The 5 stages of a DM - prep

#dnd #ttrpg #dm

[mattcarr]

It was so traumatic for me to go from stage 4 to stage 5

[urusaiinu]

Stage 6: Oh, none of you brought your character sheets or dice? I guess we’re playing Catan now.

[Justchillinglol]

POV you’re a new dm that had planned thoroughly for the session only for your brain to do a factory reset

[korebeast]

Hello, DM of 6 years.
I started playing at 13 and DMing at 14, my players started enjoying my sessions much much more when I started leaning into the chaos they wanted during fights.
Last week a game of 2 years ended with the players fighting an entire nation at lvl 20.

It doesn't matter how you play as long as it's fun!

[jackmcfarlane]

The more you pick over every granular detail to get it right, the less it helps you short term. BUT I have found that having very well-developed world building and lore helps you improvise a lot more freely. It makes it way easier to be like "here's what would happen if the players tried XYZ."

[Scorpintiime]

You forgot, I HAVE BEEN PLANNING THIS ENCOUNTER FOR 2 YEARS STRAIGHT, SO PREPARE TO BE AMAZED AT MY MAGNUM OPU... oh, he's dead?
(I am living this rn with no exaggeration)

[BeyondEcho]

Update: Campaign 1 is going amazingly! Campaign 2 is already in the making with a few new additions to our group 😂 It's been wild and so much fun everyone, thank you 💕

I just found my first D&D group. I meet with them soon to create my character and then first session is day after. I'm so nervous, but so excited!

[TheCvlt]

You forgot about the hair getting more frizzy and longer of that time. Holy moly, my best DMs went from tie wearing gentlemen to hyper hobo looking page wizards

[MegaMrsuperawesome]

Haha. Still on stage 4. One day. One day

[Daezmond]

I've never saw Stage 4 DM, but I'd love to read lore stuff and create accurate characters and situations!

[SirGsusFreak]

I had my aunt volunteer me to host a session for some second cousins of mine who were coming to visit that I had never met before. They were ecstatic about it, but I had less than a week to prepare, and I had never DM’d a game of D&D before (I have for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire starting kit once before though). I was scrambling to find a One-Shot that I could run with them, and it turned out pretty well.

[williamheath]

One DM I play a game in has a 50+ page lore of his lore and actually wants us to memorize it all during games. No kidding, he gets upset if we get a tiny aspect wrong

[tyrellgordon]

I’m currently the DM for a campaign that started in 2018, and I’ve legitimately had the dungeon my party is currently going through prepped for over two years now. They just entered it last week.

[vit_Sonya]

This ✨ok✨
I'm crying!!!! This is exectly how they act

[behelitruler]

Stage 2 and 5 are the best. You will always remember your stage two games the fondest.

[JxxC]

Damn. I didn't know this was a universal experience. Makes me feel better.

[Aforty]

The more experience you have the better you can make stuff up from your notes

[georgevoknerech]

Stage 5 is THE shit. It's where the most unhinged and fun things tend to happen

[starhalv]

I went from stage 1 to stage 2, then straight to stage 5

[thewatcher]

My dm journey has gone from meticulously planned plots where every npc in every room comes equipped with full motivation and backstory to “hey I thought of this game on the way here, here’s an npc I loosely based off something I saw on tumblr two years ago he talks funny”