The Efficient Dungeon Master's Guide

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As a Dungeon Master, you'll inevitably encounter moments of burnout along your journey. Dungeon Mastering is a long-term endeavor, and even the most passionate DMs can find themselves in need of a breather.

When you first start a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign as a DM, you're brimming with enthusiasm. You eagerly dive into over-preparation, crafting intricate lore, contemplating character voices, and meticulously designing monsters and encounters for your players. This enthusiasm is a vital ingredient for becoming a skilled DM.

However, there are times when the stars don't align. Life becomes chaotic, leaving little time for preparation. Your players may unpredictably veer off the planned path, or you might simply find yourself lacking inspiration. It's all part of being human and happens to the best of us.

In such moments, fear not. Within this guide, you'll discover sage advice to navigate these challenges. Whether you're looking to simplify your DMing style temporarily or fully embrace a more efficient approach, rest assured that you can still create fantastic D&D (and other TTRPG) sessions without an overwhelming amount of prep work.

1. Use pre-made content:

As I’ve said in other posts, I’m personally not a fan of using pre-made content for my campaigns. Creating the world collaboratively with my players and building it out over time may be my favorite part of being a dungeon master. However, there is no denying that there are many great pre-made adventures available, both official and third-party that you can put to good use. Even if you just dive into them for a session or two, these adventures can save you a lot of time and effort, and they can also be a great way to get ideas for future sessions, and to see other people’s ways of crafting adventures.

There are plenty of free or inexpensive adventure modules available all over the internet, but my favorite place to get them is over at The Dungeon Master’s Guild. There are adventures for all party levels and experience levels. I currently read through one that is perfect for a New DM and a low-level party looking to learn the ropes of 5e. It’s called Prize of the Mountain Prince and was made by AJ aka Pasta_Parade over at the D&D Twitch stream Choose Your Roll. And keep in mind, even if you’re using a pre-made adventure you can alter and tweak things to fit your campaign; you’re the only one reading the adventure, and there’s no penalty for making it your own.

2. Recycle, Reuse, Reinvent:

It may be a bit off-putting, especially if you’re a creative person, which you likely are as a Dungeon Master. However, one of the most effective tricks to making your job easier for a few sessions is recycling content. Don't hesitate to reuse NPCs, settings, or even entire encounters from previous sessions. 

Unless players are metagaming – which if they are, shame on them, you gotta put the kibosh on that right away – you can re-skin any monster stat blocks to be whatever you want them to be. That Dryad from session 4, that is now a Druid priest. The Quickling that was in the woods as well is the Druid’s Rogue companion. And the handful of Blights you used are all Druidic guards. Claws are daggers. Needles are arrows. Vine Blights are big brutes who can cast entangle. With a bit of tweaking, your players will be none the wiser, and you'll save valuable prep time. 

 
 

Another fun way to re-use is literally have the exact same tavern, or magic shop show up in a different city or town. You don’t have to spend time creating anything new and its a fun mystery hook to toss in. Your players can spend a whole session just starting to unravel the mystery. 

Do this sparingly, but don’t be afraid to use it from time to time. 

3. Now stop, collaborate, and listen: 

This is one for every time you are at the table and one of the main pieces of information that every dungeon master should keep in mind, D&D is a collaborative storytelling experience. Don't shoulder the burden of creating the entire narrative yourself. Encourage your players to contribute to the world-building process. Their ideas can breathe life into your campaign, making your job as DM easier and more enjoyable and getting them more invested in the world they are playing in. 

Do your best to leave gaps in every session that your players can fill in and put their imprint on. “You walk into The Prancing Pony (*bit of a hint for an upcoming point*). It’s rather busy tonight, lots of folks in for a pint and a bite. Who do you approach and what draws you to them?” Boom, you have a new NPC that your player came up with and their answer to the question can give you a hook for this part of the session. And now, the player is interacting with a person they’re actually intrigued by because they came up with them. Three sessions from now, when that new NPC goes down in a battle, they’re going to feel attached and there will be higher stakes to get them back up. 

One tiny caveat to this type of DMing is that you have to hone in on one skill that most every DM needs and we will cover that in the next point. 

4. Improvise Like a Pro:

If you spend your time honing one skill as a DM it should be improvisation. Being able to think and act on the spot will make everything you do that much easier. Sometimes, players will throw curveballs that no amount of prep can anticipate. When that happens, remember that it's okay to wing it. Your players won't know if you're making things up on the spot, as long as it feels organic and enjoyable.

The easiest way to get better at improvising is by building a better understanding of the rules of the game, the lore of the world, and having a few random tables at hand for NPC and shop names, item lists, treasures, or whatever you have the most trouble coming up with on the fly. There are great random tables in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and countless ones online, for names, it doesn’t get better than Fantasy Name Generators, for loot 5e Loot Shop, and for everything else and more Donjon is the place to go.

5. Use Props and Tools Sparingly:

I could harp on this for hours, it is a main point in my blog post about the essential items needed to play D&D, which is actually very little. But, while elaborate props and maps can enhance immersion, they can also be time-consuming for a DM, and expensive. As long as your group isn’t accustomed to them, don't hesitate to lean on theater of the mind and simple sketches when necessary. And, if you’re having trouble getting a session put together, just make one or two in a row that have less combat and adventure and are more focused on social interaction. 

6. Steal Shamelessly:

Back in point three, I referenced The Prancing Pony from The Lord of the Rings. As a writer and creator, fighting the fight against plagiarism is embedded deep in me and something I take seriously. However, DMing is one of those places where it doesn’t matter. If you’re not making an actual play podcast or planning on writing your campaign down as the next big fantasy novel then steal, baby, steal. 

Take ideas shamelessly from books, movies, video games, or other campaigns. Me, I like Devi from The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, so my campaign has its own version complete with her harsh credit system; I tweaked it here and there, but anyone who has read the books would recognize it in a moment. There's no shame in borrowing plots, characters, or settings and adapting them to your campaign's needs. It's a time-tested technique that can save you countless hours of brainstorming and if you’re not profiting off of it then no harm, no foul. Only problem you may run into is players recognizing the original material and getting ahead of you, but, if they’re not metagaming that should be no problem at all.

7. Don’t know everything:

By the gods is this a difficult habit to break. As a DM it is easy to feel that you have to know the answer to anything and everything your players may ask or do. I know I run into that feeling every time I am prepping a session. I’m creating an encounter or a social interaction and I try to think of all of the ways that they can solve the problem, that way if they have trouble or slip up I can gently nudge them. 

I’ve quickly found that that is a waste of my time. I’m one person with one brain, they are four people with four brains, they will figure it out and likely in a way I – all alone, two glasses of wine deep on my couch – won’t. I just need to come up with a problem for them to solve, know that it is solvable, and let them do the rest. You should do that too, truly, letting go is hard but feels so much better once you’re at the table listening to the players come up with an answer.

And there you have it, dear readers, seven effective tips to becoming a more efficient (and less stressed) Dungeon Master. Remember, D&D is a game and your main goal is to keep things fun, relaxed, and collaborative.

So, embrace your inner Eldath, allow yourself to recycle those encounters, improvise on the fly, and remember to always prioritize the joy of collaborative storytelling over rulebook perfection.

Your job just got so much simpler.

Creating Unforgettable D&D Encounters: 9 Critical Tips

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Today, it’s time to roll for initiative. Crafting challenging and engaging D&D encounters is not as simple as it may seem. As a New DM it is easy to fall into the pit trap of making your first few encounters fall flat because you simply find a monster you’re stoked to unleash upon your PCs and that is as far in the planning as you get. While it will still be fun, I’ll tell you, from personal experience (whoops) that no matter how badass your monster might be, it takes much more thought and prep to craft a solid encounter that your players will remember, and if you do it right that battle against a dozen gnomes can be more fun, and dynamic than going toe to toe with a Tarrasque. So, here’s nine ways to transform your encounters from bad to rad!

Strike a Balance: Like a skilled bard crafting the perfect melody, finding the right balance in your encounters is crucial. In order to do this, you must first have a solid knowledge of your players’ abilities. By knowing what each Player Character (PC) can do, you can tailor the challenges to, well, challenge them. You want to be able to keep them on their toes with foes that exploit their weaknesses while allowing them to also utilize their strengths.

This means, if you have a villain who is attempting to escape, you make sure you pick something with high wisdom so your sorcerer’s Hold Person spell doesn’t immediately end the chase while making sure it has a lower intelligence so her Tasha’s Mind Whip can lash out 90 feet and deal some serious damage.

By balancing in this way, you will keep them fully engaged and feel rewarded when they eventually leave initiative. Remember, a well-balanced encounter is the foundation of an epic tale, and that’s what we’re all trying to craft as DMs.

Craft Dynamic Battles: There are few things more boring than a battle encounter that is purely hack-and-slash until all the baddies are dead. When crafting a fight, it is important to make sure that there is more for your players to do than just fight, another goal, or obstacle.

Maybe one of your PCs’ friends or family members is being held captive and they have to focus on saving them while also dealing with attackers, and, if they don’t save them in a particular amount of time things get more dire. Or they’ve been tasked with recovering an object, but if they kill the big bad of the week before they recover it it is lost forever.

Having secondary goals will make the battles dynamic and will avoid that terrible feeling when your players pull out their phones until it’s their turn to swing a sword or cast a spell. 

Build Purposeful Encounters: This ties directly to dynamic encounters; your encounters should not be mere obstacles to overcome. Infuse them with purpose and meaning, they should always be driving the story forward or dropping a little bit of world-building knowledge that the players can extract later.

Each battle should leave a mark on your players' journey, propelling them forward or revealing hidden truths that shape their destiny. That secret wooden shrine to a group of druids where they battled a group of dryads and blights, well, that wood is a unique wood that they find they need two sessions later, and those druids, if they find them, hold the cure to an illness that is ravaging the countryside 10 sessions from now.

Use your encounters to expand your world, add hints to future missions, and tie in your PCs’ backstories to keep them invested and intrigued. 

Mix It Up: Variety is the spice of … adventure! Your encounters should be as diverse as the landscapes they unfold in and the characters that take part in them. Not every encounter needs to be a fight, sure, D&D mechanics lean a little battle-heavy, but there is so much more that you can do in this game.

Thrilling combat is a good mainstay, but alternate in some other options that fit you and your players. Build in some mind-bending puzzles, put those high Charisma PCs in the driver’s seat with diplomatic negotiations, and test those other epic skills with unique, skill-based challenges. Give your players a taste of different flavors, leaving them hungry for more.

Give Your Enemies Personalities: No more one-dimensional foes! Can it be fun to go through and lay waste to a horde of nameless goblins, sure. And that will never stop being fun. But, there needs to be at least one goblin, or their bugbear leader, that your players can interact with. It will seriously up your encounter if you make your baddies as dynamic and interesting as your player characters.

Think about their backgrounds, what drives them, and what makes them tick. Infuse them with real motivations that go beyond just being obstacles to overcome. How about adding some twists during the battle? Maybe they reveal some hidden secrets that surprise your players? Maybe they aren’t that loyal to their cause and they will aid your players if they let them live?

Let your enemies be more than just cannon fodder – make them memorable, and your players will remember the epic clashes for sessions to come.

*A treasure trove of info on this topic can be found over at the wonderful blog by Keith Amman, The Monsters Know What They’re Doing. I highly suggest keeping it in your bookmarks as a regular DM tool.

Be Descriptive: As a Dungeon Master, you are partially a storyteller. A surefire way to have dull encounters is: “Does an 18 hit? It does. Nice. You take 7 piercing damage. Next in initiative is …” It’s easy to be this DM and I’ll admit I have fallen to it myself, especially in battles with tons going on.

Don’t make that mistake. While it may not come naturally to you, a skill you can hone to bring the battlefield to life and watch as your players become fully engrossed in the world you've created is being descriptive. Enhance your encounters with vivid descriptions, immersive details, and atmospheric cues. “That’s an 18 to hit. Fwip! Fwip! Two crossbow bolts soar through the air, and wham! pierce your armor, sending searing pain through your right arm. You take 7 points of piercing damage and look into the tree above to see a shadowy figure reloading. Next up is…”

So much better. And it paints a picture for your players, pulling them, and yourself, deeper into the encounter. I know it’s easier said than done, but with enough experience, your storytelling modifier will increase sooner than you think.

Embrace the Unexpected: Never forget that mischievous third party that accompanies most every TTRPG campaign, the dice. All the planning in the world can’t take into account how those little devils will be rolling on any given day and so when they throw a wrench in your works be ready to capitalize on that unforeseen event.

Your players will demolish your session’s main villain before they get to do anything cool, a nat 20 investigation roll or insight check will let them figure out your big mystery, they’ll walk right past that big encounter you spent hours planning, it’s going to happen. So, be prepared to adapt and improvise as the dice roll, for the most memorable encounters often arise from the unlikeliest of situations.

Build the Stakes: The DMG and Monster Manual have encounter ratings and monster ratings, and when I started out I followed them. I threw some easy and medium-difficulty encounters their way and that was nearly a waste, I did zero damage to anyone in our first encounter and barely any more in our next few.

My suggestion, even if it sounds a bit scary for those of us who don’t want Total Party Kills, is always, always go Deadly. Unless your party is rolling atrociously and/or playing stupidly, they will make it through, and yet, maybe one, maybe two go down and have to be healed during the battle.

And those death saving throws, those, in the end, are what we want. Aren’t they? We want this game to be exhilarating, to give us an adventure that we can’t have in real life, to make us feel alive in a way that life somehow can’t (and if life does get to feeling that way, well, that’s all too terrifying in itself). We want stakes, and nowhere else in this game is it easier, or more fun as a DM to give your players stakes and let them feel the glory of victory once they beat them. 

Seize the Drama: On a similar note to raising the stakes, this is what D&D is all about, making moments to remember. Every campaign has its defining moments, those heart-pounding, hair-raising instances that resonate with players long after the session ends. Craft your encounters in ways to make it possible for your characters to seek out and capitalize on these moments. Epic showdowns, character-defining choices, and unexpected alliances can create cinematic scenes that your players will cherish for years to come.

There you have it, New DMs! With these nine guiding principles, you are now armed with the knowledge to craft encounters that will leave your players awestruck and thirsting for more. May your campaigns be legendary and your encounters truly unforgettable! If you have any suggestions on ways to up your encounters or just want to share some of your most epic encounters, drop a line in the comments or email me directly at cmthenewdm@gmail.com.