All Hail the Dungeon Master: How to Nail Your New DnD Leadership Role

Since it was created in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons is only just scratching the surface of its popularity this decade. 2016 and 2017 were Wizard of the Coast’s most profitable years, and more people are embracing this role-playing game to be in charge of their own adventures (well, somewhat).

No role in a DnD game is as central as that of the Dungeon Master. Your creative flair is the greatest tool you need for success, but first, there will be work to put in. If you just had the role thrust upon you and are fumbling through it, let this article show you how to nail your new role. Happy reading!

Create a Rich World for Your Players

Dungeons and Dragons provide tons of opportunities to inject your own flair and personalized elements into the world you will create for players. The best way is to keep creating, using and reusing characters from previous games/worlds. Encourage your players to veer off their natural selves by letting the person they could never be in reality play out. 
As a DM, you can also draw inspiration from how you understand your players and characters you have formerly played. You don’t have to limit yourself to the players either: anyone you know with traits that might make the game more interesting is a fair target. As a plus, you’ll have the pleasure of, for instance, watching the players annihilate a villain whose character is based off your real-life nemesis. 
The rounder and richer your characters are, the greater and more authentic the roleplaying experience will be for players.

Be Familiar With All The Strengths and Weaknesses Each Class has

A D&D dungeon master needs to be aware of both the D&D class strengths and D&D class weaknesses in order to make the most of the game. With this in mind, it is essential that all D&D dungeon masters take the time to learn about the D&D classes and their abilities before running any games. There are many guides on these classes that may come in handy during the process. For instance, if you are into Rogue class, you might find it helpful to dive deeper into Rogue class abilities.
D&D 5e Rogue class strengths include being able to stealthily move about undetected, backstabbing foes for extra damage, and having a variety of skills to choose from. However, D&D 5e Rogue class weaknesses include being easy to hit and kill due to their low health, and not being able to deal much damage compared to other classes.

Prioritize the Experience over the Rules

To be a good Dungeon Master, you must learn and internalize the rules of the game. A great Dungeon Master, having learnt these rules, knows that he/she is the ‘god’ of the universe he/she has created. 
That means that you can improvise or veer off the rules, but only – and here is the catch – only if it’s in the interest of more enjoyment for your players. Just like any game, nobody should expect you to know all the rules by heart. A little harmless improvisation would make the entire experience more fulfilling and less stressful if you are allowed to play by ear from time to time.
This might mean, for example, noting that your players are getting wound up by your leadership, and gently letting go of the reins so that they can play out the adventure their way. But again, don’t let too long a rope out – you are still the Master!
You can also find fun dice games from D20 Collective to explore your board game skills.

Embrace the Critical Failures with the Critical Successes

Critical successes or failures in a game are usually shown as bumbling failures or additional damage. As a DM, it’s important to build up the critical failures just as much as the successes, so that your players have fun failing. Celebrating fetes of success with pomp and merely passing off failures creates pressure in a game that should be make-believe fun more than anything else. 
The critical failure is usually damaging a companion, while critical success is additional damage on opponents. However, you can choose to make things interesting and veer off the rules by building the crits into interesting narratives. 
For example, critical success may mean killing an opponent through stylish decapitation, while critical failure could mean accidentally cutting one’s own pants when drawing their sword, and now the character must play pants-less.
The rules are helpful when beginning, but true fun comes in defining your own parameters according to what your players best respond to.

Final Thoughts

The job of a Dungeon Master is to first say yes and find the best ways to facilitate the actions of his/her players. The players are the real people running the game, the DM merely makes sure that they face consequences of their decisions. Such decisions can actually provide great hooks for roleplaying later in the game!
And here is the greatest tip of all: always be having fun!