I asked 600 DMs for their VERY BEST advice

Comments · 359

• CO

  @corkboardsandcuriosities · 3 months ago · pinned

  Thanks a bunch again to Michel at Harpy for being the literal coolest! Y&apos;all can go here to make an account for free: <a href="https://harpy.gg/corkboards_and_curiosities">https://harpy.gg/corkboards_and_curiosities</a>

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• DE

  @denniscreighton5822 · 3 months ago

  Nothing is real until it hits the table changed the way I think as a DM entirely.

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• SH

  @shineshadow · 3 months ago (edited)

  I think my advice would be:<br>&quot;The GM is a player too&quot;<br><br>I think the burden of a good group is often too much on the GM and they often take too many responsibilities outside of just prepping and running the Game. (Being the primary communicator, having the Place to run the Game, taking notes, explaining the Rules, providing snacks etc.) which can be too much for some folks. The Group should distribute the burden and make sure the GM is having fun too. This is the responsibility of the Players too. Be thankful to your GM. Tell them if you liked the game. Cheer for NPCs. Be excited for new places or events. He likes it when you like the stuff he prepared.

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• ST

  @StephaniePlaysGames · 3 months ago

  Ooooh I think “consider genre” is such a good way of framing that tip!

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• ER

  @EriktheRed2023 · 3 months ago

  &quot;Delegate to your players.&quot; It&apos;s great when it works, but sometimes it doesn&apos;t. I once had the players suggest to me that they write the session summaries, and I gladly agreed! And session summaries just stopped getting written. I had to write them anyway for my own notes.

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• TH

  @TH3R34LM · 3 months ago

  The prep yourself for improvisation is a good tip.<br><br>In one session, I hit a blank when it came to having a puzzle to solve for my players, but I knew it had something deeply knitted with one character&apos;s backstory. I knew that, if I used very specific terminology, he would register that this is his beat and would drive.<br><br>It ended up being a very memorable moment for the party, and it was all due to the fact that I simply let the players make the content for me in that moment.

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• MR

  @MR_C_London · 3 months ago

  I&apos;ve always needed 100% of my prep. Before the end of the session, I find out what the party wants to do in the next session. I never prep more than one session out, so whenever things change nothing goes to waste.

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• AT

  @ATLIATLI · 3 months ago (edited)

  Good thing you dropped the original idea of asking people for their 600 best tips even if it was a lot of work for me to pare it down

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• IR

  @Irongineer · 3 months ago

  Subtle as a raging seagull is my quote for the day

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• RA

  @RandomProduct · 3 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx2pPiVRpdw&amp;t=234">3:54</a> &quot;You&apos;re guaranteed to be a forever GM.&quot; say no more. I&apos;ll continue to make GM&apos;ing seem like a complicated and elusive forbidden art.<br><br>I love GM&apos;ing because I love worldbuilding and setting up play spaces for my players and seeing their reactions when I tie plot hooks together and I get very little, if any, of that as a player!

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• PL

  @pliny1449 · 3 months ago

  Establishing hooks between all the players is definitely my top tip. &nbsp;It really makes for much better games and for some classic scenes and RP.

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• CO

  @Coldshrike · 3 months ago

  As usual, Brennan put it best: The imaginary ideas that you came up with while you were planning before the game aren&apos;t more sacred than the ones you came up with at the table.&quot; Roll with it.

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