You’ve Never Played D&D, but You Want to Be the DM?

Great idea. Here’s How to Pull It Off.

Welcome to D&D for Beginners. Join Professor Lump (but I prefer "Richard") Crackfang, the learned scholar and wizard, in exploring the most common questions of new and early D&D players. If you haven't yet, subscribe free here:

You’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons before. Not even once. But somehow, you’ve ended up as the DM.

Maybe your friends nominated you. Maybe you drew the short straw. Or maybe you just love the idea of leading a story where anything can happen.

However it came to be, now you’re staring at a stack of dice and thinking, “How the hell am I supposed to run this game when I’ve never even played it?”

Lean in close and let me share a secret: You don’t need to be a character player first. Plenty of amazing DMs, including nearly all of them in the early days of D&D, started from zero and learned as they went.

You don’t need to know every rule, memorize every spell, or dream up a massive imaginary world. All you need is the right mindset, a few tips, and the (fake, if need be) confidence to say, “Let’s do it!”

Here is exactly how to pull it off, even if you’ve never touched a d20 before now.

Yes, I know that bullet lists can only contain 3–5 bullets by order of the Writing Police. Oops.

• You don’t have to play first. Plenty of people start as DMs with zero player experience.

• Players will assume you know more than you do. Let them. Fake confidence and they’ll never notice.

• Your first session will be messy. That’s normal. You’ll get better every time.

• You don’t need to know all the rules. The game works fine if you just keep things moving.

• You are at the table for the same reason as everyone else: to have a good time. You are a player just as much as everyone else; you just play a different part. Your job is to describe the world, guide the story, and make rulings.

• Yeah, you portray the enemies, but you are not the players’ enemy. You want the group to tell a great story as much as they do.

• You are not an all-knowing rules lawyer. There are a lot of rules to get into as you learn. You’ll never memorize them all. Your decision at the table is the rule in that moment.

• Let the players drive the game. They’ll do unexpected things—roll with it.

• The Rule of Cool is a valid rule. That is, if something sounds fun and doesn’t break the game, let the players try it.

• You don’t need an elaborate backstory or expansive world. Players will ignore more than half of what you plan anyway.

• Running a prewritten adventure makes things much easier. In fact, many are written specifically for new players and new DMs.

• If you are homebrewing, keep it small. One simple town with one problem is enough.

• Write down names. Players will obsess over the bartender’s name but ignore the main villain’s.

• Learn just enough rules to run the game. If you buy any official books beforehand—a starter set has all the information you need and is half the price of an official book—buy the Player’s Handbook. Do not buy the Dungeon Master’s Guide at this point; it will be overwhelming.

• Learn the most important rules first:

  • Ability checks. A player wants to do something that’s possible. You decide how difficult it is and assign a number. The more difficult the task, the higher the number. The player rolls a d20 and applies any modifiers. If it meets or exceeds the number you set, the player succeeds.

  • Combat basics. Which participants attacks in what order (initiative), how to attack, and how to determine how much damage a successful attack inflicts.

  • Advantage & Disadvantage. Some situations make tasks easier or more difficult. In those cases, the player rolls two d20s. If the circumstance makes the task easier, the player uses the higher of the two rolls. If it’s more difficult, the player uses the lower roll.

  • Basic spellcasting mechanics. You don’t need to know every spell. Rather, you need to know that there are types of spells which are so easy to learn that a spellcaster can spam them on the battlefield, and other types of spells that can only be cast a limited number of times before the caster needs a rest. Different types of magic users can cast different numbers of spells before petering out.

• Don’t panic if you forget a rule. Make a decision and keep the game moving. Make a note and look up the rule during a break or between sessions.

• If players are lost, introduce an NPC or event to give them direction.

• Say “Yes, but…” or “Roll for it” instead of shutting down ideas.

• Make failure interesting. “You fail to pick the lock” is boring. Instead, try “You snap your lockpick off in the lock, and an alarm starts blaring.”

• Be flexible with the story. If players latch onto something random (and they will) roll with it.

• Use online tools to help you prep. Roll tables, premade maps, and random NPC generators are plentiful and save tons of time.

• Combat should be quick and punchy. If it’s dragging, cut enemy health, add environmental hazards, or make something explode.

• Keep mechanics simple. There’s no need for intricate terrain rules or a 50-page villain backstory.

• Have a backup encounter or two ready. If players derail things (and they will), be ready to throw in some bandits, a weird merchant, or a wandering monster.

• End sessions on cliffhangers. “You hear the last Click! and reach for the brass handle to open the safe. That’s when the door to captain’s cabin behind you bursts open… and that’s where we’ll start next time.”

• Expect to make mistakes. All DMs mess up—a lot!—even experienced ones.

• You don’t have to do voices. But if you do, players will love it, even if it’s terrible.

• Your job is not to be perfect. Your job is to make sure everyone (including you) has fun.

So after all that, what's ole Professor Crackfang’s best advice? Just start. Jump in the deep end.

DMing is just another skill. And as with any new skill, the best way to learn how to be a DM is to start DMing. That applies the same whether you’ve been a player for years or if you’ve never rolled a d20 before. No amount of prep is enough to make you “ready.” Nothing is going to replace sitting down at the table, rolling some dice, and figuring things out as you go.

Yeah, you’ll mess up.
Your players will mess up.
Everyone will mess up.
And no one will care as long as they’re having fun.

You’ll never know everything. No one does. But the best DMs didn’t wait until they felt ready. They just started. So grab some friends, eat some pizza, roll some dice, and embrace the chaos.