5 Beginner DM Mistakes

Brennan Lee Mulligan once compared being a DM to being being a chef for all your friends. Your spend a bunch of time preparing a meal (or a campaign) for your friends to enjoy. Which means, just like cooking, a lot of work goes into it, and it feels really bad when nobody enjoys it. Fortunately, after several decades of DMing between us, we've learned some of the key mistakes that first-time DMs tend to make that can lead to frustrating and deflating sessions, and we've gathered them here in hopes that you have a great time, starting at session 0. 00:00 - Intro 00:34 - Making the story about you 02:23 - Being the main character 04:17 - DM vs Players 05:57 - Meeting at a tavern 07:02 - Taking away player agency 08:05 - Summary About Us: ⚔️ Fungi & Flotsam is our long-form actual play campaign — now in Season Two where our unlikely heroes are venturing into the blighted forest on a quest to save the things they hold most dear. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎭 Meet the Party 🎲 DM: St_Bear 🧝 DrlevelUp: Doc/Paladin | @TheGuidingLanternYT 🧵 Anika_Gaming: Polaris/Rogue | @sunshinecakes 🛡️ Pwnzinc: Ganna/Cleric Druid Warlock | @Mythsandmelodies 🏹 Bootstrapsboots: Ez/Bard | @Bootstrapsboots --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 📦 Dice & Minis Emberglow Gaming: https://ntsdgaming.com/?sca_ref=87633... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------