Know The Rules

First off, make sure you know the exact rules and rulings which you plan to enforce within your campaign. Nothing is worse than a DM that's says "Hold on, I'm not sure, give me a second". This inevitably causes your players to become bored with the game. This is the number one reason why would be great players, decide they would rather do something else than play another dull game with the DM who thinks he knows everything. First impression is everything if you want to keep good players and excited gamers. Read all the source books you can read. Most importantly the DMG, PHB, Monster manuals, Tome of Magic, and the Unearthed Arcana.

The Basics

The second thing I should mention is the basics, yeah the basics. Get good at running a basic game! Start out with a few races, a few classes (fighter, Cleric, Magic-User etc..) and a simple plot for the PC's to figure out and conquer. Don't get all flustered by adding to many unique races, classes, rules and plots into a game too fast. Simple is fast, fast is fun!

CLOF

This leads me into the next "DON'T DO DM" situation. Most DM's suffer from chronic lack of flow syndrome, also known as CLOF! Yes, CLOF is a DM's greatest enemy. Most DM's can't run good game sessions because their to busy reading monsters, looking up rules, debating situations etc... This will only lead to you, the DM sitting alone in that dark room wondering why everyone feel asleep. Do you blame them? NO, it's your fault. Make sure you always take general notes before the game starts. Here's what I write down (always!);

- Monsters encounters (or encounters in general), the possibilities of each encounter, the number appearing, the weapons they use (if any), the treasure they have (if any), their alignments, XP value of each monster, dmg attack, spec attacks, spec defenses and any other small details that keep monster manuals closed.

- All the plots that could swing the game in different directions. More detail the better.

- All Adventuring NPC's, same for these people. The more detail the better......NPC's are what give the game life.

- A complete list of magic items, treasure and monetary that might be available to PC's during the adventure.

- Sketch out any maps that may make explanation faster and easier, visualization can NOT be replaced

Don't Argue!

OK, onto the next "DON'T DO DM" rule. Don't argue with your players! This must be practiced with caution. As the years pass and your DMing skills become finely tuned, you can enforce this rule with much greater efficiency. At first it will be hard, not to smash Jeremy in the face cause he has no idea what undead clerics can and can't turn etc. However if your not sure then you better make sure for the next game session. Make a call, don't back down from your decision unless you have no recourse. A weak DM will get pushed into doing things they don't really wanna do. It's better to make the call, then study up after the game and see if you made the right one. Keep the game going, fast remember......other players wanna play too!

However, DM's are often confronted with the LOD (Life or Death) situation. Yes there will be times where the player who is about to lose his character, because of the DM's judgment will argue to the bitter end that he's right and your a moron. In this case the DM should call a time out, read up the rules fast and let others go to the bathroom etc....Or! Put your nose to the grindstone and make your ruling based on your DM credibility. Then if your wrong, your wrong and you just learned a very valuable lesson. Yes, DM's are human. If your right though, you just moved up one point on the DM scale and your players will have more respect towards your future judgments.

Arguing Players

Got a player who loves to argue? Well here's how to fix his/her little red wagon. Every time this player refuses to play on and except your ruling. Prove him wrong and dock experience. Yeah, take 1,000 XP off every time they argue. That will force them to become better players. They will learn to keep their mouths shut, because if they don't they will be first level, while all the other PC's will move on and become successful adventurers. ALTHOUGH YOU MUST KNOW YOUR RULES WELL! Try to save all arguing for after the game. This is often the most desirable way to discuss rules of the game. Remember the DM's word is final

Creativity Within the Game

Creativity is a wonderful thing. If your not very creative then don't DM, stick to playing the game instead of trying to create something your not capable of. If you do think your creative, make your games fun, make your players think, make them wanna play again. If all you do is say roll, OK, roll, yep, OK, roll, OK, yep, got yeah, cool, roll, 10 dmg, roll, 7 dmg etc......then your not playing AD&D right. AD&D falls in the role-playing section for a reason. Roll-Playing means to act out, to express a characters actions and intentions. If this is not in your game then why play.......get those players to give you feedback. Give them feedback also. Don't say "hit, you take 7 dmg" say " Drax, while attempting to launch yourself over the Ogre's mighty axe, an arrow which came from abroad whistles through the air, plunging deep into your upper arm, causing blood to soak through your armor, you suffer 7 dmg".

Explain your settings in the same manner. Let your players know where their at, explain with great detail their surroundings. Don't say "you walk into a room, it's 12' by 20', with a door on the western wall" something more appropriate and creative would be " you kick in the rotted door to find yourself within a cold, damp room. The floor is made of a red encrusted clay, while the walls and ceiling resemble that of simple stone. Moss grows down only the western wall, a faint breeze can also be felt coming from within, perhaps from the door also located on the western wall. As you take your first step, a squishing sound is heard, it's liquid. Your foot presses into a thin layer of water which you now notice on top of the clay floor. What next?" Get it........doesn't that make you excited, yeah that's what I figured.

Two Characters

"Can I play two characters?" Sound familiar?.....Yeah! well don't let this happen. Almost every player will favor one character over another. If you believe them to be good enough to handle to characters, don't let them anyway. If their that good they only need one. Over the last 14 years of my DMing career I have only let one person play two characters simultaneously and that was due to the two characters bumped into each other. Although I quickly separated the two and moved the game on. Most players won't be able to handle this effectively, thus slowing the game and removing the fun, exciting pace.

Ratings System

Got a player who advances his character in levels just as fast as the rest do, but they don't deserve the benefits. Here's your answer (once again first edition rules!). It's called the rating system and I use it extensively. It prevents the fighter who swung his sword a million times, hit the monster once and advanced a level in the same amount of time that the fighter next to him, who swung his axe a million times and hit every time Who do you think should get the level? You got it! Here's how to make the two fighters advance at different speeds. Give them ratings after every major event, game session etc. Here are the 1st edition ratings commonly used in AD&D.

- E = Excellent, S = Satisfactory

- F = Fair, P = Poor

Use those ratings. Every time a character discovers an important piece of the plot, solves a riddle, hacks a monster down himself. Give them a good rating. Every time a character sets off a trap, kills an innocent, hits a fellow party member, avoids taking part in major events. Give them a bad rating. E being the best rating, while P indicates the worst rating.

Now every time a character earns a level, check and see if they have 3 good ratings (E's and S's) and not a pile of bad ratings (F's and P's). If they have 3 good ratings above and beyond their bad ratings then grant them the level. If they don't have at least 3 good ratings then explain to them that the character has attained the experience required but lacks the knowledge, talent and general skills needed to breach the levels requirements. In other words, they need to learn how to play the character better to advance in level, not just hope they hack down monsters.

P ratings cancel out E ratings and vise versa, F ratings cancel out S ratings, thus making it easier for the DM to keep track of. *NOTE* make the players write these ratings in ink, not pencil. Then they can't mysteriously change. You may also wish to keep track of all the ratings you award.

That concludes DM Tips and Tricks part 1