Our principles are by no means an exhaustive list of all the great tips and advice you can rely on to run better games, and we only could touch on each so briefly! We'd love to hear YOUR principles for how YOU run great games, too! We have a LOT more to say about improvisation, game prep, managing social issues at the table, and using the rules well. If you'd like to hear us talk more in detail about one of these principles and the tips and tricks that go along with it, please leave a comment to let us know!

DM: "You come to a bridge with a man standing on it." New Player (joking to the other players): "What are the chances it's actually like, a demon or something?" DM: "As you approach, the man holds out his hand and says, 'One gold and you may pass. Refuse and I'll turn into a Balrog." New Player: "Uh-huh, right." Other Players: "Dude...he's got a Balrog figure." This has since become a common encounter. We always pay him.

Most of these principles are the same ones I was taught to become a teacher. They work for a lot of circumstance, not just D&D.

love the empty boot. i had a tea pot in a witches house. they expected it to be magical so i let it magically brew the most refreshing tasting tea. didn't have any mechanical benefit but they kept trying to find out what it did

This reminds me of something it says in the DM Guidebook. It mentions how the DM's goal isn't to beat the players, or help the players. Their goal is to create a memorable experience. They "Win" when the players have fun, and when the players are smiling.

You guys touched on the video several times but I think it deserves to be its own principle: never lock content behind a single die roll, or make problems that only have a single solution. I've seen games grind to a halt because of stuff like this and it's frustrating for everyone. One more I might add: never take away a player's agency. I don't like to describe how player characters feel, or narrate them doing something that they didn't explicitly say they did.

When your players do something random and get an awesome story out of it and think you are a master of improv, but it was actually planned all along and they have been on the rails the whole time. ILLUSION 100

Hi guys! I’m an experienced player and a new DM who just started a mix of my own adventure with "Out of the Abyss". So, I wanted to thank you for all the DM tips on this channel, which are REALLY smart and helpful. I also find your style rather clever and funny, thanks for not falling into the Demonweb Pits of idiocy nor vulgarity. So, keep up the good work, and if you ever visit Russia, the beer's on me! ;-)

I love when (as a DM) the players choices ruin my gameplan. When the players decide to go against what I am trying to do (pre-planned story line) and forces my mind to go into automatic-improv! After all, improv is what the players are doing.. I’ve had a few groups where I could go in blind, and come out with a thrilling game and the urge from everyone to come back ASAP to continue the story (giving me time to polish up a good ending). Success from everyone contributing. Even once, when I thief stole a weapon and just half-heartily joked “I bet this thing is cursed” (poor cursed weapon), made everyone more intent on figuring out how to remove the curse (none had the spell). Just that change, from one player cracking a stale joke - created an entire campaign of sorts. To this day, there are still inside jokes told of some of those player-created campaigns/multiple sessions.

1:00 0. Have fun 3:37 1. Know your players 6:48 2. Be consistent and fair 8:28 3. Foster a positive environment 10:51 4. Use the rules as a tool 12:30 5. Know when to roll the dice 15:53 6. Keep track of time 18:00 7. Be prepared...to improvise 21:31 8. Be forthcoming with information 25:00 9. Embrace player creativity 29:50 10. When in doubt...add an explosion

Wish I'd had this video back in the 80's >.

I love the explosion as a principle.

Guys, seriously, I've been playing tabletop rpg for some years from now on, and for a couple months I've started reading the d&d core books so I can become the DM. You guys are amazing, always explaining everything in the best way possible and also presenting to us so many different things to improve our social experience as well as our RPG skills. Thank you so much for this channel. And see you next video!

How is this channel not bigger? Started watching some videos that popped up on my feed yesterday and I already love the content and attitudes! Also I am a first time DM (on a formal setting anyhow) and love all the tips and ideas you guys share!

Great tips! Thank you for sharing. The point on preparing problems and not solutions spoke to me especially. I remember one game where a player wanted to light some rubble on fire to smoke some baddies out and my response was ‘no, that spell doesn’t work that way’ - partly because the spell didn’t mention lighting things on fire and partly because my gut reaction was that it was ‘too easy of a solution’. After contemplating the situation after the game I realized how bad of a call that was, that basically stifled my players creativity. The next time I met my players I told them what I had realized and ’fessed up to having made a bad call.

Yeah I did the whole "What if there is a" one of my players said not too long ago. He stumpled upon some random pretty weird traveling merchants. Now I hadnt really planned anything special with these people they were just there to make an otherwise slightly uneventful travel less boring. My player however though they were weird and started asking questions about special good or interesting items they might have stumpled upon in their travels. Minutes later he had one of the most important items I have created for this game in his hands after having tradet A LOT of his other items for it. Best part is. He has given so much for this item and find it super interesting so no way he will just throw it away.

I just found this video while preparing as a new DM. It's super helpful! You got yourself a new subscriber.

Also on improvising don't be afraid to say you didn't prepare that, esp as a new DM. I am running my first campaign and week one my players wanted to keep going past what I prepared. I told them "You see completely darkness down the stairs almost as if god had not yet created the next room" which got a laugh. Then we have a choice. 20 min intermission or leave off here. It had been over 3 hours so everyone agreed it was a good stopping point.

Something that really grinds my gears is when fellow players just say "I roll for (for example) Arcana" instead of describing the actions they are taking and letting the DM decide when a roll is called for and which one. A typical example is also "Oh yeah one time I did this thing with this guy-" "INSIGHT CHECK!" instead of just "This seems a bit suspect. Do I believe them?"

This channel has been really really helpful. After 35+ years since DMing D&D 2e, I was really daunted getting traction to get started. Back in the day there just was few examples to draw from. I feel ready and excited to get a party going and knowing that there are resources I can leverage from. Thanks to the Dungeon Dudes!

ive been rewatching this so often right before sessions, its an amazing ressource!

I would say, it's not only fun, why we play games - it's more broad that that: Experiencing intense emotions. Surprise and even "negative emotions" can be what we strive for in our play-sessions. Because in the end, even a sad story can be an memorable experience enriching your life.

I feel you guys have pretty much precisely described and analyzed the pillars of perfect play. well done

Somewhat related to #9 and something I learned in the first game I ever DM'd: If your players have some kind of plan, be sure to ask them to elaborate or explain their end-goal. It'll help the player understand what they really want from that plan/action and will allow you to help them achieve that goal. That way, there'll be little to no miscommunication.

I especially loved the last rule. I too always abide by the idea of focusing on truly what matters - the emotion of the scene, and keeping it exciting. Everything else follows.

I tried the empty charred boot tonight. My players were losing it lmao

Thank you so much for doing these videos! Had never played before or even rolled anything besides a d6 in my life but got the starter set for my friends and I. Was instantly overwhelmed when I found out what it meant to be a DM. We're about half way through LMoP having a blast and I wouldn't be running things half as well without these videos.

A few Dungeon Masters I know should watch this. It would make their sessions extremely fun and have better quality

Thank you so much for mentioning the perception check, could not agree more!

Hey guys, another great video and some great tips! I took your advice on the feats for my Bard class, he really was a force to be reckoned with!... Until we walked into an ambush and I got suckered with a shovel to the face... I tore it off the guys corpse and it's already a running joke after session 1. Thanks for the pointers guys, keep up the amazing work you do.

thank you so much for all your videos! I'm running my first D&D session in Tuesday and your channel has been key in helping prep for it!

I'm running my first game Monday, great timing and helpful!

As a new player of DnD watching your videos is very helpful. Especially since several of the people in the game I am in want to do a second game so that the DM can have extra time to prepare. I was asked to come up with at least a one shot to DM for the group and had hit a brick wall when writing down ideas and how I wanted things to go. Watching a few of your videos has helped me tremendously and inspired me to build a world that I believe my friends will enjoy for a very long time. So thank you for the inspiration and advice that your videos have provided for me.

Great list of tips! There's a lot to dig into here and pull out for your games! Tip 7 especially, on improvising is essential!

Cracking video yet again. Absolutely love the fundamental points and very well explained! Also - so much respect for rolling out in the open. I do the same. Only reason I use a screen is to hide the minis until they come in to play (for effect) and for the useful tables on the DM side. Still producing unique and epic content guys keep it up!

Adding too much description to an area, or adding too much personality to a random NPC interaction, can cause the adventure to derail. Players often ascribe too much importance to anything that catches their attention.

You guys are great! Love watching you talk about DnD. I've been running RPGs for about 20 years now, but there is always something to learn! Thanks!

Best video I’ve seen on DM tips so far. Thanks so much!!

This is absolutely awesome! I'm DM'ing Descent into Avernus. Took notes on these tips and I'm more excited than ever! Thanks guys :)

Just found your channel today. You dudes are awesome, subscribed for sure! You explain things thoroughly as you speak from experience and give examples for the things you are explaining and why they are important for us as new DM's. It's simple but so rare to see done right. I love your videos, I am real excited to run my first campaign soon! Cheers Dudes and all new DMs alike! :D

Impressive Guide for me as a new DM. I instanly found the mistakes i did in my first game. Keep going guys. Love your work. Greetings from Germany

Thank you guys this is a big help! Just started DMing Lost mine of Phandelver and my 3 brand new players to table top anything ( wife son and co-worker) as well as my somewhat veteran best friend said they loved it my son wanted to play the next day after a 12 hour session haha I feel like next session is going to be great after I listen to this a few times!!!!

Great channel guys, just played/DMed for the first time and it went great. Thanks for all the awesome tips!

Thank you very much for talking about players that really like to stick to the rules. I am one of them. Inconsistent rulings by a DM make the game really hard for me to get into.

As always, excellent content, gentlemen. As a DM one of my core principles is being both infallible and fallible in the same go. I don't like referencing books, but there are times when I don't recall precise wording of a spell, or a minor blurb of dialogue about a character i had to improvise a month ago. Other players might. I think a core principle is being willing to admit if something you said isn't 100% right but, as you said so eloquently, that you're also the final deciding authority on what happens in the game. Ultimately you are the structure around the which the system is built.

I have watched a bunch of Dudes videos, and I think this was the most helpful for me. I am building a mini campaign that will be closer to epic thanks to these guidelines. Keep it up, Monty and Kelly!

10:47 i love you two:) Thanks as always for a well thought out and insightful video!!

Fantastic video guys. I couldn't agreed more with it. There are an unruly number of "tips" for DMs and some great places to look for it including right here.

Thanks for this guys! Took several years off from being the DM and needed to reboot of fundamentals. Fun is always the goal!

10K and growing fast, keep it up you unarmed monks

You guys are really helpful! First time dm here and you guys have a video on every one of my questions

Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D

Great video (as usual), guys. There are a lot of good points and good advice given here. I think that points 7 & 9 together can make for fantastic games/scenes. I was the same way when I started DMing (a book of notes, all the scenes planned out, etc.). I have tried kicking that habit over time and even though I always make sure to prepare a good adventure, I usually leave things open by just offering bullet points or possibilities instead of concrete outcomes. One of my favourite instances of this was when my players were searching out a white dragon. People in town claimed not to have seen it. One man said that only "Crazy Old Bill" truly claimed to see it (this was my way of following rule 6 and saving time. "Only a crazy guy saw it; just go up the mountain so you guys can do something fun today.") They engaged this though. Oh, no... No preparation here. Time to improvise! They get to Bill's house and find four scarecrows outside. Going in, they find a ragged robed man asking how they got past his " guards." He speaks what seems to be nonsense, mentioning an invisible beast riding the dragon (which was "hard to see"), the voices of people who don't know they are dead, and an evil jester. The players climb the mountain to find a nearly invisible (in the snow) yeti, sense what could have been banshees, and encounter their evil clown nemesis with the dragon. The four dead adventurers in the cave also happen to wield weapons identical to the ones the scarecrows had. The players had said, " I wonder if he's a divination wizard who fought the dragon and went crazy." Well, now he was. We made it canon that his party died there and all of his premonitions involving the party came true. All improvised because they suggested it. It ended up being a memorable scene and character and it was all because the players had agency to just try something. And as for borrowing from other media, our main story is basically my three favourite games as a kid, all mashed in to one, making a unique story. The players are taking their own direction with it too, so it is becoming a new story in its own right. I have really enjoyed this just because seeing characters from those games end up in new and exciting stories has meant that I get to evolve them beyond the scope of their original source. Sorry for the rant; it's my thing I do when something excites me and this video really got me thinking. = ]

You guys Rock! I love your Videos. I am a brand new DM and you Dungeon Dudes have all the answers to everything i need to know! Thank you so much guys

Matt Colville has a principle, "Orcs attack": add extra random encounters to break up deadlocked debates. Your principle 10 is much more general: add unexpected action to change a situation that is bad for any reason, either losing or easily winning or confused or boring.

Another great way to keep the dice rolling down, you can use passive checks as a baseline. Trying to lift up a 100lbs gate thats not locked for a character that has an 18 strength wouldn't be that difficult, so don't roll the dice.

Dudes, these videos are extremely helpful, thanks for sharing with us. I also love the room you video in. Anyway we could see the entire room?

+1 immediate like for the early Sun Tsu reference. :D

I love there kind of video because I’m horrible at being descriptive of stuff and talking as a NPC. This has helped be become a little better at being a DM.

I think I’ve watched all your content as of now. Always golden-Always watch through to the end. Thank you guys for being such a bastion of knowledge for the D&D community! ❤️ Have you guys considered offering DM/player classes for patrons or some form of monetary compensation? I would pay good money to DM a game for you guys as the players and then have you critique/teach me where my skills need improvement.

Another great video, dudes, keep up the good work!!

It is truly awe inspiring to see this code of conduct being expected at a tabletop game than a workplace.

I’m starting to dm to get better at my story telling. I took the idea of Greek mythology and the fall of Olympus. I didn’t know where to really start until I set key points of my story- Eros and psyche, ares and thecoliseum, the 5 rivers, a merging of hades (place) and the heavens, etc etc. all these place came into be and I realized how I surprisingly created a story that has a web of connections. So long story short, I just took what I knew and started with places and then people and started developing my story based on my disgustingly high d20 roll on a history check. Thanks for these awesome tips!

This is one of the best New DM videos ever. I know I watched it years ago, but just re-watching, makes me go, Yep, I'd tell a new dm that too.

I have a couple of guidelines: A) Roll first, calculate second. B) Death must be earned. A) ideally, you already know (and have made a note of) the threshold values for likely die rolls - at a minimum, precalculate the combined modifier for a given monster's standard attacks rather than having a list of modifiers for base attack modifier, weapon modifier, modifiers from buffs they usually use, terrain modifiers for its home field, etc, that you then have to spend ten seconds adding up every time they attack. On the other hand, players will always do something unexpected eventually. At that point, rather than spending thirty seconds working out modifiers and figuring out what the system says they need to roll, get them to roll the d20. If they roll 15-20, it's probably a success; if they roll 1-10, it's probably a failure; if they roll 10-15, then you might want to actually calculate it. It's worth calculating things from time to time anyway just to check that your intuition is on target, but, in general, for well over half of rolls, you know, and the players know, whether it's a success or a failure the moment the die lands, without needing any calculations. If the threshold is too extreme (can only fail on a 1 or only succeed on a 20) then you probably shouldn't be bothering to roll anyway. B) Character deaths should count. A PC shouldn't die because a group of goblins couldn't miss while the PCs couldn't roll a hit to save their lives (literally). If players do something stupid, like charge into battle with an elder wyrm at first level, then, sure, let them die unless they can come up with a convincing alternative - and a deliberate heroic sacrifice is always awesome - but the PCs, the heroes of the story, shouldn't die by choking on their food, or in a random encounter designed to soften them up a little for the upcoming boss. If the PCs are going to die senselessly, then start cheating in their favour.

One thing I´d recommend a GM should do is to ask warmup questions just as the session is about to begin. Asking your players questions like "What is your characters deepest fear?", "What is your characters greatest regret in life?" or "Which of the other PCs does your character trust the most and which one does your character trust the least?" makes your players really think about things they may not have thought about before, which in turn helps everybody get into the game a little bit easier.

Binge watching these. Hugely useful and accessible

Great ideas to DM by, thank y'all!

One thing that helps a lot with Improv as both a player and a DM is understanding the core concept of "yes, and..." When you're doing cooperative improvising, that's the entire name of the game. No matter how utterly ridiculous it might seem to you, you accept it at face value and build on it by adding to it. I find that when players and the DM keep this in mind, there's less instances of arguing about things and more storytelling and fun to be had. A lot of times in my experience, the biggest thing that can either slow games down or grind them to a halt entirely are when people take the OPPOSITE of this philosophy, which would be "no, but..." This often times to leads to bickering about semantics or small unimportant details, when really all that's needed is to just roll with it, and go "yes, and then x and y and z!" to keep the story flowing smoothly.

Surprise is so important, and as the DM surprise is always when and how you want it. Never forget that you can spice things up at any time for any reason

4:15 THANK YOU for stating the kind of player I am! I was in a game for a while with some friends which was never really that much fun, and although there were a couple of the DM's and other players habits which kind of bothered me I could never put my finger down on one singular thing which made that game not fun! Now I think I get it.

Cracking content chaps! Brill!

I used to write massive "novels" to make GM notes. Just to have a plan how to act when players did X, Z or Y. I did it because i knew I was not good at improv. Those noted took work, but they did help me to create sessions that made sense and were enjoyable to everyone. Now a days I still do quite alot of notes (Maybe 2 - 6 pages for 4h - 6h session, mostly depending on the situation) but it's less than they used to be, and do include most of the monster stats for quick reference.

I’ve been into D&D for a year now. I’ve only ever played as the DM. I’m still learning the rules and every once in a while I’ll run into a rule I don’t have much experience with so I make up a ruling on the fly. When I have time to really look at the rules to see if I was right it’s often been incorrect. With that, I struggle with consistency a lot. A ruling from a previous game won’t always be the same ruling the next time. It understandably frustrates people. I’m getting better the more time goes on though so i hope it’s a temporary problem.

I thought something totally different when you first mention rule #4 rules are tools. Great point btw nothing slows a session down like endless rules debates. My version of rules are tools refers to using, especially the more tedious rules, only when they add to the adventure, story or the setting. I tend not to use the travel rules random encounters, rations, exhaustion, distance traveled per day if the players are just going from place to place in the same localized safe area. However, if they are exploring unexplored territory where figuring out how to survive is part of the adventure sure. Similarly I don't track spell components unless they are expensive but if the players are shipwrecked maybe I throw that challenge at the spell casters to figure out what spells they can scrounge the materials for. The rules are there to give you tools to work with to make the world challenging and fell real but if they aren't adding any value feel free to ignore them.

The best dungeon I have ever designed was built upon player creativity. I built a dungeon of traps and rooms with strange puzzles in order to proceed. But I had not created a single solution for these rooms or traps. I knew what they did and how they worked, but I didn't know how to get past them. I decided that if my players attempted a solution, and it was believable and creative enough, I'd guide them to making it work. One of the paths dead-ended to a giant fish-bowl room with a massive goldfish swimming in it. After nearly thirty minutes of discussion one of the players spontaneously decided to jump in with the fish, so I said that it swallowed him. I told him separately that he felt a rush as he landed on the floor of another area in the dungeon, but the other players simply saw their companion eaten by a giant fish. Eventually they figured it out and everyone got through, but the panic and problem solving that occurred in the entire dungeon was amazing to watch.

favorite video from you guys!!!

10:49 that needs to be a poster. #DontBeADick

I think that even if you aren't having an amazing amount of fun a campaign can still be fantastic. You should strive to make sure that your game is compelling as well as fun.

10:46 : Needs looping and posting everywhere. Made me spit my tea out laughing. Good job, lads!!

My main principle for new DMs is fun is the priority. Fun is above the dice rolls, the rules, and whatever story you, the DM, are trying to tell. DMs win when the party has fun and comes back for more.

Such amazing advice, thank you! One of the things I learned as an improviser on stage was to never say "no." That shuts down a scene and all of the potential that goes with it. Besides, PCs almost always zig when you think they are going to zag anyway, so I'm always prepared for them to go all "open world" on me. I love character-driven narrative, so let the players engage in their stories as much as I can. But there are always consequences. As for ripping off other material--DO! many of Shakespeare's plays were written from existing folk stories. The campaign I'm running right now is a weird fusion of an SCA Kingdom and the Hundred Years War. There's some good storytelling in that and lots of high drama!

This was a really awesome video

Very nice tips, thnx.

You guys need to drop all these episodes in to a podcast!

Great advice guys!!!

"The Last of Us" gave me a beautiful, stark, and scary environment for my players to make it through last session. The God of Plants was making a ruckus, and had infected the beasts of the Land with cordyceps spores, making them into her numerous spies.

Good list. Agree that improv is the most important skill. You cannot account for every scenario. I do what was you guys stated, plan what will happen without the characters.

i'm a new DM so this is soooo helpful!

Such a good video, guys!

Awesome video dudes!

Leave 'em hanging! Cliff hangers are awesome! Makes the players talk between sessions, planning and scheming!

How can anyone give this a thumbs down... Losers... Seriously this is a great video guys thank you for this and all the other great content you produce.

In one of my most memorable games, we were fighting a Lich, and everyone else fell. Nobody died. It literally came down to my character and the Lich. I beat it with single digit hp left. I agree fully in avoiding battles of attrition, but sometimes there are enemies that will refuse to surrender. I'm considering having a courage rating, so the players can do insight checks to see if they can scare some enemies away. Sorry, for the long-windedness, I was taken right back to the energy inn the session. So good.

Great vid guys

great stuff!!!!!!!

You guys are awesome... so earnest and considerate of your viewers. I am SO going to follow you guys from here on out. Tell me, are you excited at all about Pathfinder's upcoming 2nd edition?

Just fantastic advice I like all 9 plus X rules. I did get a little nervous with the introductory comments around "fun". Needless to say the whole point of the hobby is to have fun but some sessions and some of the most memorable and rewarding sessions are not fun. Players character deaths is not fun; it may be fair and it may make perfect sense from a story perspective but for the player losing a character it's not fun at all. Players can sometimes spend large amounts of time debating what to do and sometimes it gets heated. This is not fun and as a DM you can try to give them options and information so they can reach agreement but letting them settle it is important to their teamwork and agency. Sometimes it's that long tough fight that takes forever because ten different things go wrong that everyone remembers years later. Also "fun" is now used as a justification for just ignoring every rule and pressuring the DM to fudge every roll so the players never die and always succeed. I'm guessing both of you know this but it might be important to talk about fun being the long term goal

I used to spend far to long preparing epic moments and planning out resolutions to traps/problems. But you learn quick players mess every plan up with creativity. So now i prepare only problems, i have no idea what the solution is myself, its whatever the players decide to do, then i improvise from there. Trust yourself to roll with it

Great Great stuff here Dudes!