Keeping Your Players on Their Toes

Over the years of DMing I have come up with a few ways to keep the players guessing and involved in the game. Some of my tactics have become well known in my groups and the players are constantly on edge of what might happen next. I wanted to share some of the things I have used over the years that I feel made my games more interesting and memorable.

The Worst Group I Ever DMed

I have been Dungeon mastering for a long time, I have seen groups come and go, some good some bad. Over the years however there has been one group that stood head and shoulders above the rest. To this day the single game I ran for them haunts my memories and sends chills down my spine whenever I am asked to DM for a group I have never played with before. What follows is a recount of that night and the horrors within.

Making a Dungeon That Works

Exploring Dungeons is a staple of most fantasy role playing games. Generally speaking the word dungeon is used as a very broad term that describes just about anywhere characters may adventure. This could be anything from a series of caves to a castle floating high above the earth. These dungeons are traditionally filled with creatures for the players to fight as well as treasures for them to take. Plundering dungeons is fun and a great many nights have been spent looting deep beneath the bowls of earth, but making a dungeon can be a bit tricky. I wanted to give newer DMs a couple of ideas that might help ensure their dungeons are not boring and off putting to players. These tips are more about the feel of the dungeon instead of the actual layout itself.

A Couple of Tips For New GMs

If you are new to the world of Game Mastering (or Dungeon Mastering or Narrating, or whatever your game system calls it) the task before you can be daunting to say the least. It has been a long time since I started GMing but I still remember the first game of Dungeons and Dragons I ran. I did everything wrong, from skill checks to role playing in general I messed it all up. Over time I got better and today my players consider me one of their favorite GMs. Whenever we get a group together I am always volunteered to GM, I in fact cannot remember the last time I played a role playing game instead of running it. So without further ramblings I present you with a few tips to help get you through your first couple of games.

Winging It

Sometimes when I show up to run a session of whatever we are playing at the time my arms are loaded down with notes, charts, books, and graph paper. Other times I show up with nothing more than a sack of dice, some rulebooks and a pen. I love sitting down and writing up the next grand adventure for my players. Spending late nights drawing maps and crafting encounters, but as I have gotten older I find that time is at a premium. With real life getting in the way of my gaming time I have found myself winging it more and more the last couple of years. Now I have been gaming with pretty much the same group for the last 15 years so they know what to expect when I show up at the table empty handed. I don't mean to wing the sessions most times, I set out with good intentions and lots of cool ideas in my head. There are times though where these ideas of grandeur sit in my head and the next thing I know it is Saturday night and I have six people sitting around a table looking at me expectantly. When this moment strikes I am left with two options, call off the whole night or make something up on the fly and see where it goes. Since the first option is not an option we go for the second for better or worse. I have had some amazing sessions over the years that just evolved organically out of a single plot point that may be stuck in my head. As I said before my players know me and they are there to help when they know I did not have a lot (if any) prep time and will chime in with their own ideas to help the story along. Some of my most memorable gaming sessions have come out of my complete lack of preparation. Not having a set structure allows me to get the players involved and keeps me from railroading them. This is not to say every gaming session I have ran without prep went wonderful and was loved by all. I have had my share of nights where things did not go right and I could tell by looking around the table that no one was really into it and we just called it early on those nights. So the next time you see that game night is looming upon you and you are still staring at an empty sheet of graph paper don't cancel, just show up and make it up. If you encourge your players to help a little by dropping hints that do not intrude with the game you can get everyone involved and have a ton of fun. In the end that is why I do this and I image it is why you all role play, to have fun and get away from the pressure of real life for a little while.