Introduction & Becoming Comfortable at the Table

Welcome to the Dungeoneering Blog -- I'm Frank, one of the co-owners of Titan Bear Gaming. This blog will be a place where I chronicle my journey learning how to dungeon master a Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign. In writing this blog I hope that it will help some others out there overcome their anxieties and attempt to run a campaign themselves. So without further ado -- onto the blog! *curtain raises*

To provide a little bit of background, my schooling and training is in the field of engineering. That training entails designing, implementing, and testing that the product meets various semi-vague requirements. If I'm going to be frank (and I always am), the thought of creating and running a DnD campaign is absolutely terrifying to me and it's ABSOLUTELY frustrating. I used to be creative as a kid -- imagining all sorts of creative worlds and characters, using things around the house to build things, etc. Honestly, my engineering training has influenced my mind away from being creative in favor of technical correctness, overcomplicating designs, and dealing with office politics. On top of that, the pressure to always be right and perfect is so engrained that when faced with modes of thought that yield no correct answer, anxiety ensues. I will do my best to document and discuss here what I've found to help me cut through that anxiety in the pursuit of running my own table -- and I'm hoping that it'll be useful to some of you all out there.

So, let's get started -- what's the first thing that helps to quell anxiety in a situation? In this case, that's experience. So what can you do to cultivate hands on experience? You might be surprised that you don't have to jump into the DM seat right away -- in fact, all of the ways I will suggest here don't involve DM'ing at all.

1. Become a player

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Becoming a player is probably the best way to become comfortable with being at a table in general -- because.. well.. you're at the table playing. It's the perfect time to experiment with everything from your own personal style of narration to trying out more whacky things (within reason). Even more importantly, you get first hand experience watching someone else as they DM allowing you to take note of how they handle common DM judgement calls like shifts in events, narrative tone, style, etc. Further, you can ask them for tips and tricks, or questions about why they handled circumstances like they did with actual examples that you can connect with having experienced them. You also get the opportunity to gain first hand knowledge of the ruleset which is always valuable, especially if you're like me and have trouble reading through the player handbook (it's a reference dammit).

I'm fortunate enough to have friends who are more than willing to run a table -- however, if you aren't as lucky, you can find some local groups by visiting game shops in your area or via the Sci-fi and Games section of meetup.com. You'll have to search for a DnD specific group, but at the very least it's a starting point. If you live in the LA area, check out the Los Angeles Dungeons & Dragons Meetup, a meetup run by the ever great Satine Phoenix (@satinephoenix) and the awesome Ruty Rutenberg (@RutyWoot). The page has great information for LA locals looking to get involved in the larger DnD scene, so if you're interested in finding a table in LA check it out.

2. Become a DM assistant (or co-DM)

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The opportunity to become a DM assistant is probably a little more difficult than becoming a player, but is invaluable if you can swing it. My good friend Alex recently DM'ed a one shot session to introduce friends and family to the tabletop RPG world, which I was fortunate enough to help with. If you're interested in details about the one shot, head on over to Alex's blog, The Modern Gamer. Assisting with the one-shot afforded me the ability to observe and participate in the types of preparation that go into running a table without the pressures of the actual responsibility. I got to be a sounding board for some ideas, help mildly with world building, and assist in character creation. These are all skills a DM employs on a regular basis and helping them without the pressure was helpful.

3. Watch other DMs do their thing

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Watching other, more experienced, dungeon masters is the simplest thing anyone who wants to try their hand at starting a table can do. You have PLENTY of options on this one -- all they require is an internet connection and a Twitch (or YouTube) account. What I would rate as the best options are as follows:

• Critical Role (Thursdays @ 7PM PST Live on the Geek and Sundry Twitch channel)
• Maze Arcana (Live Sundays@12PM on the Maze Arcana Twitch Channel)
• Acquisitions, Inc. (Every Thursday @ 3:30-6:30PM PST on the PennyArcade Twich Channel)
• DnD Twitch (Daily starting at 2PM, schedule posted when the channel is offline)

Each of the DMs for the streams above have their own flavor of narrative style and technique. Matt Mercer (@matthewmercer) and Ruty Rutenberg (@RutyWoot) have more narrative styles -- they have a blend of improvisation with some narrative exposition to set the plot points. Chris Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD), on the other hand, let's his players be more free form -- the players are free to come up with plot points to explore, etc. These streams, and others, can help you by showing you how different DMs handle situations. Some of the more narrative and improv techniques can be practiced from the player side of the table; just pick a style you like and see how it works out.

All the channels above feature DMs that are prime examples to aspire to. While all of their styles vary from one another, they bring fantastic examples of what a successful end result looks like. The DMs themselves have fun, their players have fun, and they leave the table having narrated fantastic tales. What more can a DM ask for? More importantly, learning from their example will not only prep you to dungeon master but it will also help you find ways to become a better player.

 I think that about does it for a first post. Feel free to let me know your suggestions for how to get started DMing. I'm certainly looking for advice myself, so don't be shy! Also feel free to share amongst all your friends (especially those who are considering DMing). Until next time -- have more fun. It's good for you!