How do you start DMing
>>98263024Read the rules. Roll a dungeon. Go get it champ!
>>98263024Phandelver
Have friends.
>>982630241) Delete your folder of frog images, including the rare ones2) Go out, start touching grass for about a week3) Shower at least every other day4) Find any given group, people will always take a GM
>>98263024I'm gonna give you some real advice, kid:World prep a little bit, or read your module, then find a group of people willing to give you some leeway and just dive in. I can't explain exactly what you need, but you can figure that out by boldly going forward. You'll learn to improv, you'll learn what rules you should or shouldn't follow, and everything will come to you naturally, you just have to barrel through the first few sessions where you will be lost, and I promise you will be. After that though, you'll know what to prep every session and have a sense for your world.
>>98263724Bad advice. Prep is a newbie trap that leads to burnout. See: dm shortage
>>98263028>Read the rules. Roll a dungeon.You don't even need to do those things, especially not reading the rules.Rule 0. Anyone who doesn't like it can fuck off.
>>98263732That's why I said a little bit. This anon is right though, prep can strangle you if you don't just start playing.
>>98263024You do it and that's it. Everything else you can adjust on the go, nut it's all worthless if you don't start.
>>98263024Play anything but D&D>>98263071No
>>98263024Read the first 2-3 chapters of the 4e DMG and the GM section of Worlds Without Number
>>98263869If he plays anything else he's not DMing though
>>98263024Just do it faggot.
>>98263024It's not hard.I've been doing it since I was fifteen on and off.Find a game and setting you can get autistic about, read the fuck outta it 'til you have a grasp on the core mechanics, then start small with like, two or three friends while you're finding your feet.If you have friends, people will want to glom on if it turns out to be fun.Resist the urge to open your table to everybody you know, as hosting and entertaining increasingly larger groups becomes exponentially harder, and most people tend to top out at between four and five players.
>>98263740No you absolutely should read the fucking rules and use them, you double retard. Rule 0 is used when you are familiar with the system to change it OR to make up rules for situations which the rules dont cover. It is seriously shit advice to give to newbies to just tell them "lmao rules dont matter" because they dont know what they are doing. They are there to help you to play and run your campaign. Read. Your. Rules.
I was really nervous about DMing, but I was a player long enough to remember most of the rules and mechanics.Is it genuinely really easy and the difficulty of it is all in your head. There are a lot of variables like the kinds of players you have and how many, but if you have players that aren't trying to just grind out the plot and want to roleplay and goof around from time to time, you'll get a lot more mileage out of whatever you have prepared than you might think.When I started, I had notes written down and everything, and I've basically stopped using them now. I come up with some ideas in my head about where the party is going and what they might encounter, which I think about over the course of the week, and then an hour before the session, I'll get a map for it, put all the tokens down, and get the monster stats set up.And you know what? The party might not even get through all the stuff I came up with for that week, so it just carries over to the next one.
>>98268924Depends entirely on the system. Not knowing the rules for something like 5e is unironically a good thing since that shit literally doesn't function as written
>>98269113> doesn't function as writtenThe chances that you, or anyone really, has ever played 5e RAW or even RAI approach 0.
You say "I am the DM!" and clap your feet together 3 times like a chimp.
>>98263024If you have to ask you shouldn't be doing it.
>>98263024You begin by Gaming and then getting severe brain damage.Fortunately you've already done the second step given you're a frogshit spammer.
If you and your players are just starting out and you don't have anyone to teach you, the intro boxes are not a bad idea. I've played and GMed a couple in my time. Just run the intro game, have a think about what you would do different, and them run the game how you want it.In my experience a good dungeon, if you're going for classic d&d is smaller than a lot of published stuff. Four or five interesting rooms is way better than ten bland filler rooms and a boss fight.
>>98263024"So you want to be a dungeon master" by Justin Alexander is the only book I've seen that does a good job of explaining the task from complete zero foundations up to more advanced techniques.
>>98263024>How do you start DMingNo one knows for sure. But I intend to find out!
>>98263024Just do it. Start running and if you fuck up, learn from it. Not that looking for advice to help you fuck up less isn't good, but the main thing genuinely is just actually doing it and learning from your experiences. I've seen more than one potentially good GM never give running a real shit because because they stressed themselves out overthinking how to be a good GM.
>>98263756I can’t count the number of times I burned out on GMing because I tried to pack every session with little allusions to the metaplot or clever hooks that lead into other storylines. The only prep you need are monster statblocks, a combat map, an understanding where the PCs stopped and where they’re going, and maybe 3-4 NPCs.
>>98263421Imagine being this upset every time you see a frog on 4chan
>>98268924Then you understand there are numerous problems with D&D 5e's design that are inexcusable for a product for sale?Good, it's about time.
>>98268709This guy gets itAlso tard filter your players super hard even if they're your friends. If you want to play Berserk and they want KonoSuba, none of you are going to have fun
>>98271777Can you elaborate on some of these inexcusable design flaws?
>>98268924>>98263028Terrible advice. Use rule 0 liberally. If you fuck up, own up to the mistake and learn from it. Trying to play RAW will make you a bad DM and also make you want to cry.
>>98270013You’re quoting the wrong mid-90s Mainframe show.
Grab the free beginner rules, and find a pirated copy of the old Phandelver adventure (not the new one, the old one is specifically written as a walk-through for first-time DMs).Get some friends to play. Use cheap 1 inch graph paper from Staples or Kinkos to make your play maps, and coloured flat-bottom marbles from the craft store for monsters; let your players use Monopoly player tokens, or the little colour-coded pieces from another boardgame.If you really want to *buy* something fancy but don’t want to drop $150-$200 on hardcover books, the current Starter Kit comes packaged like a boardgame, ready to play with magic items and spells as cards and tokens. Players can build character quickly by passing around the cards and tokens, and there are three different single-session adventures included. You can convert the board game characters to complete character sheets if you want, or just treat it like a standalone board game and start new characters every time.If you do either of the above and want to expand the campaign or do more beyond level 5 you can get the big versions of the core books, but half the DMG will be re-telling you stuff you already figured out.Pick whatever option you can afford and just fucking do it. You DO have 2 to 6 real life friends who are reliable enough to meet up biweekly for game night, right?
>>98263024>Sign up to a game>The DM disappears from the face of the Earth two sessions later, never to be seen again>"Hey, guys, how about I take over as a DM? I don't really have any experience, but some DnD is better than no DnD".Half the anons in this thread started in circumstances somewhat like this.
Why would anyone want to play with a redditfrog spammer?
>>98273542Finally, somebody notices
>>98263024Get some friends together, tell them you have no idea what you're doing but you're all gonna figure it out as you go alongPlay the gameIf they don't leave, you are confirmed gmIf they do leave, repeat the process with other friends until you are confirmed gm
>>98263024Dragon Magazines used to have advertisments offering D&D DM courses. I suggest you dig them out from the internet and apply. If you don't get a reply, try reading some of the articles on 'how to DM' they published.
>>982700832010 called, they want their moldy meme back
>>98275434How the fuck did they get this number
>>98263024Step 1: Have friends. (I know this cuts out most of the fa/tg/uys.)Step 2: Pick a game system. It's going to be D&D 5th ed, but we can at least entertain hope for a while. Step 3: Acquire a players handbook, dice, and some pencils. If at all possible, do not give money to Wizards of the Coast. Step 4: Make a story, make some characters. Step 5: Play.
>>98278545>Step 1: Have friends.Welp I give up. I know I say this on here a lot but I had to move for work to the middle of bumblefuck nowhere. Ive been here for years now and still barely interact with the locals, Im lucky if I can get somebody to even talk to me at the bar for more than 5 minutes. As far as the locals are concerned because I don't go to their church they want nothing to do with me.
>>98263024This link will get you going. When you get a bit more advanced, you'll discard some of this advice. But this is enough to get you to mediocre skill, at the very least. Obviously, you'll need a group first.https://thealexandrian.net/gamemastery-101
>>98281338Play online? As long as you get a DM that interviews people, you should be able to avoid the theatre kids.
