. You see the townsfolk walking by as if nothing had happened. You stop a young lady to ask her what happened. She looks at you with a smile too big for her face. “Nothing happened good sir. We all love living here in Teel’s Hollow.” Her response didn’t feel natural, and her eyes seemed different. You’d all seen this girl before. You let her go. You and your companions stand in the street, discussing, when suddenly, you notice a figure across the way. They stop. Your eyes meet theirs, their cold mechanical eyes. The machine man suddenly bolts.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 14th episode of How to Be a Better DM. This is the show designed to help you tell better stories as you dungeon master a nice session of D&D 5e with your friends. Let me first start off with a big apology. There wasn’t an episode released last week and I am so sorry for that. I got sick and was totally unprepared for it. In fact, I’m still sick, so hopefully this week's episode doesn’t suck.Before we get to today’s show, let me tease out something really cool that might happen. If we’re able to get enough listeners to this show, we’ll be able to add a couple team members to the show. That’s all I’ll say for now, so make sure you share the show so we can bring on new guys !Now, we’ve all tried telling an amazing story. We’ve tried to weave the beginning, introducing important plot points and seamlessly transitioning to breathtaking moments of conflict. We’ve all been there. Most of us though still struggle with that. Maybe we struggle using our words to effectively paint the scene. So here are a few tips to better narrate your game.Slow downOne of my biggest problems is that I tend to talk really fast. Most people who talk fast do so unconsciously as a way to hide their insecurity. Subconsciously we feel that talking fast masks the fact that we might not have much value to say.  Instead, slow down. Breathe. Be very deliberate with what you say. If it takes a long time to get there, that’s ok. Narrate with your sensesAs you narrate your game, make sure you use words that call forth each of the senses. “The springtime scents of alfalfa assail you as you walk through the fields,” sounds much better than, “You walk through a field”. Immerse yourself and your players by giving them words that evoke their senses.Refine your written textIn D&D you’ll definitely ad lib at least once per session, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare some sort of text block as well. Whether you’re in a dungeon or about to fight a big boss, you can create a descriptive block of text that perfectly sets the scene. When you do, use this time to really practice your narration. What you say while improvising and what you say when you’ve prepared yourself are both linked. When one improves, the other improves.Give seemingly insignificant detailsYou gotta be careful with this tip, but when describing a foe, add in something that the players will remember. Rather than fighting a banshee, explain that the group sees a young maiden in a shroud of shimmering white garments, and that she holds something in her right hand, something that looks to be a star carved out of wood. Notice how I didn’t describe the whole monster, but it was still interesting. There you have it, 4 simple tips to help improve your narrative skills. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these tips, or any other tips you may have. Send me a direct message on instagram @geronimolevis  and I’ll be happy to start up a conversation.We’ll see you next week. Until then, let’s go ahead and 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.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 GuideWhy Listen to Ads?Ugh, another ad break. Let’s be real—ads are the worst. If you’re anything like my wife, you’d rather quit a show entirely than sit through another ad. So why suffer? Just skip them. Join our Patreon at patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and enjoy ad-free episodes with exclusive patron-only content—all for just $5 a month. Look at you, all fancy with your uninterrupted listening experience. So stop wasting time on ads (like this one). Go to patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and upgrade your listening today!Patreon

You and your friends walk into the deepest catacomb of the crypt. The summons you’d received were cryptic and specific. It said to descend to the lowest portion of the crypt in order to receive a special mission. You’ve passed ancient bones and less ancient bones, and now you find yourself in a large room completely made out of stone. Bluish light seems to emanate from the corners of the room but you see no movement. Suddenly, mist fills the floor of the room, bubbling up as if from some great beast’s maw.In the corner you see an object rise off of a shelf. It floats towards you. As it enters the light, you see a single floating skull with jewels for eyes and teeth. A Demilich. You and your companions draw your weapons when you hear a voice.“Wait.”The voice is small and childlike. It emanates from the skull.“I called you here. I am Isaac. I don’t know how, but I’ve somehow been trapped as a demilich. I’ve been here for so long and have only recently heard of your exploits. I know I look like a demilich, but I’m really just a child. This form has imbued with its knowledge but I just want to go home. Please, there is an artifact that has great power. Retrieve it and bring it back to return me to life as small boy. I’ll give you whatever I have. Please just help me.”You stare in disbelief. You look at your companions, all equally bewildered.You open your mouth to speak.What do you do?Welcome back to the 13th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m here to help you create better stories for you and your players as you dungeon master games of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Again, thanks for listening to today’s show and without further ado, let’s dive right in.Here are 5 Signs of a Bad Dungeon MasterObviously, right off the bat, you should know that the purpose of this episode is to help you not be a bad dungeon master. So don’t do or be these things.Forcing storylines.It’s one thing to create obvious plot paths. It’s another thing to make players turn their characters around to go the way you want them to when they were presented a choice and they chose the other way. D&D is all about role-playing and immersing yourself in the story. If you feel your character can’t choose anything they want to do, they won’t have as much fun. Relax. Your players will choose to do something completely different than what you want. That’s ok. In fact, in my campaign (Princes of the Apocalypse by Wizards of the Coast) our group was supposed to go into this riverside keep. Instead, the group went in for a second and then left and hasn’t returned. Big deal. The story’s been fun so far so who cares.Afraid of looking dumbAs a DM you will make mistakes. In fact, one of your players will probably call you out on your mistake. A bad DM will puff up their chest and stick out their chin, flare their nostrils and claim that the player is wrong and that King Kong DM rule world and everyone bow down. That’s not the way to play. Your players will think you’re ridiculous and no one will have fun. Instead, just laugh at yourself and chuckle and then say anyways, and move on.Favorite PlayersThis one is tough for me because I DM a group that includes my wife… But actually, I think I might have the opposite problem in that I might be too hard on my wife and her character. Don’t do that either. Be generous with your attention to each player and each character. If you realize you haven’t worked on the arc of one particular player, put that in the next session. Look critically at who gets the most loot. Try and make it more even.No SubstanceA bad DM will spend thousands of dollars on all the coolest Mini’s, have the perfect gaming table, all sorts of props, a billion dice, but won’t spend any time on the story. I’d take a great story teller with no cool widget over one who’s bought everything but can’t tell a story to save their life. Focus on your storytelling abilities, improvisation skills and campaign preparation. The rest will come in time.No Patience for the PlayersA bad DM will have 0 patience for their players. They won’t explain rules or will do it in a rushed fashion. A bad DM might even shame players for doing things a certain way while playing. Don’t be that way. You are the shepherd of your players. Guide them lovingly through the story you’ve created. The players are as much a part of your world as you are. If you don’t have players, you don’t have a game. So be patient and enjoy the nascient tendencies of a novice murder-hobo group just learning how to play.Stop Having FunLastly, a bad DM will let their preparation get in the way of having fun at the table. If being a DM becomes too much of a headache for you, switch things up. Try things a new way. Maybe spend a little less time on the preparation. Or listen to more episodes of this show (shameless plug) to get inspiration for how to make things easier for yourself. You can find all sorts of cool stuff online to help make your process easier. Or maybe, DMing isn’t for you and you should really just play the game while someone else is the dungeon master. That’s ok too. Just make sure everyone is having fun.That’s it for today. But first a quick question.What is your biggest struggle in being a DM? Honestly? I need to know. Send me a private message on Instagram @geronimolevis    to tell me what you need and I’ll get that prepped and put up on a podcast episode.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Why Listen to Ads?Ugh, another ad break. Let’s be real—ads are the worst. If you’re anything like my wife, you’d rather quit a show entirely than sit through another ad. So why suffer? Just skip them. Join our Patreon at patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and enjoy ad-free episodes with exclusive patron-only content—all for just $5 a month. Look at you, all fancy with your uninterrupted listening experience. So stop wasting time on ads (like this one). Go to patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster and upgrade your listening today!PatreonStart 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.

The dinosaurs had been one thing, but this was ridiculous. You stand there facing down a humanoid who looked to be wearing armor of some type that completely covered their head. It was black, but it seemed to have a glass faceplate that allowed the person to look out. The glass seemed to be glowing though as if lit with some strange magic. The person had a pack on that was metallic and sleek. They were holding a blade that seemed to be made of energy and pointing some sort of crossbow at you though it had no wood or bolts. In stead it fit in the person’s hand and had numbers blinking on the side. The person was gesturing at you and saying something you didn’t understand. Before, you’d been walking in a meadow and dinosaurs had appeared out of these portals. Now, in this forest, more portals had opened. A group of people who looked like your opponent had all appeared and immediately started fighting you. They’re weapons seemed sophisticated. They’d already downed on of your friends. Then it hit you. Maybe these people were from the future?What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 12th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Here, we’ll learn how to weave better stories for you and your friends as you play Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Usually, I like to give you tools to create awesome stories rather than giving you awesome stories to just use. Kind of the idea of teach a man to fish rather than giving him a fish.Today, I’m gonna just give you some fish. You’ll still have to prepare them for consumption however you like, but at least this should get you started. So let’s talk about a ideas for one shots.Hopefully, these ideas do 2 things for you. It should jump-start your creative juices and really get you moving on your campaign or next session.It should give a starting point from which to make these one-shots your own. I’m not going to give you everything, but you’ll have enough to get going.I also want you to know that I’m purposefully not giving you a lot. I want you to be able to come up with some on your own and make them happen. I’ll probably come up with more down the road, but for now, here are 2 to get you started.1.Grimstock ManorThis is the haunted mansion that I just finished up with my group. Admittedly, it wasn’t a one shot, but you can modify it to be that way. Just a heads up, I’m going to give you a spoiler so if you want to play this yourself, you might want to close your ears.The group will be tasked to clear out a mansion of ghosts in order to repurpose it as an orphanage. The mansion has always been haunted, or as long as the people in the nearby town can remember.The group will encounter only undead creatures in the mansion. You can fill the mansion with puzzles (like I did) as well as many encounters, but the story of the mansion is that a suitor named Mitro Zelx came and courted Anandra, daughter of Lord and Lady Grimstock. She fell in love with Mitro, and Mitro used her pure love to turn the mansion into a demi-plane of undead necromancy. He gave her three gifts in order to cement his control over the house. You can modify it for time to be one gift or two. I would recommend for sure a ring and either a golden rose or a music box. You can have as many encounters as you want, but I would at least have the group fight Anandra (an undead bride with the stats of either a banshee or a wraith) and Mitro (a Death Tyrant with stats that are modified to fit your groups level). I would have these be two separate encounters. Once the group defeats Mitro, Anandra reappears to thank the group for setting her free (even if the group had killed her before fighting Mitro). Simple but a nice and easy one-shot.2. The Fountain of ArmolenosLegend tells of a fountain that will grant the answer to one question of anyone who is worthy and enters into its pool. Lately, reports have emerged of the fountain having become tainted. It seems a local cult is trying to siphon the pool’s magics and bend them to their will.This is another side-quest I’m taking my group on. It’ll be about 1 and a half sessions but I’ll probably find a way to string it along. You’ll have the group make their way into the wilderness. At one point they’ll come to a clearing in that they have to cross. As they do cross, portals open up and actual dinosaurs walk out. The dinosaurs will be confused, but once they spot the adventurers they’ll attack them. After the group defeats the dinosaurs they will move on towards the fountain.The next encounter will happen with the group finds themselves walking through a copse of trees. Suddenly, portals will open up and strange people will walk out, again acting confused. They will attack the adventurers. These people will have stats the adventurers can handle, but they will look like they are from the future, shooting laser weapons and force rifles. It give the players a puzzle in their minds to think through.Once the group gets to the pool, they see priests trying to steal the magic from the fountain. Obviously they’ll have to defeat the priests (and any beasts or elementals the priests summon). After that the group will have to surmise a way to cleanse the pool. You can think of a fun way to do this. Then the group gets to have a question answered and you can leave the session on a cool cliff hanger. Viola.There you go. Two one-shots, ready to go.Let me know what you think and how these go for you.If you have any suggestions, send them in a private message to @geronimolevis on Instagram. I can’t wait to hear from you.Thanks for listening and until next time, 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 GuideSave 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 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)Not limiting playersMost 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.Giving too many magic itemsI’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. Making Dungeons too longThis 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.Making Friendly NPC’s too strongI 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.Shielding my PlayersSometimes 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.Mentioned in this episode: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.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.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

You stand in the central chamber of this strange cavern. You and your companions look at each other warily. Suddenly a spectral form emerges from the rock wall. It faces you and then starts drifting slowly in a wide circle around your band. Suddenly more emerge. They too begin floating lazily around you in a wide circle. As every second passes, more and more ghosts surround you and your companion. Within minutes there are thousands of them. Some float slower, others faster. Soon you find yourself completely surrounded by countless ghosts all whirling and twirling. Right in front of you though, it seems as if some sort of pattern emerges. Though all the ghosts are moving, it seems as if a ghostly face is before you, always changing, but somehow still the same.“What is your question?” A loud voice says.You and your companions have done it. You’ve found the Oracle of Alondras. She will answer any question you ask. You have an important one. How can you stop the coming war? She’ll answer the question, you know this for certain.But then she’ll try to kill you.So what would you like to do?Welcome back to the 10th episode of how to be a better DM. In simple terms, this show is all about helping you tell better stories as you DM a session of DND 5e.Before we hop into today’s show, let me shout out the master of audio of this show, namely, Cowchy Audio. If you ever need help with audio tasks, reach out to Cowchy Audio on Instagram. Direct message @ kahootaz and he’ll get you set up.Now let’s hop into today’s show.Here’ s What to Do if You’re a Nervous First Time DM!First of all, you need to know that every DM is nervous the first time they run a session. It’s ok to be nervous. More importantly, it’s ok to make mistakes and do things wrong. No matter what happens, you need to promise you’ll do another session. The 2nd session is always more fun than the first.So here are a few tips.Let your players know you are nervous.If this is your first time, you can tell your players. People love to be empathetic so they will work with you and be more patient. Just let them know that you’re nervous and they will make up some of the gaps.Keep the session simpleYou can do the crazy things in the next sessions. In this first session, just keep the plot simple. A to B to C to D. Think about it like that. If you’re using a campaign book, follow that and you can add in more flavor to later sessions. By keeping it simple, you won’t get flustered when something complicated comes up (because it probably won’t).Make sure you understand combat rules (at least generally)Make sure you understand the general idea that first you roll initiative, and then each person goes. If you know how combat works, you’ve basically mastered half of the session. So before the session make sure you read up on the rules of combat.Listen to other DnD Dungeon Master’sOne thing that has helped me is listening to other DM’s on Youtube. They go through the rules often so it’s great for a periodic refresher. I would recommend High Rollers on Youtube. They are from the UK (awesome group). There’s obviously also Critical Role with Matt Mercer. I also love Viva La Dirt League’s NPC Man DND. All great options.Role Play the Role PlayIf you want, you can even do a dry run through the session in the mirror (sped up of course) or you can do it with another person. This helps to get some of the kinks out and more importantly helps you practice those parts that you’ve already prepared to sound even better. Obviously, there are part you’ll have to do on the fly, but going through it helps you keep the order of events in your mind for during the session.Choose awesome playersIt’s easier to DM when your players are awesome. It’s better if they have had experience playing DND, but choosing players that you know you get along with is a must. Don’t DM a group of people you don’t think you’ll enjoy playing with if it’s your first time. You’ll regret it. Honestly, I’m not even sure you should DM for a group of people you don’t like period, but who knows.Intentionally Make a MistakeIf you’re nervous about your first session, then this is a simple fix. You’re probably nervous because you want it to be perfect. Or you at least want to do a good job. Sometimes, we as humans forget that we can make mistakes and still do well. So within the first five minutes of your session, intentionally make a mistake. Then correct yourself and say, “oops, my mistake.”9 times out of 10, your players won’t care and this will help you calm down because you’ll realize that you can make mistakes and it doesn’t really matter.Again, the important thing is to make sure to do your next session. The 2nd session is always better than the first. You’ll have more fun and you’ll love this hobby much more.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. As always, send me a direct message on Instagram to @geronimolevis with any questions, comments, suggestions or even just to tell how your campaign is going.I appreciate you listening and you appreciate this show, give it a rating and review. Until next time. 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.Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For FreeTake a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree. We teamed up with Studio Fantasms to bring you a raucous one-shot adventure full of gatorfolk, catfishing, and a whole lotta moonshine. We wrote the adventure, they designed the minis—it’s a sweet little bundle, and it’s totally free for the month of May. Just head to https://session0studios.com/fantasms and sign up to grab it. Don’t wait—May’s free, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.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 look down from the walls of the Keep. This castle was constructed as an outpost of the kingdom. No one travels this far north, certainly not invading armies. The people of this land were more accustomed to marauders rather than martial campaigns. Your eyes took in the scene. You can see a numberless horde of nightmarish creatures. You recognize creatures here and there, but most seem literally drawn from some sort of nightmare realm. They seem unintelligent monsters, though they stand arrayed as if in battle formation. Among the throng, you spot dozens of larger monsters that could bite a man in half with little effort expended. Horns issue haunting moans echoing across the landscape of twisted monsters. You’ve never seen an army this large in all your years of fighting in the army.Trappers and explorers started bringing back reports of these large numbers of monsters coming from the north. You weren’t aware of any settlements north of here. All that was left was ice, tundra, and frozen waste that made up the Crown of the World. Where had all these beasts come from? Maybe more importantly, why were they here. As if to answer your question, a final horn blared its mournful tone. The sound lasted for seconds before it abruptly cut off and the monsters charged as one. It seems the battle of the Grey North had begun.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 9th episode of How to Be a Better DM. We’re going to learn how to tell better, more engaging stories while you dungeon master a session of D&D 5e.I’m excited to give you today’s show, but before we do, let me give a quick shoutout to Couchy Audio. They do the audio work for this show and if you need any help with audio work, they are the ones to talk to. Reach out to them on Instagram by sending a message to @kahootaz Now let’s talk about the Pros and Cons of Using Minis During your Dungeons and Dragons Sessions.Pros:Easier to imagine CombatWhen you DM you can either use minis to represent the relative distances of characters and adversaries or you can use the Theatre of the Mind. With the Theatre of the mind, things are a lot more loosey goosey. I always seems to struggle with questions like, “how far away am I?” And stuff like that. With minis, it’s all on the board or table and it’s a lot easier to manage. Often when I listen to you tubers live playing DND, I lose track of combat positions during encounters of the mind. Having it on the board is much easier.More ImmersiveThere’s no denying it. When you see the combat happening, it’s easier to immerse yourself in the encounter. It’s much easier to relax and just have fun because you’re not having to keep track distance and position. Plus when the DM adds in cool effects or scenery, it really feels like you’re there.You can create that WOW factor!I’ve seen it on my players. When you make that scene you’ve described and present it to the players, even in a shoddy way, there’s a definite WOW factor. It’s like the icing on the cake of playing DND.Builds Authority in your players’ eyesIn a way, you as the DM are the group’s true leader. As such, they will look to you to lead them. This happens naturally because you are the main storyteller, but your players also want to know that you are the best DM in the world. Like the placebo effect, it makes the game more interesting, even if it’s not. Having links adds to your authority as the best DM in the world, even if you’re new. I know it’s kind of a shortcut for them, because having minis doesn’t mean squat, but it gives the perception of preparation, especially if your minis are matched to the encounter.ConsCosts extraHaving minis costs extra. Even if you use a banana and you draw a face on it, you have to put in extra time and extra money to have them and have enough of them. That’s why in my episode where I talked about all you really need to play DND, minus we’re not a necessity. You can play without them, and you can have lots of fun. Being able to play without minis means that, in this digital age, you can play anywhere with barely a moment’s notice. Not having to worry about minis can save a lot of time and money. Not to mention the fact that a lot of players might not want to buy their own mini, so you’ll probably have to provide one for them.More things to manageAs the DM, you are the one lugging all the things to wherever you and your group plays. If you’re fortunate enough to play at your own house, then you still have to find the right minis and set them up and then put them away after the session. It’s a lot to manage. Even during the session you have to make sure the minis are in the right spots whereas your players only have to manage their one mini.Gateway DrugMinis can get out of hand really fast. There are so many minis. If you now you have low self control when it comes to buying $4-$10 then stay away from them. There’s always a cooler mini. There’s even custom minis. You know why? Thanks here are thousands of different monsters to fight. You will probsbly never have all the minis, not to mention perfect battle scenes or scenery items. You can spend a lot of money on this hobby if you’re not careful.You Don’t Practice your Narrative SkillsUsing a mini is a crutch. Plain and simple. By using minis you rely more on visuals than on your skills of narration. That means you aren’t flexing a very important skill that will enhance your sessions and make your stories come alive. If you can’t get people to feel you are there with just your words, then you’ve got a long way to go to benign a master Dungeon Master.There you have it guys. The pros and cons of using minis in your DND sessions. Do you agree? Disagree? Have other suggestions? Send your thoughts to me on Instagram in a private message to @geronimolevis.Also, I am looking for a new piece of cover art for the podcast. If you have any ideas, send them to @geronimolevis on Instagram.Thanks for listening guys. Make sure to give us a rating and review but until next time, 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.Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For FreeTake a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree. We teamed up with Studio Fantasms to bring you a raucous one-shot adventure full of gatorfolk, catfishing, and a whole lotta moonshine. We wrote the adventure, they designed the minis—it’s a sweet little bundle, and it’s totally free for the month of May. Just head to https://session0studios.com/fantasms and sign up to grab it. Don’t wait—May’s free, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.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.

Suddenly a scream erupts from somewhere outside the tavern. You look at your hand and then up at your opponent. “It looks like we’ll have to finish our game another day,” you say as you lay down the cards and follow your companions out the door. The half-orc you were playing throws his cards on the table in disgust. It seems he had a winning hand.You and your companions burst out of the tavern door only to met by a scene of utter chaos. Townspeople ran in all directions except toward the eastern part of town. As you look in that direction you see multiple pillars of smoke indicating houses on fire. As you continue looking around you start to see pillars of smoke from the west, north and south. You stop a nearby townsperson to ask what was going on. Goblins! Legions of them. They’ve surrounded the city. You let them go and they go off to run to nowhere in particular. “Belgren!”You look to find whoever might be calling your name. You spot one of the city guard running towards you. He reaches you and shouts, “The Goblin Chief has surrounded the city. He has captured the mayor and wants to see you. He says he has a quest for you.”What do you do?Welcome back to the 8th episode of How to Be a Better DM. This is the show to help you tell better stories as a dungeon master while playing Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Like always before we get to today’s show, let me give you a quick announcement. I’d like to give a shoutout to Cowchy Audio who does the audio work for this show. If you need help as far as Audio goes, reach out to Cowcy on instagram via @kahootazNow onto today’s show.As a DM, you are generally a large part of the energy of each session.This is natural as you provide 99.99% of the game. So here are my tips for keeping your energy high every session. 1st of all, you do have to realize that this is a skill and you will have to work on it. Think of it as if you are improving your own personal Charisma score.So here we go.Take a break right before your sessionIf you’re like me, you go from work right into your D&D session. That can be really tough and I find that if I don’t take a break in between anything else and D&D, my energy for the session is very low.Try taking a break in the sessionMost of the D&D groups I watch on Youtube or podcasts take some sort of break in the middle of their session. I’ve found that for me personally this is a hit or miss. It is nice to be able to take a pee break without pausing the game in an unexpected way.Slow things downYou don’t have to go through the session at a break-neck speed. You’re working through combat encounters, plot points and anything else your group is trying to do. Take it nice and easy so you can give lots of energy to every endeavor in the session.Let some things goSometimes getting every rule right is just not worth it. If it keeps your energy high and allows you and your players to keep having fun, just nix whatever is holding you back or down. Be careful, though because this can quickly lead to reducing some very important game structures.Get a good night’s sleep beforehandThis one might seem like a big “duh!” but if you aren’t getting enough sleep then there’s no way you’ll be able to give your players a fun filled evening of twists and turns with interesting plot points and fun characters.I think this might be a great point to mention that I believe drinking energy drinks or alcohol is not a great tip for making sure you keep your energy high. It’s unhealthy. You can do what you want, but I don’t see it as a sustainable way, especially if you are playing once a week for months, or even years.Play what and how you and your players want to playIf there are parts of your campaign that get dull or boring, switch things up so you are all excited again. If you are following an adventure book, add some things that the book doesn’t have. This haunted mansion that my players are going through is something I made up just to have some fun while we do play Princes of the Apocalypse, a 5e Adventure. I wanted something else so I added in a spooky mansion. My players are loving it and so am I. I will say that I do feel we’ve been at this mansion a long time (like 4 or 5 sessions) so I’m somewhat expediting the rest of the mansion.Learn to feed off the energy of your players.Chances are someone in your group will come to the table with a lot of excitement and energy. Learn to recognize that and then throw cool things their way to build that energy. You’ll find that that energy will be contagious around the table and pretty soon, the cares and woes of our daily lives will fall away only to be replaced by the feeling of a group of friends having a great time playing a tabletop RPG.Remember, this is a skill. It takes time to develop, but the more energy you can bring to the table, the better your sessions will be.Thanks for listening to today’s episode.Please follow the show wherever you are listening to podcasts so you never miss an episode.Also, reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis with any questions, suggestions or even just to let me know how your campaign is going. I’d love to connect.Come back next week for another awesome show. 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.Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For FreeTake a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree. We teamed up with Studio Fantasms to bring you a raucous one-shot adventure full of gatorfolk, catfishing, and a whole lotta moonshine. We wrote the adventure, they designed the minis—it’s a sweet little bundle, and it’s totally free for the month of May. Just head to https://session0studios.com/fantasms and sign up to grab it. Don’t wait—May’s free, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

Last time our adventurers found themselves fighting a rug of smothering which had completely smothered Ulv. Luckily the group was able to dispatch the rug rather quickly and were able to continue on their journey. The group then entered what appeared to be a library. This library seemed completely empty which caused minor consternation for the whole group. The group then entered what seemed like a small plush office that had 3 books of interest. Two of the books were about necromancy and curses. The last book turned out to be the first journal of Anandra. Contemplating this turn of events, the group re-entered the library, only to find it was now filled with books. The group decided to investigate various books but as soon as they did, the books seemed to animate and started attacking the party. The group discovered the doors were locked and after trying to light the books on fire, they realized the books weren’t going away. After taking a brief break in the den, the group set out with a new plan that turned out to be the right one. The group ended up finding the second journal of Anandra which triggered all the animated books to stop. At this point, the group had explored all the first level of the manor. The group decided to finish exploring the first level before going to Gamaileil and asking their question. This led the group to experiment with the grey potion. This potion turned everyone in the group into a faded, a being who is neither dead, alive, nore undead, but something in between. As soon as this happened, group was able to take the stairs down into the basement. Who knows what the group will uncover down there. As the group walks down the stairs they notice their surroundings in muted towns. You reach the bottom and find yourself in a long room with a second set of stairs on the far side of the room that lead up. The room is empty aside from pillars interspersed throughout the room holding it up. There are doors on your right and left. You also notice writing along the walls of this room, similar to the great hall directly above you. What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 7th episode  of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, and we are going to help you tell better stories while you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.In this show, I share somethings that have helped me as a DM so you can enjoy this wonderful game. Before we get to today’s show, another shoutout to Cowchy Audio who does the audio work for this show. If you need audio help, reach out to @kahootaz on Instagram and he’ll hook you up. Today let’s get simple and quick and talk about my method for planning in between sessions. This isn’t a perfect method, but it’s certainly helped me. Write a recap. Some might rif on this at the beginning of the session, but I find it more helpful to write this beforehand. Doing so does two things for me. First, it helps remind me what happened in the last session. Rarely do I start preparing for the next session right after the previous one. It’s also great to let the players know what happened last time. The second thing it does for me is help get the brain juices flowing. It’s a lot easier to think of new things after I’ve had the simple exercise of summarizing what happened last time. If you need an example of what this looks like go back and listen to the first snippet of today’s episode because that is the actual recap of my last session that I played with my friends.Figure out Generally What Happens NextIf the party is currently in a dungeon or going through some sort of fortress or something like that, this gets pretty easy. You can look at the map of wherever the players are and think about where they will go next logically. If you are using an adventure guidebook, this means reading ahead to understand what should probably happen. I also like to ask the players what they think their characters will want to do next. After that, and if I’m not using a guide book, I like to think about all the possible places the characters might go. I then jot down logical sequences of events should the players go to those locations. Be prepared. Sometimes players will just choose never to go to places you’ve prepared. It’s ok. You can get over it.If you feel like this might be too much like 4D chess and you can’t really anticipate your player’s moves, then don’t. Just give them constraints. Say for example, they’ve been tasked to find an ancient artifact and there are really no clues so their journey could take them anywhere. One thing you might do is say, “After an investigation check in this town, you’ve discovered that talk of this artifact originated in this specific area. There are 4 towns in that area and each have extensive libraries” or some such nonsense. Give them choices, but slightly constrain them.The extrasThis is where I remember to look up rules I’d forgotten, or create items that I’d given to the party without really knowing what they do. I use this extra time to fill in the odds and ends that really flesh out a campaign. Step 2 was creating a framework. In this step I add in the cool details. This is where you go find the maps that make the game cool but aren’t necessary, or work on your collection of minis, or craft a new NPC that isn’t essential.Here you can also bring up interests that characters have mentioned. In my campaign, the Rogue expressed an interest in traveling to Neverwinter (which is really far from where they are). This little bit allows you to have extra prepared in case the group does decide to go down any particular rabbit hole. Believe me, having something prepared is much easier than improvising.So that’s my method. Now, I’d love to hear yours. How do you go about planning your sessions? Message me on Instagram @geronimolevis. I’d love to hear from you.Well that does it for today’s episode. Come back next week for another show and if you get the chance, please leave a rating and review to help the show be discovered by even more people.Until next time. Let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For FreeTake a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree. We teamed up with Studio Fantasms to bring you a raucous one-shot adventure full of gatorfolk, catfishing, and a whole lotta moonshine. We wrote the adventure, they designed the minis—it’s a sweet little bundle, and it’s totally free for the month of May. Just head to https://session0studios.com/fantasms and sign up to grab it. Don’t wait—May’s free, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.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.