How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM

By Justin Lewis

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Subscribers: 6
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Episodes: 151

Description

Learn how to be a better DM (Dungeon Master) so you can tell better stories for yourself and your friends. Learn things like how to start a campaign, how to create realistic NPCs, how to move the plot along, and how and why to use session 0's for your party. Join hosts Justin Lewis, Cayden Ottley and Tanner Weyland as they distill all the DM tips, tools and resources for the beginner DM, for the DM with a few years of experience and for the Forever DM who's been playing for 20 years. If you're sick of searching for things like, "How to create a homebrew DND campaign?", click the play button and listen to become the best dungeon master you ever could be!

Episode Date
Simplify and Streamline your Session Prep | The PUT A CLUE Framework
May 02, 2024
What Would a Fantasy Blacksmith Shop Look Like - Wastatch Forge Blacksmith Interview Part 2
Apr 27, 2024
What D&D 5e Gets Wrong About Blacksmiths - Wasatch Forge Interview with a Blacksmith
Apr 25, 2024
Bonus: Always Find Players for D&D, How to Do Lycanthropy in Your Game, The Longstrider Spell, on the Next Session Podcast
Apr 23, 2024
5 Tips for More Immersive World Building!
Apr 18, 2024
Downtime Activities in D&D, Part 1: How to Build A Stronghold
Apr 11, 2024
Podcast Takeover! 2nd Episode of New Actual Play D&D Show - Pact and Boon
Apr 06, 2024
Pact and Boon Episode 1: Podcast Takeover!
Apr 05, 2024
20 Tips for First Time DMs
Apr 04, 2024
How to DM in a Public Place | Tips for Public Dungeon Mastering with Andrew Ashby from We Geek Together
Mar 28, 2024
5 of the BEST online resources for a more immersive world.
Mar 21, 2024
When and How to Speedrun D&D Sessions
Mar 14, 2024
How to Write a DND Heist One Shot | Why You Should Play a DND Heist One Shot
Mar 07, 2024
How and When to Make Realistic, Unforgettable NPCs
Feb 29, 2024
The Joys of World Building, & How To Start!
Feb 22, 2024
Focusing on your DM "Problem Areas" + Some Announcements
Feb 15, 2024
Knowledge vs. Experience: How to Make D&D Character Grow Realistically
Feb 08, 2024
A Tour Through the Feywild
Feb 01, 2024
How to Use Conditions in D&D for Better Story Telling
Jan 25, 2024
Helping Your Players Advocate For Themselves in D&D
Jan 18, 2024
How to be Silly in D&D
Jan 11, 2024
A Tour Through the Shadowfell
Jan 04, 2024
2023 in Retrospect and the Prospects of 2024
Dec 28, 2023
Give the Gift of DMing, presented by the Ghosts of Christmas
Dec 21, 2023
How and Why to Add a Little Tragedy into Your Games
Dec 14, 2023
What to Do When a Player Is Missing
Dec 07, 2023
Online D&D Sessions and The Future of D&D and Generative AI: Andrew Clayton from Foundry VTT
Nov 30, 2023
Focus on the Positive, DMs
Nov 23, 2023
Villages Vs Dungeons: When and How to Use Both
Nov 16, 2023
A D&D Tavern: Setting Up the Iconic Campaign Element
Nov 09, 2023
Post-Session Reflection for DMs: Journaling Towards Success
Nov 02, 2023
Should You Invite Guests to Play In Your D&D Campaign?
Oct 26, 2023
DND, Faith, Religion and Gods: How to Do It Right
Oct 19, 2023
Andrew Ashby: World Record Dungeons and Dragons Game, We Geek Together the Tabletop Tavern and the Patterns of Successful DMs
Oct 12, 2023
Are Random Encounters in D&D Good Storytelling, or Bad?
Oct 05, 2023
How to Run an Expedition In Your D&D Campaign
Sep 28, 2023
Allowing Creative Solutions: How to Relinquish Creative Control for D&D Obstacles and Puzzles
Sep 21, 2023
Are your D&D Conversations too Linear? How to Roleplay D&D with More Options
Sep 14, 2023
How to Play D&D while Being a Parent
Sep 07, 2023
The Key to DM and Player Interactions in D&D: "Yes And"
Aug 24, 2023
Are you throwing away your Saving Throws? - Back to Basics
Aug 17, 2023
How to Get Someone to Play D&D
Aug 10, 2023
Death in Dungeons and Dragons
Aug 03, 2023
Familes In Your D&D Campaign: Why It's Uncommon and How to Make It Work
Jul 27, 2023
9 D&D and Dungeon Master Expectations That You Need to Change
Jul 20, 2023
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Homebrew Collaboration Part 3
Jul 13, 2023
Political D&D Campaigns: Let's Roll for Political Office
Jul 06, 2023
The Chimefall Ceremony: Homebrew Project Building with Rob Van Auken Part 2
Jun 29, 2023
D&D and Self-Improvement: How to Improve Your DMing Skills
Jun 22, 2023
How to Make Impactful D&D One-Shots
Jun 15, 2023
What The Future Holds for How to Be a Better DM
Jun 08, 2023
How to Use and Think about Alignment in D&D
Jun 01, 2023
Food in D&D: Gaming for the Gourmand
May 25, 2023
Committing to Characters with Victor Bevine (AKA Drizzt Do'Urden)
May 18, 2023
Homebrew Collaboration with Rob Van Auken Part 1
May 11, 2023
How to Prepare for an Online Session of D&D
May 04, 2023
How to Get Your Players to Play Together as an Adventuring Party
Apr 27, 2023
How to Use Animal and NPC Companions Correctly in D&D
Apr 20, 2023
How to Dungeon Master When You're Super Busy
Apr 13, 2023
How to Use Mob Combat Effectively In D&D
Apr 06, 2023
Driving Character Development and Conflict as a DM with Rob Wells
Mar 30, 2023
What to Do About Dungeon Master Boredom
Mar 23, 2023
Why You Need to Start Borrowing Story Ideas in D&D
Mar 16, 2023
How to Avoid DM Burnout Continued
Mar 09, 2023
How to Create a Compelling Villain for Your D&D Campaign
Mar 02, 2023
5 Tips to Spice Up Your Dungeons and Dragons Combat Encounter
Feb 23, 2023
How to Stay Excited About Being a Dungeon Master (Avoiding DM Burnout)
Feb 16, 2023
8 Tips for Player Management in Dungeons and Dragons
Feb 09, 2023
10 Reasons to Do One-Shots as a Dungeon Master
Feb 02, 2023
Family: Isn't it about... D&D? Family Relationships in D&D
Jan 26, 2023
Wizards of the Coast's OGL 1.1 (Or at Least Our Thoughts On What We Think We Know So Far)
Jan 19, 2023
Improve Your Roleplaying Game Immersion with Alex Aries
Jan 12, 2023
6 NPC Questions to Help Stimulate Roleplaying at Your Table
Jan 05, 2023
End of 2022 & What 2023 Holds for How to Be a Better DM
Dec 29, 2022
5 Tips to Make Your Dungeons and Dragons Game Christmas Themed
Dec 22, 2022
Catching Up With Your Players Between Sessions
Dec 15, 2022
Tips to Improve Your Writing Part 2
Dec 08, 2022
Dungeon Master Critique: Dissecting Justin's September One-Shot Part 2
Dec 01, 2022
Giving Thanks to your D&D Players
Nov 24, 2022
What is the Ruling on House Rules in D&D?
Nov 17, 2022
Dungeon Master Critique: Dissecting Justin's September One-Shot
Nov 10, 2022
Christmas Gifts for the Dungeon Master In Your Life (or for You)
Nov 03, 2022
Unearthed Arcana Part 2: Expert Classes
Oct 27, 2022
Level Up Your D&D Game with a Soundboard
Oct 20, 2022
Unearthed Arcana Part 1: Character Origins
Oct 13, 2022
5 Tips to Improve your Writing
Oct 06, 2022
How to Engage Unengaged D&D Players
Sep 29, 2022
Starting a Homebrew D&D Project with Gaming Brew
Sep 22, 2022
D&D Etiquette To Make Your Mother Proud
Sep 15, 2022
Wizards Presents & OneD&D: Updates in the World of D&D
Sep 08, 2022
5 Questions to Write a Better Backstory for Your D&D Character
Sep 01, 2022
D&D Session Prep with This Dungeon Is Occupied
Aug 25, 2022
An Argument For Handouts in D&D
Aug 18, 2022
D&D Tips for New Players and DM's
Aug 11, 2022
8 D&D Soundboard Tools DM’s Can Use While DMIng
Aug 04, 2022
The D&D Character Creation Process Explained Simply + Some Tools
Jul 28, 2022
Planning a D&D Campaign
Jul 21, 2022
Dungeon Master Essentials: 7 Tools Every DM Should have in their Dungeon
Jul 14, 2022
How to Make D&D More Fun
Jul 07, 2022
5 Common Annoying D&D Player Types and How to Deal with Them
Jun 30, 2022
How to Make Life-Like NPC's with Robert from Dungeons, Dragons & Psychology
Jun 23, 2022
Homemade D&D Props
Jun 16, 2022
Essential Sections of the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
Jun 09, 2022
How to Make D&D More Immersive
Jun 02, 2022
How to Make a Dynamic Campaign with Garrett from Two25 Games
May 26, 2022
Ideas for Campaign First Sessions
May 19, 2022
Preparing for Your First D&D Session
May 12, 2022
How to Find Your D&D Group
May 05, 2022
Our Favorite Dungeon Master Enemies (For Now)
Apr 28, 2022
How To Deal With "That One Player"
Apr 21, 2022
Our Preferred Dungeon Master Setup
Apr 14, 2022
Tips on Describing Combat in D&D
Apr 07, 2022
What I Learned from a One-Shot Online and Technical Difficulties
Mar 31, 2022
What is a Session 0
Mar 17, 2022
Why Authors Should Play D&D
Mar 10, 2022
The Best and Worst Things about Being a Dungeon Master
Mar 03, 2022
What Makes a Good D&D Session
Feb 24, 2022
Are You Ready to Try Being a DM
Feb 17, 2022
How Much to Plan for One D&D Session
Feb 10, 2022
What do You Need for a D&D Session Online
Feb 03, 2022
How to Help Your Players During Character Creation
Feb 01, 2022
How to Prepare Your Players for a D&D Session
Jan 28, 2022
A Simple D&D Session Structure to Help Prepare Your Sessions
Jan 20, 2022
What Makes a Perfect DM
Jan 18, 2022
The Benefits of a Session 0
Jan 13, 2022
Who SHOULD Play as a Barbarian
Jan 06, 2022
Who Should NOT Play as a Barbarian
Dec 30, 2021
2 Christmas Themed One-Shots
Dec 23, 2021
Can You Play D&D with 2 Players
Dec 16, 2021
Questions to Ask Before Creating an NPC
Dec 09, 2021
Non-D&D DM Resources For Creating Better Stories
Dec 02, 2021
Who Should Play As a Rogue
Nov 25, 2021
Who Shouldn't Play As a Rogue
Nov 18, 2021
7 Campaign Ideas for Beginners
Nov 11, 2021
6 Tips to Make Better Non-Player Characters
Nov 04, 2021
5 Places to Get D&D Resources Other Than Sourcebooks
Oct 28, 2021
Which D&D Books to Buy
Oct 21, 2021
4 Tips to Help improve Narrative Skills
Oct 14, 2021
6 Signs of a Bad Dungeon Master
Sep 30, 2021
2 Simple One-Shots to Try
Sep 23, 2021
Mistakes I've Made As a Dungeon Master
Sep 16, 2021
What to Do if You’re a Nervous First Time DM
Sep 09, 2021
The Pros and Cons of Using Minis in Your Dungeons and Dragons Games
Sep 02, 2021
7 Tips to Help Keep Your Energy Up as a DM
Aug 26, 2021
My Method for Planning the Next Session of Dungeons and Dragons
Aug 19, 2021
5 Tips to Help You Plan Your First Dungeon
Aug 12, 2021
How to Deal with Shy Players
Aug 04, 2021
All You Truly Need to Play D&D
Jul 28, 2021
How to Find Players for your Sessions
Jul 21, 2021
5 Things Every Dungeon Master Should Remember
Jul 15, 2021
4 Tips for Creating a One-Shot
Jul 07, 2021