Top 10 Tips for New Dungeon Masters – D&D

By Luke Hart

Welcome to the DM Lair! I’m Luke Hart, and if you’re here, you’re probably a brand-new dungeon master—or at least someone who wants to stop feeling like they’re going to pass out every time initiative is rolled. Today we’re diving into my top 10 tips for new DMs, based on three decades of running games, watching games implode, watching games ascend into greatness, and yes… watching games burst into flames because someone touched another person’s dice.

If you’re new, don’t worry. You don’t need to be Matt Mercer. You don’t need a Hollywood budget. You don’t need a 300-page homebrew world bible written in Elvish. You just need this list, some dice, and the courage to sit behind that screen and give it a go.

By the way, are you a NEW GAME MASTER feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything involved with running a role-playing game? If so, the Secret Art of Game Mastery can help. Get over 100 years of GM experience distilled into practical, easy-to-read advice.

1. No one cares about your world.

This one stings a bit—but it’s true. New DMs get pumped about building their epic world, filled with pantheons, politics, timelines, and Tolkien-level lore. And that’s cool! Worldbuilding is a wonderful creative outlet. But let’s be honest: your players are far more interested in their characters, the adventures they’re going on, how much loot they’re getting, and when they hit level 5 so they can finally attack twice.

The world is a backdrop. Worth building? Yes. Worth infodumping for 20 minutes in a tavern? No.

Adventure prep is infinitely more important than knowing how many duchies your forgotten empire had during the Third Moonfall. Create cool NPCs, strong adventure hooks, and memorable scenes. Keep lore reveals tight, focused, and relevant to the adventure at hand.

Want to show off your cool world? Do it slowly, through play—not a classroom lecture.

2. Don’t listen to the “no prep” idiots on Reddit.

You’ve seen them: “I run entire campaigns with zero prep!!! Everything is improvised!!! My players say I’m the greatest DM ever!!!!”

Relax. They’ve been running games for years. Or they’re lying. Or they’re confusing “prep” with the fact that they obsessively think about their campaign all day and just don’t count that as prep.

As a new DM, prep is your friend. Prep keeps you from getting steamrolled. Prep keeps you confident. Prep prevents those moments where the players say, “We open the door,” and you think, “Oh, CRAP, what’s behind the door?!”

You do not rise to the occasion—you fall to the highest level of your preparation. Better to have notes you never use than to sit there blinking like a goblin in a torchlight.

3. The Scheduling Spiral of Death has killed more campaigns than a thousand thousand dragons breathing COVID.

It’s not story problems.
It’s not rules issues.
It’s scheduling.

If you insist on rescheduling every session where someone can’t make it, you are driving your campaign straight into a ditch. People will cancel “just because,” and suddenly you’ve played once in three months and half your group forgets their character’s name.

The remedy?

✔ Pick a set time: “Every other Saturday at 4 PM.”
✔ Play whether everyone can make it or not.
✔ Don’t punish five players because one player “forgot” they had dinner with their second cousin.

Loss aversion is a powerful motivator. When people know the game will happen with or without them, they show up.

And remember: “Scheduling conflicts” often means “I don’t feel like it tonight and this excuse is socially acceptable.”

4. The game does not revolve around the players and their every desire.

Yes, you should run a game your players enjoy. Yes, you should include elements they love. But guess what? Your fun matters, too.

If you’re not enjoying the game, it will fail. Period. DMing is work—free work. If you’re not getting paid and you’re not having fun, why are you doing it?

And some players will push boundaries. They’ll ask for ridiculous things:

“Can I start as a vampire, with full class levels added on top?”
“Can I have a +3 sword at level 2?”
“Can I play a lone-wolf assassin who refuses to work with the party?”

Be the adult. Be the parent who doesn’t let their kid eat candy for every meal. You’re not being mean. You’re keeping the game alive.

5. The Dungeon Master is not a player; don’t act like one.

This doesn’t mean DMs don’t get to have fun. It means you have a different role.

You’re the leader. The organizer. The person who stepped up when no one else did. You bear responsibility in and out of the game: prep, conflict resolution, schedule management, running sessions, and maintaining group cohesion.

Don’t be a tyrant—but also don’t shrug off your responsibilities. Be fair, be kind, be consistent.

And remember: players can mutiny. They won’t storm your house with torches… but they might leave for a different DM.

6. Don’t be a pansy. Deal with problem players swiftly.

A single toxic player can nuke your entire campaign. I promise you: if you don’t deal with the problem, your good players will leave first, and you’ll be stuck with the troublemaker.

1. Talk to the player.
2. Explain the behavior.
3. Explain the impact.
4. Ask them to stop.

Do not punish them in game by killing their character or other nonsense. That doesn’t solve the problem; it just creates more drama.

If the bad behavior continues? They leave the group. It’s your job to protect the game for everyone.

7. Learn the rules before you break the rules.

House rules are great—but only when you know what you’re doing.

The game designers spent years building and testing the system. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. But you should at least understand how the engine works before you start ripping pieces out.

Think of it this way: Would you open your car’s hood and start pulling cables because you “didn’t like how it looked”?

Once you understand the rules—really understand them—then tweak away. And if your homebrew rule doesn’t work? Toss it. No shame in going back to RAW.

8. The dungeon master is supposed to lose. Suck it up.

If you want to “win,” you picked the wrong role. Your job is to challenge players, yes—but not to crush them. You should always be rooting for them to succeed.

Your villains?
Your monsters?
Your world-ending threats?

They exist to be defeated. To fall in glorious combat. To be turned into XP and loot.

And when they die, you get to create new villains. That’s the fun of DMing.

9. Not all players are alike; create adventures that appeal to all.

Every group has a mix of personalities:

• Combat enjoyers
• Roleplay fans
• Puzzle nerds
• Exploration wanderers
• Shy listeners
• Loud talkers
• Chaos gremlins

Your job is to mix combat, social interaction, and exploration so everyone gets something they love.

And remember: listeners are still having fun even if they don’t talk much. But you may need to gently silence the talkers occasionally so the quieter players have space to shine.

Variety keeps everyone engaged.

10. It’s okay to say “no.”

You should say “yes” as often as you can. “Yes, but…” is even better. But sometimes? “No” is the correct answer.

When a player asks for something impossible or unfair: “no.”
When they ask for something that breaks the rules: “no.”
When they ask for something that ruins game balance or steals fun from others: “no.”

Use it sparingly, but confidently. You are the DM, not a vending machine.

100 Years of GM Experience at Your Fingertips!

Are you a NEW GAME MASTER feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything involved with running a role-playing game? Are you a VETERAN GAME MASTER looking for new tips and tricks to take your games to the next level? Look no further than the Secret Art of Game Mastery.

We at the DM Lair have distilled our CENTURY of accumulated GM experience into an easy-to-read guide of practical advice that you can immediately apply to your games! We've even included our own templates–the things that we use to prepare our ACTUAL games.

Get all three books to master your game:

• The Secret Art of Game Mastery. Contains over 100 years of GM advice distilled into an easy-to-read format. It introduces and explains the tools of the trade, scheduling, playstyle, post-game notes, getting player feedback, and more.
• The Secret Art of Preparation. Brings to your fingertips the actual templates and guides that the DM Lair team uses to prepare games, Lair Magazine, and more. Designed as a three-ring binder, it's intended for you to write directly into for your entire campaign!
• The Secret Art of Notetaking. Gives you the keys to tracking your campaign from session to session just like the DM Lair team. Designed as a three-ring binder, it's intended for you to write in and keep track of your whole campaign!

With so much knowledge and experience on its pages, The Secret Art of Game Mastery is guaranteed to become an indispensable tool for all game masters, new and veteran alike. And if that isn’t enough, the information applies to all game systems and all genres!