On 12 January 2017 I hosted the first of a new series of shows as part of the Don't Split the Podcast network hosted by my friends Rudy Basso and James Introcaso called the DM's Deep Dive.
This monthly show, broadcast live on Twitch and available on Youtube and as a podcast, will take a single topic of interest to dungeon masters, primarily of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, and dive into it with a guest who has spent a good deal of time and brain power digging deep into this game we love.
In the first episode of this show, I spent an hour with my friend Enrique Bertran who has run the website NewbieDM since 2008 and focused much of his attention on how to improve and provide tools for DMs to run great games.
Over the hour, Enrique and I discussed a number of topics including:
- How best to introduce new DMs to the game in the days of Youtube.
- A look at the current rule system and how accessible it is.
- The difficulty of the existing encounter building rules.
- Gridded and narrative combat.
- The value of the D&D Starter Set for new dungeon masters
We also took a handful of questions from the audience including:
- How do we prep our games to aid in improvisation? (hint!)
- Given the professionals we see on the internet, are we building an unfair expectation of what a D&D game looks like?
- How do you make low level characters feel important in your world?
This last one included Enrique's "Golden Rule for Nebie DMing":
"Start Small. You're not Tolkien. Nobody cares about your prose. Nobody cares about your world. Nobody cares about the mystical mount where the oracle lives. No one gives a shit."
"The way you make your players buy in is to make them the heroes of their own little world."
Here are a few links to articles we mentioned in the podcast:
- Sly Flourish's Five Tips for New Dungeon Masters
- The Dungeon and the Newbie DM
- Matt Mercer's Force Gray live-play videos
- The 2016 Dungeon Master Survey
- Sly Flourish's Guide to Narrative Combat
- Enrique's answers to the 2016 DM Questionnaire
- Roll20
- Kobold Fight Club
- The Lazy Dungeon Master
You can watch the Youtube broadcast of the DM's Deep Dive: New Dungeon Masters or subscribe to the podcast feed to listen to it in your favorite podcast app.