You and four (or more) of your good friends are about to play a table-top roleplaying game (TTRPG), and you are the chosen Dungeon/Game Master (DM/GM). If this is your first time acting as the DM/GM, fear not! This post is going to walk you through everything you’ll need to run your first session and hit all the right notes for a fun game. While many of my recent articles have been geared towards Dungeons&Dragons, this one can really work for any TTRPG you’re playing.

Let’s get started.

Hold a Session 0

A “Session 0” serves as a preface to the game you plan on running, and it’s where you and the Players can come together and hash out the important details:

• What TTRPG are you all playing?
• When is the (first) session?
• Is this a one-time event or a continuing story?
• At what intervals are you going to play (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.)?
• What is the premise of the game you’re going to play?
  • This could be an outsourced game module, a setting and story of your own creation, or a happy mix of both!
• What characters will the Players be using?

While your Session 0 may address all of these questions, the most important are the ones which determine the frequency in which you all will play. Knowing when and how often your group will meet is critical for determining what lies ahead in your preparations for your first game as a DM/GM.

For more information about how to run a Session 0, I highly recommend this video by The Dungeon Dudes. While it focuses on D&D 5th Edition, most of the concepts they discuss are applicable to any TTRPG.

Prepare the Preparations

Once you know when the session will be held, you will also have a hard deadline for any preparations you need to make for the game. These preparations can include creative facets (e.g., understanding/enhancing the game setting, drawing maps, refining NPCs, etc.) and logistical facets (e.g. where is the game being held, who is in charge of snacks, what technology you may need [headset, music, camera?], etc.).

This Preparation phase is where you should be spending the majority of your time prior to the big day. As a rule of thumb, I spend at least two hours in Preparation for every hour of expected game time. If I think the game will last four hours, I spend roughly eight combined hours preparing for it. This tends to give me a sturdy foundation of the game’s story and setting so I can narrate clearly and improvise confidently.

When I slack in the Preparation phase, I find my scenario descriptions lack any evocative quality, my NPCs are uninspiring, and creatures or antagonists crumple at the first sign of a coordinated strike. Quite simply, the game turns into a slog.

Exude Confidence

There’s an old adage regarding performances or speeches: “The only person who knows you made a mistake is you.” If you botch a phrase in the villain’s soliloquy or misinterpret one of the game’s rules in an intense scenario, don’t go back to try and “rectify” the moment. Keep moving forward and do so with confidence.

Your role as the DM/GM, in most cases, is to serve as a narrative guide and rule referee for the game. By joining the group, your Players intrinsically accept your final ruling is law, regardless of what the official handbook states on the subject.

Note: This is not to say you should discard all the rules and “wing” the entire game; doing so turns the whole experience into a mess. For your first game as the DM/GM, I recommend you stick as closely to the official rules as possible.

Sticking to your rulings and story elements with confidence is critical, as it’s yet another tool you use (perhaps subconsciously) to make your game setting more plausible. Like, of course the city of Chicago is being run by a shadow government of Heffalumps and Woozles. Now that the group has discovered this terrifying secret, what will they do about it?

If you’re like me and not a trained thespian, it can be mind-blowingly tough to remain confident and composed the entire game. Perhaps simply reading this article has put a knot in your stomach. I was right there with you once upon a time, and I still have nights where I falter. My number-one advice for overcoming the fear and anxiety: Fake it until you become it.

Think of how your fellow DM/GM’s run the game and try to mimic their styles. Along the way, your personal touches will shine through and eventually take over.

Note: With the meteoric rise of TTRPG shows like Critical Role, it’s becoming more and more prevalent for DM/GM’s to compare themselves with these celebrity DM’s and feel ashamed when they fall short. Matthew Mercer (the DM of Critical Role) has addressed this very issue across multiple platforms, and it’s vital you discover your DM talents without this unnecessary burden.

Embrace the Unexpected

No matter how much control you think you have over the game’s plot points, be ready for your Players to take it in an entirely different direction. Or, in the words of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” While your Players are certainly not the “enemy,” the quote illustrates how you need to be ready for when your Players zig instead of zag.

For this reason, I recommend you focus on preparing the goals, motives, and methods of your NPCs more than the plot. If you know the antagonist wants to rob the Central City Bank to pay for his son’s heart-replacement surgery and plans to rob it using a legion of mind-controlled rats, then you can piece together that plan even if the Players unexpectedly throw his original idea out the window. This, quite honestly, is where much of the Preparation phase time goes.

In the event everything you had planned for the session goes FUBAR, just roll with it. If the multi-leveled dungeon crawl turns into a massive four-hour tavern brawl, go along for the ride as long as everyone is having fun. You never know when the zany antics of your Players will spark a new idea for you moving forward.

Have Fun

Above all else, remember your group is playing a game. It seems redundant to point out, but it’s the one element most people forget when they dive in head-first (especially for Players or DM/GMs that focus on the roleplaying aspect of the game). Always be on the lookout for those moments of unadulterated excitement and exploit them to their full potential. If everyone walks away from the table at the end with a smile on their faces, you’ve done your job well.

If you’re running a multi-session game, try to end the first session on a cliffhanger if it’s appropriate. Like a TV show, few things get the group itching for more when the session wraps on a piece of thrilling uncertainty. If this isn’t feasible without causing some major complications, it’s perfectly fine to let the Players end on a note of respite.

In Conclusion

With these elements in hand, you should be more than ready to run your very first session as a DM/GM for any TTRPG. If you have any additional tips for running a first session or any questions about the topics mentioned above, leave a comment below!

Blessed be until next time,

Matthew Wulf

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