How to Wage a Dungeons and Dragons Campaign

A prepared Dungeon Master is a happy Dungeon Master. Get organized before the game to keep the players' attention and the action moving.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• AD&D Dungeon Master Guides
• AD&D Player's Handbooks
• Dungeon Master Screens
• Pencils
• Graph Papers
• Pencils
• AD&D Adventure Dice Sets (7 Dice Set)
• Dice
• Pencils

1. Familiarize yourself with the rules of resolving actions and encounters. It disrupts the game when you have to constantly look things up.

2. Determine how many people are playing and what kinds of characters they will have in their adventuring party.

3. Figure out whether you want to run a one-shot game or one that lasts several game sessions.

4. Create a goal for the party. Do they need to kill a dragon and save a village? Are they seeking a certain magical item for someone? Have they been hired to assassinate a king?

5. Choose a setting. There are many AD&D worlds and time periods.

6. Make up a map of the land or dungeon so you know where the party is and where it's going. You may or may not want to share the map; many DMs have the players map as they explore.

7. Choose monsters and treasure for the monsters to guard. Mark the locations of the monsters, treasures and traps on your map.

8. Create puzzles for the players to figure out. Riddles and scavenger-hunt'type clues are popular.

9. Keep the characters on track. Guide them by using NPCs (non-player characters) to pass along clues and information.

10. Reward the party for a job well done. Magical equipment and gems are very popular spoils from a tough battle.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't give the characters too many powerful items or they won't be challenged by the adventure.

on 8/8/2006 Ask the players questions about their PC's on a personal level before the game starts. For example, were you close with your parents, what would they think of what you have done with your life? I have found that this helps the players get into character and the quality of role-playing goes up.

on 8/8/2006 In D&D, as a PC (player character) you take on a character and assume a new identity in a new world. As DM (dungeon master), you control the world and how it applies to the PC's. One thing that you will learn as a DM is that PC's will only do what you want them to do about half the time, and the rest of the time they are trying to climb up a ladder while tightrope walking on top of a werebear who is swimming upstream a river on a floating land mass. Be prepared for the unpreparable. Learn the skills of spontaneous NPC creation, spontaneous creature encounters and especially spontaneous "You break your legs because too late you realize that jumping out of a two story inn with 80 pounds of equipment after a halfling rogue who used a rope to jump out of the same window was a huge mistake". The PC's will definitely appreciate it and it will make the DM's life a lot easier.

on 8/8/2006 Get a feel for the people who will be playing in your campaigns. Many a person adds his/her personality to the PC they are controlling and depending on the person, can be more of a disruption than a blessing, especially for newcomers to the game. Be prepared for this. Many a campaign has been soured due to unchecked "personalities" and end up turning away potential players. It is a DM's job to think of not just one PC, but the entire group. Pull the disruption to the side, explain the situation, even award experience points for staying "in-character". Unfortunately, although no DM wants to, sometimes dismissal is the only way to save a campaign. The one and only job of a DM is and always will be one thing, to make sure the PC's are having fun. After all, what's an epic story with magnificently tiled dungeons and mammoth battles waged against wizard guarded castles raining fiery death on vigilent fighters protected by divine intervention when no one wants to be there to enjoy it?

on 8/8/2006 Many a campaign has been broken due to unwise location, not in-game but as in the actual location of the players. Too much noise or activity will ruin a session. Whether using miniatures or through total imagination, the best location is taken from the name. Dungeon. A room that is quiet, semi-dark, will go uninterrupted for hours and has adequate ventilation. Even musical scores from certain video games/movies can be played during an extremely difficult battle, or a peaceful yet necessary trip to town to restock. Minimize interruption, have breaks after difficult battles(if necessary) and just enjoy the mood that has been created.

on 8/7/2006 I have discovered that making the characters while you have a general idea of the campaign's course, and then going on to do the serious plotting and such, really helps make everything clearer.