[RPG] I’m fairly new to D&D but want to GM; where do I go from here

dnd-4enew-gmnew-players

I'm a 16-year-old male, and I have been interested in tabletop RPGs for a long time, especially D&D. I sorta dove into D&D really fast and hard by buying the Red box, Dungeon Master Kit, Monsters Vault, Players Handbook, Rules book, and even the Shadowfell Campaign not quite knowing what I'd get myself into. I've done tooonnsss of research and even watched live games on Youtube.

For the most part, I'm basically on my own, My friends are somewhat interested in it and want to play, but expect me to Teach/Dungeon Master the game for them, I'd really wish to do this, but need more insight and expertise. I've played the solo Campaign in the Red box and even thought about joining a local group from a popular gaming store in Phoenix, AZ called Imperial Outpost. But I'm not sure if they would take a newbie like myself. Any advice?

Best Answer

You're new to RPGs and you're looking for the sign that says "New GM Orientation"… but there isn't one. Most of us learn by doing, or by playing with a more experienced GM. There isn't really any beginner's bible. We do have some already-answered questions around here that should give you some context for your experiments, though.

  1. Consider if you actually want to GM right away or if you'd rather learn by playing in someone else's game. (Or if you're open to both.) That will affect how you approach the rest of the process.

  2. Find a group. You need one of those either way. It can be online or in person, but it's easier to learn the craft of GMing in person, whether learning by doing or learning by playing in someone else's game. You might have to explain what roleplaying is if you're pitching it as a new activity to friends, so reading up on that might be good. There are some good examples of what roleplaying in D&D is like as well.

  3. If you're GMing, figure out how to start the actual game. There are a few different ways you can start the game. Eventually you'll learn that how much and what you want to prepare before the first adventure is just a matter of your taste and GMing style, but until then you have to just get started and see how it goes.

This is just a very high-level overview of the process. Follow those links to the detailed sub-steps of each of those, with their own variety of decisions and possible different paths you can take.

From there it's all a matter of growing in skill and techniques through experience. GMing a game has a lot of bits and pieces to it – plot, developing situations, improvisation, acting, crunching math for NPC stats – and it can feel overwhelming. Greg Stolze has written a good walkthrough of the things that a GM does, putting them in context, giving advice, and presenting them in a not-overwhelming way and order, so that the bits all sort of fit together. It's called How to Run Roleplaying Games, and I highly recommend it. It's not the only way to understand GMing, but it's a good summary of the process of GMing in a mere 13 pages, and gives some things to try. It's worth a look.