DM 101 - Episode 1: The Basics (Dungeons & Dragons Help)

This episode focuses on the basics; What is a Dungeon Master. What things should you know? What can you do to prepare for your first session?

This is an ongoing series that will cover a load of topics as we go!

Below are the other D&D help resources I mentioned in the video;

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IMPORTANT LINKS

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Music provided by the awesome Epidemic Sound!

[Sip_Dhit]

The players: *have fun*
The DM: Penguins meme
"Good job boys we've made a good game"

[mattd]

Man I really like that dice alchemy circle shirt

[inconspicuousjerry]

What rarely ever gets talked about is DM's notes. I mean there is no definitive way of doing them, but getting a look into what your basic prep notes for a single session look like would help alot. I'm pretty sure you use a Laptop on HR by now but it used to be just paper so getting a look into past notes might work. Dunno if you kept them but maybe even the ones for that simple dungeon you did in the first episode. Starting the Campaign on such a micro scale was pretty smart as a sort of "tutorial" so definitely gonna steal that one.

[mathsalot]

"Hmm, there's no rule for trying to throw a squid into space... I'll have to make that up."
Could not stop laughing for a solid 5 minutes and had to pause the video.

[DivingDog]

"Prepare your tools."

But I thought you already covered your players- oh.

[lwolf]

Thank you for doing this series. I'm about to start a D&D campaign with my over 40 women's soccer team. We have some players with injuries and I thought this would be a great way to hang out while they recoup.

[Shmeckos]

Mark i have a suggestion for your whiteboard lighting. i know there's this film trick where you put fabric over your lights (black velvet if i remember correctly) and the light that shines though gives you the light without the glare on the whiteboard. never tried this personally but hopefully this is helpful

[Panikdemet]

25:00 So true, you don't need anything to play.
First DnD game I had was with just a dice app on a phone (which we had just downloaded at the time). The players then made up stat-less chars and the DM just kept track of their supposed HP in his head.

[JimothyTheGreen]

Good advice especially about mistakes and communication. New DMs are often really worried about screwing something up but that’s inevitable and failure is the best teacher. Often players won’t care or even notice anyway.

[justusrodriguez]

I had a player who attempted to cast Acid Splash. I had just started DMing, and I asked him what the description he wrote down for it was (I have all of my magic user players write down notes about their spells), and he began reading off the description of "Power Word Kill" (he was 1st level). Had a pretty good laugh at that, then looked it up in the PHB. I think the moral of the story is: it's ok to use the books midgame (edit because of a good reply): sometimes.

[SomyaDTI]

I’m about to DM my 1st game in 3 days. Have written my own adventure from scratch (been playing as a player for a long time). Been preparing & researching different resources. This has been one of the best videos that has helped me calm the anxiety considering I have two players who are also DMs, two beginners, two intermediate players. While these 6 are super supportive, a part of me is still anxious and just the way you’ve said whatever you’ve said in this video has brought me back on track mentally. Totally gonna check out the rest of the series. Bless you ❤️

[halo]

I said "Storyteller" when you did. I realized they are more like the person that creates a Mad Lib book. The players fill in the blanks and that can change everything. X-Factor.

[marshalsea]

This is one of if not the best starter guide to gming. It was a random youtube recommend and needed something soundtrack the Saturday morning house cleaning routine. Unlike many of the youtube videos which are largely people that have never played the game but want to dress up as an elf or think telling people 2mins after picking up the manual is fine - seemingly a problem for Americans. This one is presented from years of playing and is genuine advice I after 30 years of playing would also give.

[Duargoth_Onyxguard]

The question I ask every DM/GM ever is: What is your stance on players preferring to be the more exotic or odd races like Djinns, Goblins, Gnolls, etc?

This is likely the big thing for me since I find the “classic” races quite boring in DND/Pathfinder but the one experience I had with getting to be something abnormal was very maliciously punished by the DM

[michaelschmuke]

During this Covid 19 deal and being isolated with the are learning how to play D&D, these videos have been very helpful. Thank you.

[petrusheikkila]

Finally a NOT pay-to-play game with easy tools to get

[sanninshima]

Hey mark, I just want to say a massive thank you. A couple of months ago I started a DnD home brew campaign with some friends from college and your tips and numerous streams have helped me massively to become a better DM so, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. Keep being awesome.

[dreadknot]

Thanks Mark, great tips there! I'm about to embark on my first D&D campaign as a DM and this is great help. Some good ideas here and gave me a good perspective on going forward.

The biggest issue holding me back from going forward is dealing with the character creation process. I feel I have to know all these things about factions, potential skills and their paths, high-level options, etc. People ask me questions about that stuff and I feel overwhelmed....I don't know all the answers. I wish there was an easy quick-start for new characters, where it focused on just what you need for the first few levels (or even just 1st) and you could learn about the other stuff later, as you play the character. I don't know if that makes sense but it just seems like there's a novel about each race and then another novel for each class. Too much to sit down and just say I want to play a half-elf rogue, let's go.

Now that I type this though, maybe I'll look into those on-line character generators as a starting point for my players. They have shorter descriptions of everything and are more to the point. I'll check that out as an option, instead of me giving them the PHB to digest.

[jezrawithgoodvibes]

I want to thank you so much. I have been so incredibly confused about all of this. I'm starting a group with my fellow freshmen in high school, and none of us have ever had any experience whatsoever besides this one time I did a One Shot with my Uncles friends. But since I'm the only one who knows anything about how it works, they elected me as DM, and in one week I'm DMing for the first time. I got some materials, but I dont have the money for a premade campaign book, so my everything is kind of precarious, and I just had a lot of trouble writing a campaign, and even more so trying to understand how I can help the game move along. All of this has helped me so much. Thank you.

[FlorescentInk]

wow you explained everything super super clearly and this was helpful! thank you!