Dungeon Master's Guide by Dungeon Masters

D&D

Dungeon’s Master Guide
By Dungeon Masters

A Fan Made Zine

1

2What
is A
DM?

“The Dungeon Master (DM) is the creative
force behind a D&D game. The DM creates
a world for the other players to explore,
and also creates and runs adventures that
drive the story. An adventure typically
hinges on the successful completion of a
quest, and can be as short as a single game
session. Longer adventures might em-
broil players in great conflicts that require
multiple game sessions to resolve. When
strung together, these adventures form an
ongoing campaign. A D&D campaign can
include dozens of adventures and last for
months or years.”

From the Offical Guide
and

3My own Experience

“A dungeon master is the head of the table.
They create the world for the players to live
and interact in and with. They are as much
villians in the world as much as they are
the players allies.”

4Who

is a
DM?

5Matthew
Mercer
Matthew is the Dungeon
Master for the hit Twitch
show Critical Role on Geek &
Sundry, where he runs a group
of other accomplished voice
actors through a campaign
of Dungeons & Dragons live
most Thursdays at 7pm Pacific.

6Brennan

Lee Mulligan

Brennan Lee Mulligan is one
of the best Dungeon Masters
around, and watching him
guide eager adventurers on
Dimension 20 is undeniable
proof of that. Now he has some
great tips for anyone looking
to become the best Dungeon
Master you can be.

On February 2, 2018, "Not
Another D&D Podcast", a
Dungeons & Dragons play
podcast commonly abbreviat-
ed as NADDPOD, began, with
Murph as the Dungeon Master
and Emily, Jake Hurwitz, and
Caldwell Tanner as players.
Their first main campaign end-

ed on May 9, 2020.

7Brian ‘Murph’
Murphy

Since being introduced to Dungeons and Dragons in 2017, I have
DMed for various groups of my friends. Being just as new to the
hobby as my friends, I took it upon myself to learn how to DM.

8Me

9and You!

This guide is meant to help guide new dungeon masters through
the intimidating feat of handling a hobby as involved and unruly as

Dungeons and Dragons.

Let’s

10

11

Play

“I had the benefit of being ten years old,
and like most ten-year old children, had
no sense of common sense of judgement,”
Brennan begins, “When you’re ten you’re
still a year or two out from asking those
kinds of puberty-esque questions about ‘Am
I good enough? Am I smart enough?’ Ten-
year old children have no sense of propriety,
so I was like ‘Yeh! I can DM! Whatever!’ and
I jumped right in.”

Brennan

12Lee Mulligan
Just like that, with only the barest of experi-
ence in the vast world of Dungeons & Drag-
ons, Brennan let his imagination run wild to
lead his friends through their own adven-
tures. The key point is to dive in, headfirst,
and simply do your best, “Don’t be afraid to
stumble through it…truly, it doesn’t matter
if you’re getting all the rules right [at first].
Grab the books, watch an actual play, get a
loose vibe for how it’s supposed to go, and
you’ll have an awesome time!”

How
do you

13start?

Don’t i
have to

know

14every-

thing?

“Rules are important, but they are in service
to you and your friends.”
- Brennan Lee Mulligan

DND is just as rich as life itself.
There’s no way to prepare for every-

15“If you have friends who want to play DND,
then they are happy to have you as their
DM even if yo=ou don’t know what you’re
doing/.”
- Brian Murphy

thing, so just go with the flow and
learn as you go.

“Your players will always, always,
surprise you”
- Matthew Mercer

You know
Enough

16

17

Get
rolling!

The confidence
to start a

18great hobby