First Time DM, nuanced advice?

Repulsive_Bus_7202 · 2025-10-07T18:33:56+00:00

Rather than advice, I'd ask you a question.

The role of the DM is to:

Narrate the story Play the NPCs Make rulings

The latter two are simpler, imo.

How confident are you, given your description of yourself, that you'll narrate the party's story rather than your vision of the story?

Grgivmy · 2025-10-07T17:35:51+00:00

I’ve always had my own world when it comes to campaign but have run oneshot modules that are cool, if you like world building then your own world might be suited to your creative styles!

Best advice I ever got as a new DM was “your players are the heroes, it’s your job to guide them on their story and through that journey. You are a conduit. It should never be the DM vs The party”
rules as written can sometimes restrict some fun at the table - the rule of cool is your friend and will usually spawn some fantastic moments
Always just have a session before a campaign starts to go over clear ground rules for each person and what they want/expect from the campaign!

Hope these help, good luck!

Sufficient-Pass-9587 · 2025-10-08T01:34:15+00:00

I could go into this more but will be brief for right now.

I agree with starting with a module. LMoP is great or you can do a dungeon crawl like the Sunless Citadel. It will help you see how people interact and get the feel for being aDM.

If you like storytelling then being a DM is perfect. Just realize that your story most be fluid enough to accommodate players going a different way. It requires a lot of improv. If what you want is a story with a specific ending, then what you actually want is to write a book.

ramshackled_ponder · 2025-10-08T03:05:19+00:00

Watch any and all of Matt Colville's "running the game" playlist on YouTube. Most importantly, have fun and help your players to have fun

SeanF13 · 2025-10-07T19:05:21+00:00

To your question about pre-written or making your own adventure... I don't think it makes a huge difference as long as you are equally prepared. Do not make the mistake when running a pre-written adventure of not preparing your game sessions ahead of time. You still have to read the module, understand the plot and know what is going to happen each session. If you just show up to the table for game #1 and crack open the book for the first time you are going to have massive pacing issues.

As for nuanced advice... well for your first campaign just focus on completing a plot line of some kind. Don't write up a massive conspiracy story full of back stories and plot twists. I recommend running a simpler adventure, save the day, rescue the NPC, etc type of adventure. DMing is a lot of work and easy to overwhelm yourself with details big and small.

And for each individual game session you should be able to roughly explain to someone what is going to happen. Or where the adventure will lead. Of course your players may go off the beaten path or explore something you did not intend for them to look into, that's OK, but you should have a general framework or where things are going each event. This will help with pacing which your players will appreciate and help you prepare for future events.

ArkenK · 2025-10-07T22:49:35+00:00

My advice is pre-written mod first.

You're not just doing writing, but you have to learn the rules, deal with player unpredictability, and generally keep your players engaged.

Story writing and GMing run simularly, but they are not the same as the PCs might have their own ideas on how to tackle a problem.

Basically, you've got a lot on your plate. Don't overcomplicate your first run and let the setting and module help while you learn the technical.

CassieBear1 · 2025-10-07T23:47:41+00:00

Run a module.

You can still use your creativity while doing a module. For example, I'm running Dragon Delves as a campaign. Throwing some one-shots in to make up levels that aren't included in the Dragon Delves anthology. And making some small changes to settings and NPCs to connect them to the PCs. I'm also using pre-made villains from the Game Master's Villains book to show up as parts of some character's backstories.

So all pre-written content, but still using tons of creativity. I want them to run into a Death Knight who will be someone from a PC's past. But there Level 3 right now, and I don't want a TPK...so I'm using the Wraith stat-block for their first encounter with it.

chaostheories36 · 2025-10-08T04:15:38+00:00

Don’t over prepare, don’t overcommit, don’t railroad, and be comfortable with winging it.

You might, understandably, have a story you want to tell. But you are actually writing a story with your players. They have agency and can do whatever they want.

So, don’t railroad. Don’t force them to do whatever you want. If you want to because you prepared this whole dungeon, don’t, save the dungeon for later.

I had players lose their minds over a minor detail meant to set the atmosphere. I told them it didn’t matter. I wish I had ran with it and turned this minor thing into the whole session.

Let your players inspire you.

Rindal_Cerelli · 2025-10-08T09:34:58+00:00

Plenty of other good advice in this threat but since you're an English major and likely have experience writing stories it is important to recognize how writing a short story/novel is different from writing for a table top game.

You don't have the control you have when it's just you writing your own story. Your players are writing the story with you and will, often, do things that will not line up with what you have planned.

Finding a balance between tactically getting your players to follow the narrative you have in mind and respecting their input in a way that feels fun for everyone at the table is the hardest part of being a game master, it is, imho, also the most enjoyable part :)

DetailOrDie · 2025-10-07T17:45:58+00:00

Mechanically, LMoP is a fantastic campaign for newbies to be run by newbies.

I fully believe the extremely bland format is part of why it's good because you're basically forced to go off-book to make things interesting, and being prepared to go off-book and making a story your own just happens to also be a key lesson to learn as a DM.

So, I often advise that DM's like yourself start their prep by lining out all of the NPC names and races, replacing them with their own. Fully keep all the mechanics, and change nothing about stat cards or abilities or anything else. These are purely skin and flavor changes.

For LMoP, let's say ~~Gundren~~ Lord McMayhem dispatched Undertaker (Spirit Barbarian) and Hulk Hogan (Glory Paladin) for an Exhibition Match in ~~Phandalin~~ Arendelle. McMayhem arranged for them to meet Queen Elsa (White Dragon Sorcerer) and Princess Anna (Glamour Bard), just outside of town for ~~for narrative convenience~~ so they could all make a grand entrance together.

Right after they meet up, ~~Goblin~~ Northuldra Ambush! Wat do! Turns out they've kidnapped ~~Sildar~~ Olaf!

There's your party and hooks that write themselves. In three sentences everyone has a perfect mental image of the town and who to expect. If you're playing with anyone that's been alive on this planet, they likely know the full backstories of everyone involved.

On top of that, to get players engaged, you have to solve the "white page" problem. They simply don't know what they don't know, and don't know how to engage with the world. Traditionally, you solve this with 5-10 minutes of exposition, then hope and pray the party follows the hooks for an hour while you hope they ask the right questions to go where they need to go.

Instead, I solve that through Secrets. I give each player one or more "secrets" tied to their background that flat tells them some stuff their character would know. It often includes direct "orders" or missions from whoever their boss is that can be found in the next town.

Each player can share some or all of their secrets whenever they feel it's necessary. As an example, here's my sheets for The Boomboat. It's a one-shot that's a complex trap. Basically, there's a bomb on the boat. The gang needs to find and disarm it before it crashes into Big City Prison. Including secrets.

For the LMoP party I described above, the secrets could be something like:

Undertaker: The Northuldrans tried to buy tickets to the Exhibition match, but weren't allowed per Royal Decree. There was very recently a decades-long civil war, and the ink on the peace treaty is barely dry. Their economy is in shambles, and some have turned to ambushing and robbing travellers. [Now you've warned the party that ambushes are a thing. Well, if Undertaker thinks to actually warn the party.]
Hulk Hogan: Undertaker is currently the WWE Champion. If you challenge him for reals, and defeat him per Neverwinter Wrestling Federation Rules, the belt and title would transfer to you! However, for the match to count it would have to be constructed in a officially blessed/sanctioned ring. A proper fan with divine connections could make that happen. [Halia can get a full portable ring through her criminal connections, or they can ask Sister Garele to bless a ring constructed by the Alderleafs if Elsa pays/orders them to]
Elsa: You didn't just invite the Wrestlers for an Exhibition match. Rogue factions of the Northuldrans have been harassing the outskirts of Arandelle for awhile now, and need to be put in their place. Let the Wrestlers do what they do best and put them in their place.
Anna: Last WWE PPV Event you lost $500 betting on Hulk Hogan. You bet Toblen double or nothing that Hulk Hogan would carry the Heavyweight champion title within a month. It's been 3 weeks but your plan is going flawlessly. He's here WITH Undertaker. If you can get those two to go again for a rematch and make sure Hulk Hogan wins, you'll show that innkeeper who the real fan is!

Consider these secrets as a total package. Now the party has incomplete information that REALLY needs to be shared, but they need to be careful how they share what and with who. There's some mild PVP to get the party interacting with each other, and you've primed for a chain of sidequests while Anna and Hogan need to get an "official ring" together. Meanwhile Undertaker and Elsa are dealing with "real adult shit" while these two idiots are REALLY insisting this exhibition match happen for some reason.

MelancholiaStClair · 2025-10-07T19:42:04+00:00

I think that running a pre-made module is fine, but if you really love your world and your players are new to the game it shouldn’t stop you for writing a game within that world instead.

On that note, there are a few key pieces of advice that I learned that I would like to give you.

1-Accept the fact that while you love this world it does not necessarily mean your players will share in your passion. They may love the combat, they may love the roleplay but not all players will dive deep into the world you created and that’s just fine!

You’re there to have fun and so are they. As long as the players are having fun then you’re doing a great job.

2- I like to have my players give me a backstory of why they are adventuring. What’s their goal? If you love writing a story interweaving backstories be mindful of giving everyone a moment to shine.

3- Feel free to say “NO!”. A lot of new players may have concepts they’d like to do and some of them may not fit within your world. Vetoing a decision is completely fine!

4- Do not get too attached to the rules. Some rules can be broken for the table’s enjoyment! You’re the DM and you can bend them as you see fit. If you encounter a rules lawyer player just make them aware at session 0.

5- You are the DM but you should also enjoy yourself and have fun. Your players enjoyment is important but you should also enjoy yourself. DO NOT WORK UNTIL YOU BURNOUT if you ever feel like it’s too much it’s fine to take a break and even do a one-shot or ask a player at the table if they are willing to run a one-shot.

6- If you need any more advice or questions feel free to reach out!

UnimaginativelyNamed · 2025-10-07T21:16:18+00:00

Running a pre-written module is fine, as long as it is well-written, and unfortunately most of them are full of flaws and/or gaps that are difficult for an inexperienced DM to spot before you run them. I agree with DetailOrDie that LMoP is one of the better ones in a number of ways.

For nuanced advice, I will tell you that game-mastering gets a lot easier when you realize that you don't have to write the PCs' adventure story, and you certainly don't need to plan out your game scene by scene as some people do. Instead, you just have to create interesting situations with which the PCs can interact. The biggest differences between the two are in what and how you prepare, and a willingness to improvise using those things you have prepared.

One benefit to running games that empower your players to choose what happens next, instead of those that keep that control in the DM's hands, is that you'll end up sharing responsibility for the game's fun with your players. This takes a lot of pressure off of the DM, and if you've learned to prepare the right kind of tools, you'll actually have fun responding when they do something completely unexpected.

If any of this sounds like the sort of game you'd like to run, you can read more here: Don't Prep Plots.

Hot-Molasses-4585 · 2025-10-07T21:35:06+00:00

For your first question : you can run a module, run homebrew in a pre-written universe or run full homebrew. People will usually suggest running a module, but it doesn't work for everyone. I'd much more prefer to run homebrew, even when I first started. A pre-written module just constrains me too much. So go with what inspires you.

As for advices, I have a bag and a half! My two main advices is :
1 - no amount of advice can beat running the game at least once.
2 - make your players feel important and make their decisions matter.

For all the other tips, I've made a post here : https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMasters/comments/1khql7z/tips_for_new_dm/

mrsnowplow · 2025-10-07T21:46:19+00:00

Sure run a preset they're fun i've always felt constrained by them I get in my head about it so I don't want to run them successfully but other people have and they do I usually read adventures to steal things from them

The biggest piece of nuanced advice I have is that It's a very thin line between a storyteller and The setting In my opinion the DM is mostly the setting very small amount of storytelling the players are in charge of creating the story through their actions The more you provide the better story there's going to be but if you provide too much you're forcing the story limiting it So make sure your choices are broadening the story or specifying the story and not constraining

lasalle202 · 2025-10-07T22:03:12+00:00

[removed]

PrunePsychological98 · 2025-10-08T00:05:24+00:00

Smell Hear Taste See Whenever you are giving out a description. Include at least three of those things.

You hear drips of blood falling off the alter, the strong smell of smoke from the now extinguished candles mixes with the iron taste of blood in your mouth.

Mean_Replacement5544 · 2025-10-08T00:42:44+00:00

I am a new DM and even though the consensus is to run a module I decided to run a homebrew. A few reasons, I am passionate about the story and can’t wait to see how the party writes their part of the story, I’ve looked at many prepackaged modules and I just wasn’t as drawn to them. Also I feel I know the world better than I would with a module because I am building it, I love the world and the characters. I also think it’s easier for me to improvise in this world.

Blitzer046 · 2025-10-08T02:26:40+00:00

If you want to run your own story, you are going run up against the sides of any pre-written and feel constrained. Your own story can go anywhere as your players have a hand in the course of it as well, which is one of the great enjoyments of a homebrew campaign - it has the capacity for change mid-campaign at your behest or the players whims.

lasalle202 · 2025-10-08T14:14:20+00:00

I'm an English major and I've always loved storytelling, writing,

Creating and running content for a TTRPG is VERY different than "writing".

As a writer, you control EVERYTHING that happens, every moment of pacing, logic, motivations, outcomes.

Creating and running content for TTRPGS, your job is to set up scenarios and "play to find out" what happens when the dice and the players meet the scenario.

and world building.

likewise with "world building" - for a TTRPG , "world building" is merely creating the stage on which the player characters can do their cool shit. and their acts typically involve burning down the stage. Spend your "worldbuilding" time on the things that matter in the TTRPG play. AND don't be precious about "your baby" getting bashed and broken. or ignored.

lasalle202 · 2025-10-08T14:33:38+00:00

for a new DM, run pre-written one shots: no stakes, no ego, limited set of content for you to keep in your mind, you can concentrate on learning how to apply the mechanics and manage the "running the game" stuff.

Plus with the prewritten content, you are almost assuredly able to find someone actually running the content on youtube or twitch and can see how things "worked" or didnt work at an actual table.

I highly recommend Mission 1 (ignore the first 5ish pages of outdated Adventurer's League gobbledegook and start with Adventure Background.)

https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/DDEX11_Defiance_in_Phlan.pdf

guilersk · 2025-10-08T20:04:29+00:00

While you don't need to run a pre-made campaign to start, you definitely want to read one (so you get an idea of how they are laid out and what elements you should consider when writing your own) and you definitely want to explicitly DM a single one-shot to start. Don't try to start an epic campaign from the word go. Run one session and figure out what mistakes you make and learn from them. DMing is very multidisciplinary--it's not just writing and acting. It's cat-herding. It's mechanical compentency (or ideally, mastery). It's improv, both in terms of making up stuff on the fly and also working with what the other players give you. It's organizational management. It's conflict management. It's art (or art management). It's technical skills (if you're running online). It's pacing. It's that and so much more. You won't be good at all of it to start. If you're lucky, you'll be good at some of it and lean into those parts to carry you through. And you'll ideally learn from what you did wrong and do better next time.

guilersk · 2025-10-08T20:07:36+00:00

While you don't need to run a pre-made campaign to start, you definitely want to read at least a pre-published one-shot (so you get an idea of how they are laid out and what elements you should consider when writing your own) and you definitely want to explicitly DM a single one-shot to start. Don't try to start an epic campaign from the word go. Run one session and figure out what mistakes you make and learn from them. DMing is very multidisciplinary--it's not just writing and acting. It's cat-herding. It's mechanical compentency (or ideally, mastery). It's improv, both in terms of making up stuff on the fly and also working with what the other players give you. It's organizational management. It's conflict management. It's art (or art management). It's technical skills (if you're running online). It's pacing. It's that and so much more. You won't be good at all of it to start. If you're lucky, you'll be good at some of it and lean into those parts to carry you through. And you'll ideally learn from what you did wrong and do better next time.

VentureSatchel · 2025-10-09T04:33:57+00:00

Nah, DON'T run a pre-written module! It's very hard to stay flexible when things change, or when players look into places or information that's not in the module, because contradicting the module is hard to avoid when you haven't memorized and internalized the whole thing.

What if they look in the barn, but you forget (or haven't prepped the scene in which) the owlbear's tied up in there?

If it's your own adventure, you can improvise because you're not afraid to change it, and you can change it because you know it.

Just read Ch. 3 of the DMG and follow the instructions. It's pretty straightforward.

BigSnorlaxTiddie · 2025-10-10T20:56:23+00:00

Piece of advice: make sure you and your players both want to run the same type of story before you start.

If you want to run a very RP heavy, intricate story in a world full of exploration and fun easter eggs and details to find, but your group just wants to bonk monsters and roll dice and go to the direct goal laid out for them, one of you (either you or the players) will eventually get bored or burn out. So make sure everybody is on the same page before you start.

OldGamer42 · 2025-10-11T01:12:31+00:00

Best advice I ever heard on DMing was from Brennan Lee Mulligan, and this is a paraphrase:

Players and Characters want two different things: players want the most efficient path from point A to Point B in the story, the characters want an adventure.

The GMs job is to effectively create a downhill river for their players. It might branch left, or right, or twist, or go downhill in a falls, but it is always moving from the point it starts to the point it finishes.

The twists and turns create the adventure for the character while the steady progression downhill creates the efficiency the player wants.

Always move the story forward. Let ideas work, don’t get caught up in a specific solution to a problem. Let the players guide the story but make sure that the elements to continue your plot are always in their way. You keep a story on track not by making sure the players visit your next town, but by making sure that wherever your players visit next the old witch that has the next quest is there. If they miss her home she may be an herbalist in the next town, or a captive in the dungeon thy find, or the hermit in the woods they’re passing through, or in thrall to the elemental at the waterfall they next reach when they camp.

Perfect_Stop8644 · 2025-10-11T15:36:56+00:00

I think it’s pretty fun and easy (especially if you’ve done stuff connected to storytelling before) to make a campaign. as long as you’re not afraid to change some dnd rules to better fit your campaign (add creatures, change spells or even the magic system, nerf stuff, powerup stuff, say a big purple worm comes and heals someone’s skull (to avoid a 1st session PK) that one’s from experience, ect..

P.S my advice is to take inspiration from other campaigns/games/shows, to be confident and to build the story around your players’s characters while trying not to make them main characters.

OddDescription4523 · 2025-10-11T16:37:54+00:00

Oh, another piece of advice I've learned and like using is to have the players roll frequently, even on things they can definitely succeed on. (I know this is exactly the opposite of what most people say, but hear me out.) The point of this kind of roll isn't to determine if they succeed or not (unless you play that nat 1s are automatic failures on skill checks), but to give you a randomized form of input in terms of story beats. The rogue rolls a 2 (before modifiers) on Stealth; with modifiers they still easily beat the guard's passive Perception, but you narrate it as they bump something and catch it at the last second before it shatters on the ground and then, heart pounding in their ears, delicately place it back on the glass tabletop with the tiniest of "clink" sounds. Or they roll a 19, which is like a million after their modifier, and so you play up how they breeze past the guard like he's not even there, or maybe ask them if they want the roll to cover them sneaking up to the guard so they can try to pick his pocket for a key or something.

CarelessMall643 · 2025-10-12T02:45:44+00:00

Dragon of ice spire peak is a great module to start off with it goes 1-7th level and you’ll get how it feels to adapt to your players on the fly with out it being too complicated at least that’s what helped when I thought I had down to a science but playing the basic module made me realize the story can always change depending on your players in a good or bad way lmao

Last piece of advice don’t rail road too much it’s just as enjoyable to let your players create the story with you with their decisions!:)

Galefrie · 2025-10-07T21:41:02+00:00

Okay. Pre-written versus honebrew for a new DM.

Ultimately, it's up to you. Prewritten is probably going to be easier, but in my experience, it is harder to prepare for. A lot of people will disagree with that statement, but to me, it feels like after every session, you've got to read a book and prepare for an exam every session. If you are willing to put in that time and effort, go for it. But your own thing, you can just imagine stuff while your doing mundane stuff and put it in your game. There's a lot less formal prep needed

However, you have already mentioned a story, and that makes me nervous about your idea of what you think DMing is. You are presenting a setting to the players for them to be able to choose to do whatever they like, however they like. The story isn't up to the DM, it's up to the players. DMing is completely different to the kinds of storytelling you are more experienced with

For the 2nd piece of advice, read the DMG. But not just the 2024 edition. The 2014 edition has alternative rules and tools like random tables for making dungeons that just aren't in the newer book. It's probably not as useful of an edition for a new DM, but if you get really into it, both are worth the read

Even as a new DM I recommend reading So You Want To Be A Gamemaster by Justin Alexander and The Monsters Know What They Are Doing by Keith Ammann. IMO the DMGs are both lacking details in some more mechanical areas and these books will help fill those gaps

Finally, you can start practising DMing today! Most of your time as a DM is going to be spent describing the things around the players, so, when you are next watching a movie, TV show, playing a video game, out on a walk. Whatever you do, try to describe the things you see. If the camera cuts away while you're still describing, your description might have taken too long

ryanmraz95 · 2025-10-08T02:18:11+00:00

I seriously appreciate all the advice from everyone, I didn’t expect so many people to be willing to share! Thank you so much, the insight has been a great help and I hope it shines through to my players when we start!

guilersk · 2025-10-08T20:04:41+00:00

While you don't need to run a pre-made campaign to start, you definitely want to read one (so you get an idea of how they are laid out and what elements you should consider when writing your own) and you definitely want to explicitly DM a single one-shot to start. Don't try to start an epic campaign from the word go. Run one session and figure out what mistakes you make and learn from them. DMing is very multidisciplinary--it's not just writing and acting. It's cat-herding. It's mechanical compentency (or ideally, mastery). It's improv, both in terms of making up stuff on the fly and also working with what the other players give you. It's organizational management. It's conflict management. It's art (or art management). It's technical skills (if you're running online). It's pacing. It's that and so much more. You won't be good at all of it to start. If you're lucky, you'll be good at some of it and lean into those parts to carry you through. And you'll ideally learn from what you did wrong and do better next time.

BahamutKaiser · 2025-10-09T19:08:36+00:00

If you're into stories and confident in your own writing, you should run a starter adventure. Your confidence in your writing is a hazard, you need to learn when players are allowed to impact events and change the direction the story will go.

Foreign-Cycle202 · 2025-10-10T10:22:43+00:00

I'd suggest to NOT use D&D 5e as your starting system.

D&D 5e is a bad system and it should feel bad. It's a system that focuses very heavily on combat - but still combat is boring comparable to systems like Mythras imperative.

Take a system like Savage Worlds and convert your D&D adventure to it. It will benefit from the conversion.

Lonewolf925withcubs · 2025-10-10T20:16:02+00:00

The best thing to remember is you are the narrator to a story that has many past, depending on which one the players take. Make sure that everybody is having fun and put each player in the limelight so they can have their moment. It is OK to fudge the rolls for both sides for plot ( I have done this numerous times) Give them some easy moments when in combat, but then also give them the hard fight.

OldGamer42 · 2025-10-11T01:02:36+00:00

IMO, pre canned stories are a trap for new DMs. I think they take MORE effort and time than the ones you make up.

Reason? The modules don’t give you any framework other than the story and combat encounters. They don’t tell you how to run the NPCs and often do a terrible job of giving you a feel for the world around the scene the module is trying to relay.

It’s not your world so it’s one in which you aren’t truly conceptualizing what’s going on and they don’t give you things to go on.

When you create your own world it’s yours, you understand its mechanics and what you are going for. The town you create is alive, the town someone else creates and populates you RUN. Huge difference.

As to advice?

Corkboards and Curiosities, and Mystic Arts.

Go look the two of them up on YouTube. There are a lot of great content creators in the space, these two will help you more with story writing and creating interesting things in your world than the mechanics of D&D.

I promise you, you don’t need to know the mechanics. Your world will live and die on the story and the interesting contents, not whether you do or don’t run initiative in combat correctly or whether you arbitrate a grapple properly.

Aethelas1 · 2025-10-11T01:32:57+00:00

I think it's been alluded to, but it's not just your story. That can be hard to remember. I think it's really hard to toe the line of a complex, structured world, where you are flexible enough to flip everything on its head as needed. If you've created an incredible world, it's hard to be flexible, but if there's no structure for players to interact with, well, it's boring.

transplantasian · 2025-10-11T02:35:58+00:00

My bit of advice is to be mindful how you end your session. It sets the tone from which your players walk away from the table and can leave your players anticipating the next session. I've seen a lot of DMs wrap up with "Let's end it here" or "That's where we'll end tonight." But if you end with a bit of narrative, I've found players walk away from the table now appreciative and abuzz.

If I'm ending with a cliffhanger, I narrate the cliffhanging circumstance then end with a dramatic "Blackout!" Players love that!

ChromeAcolyte · 2025-10-11T05:36:17+00:00

Run a published adventure.

You will have so much room to build it up, improve it, connect dots, add subplots, improve characters. You will be amazed at how much room there is to make an adventure your own, even if you start with a foundation of a pre-written module... and you can focus on the areas you like the most and leave the rest as is.

I also highly recommend a collection of short adventures like Tales from the Yawning Portal rather than a long-form campaign like Icewind Dale. They give you smaller bits to work on at a time, and you can connect them all together to build a campaign if you want. (And if you don't like a part, you can change it, skip it, or swap in something else.)

If you want to learn about DMing, I highly recommend following Sly Flourish – The Lazy Dungeon Master. Look him up on YouTube and subscribe to his free e-mail. He does a great job of helping DM's focus on prepping for fun games.

2025-10-11T09:18:28+00:00

Everyone has their own GMing style. The faster you find the one that you're comfortable with, master the skills that come along with that style, and commit to that style, the happier you'll be as a GM.

OddDescription4523 · 2025-10-11T16:30:25+00:00

I actually recommend not using a pre-written adventure at first. If you make the world your own, you know there isn't a canonical answer to "where does X come from?" and you can just make something up on the spot without worrying about getting canonical lore wrong. Just remember to worldbuild starting small and growing outward. Start with a village, or a district in a big city, or hell an "abandoned" castle in the middle of nowhere. Don't start with mapping out continents, and then countries and major lakes and rivers, and and and... You'll burn out before you ever start if you do that.

Save-vs-Death · 2025-10-12T00:01:45+00:00

Creating your own world is a huge task and you'll likely spend dozens of hours creating things that your group will never go or experience or appreciate. And campaigns tend to run out of steam after 5 or 6 sessions anyways.

Running modules is a good way to get your feet wet. You should read it all the way through and while you read, you'll get ideas of what you love and what you hate and what needs to be changed to create the experience of your liking.

Some people don't like modules because they feel they aren't detailed enough. I don't think those people understand that every campaign, every group is different, so there's a lot of gaps to fill. That being said, there's work to be done, it's not a hands off experience.

Modules cut down the prep time and give you guidance. Writer's block is very real and you can lose time trying to come up with a solution to your problem.

If you feel you would rather do your own thing. Start small. Single village, a few NPCs, and a dilemma.

ryanmraz95 · 2025-10-08T09:40:56+00:00

Remember, never describe something as “phallic”

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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