Who am I? - You are a Dungeon Master.

A quick guide for all lost & puzzled Dungeon Masters and Game Masters alike.

On RPG forums and discussion boards I often come across DM 'newbies' asking what is it to be one. Often comes the question of what is the DMs role. This is fair as all new gamers need to learn the intricacies of the hobby and the DMs job is the most complex one. Too bad however when I see some already 'experienced' players showing lack of fundamental understanding of the DMs role. And this negatively impacts no only their game and entertainment but the general hobby as well.

This short guide is not to teach you HOW to DM. The technical aspects of it can be found and learned elsewhere and particularly HERE (my humble recommendation).

The goal of this guide is to help you understand the fundamentals - what is the DMs role and where did it come from. This should point all you lost & puzzled DMs into the right direction.

A Game Engine

Yes, that's what you are. A game engine. You manage the scene, you manage the decorations, you manage the friends and foes of the heroes. You run the world, but the world is a scene for your players to shine. You give them obstacles and opportunities to triumph over them. Deliberately planned or randomly selected - no matter. You are the engine that allows the players to play the game. The better you do your job, the happier the players are. The more satisfied the players are the more often they come to your table. And buy you free drinks while you're busy preparing another session.

Analogically to a video game, if you like the gameplay of a game you're more likely to play the game. I deliberately left the story out this time. Gameplay is the very fundament of each game. And you as the game engine create the gameplay. It's not the game system, not the set of rules this time. It's how you're able to use those rules to create the living, breathing game. It's how you help the players to interact with the game environment.

The rules are just protocols and procedures but it's this human factor that creates those dark & gritty D&D campaigns or pompous & epic Warhammer adventures (do you see what I did there?).

You make the world come to life. But it's merely a scene that needs actors. The actors, the heroes are your players. Don't forget that.

A Referee

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... or at least across the Atlantic Ocean from my POV, the game used to be played differently. And they called it sandboxing. And they knew it was good.

You can read about sandboxing on many sites (like HERE) but there is one critical element of sandboxing that every fresh DM and player alike should know. You see, in sandboxing it was the players who created and initiated adventures. 

Now this stands in direct opposition to the 80's approach, further developed in the 90's where the players just gathered round the DM who in turn would draw them into his devilishly intricate story. Back in the 70's the early players where wondering the dungeons and wilderness areas IN SEARCH of an adventure which the REFEREE delivered quite often in a form of a randomly generated adventure area. 

Now, this doesn't mean the referees where just human counting machines playing by their charts and tables. They were called referees because it was clear back then that their role was to ensure the game was played by the rules. Nearly all the rest was up to the players. With their initiative and proactive approach they shaped the campaign and its overall storyline. They became warlords, archmages & thieves' guild masters by their own plan and doing. They did not wait for the adventure to come to them, they searched for it and grabbed it by its' throat. A subtle difference.

The times they are a'changin' and so does the game. Still, it's a fact that that the DM figure developed from a Referee who's main role was to ensure the game is played by the rules. 

This is a neutral position towards the players but implies further conclusions. Take football.

If the referee draws to much attention to himself on the pitch - he's considered a bad referee. It's the players that are the key figures on the pitch. The referee does not own the game. The only power he has over the players is the power of enforcing fair play.

And this should also be engraved in all DM's heads. As a DM, you're not god. You do not own the game. You are neither the players' servant. You serve the game. You are the Guardian of the Rules.

A Storyteller  

Finally, we cannot forget what those decades of rpg history gave us, can we now?

Many a DM start because they want to tell stories, because they're unaccomplished (or accomplished) writers. They have an idea for a fascinating story that will surely engage the players.

And without this quality we would all be running pregenerated or random, boring dungeons with no point at all. Another princess saved - check. Another dungeon looted - check. Another terrible threat defeated - check.

We are supposed to use our creative drive to draw a complex and engaging environment for the players to shine. What good would having Ian McKellen or Christoph Waltz do in a movie with flat, dumb and obvious plot? Surely they could make it a one man show, but the whole picture would be lacking.

So we draw the decorations, we prepare the twisted plot, we write deep and complex NPCs. We let our imagination roam. This is where we play our role. This is our bit of the role-playing in RPG. 

But again, this story can go anywhere, should be able to go anywhere because it's the players who drive it forwards. If Takhisis plans to destroy Krynn, the players are meant to stop her. But they could also go fishing and see the world burn around them. Or join her forces and see the world burn in triples. This is their choice and their fun. You take your fun from seeing how they run it, attempt, fail and succeed. You're the master of the game after all. You win regardless of the story ending. You only loose if they leave your table unsatisfied.

Conclusion

You should have your own by now. But I just want to address this one final and quite common question. Does a DM serve the players or does they serve him?

In the 90's I still remember this tendency of a DM to be 'the one almighty' who bullied the players and ruled them with an iron hand. In the recent years I hear ever more often that the DM actually serves the players and should make them happy because without them he's nothing.

Well, the answer isn't as simple as many would like it to be as the whole rpg phenomenon is more complex than that.

In simple terms the DM is both the servant and the master of the players. He runs the game while providing entertainment to the players. He is the servant of the game itself. Like a croupier in a casino. He can symphasize with his players, but one of his ultimate goals is to ensure the game is played fair. He serves the story, but the story serves the players as entertainment in return. 

So they key to being a good DM is proper balance between the judge and the entertainer.

Like a good lawyer, stick to the rules but make sure you bend them where possible for the greater good of the story and the players. 

Write the story WITH your players, not against them. They are your characters, your children. Make sure they all have key roles in your game and that they can shape their destiny. Predestination was one of the reasons the Calvinists quickly fell out of fashion.

This last special ingredient is the social aspect. You need to like your players. 

DM's role is an important social one. You need to be open to people, not necessarily strangers but your friends. This is one hobby you should play with a bunch of friends not foes.

And if you're boorish, rude and dry then no good will ever come from your DM'ing.

Godspeed!