10 Steps to Prepare Your First D&D Game

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐃𝐌 𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧 - Get Lair Magazine (5e adventures, VTT maps, puzzles, traps, new monsters, and more), play D&D with me, and other perks ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐲 - Get my level 1 to 5 fifth-edition compatible adventure module featuring new fey creatures here ▶▶ www.thedmlair.com/intothefey 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗠 𝗟𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 ▶▶ discord.gg/thedmlair

I've been dming my friends for 2 years and one of them has decided to dm the next campaign. Bless his pure little heart

Regarding #10 Panic (Don't Panic) My group has surprised me more than once when I sheepishly said "I'm not well-prepared, maybe we should cancel". They recognized the need to maintain momentum. With a great deal of understanding, they said things like "well maybe we can just do some social encounters -- I've got to to get a bunch of spell components" or "well maybe just run us through some random monster encounter." Little did I know that the component shop owner would turn out to be a beloved NPC, or that the random encounter I made on the spot would turn the campaign in a different direction for the next two months.

I have seen a ton of DMing guides but this one is my favorite, I think you really emphasize how to NOT over prepare, which is one of the main problems I was running into: prioritizing

One thing I’ve found is that, concerning prepping the location, the more I prep beyond the bare necessities, the less flexible I am when presented with the goals the party has. Don’t be too much of a stickler! Be flexible and allow the players to change the world they’re in no matter how big or small without breaking the game!

Some timestamps for those who refer to this video in the future again and some notes of my own. 1 Prepare the setting 00:33 Single page or two of references is SUCH a help, to keep track of stuff like factions and districts. This would probably be my top priority too as even a 'derailed' session is informed by the context it happens in and can help improvise. 2 Prepare the Adventure 01:36 2.1 Don't worry about reading the whole module 03:35 Completely agree, don't pile too much at once. Take notes of the general motions and directions you are nudging towards but no person can have it all in their mind and run with it. Highlight/take note of crucial details. 3 Preparing NPCs 06:17 This is such an easy time sinkhole. I tend to make 'tables' for random NPCs so I can roll 3-5 dice and know what they are about in broad strokes, or have some prebuilt ones ready to be dropped anywhere. Caution with the latter, as it can be too tempting, keep it until you need it. My tables include stuff like Race, Gender, Profession, Goals/Aims, Affiliations and so on. Some of those will change depending on the locality. 4 Prep the Encounters 09:10 I particularly like the 'Dramatic Question' as something to be put into session prep. It's less "will the party prevail" and more "how will they tackle this?" so you might end up being more open about resolutions. 5 Prep the monsters 10:32 FANTASTIC example of prepared tactics right at the beginning. I like to do something similar with my guards: they usually have 'roles' like a party might though their capabilities depend on the background. In Eberron, Aundarian guards might have access to spells. 6 Prep Players 12:53 7 Prep the PCs 14:32 I like to skim on this front so players can surprise me. I read character stuff extensively so I usually know if something smells off, but I don't want to know necessarily everything the PCs can do. Catering adventures to them is okay sometimes but the world at large would probably not adapt to the party getting/losing a druid. Thus, I usually end up playing by in-world logic as to how antagonists and such would be prepared. 8 Prep DM tools 15:48 Just adding Xanathar's and Tasha's to that list, they have wonderful things to pull even if you don't use it all. 9 Prep the session 17:21 Personal shoutout to the LazyDM on this front, it's helped me loads to trim down time spent and have some structure - I have a standard document by this point that helps me guide my efforts. 10 Relatable feeling 19:19

I’ve been playing since 1982, and 98% of the time as DM, and I still feel panicked before the game.

Reading the entire module is old school, back when the modules were $10 to $15 paperbacks with 70 some pages and 6 or so linked adventures each of which were writen to last a 4 hour session or two. So, using the old rule and adjusting it, be very familiar with what will be covered during one or two sessions.

Had an adventure on a ship once. Presumed they'd go deck by deck. They split the party with half coming up from the hold and half starting on the main deck. They aggroed the entire ship, which was otherwise going to be several encounters

I'm prepping my first session as DM and I'm almost ready to start. The advice I never considered was the "what do you want to do next time" and that's such a helpful tip. Thank you!

Luke, congrats on the 100k subscribers!!! I don't know if that's recent, but it's the first time I notice it. Thanks for all the great work you do :D

Don't do what I did and try to homebrew a completely custom system

I'm currently playing D&D for the first time ever with a group of other girls and I'm also considering trying to DM sooner than later so I find these videos are really amazing.

My PR ever was 300. More recently I put up 275, 6x4 sets and reps.

If it's your first time maybe run a shorter module, levels 1-5 for example. Then you can read through the whole module easily. If you skim through the important sections it won't take long. Then read the sections you need each week.

Coming into dming to give my dm a break, between u and some of these other great YouTubers, I appreciate you and all the good advice give!

This video is AWESOME! I’m DM’ing for the first time soon and this is unbelievably helpful. I’m becoming less overwhelmed with every second of this video haha thank you so much!

On the note of NPCs and players not interacting with them very much a very long when you give them a backstory. I had an NPC that the players were meant to interact with, she was meant to be their guide through this new land when the players decided that they didn't want her following them around because they thought she would be useless or get in the way I had that same NPC start hunting them down in order to kill the party

I am a new dm (6 months of experience by now) i am proud that i figured most of this by myself in time but hearing it from someone with a lot more experience made me proud Ty very much man😊

I will occasionally use a voice recorder on my way to work to talk through an adventure and practice NPC voices and backstory. I don't seem as crazy that way, I just look like I am on my phone hands free. ;) Haha, but seriously, it does help give me a feel for the characters that I expect to use. I only do it for a few that will be in the session, but I do feel it helps me be more prepared, and if anything it gives me some practice for when things hit the fan and I need to improvise.