4e DMG Chapter by Chapter – CH 1 How to be a DM

Hello Dear Readers – today I am unfurling a new feature series here on the blog.  It’s called Chapter by Chapter, a series in which I intend to go through the 4e rule-set one chapter at a time and talk about some of the important parts of those chapters. I think the Dungeon Master’s Guide is a great place to start because, well, no one can remember everything and us DMs (new and old alike) need to be reminded about the art of DMing as the designers of 4e wrote it in the core rules.  I also want to say that the purpose of this series is not to review and/or critique the books as I go through them, but rather it is to pick out the things I see as important and, in some cases, highlight things that are often forgotten or overlooked.

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Chapter by Chapter: 4e DMG, CH 1: How to be a DM

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Chapter 1 of the 4e Dungeon Master’s Guide is split into four parts entitled The Gaming Group, The Players, The Dungeon Master, and Table Rules.  It’s a relatively short chapter, weighing in at 10 pages, but it is full of useful tips for the new-to-role-playing D&D dungeon master.

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The best part of this chapter, in terms of reminding us what it’s really about, may just be the second sentence in the whole book: “The Dungeon Master (DM) plays the roles of the antagonists in the adventure, but the DM isn’t playing against the player characters (PCs).“ This is the best reminder of what the DM’s job does not entail, and it is maybe the most important thing the DM can remember.

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The part of the chapter about the components of a Gaming Group is really a laundry list of items needed to play the game.  Descriptions and explanations are given for each item along with a bit of advice with respect to those items.  Two good points mentioned in this section are: 1) there is a “right size” for a group (i.e. don’t let your group get too big) and 2) the DM doesn’t have to be the DM for every single session ever played in this group.    The last thing mentioned is probably the most important thing that can be said about the game: The essential component of a D&D game is fun.

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The section entitled The Players describes several different kinds of playing styles and then talks about building a party.  One of the best parts of this section are the tips on how to engage the different types of players, which is followed by advice regarding how to keep those different types of players from taking over the game and making the other players (and the DM) unhappy.  Being a short blog, I don’t have the space to go into all of the different types of players and how to handle them, but I will tell you point of the chapter (hint: it’s in the next paragraph).

The reason this is such a good section is because it reminds us of an important part of any social activity, which can be summed up as follows: People are individuals with their own needs, goals, and personalities…  one of the main jobs of a DM is to facilitate the happiness of the other players. Being able to recognize what will make a particular player happy will go a long way towards giving you the ability to facilitate that happiness, and that is the point of this part of the chapter.

The last part of this section discusses PC backgrounds and gives a very good piece of advice to DMs.  In order to immerse your players in the game, it is important that you connect their PC’s backgrounds into the story as a whole.  I refer to this as weaving – the DM and players are in the business of weaving a story and the prominent threads of the story should be the PCs, not the NPCs and not the monsters.

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The section that discusses the role of the Dungeon Master talks about the DM as mediator between the rules and the players.  This is another reminder that the DM’s job is not to act against the players.  The designers point out that every DM will have a different style and they urge the DM to tell the players what to expect from a game in terms of style (e.g. Is it cinematic and heroic or gritty and morally ambiguous?  Is it lighthearted yet bold or anachronistic yet serious?).  This is good advice because the surest way for a player to leave unhappy is for them to arrive with expectations that you have no hope of meeting – better to get the expectations in line before the first session.  If everyone walks into the game with an idea of how the game will be run, then everyone will (most likely) walk out of the game satisfied, or at least not disappointed.

This section also goes through the pros and cons of different types of game/group structure/game models: single DM vs multiple DM, campaign vs episodic games, and ongoing vs one-shot events.  The best advice given here, though not explicitly stated, is that the group itself should decide the best way to organize the game, since it is the members of the group that will be participating (note: the DM is a member of the group as well as the players).

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The last section, Table Rules, addresses several issues that most people don’t necessarily think about when they decide to start DMing a D&D game.  This little 2-page section is chock full of advice about game management.  This is about arranging the environment and setting the “rules of the house” so that the players’ expectations match your own.  The most important points are noted below, and I go into some detail because this is one of the meatiest, and most important, parts of the chapter:

1 ) Respect and Timing

Make sure the players all respect each other and act as such, and that goes for the DM too.  One sign of respect is being on-time to the game (or at least calling if one will be late).  It may sound crazy, but you may have to explicitly state these things at the beginning of the first session.

2 ) Distractions

Ensure that the venue you choose in which to play your game is distraction free (that includes cell-phones and television).  State the rules about the use of cell phones during the game, follow your own rules and expect your players to so so as well.

3 ) Food

Everyone should agree on food issues before the game.  For example, is everyone eating beforehand or will you spend the first 30 min eating and chatting?  Will you eat only finger-food snacks during the game, or should players bring/expect a full meal?  Are you a stickler for no food and drinks on your table? Everyone should know the expectations in this arena before the first session.

4 ) Absentees

What are you going to do about missing players?  The DMG offers 4 options with respect to solving this one:

a) Another player runs the absentee’s PC – this is okay, but may cause a hardship for the player that showed up.  Some 4e characters are rather complex and it may slow your game down to have an unfamiliar player taking the missing player’s place

b) The DM runs the PC – I hate doing this for two reasons… first, it puts more on the DM than they need (the DM already runs all the monsters and plays the NPCs, we don’t have time to worry about doing right by the absent player and the rest of the party), and second, it takes the spotlight off the other players.  If I am playing all the monsters, the NPCs, and a PC as well, how much play time are the rest of the players getting?

c) Decide the PC is not there – This may be hard to explain in game terms, where did the PC go?  Why did they leave?  How do you explain it? It’s not often easy to make a good excuse for a PC splitting and then returning in the next session.

d) Have the PC fade into the background – this way the PC is still there, they are just inactive for this session.   in other words, no attacks are made against the absent player’s PC and that PC also doesn’t make attacks (or perform any action).  The PC is effectively in the background.  This may be hard to deal with if the missing player has the diplomatic PC and the party needs to talk to an NPC.  This may also be difficult if any of the players have a hard time suspending disbelief.

e) Option e, which is not stated in the chapter is to decide to not run a session unless everyone can be present.  I prefer this, but it sometimes means that a session is canceled at the last minute.   Usually I have a different game set up to run in the event someone is going to be absent.  Then we still get to play, just not in the ongoing campaign.

5 ) Multiple Characters

The game runs best if one person plays one PC.  If your group is small, it may seem like a good idea to have the players run 2 PCs.  In my experience this is almost never a good idea – even with experienced players.  It just takes away from the immersion too much, and it’s not an easy feat to play two different PCs effectively.

6 ) Table Talk

Set up expectations about what kind of conversations are acceptable – e.g. can players offer tactical advice when it isn’t their turn?  Can players give other players meta-game information? i.e. How many HP the player has, which is something the character wouldn’t know – this ruling needs to be stated from the beginning. Set the expectations for these conversations and stick to your guns about it.

7 ) Preparation

Make sure every player knows what they have to do to be prepared for the session.  Make sure they have an updated character sheet, pencil, dice, etc.  Also they should know their powers and/or have them written down so that they don’t have to consult a book every time their turn comes up. Make sure the players are ready when it’s their turn, other wise the game will slow to a crawl.

8 ) Dice Rolls

Have an idea how you plan to deal with dice rolling.  Are you going to roll behind a DM screen or in front of it?  Are you going to roll damage dice at the same time as your attack dice?  Do you want the players to do the same? Here the designer’s give definite advice about doing “at least some rolls behind the screen no matter what.“ Here’s why, in the words of the designers: “If a player thinks there might be something invisible in the room and rolls a perception check, roll a die behind the screen.  If you didn’t roll a die at all, the player would know there’s nothing hiding.   If you rolled in front of your screen, the player would have some idea how hidden the opponent was, and be able to make an educated guess about whether something is there.  Rolling behind the screen preserves the mystery.” Basically, hidden die rolls allow for uncertainty – which is a very good mechanic to keep alive in your games. I typically roll all attack and damage dice in a dice tray in front of the players and all other rolls behind a screen.

9 ) Rules Discussions

Are you going to stop the game and discuss every question about the rules?  Are you going to make a gut call and look up the rule later, discussing it at the beginning of the next session?  Are you going to say that the DMs word is final and no rules challenges are aloud? This is something that needs to be decided before the game as well, and your decision needs to be respected.

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I hope you enjoy my blog.  Is there something you wish I would address?  Is there a topic you would like discussed?  Did you use something posted on this site and want to give me feedback about how well it went (or didn’t go)?  Please post a comment and let me know (or send an email to the address below).  If you have an adventure hook you would like me to flesh out and post here, or you have fleshed it out yourself and want it posted, send an email to:

DMSamuel AT IronNeuronEnterprises DOT com

Follow me on twitter: @DMSamuel

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Until next time, I wish you good gaming!

~DM Samuel