Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst: The Five Tips That Will Help You Run a Smooth and Fun D&D Session

Greetings gamers of all systems, places, and timelines.

It’s been said that how you say something is just as, if not more important, as what you say. For a DM, this also applies to how your material is being delivered to your players – as it can be frustrating when you felt prepared for the game but your wording or even the overall rhythm seemed off. 

Maybe the scenes were choppy between their transitions. Perhaps when you were relaying some important information, you fumbled the lines. Or when delivering the big reveal to the players, it really didn’t connect with your group as intended. 

These things have happened to the best of us.  Fortunately, from these mistakes lessons were learned which we would like to share with you now. We’ve distilled this into five tips that will hopefully allow you to avoid some of the gaming trainwrecks which we have both caused and been a part of. 

1. Recap Your Story Every Game, but Keep it Lean 

Players who are engaged and enjoying themselves can still lose track of details. Unless you are lucky enough to have either a player taking notes or has a photographic memory things will be forgotten. Even then, if I had a gold piece for every time a player wrote something down incorrectly, dragons would be trying to make a lair out of my house. 

So set the record straight and send out an email before the game and or do a recap at the start of each session. However, trim the fat out of what you want your crew to absorb before the game starts. In other words, try not to hit them with a play by play of what happened over the course of a seven hour session. Otherwise, what will be retained is that they fought some monsters, traveled around and talked to some people – some of which were important.

2. Have Box Text Ready for Key Moments

One common complaint about games is that the key locations either have too much detail or hardly any at all. So gather your thoughts in a block text on the medium of your choice. Just paint a decent picture while not putting anyone to sleep by describing every object they see like there will be a closed book test at the end of the game. 

If you’re not someone who enjoys reading for three minutes straight without missing a word, record everything and save it to a .wav file. Then you can play it back later for the group flawlessly. Software like Audacity is free and, after watching a short YouTube video , you could be recording in no time at all.  To preserve your sanity, try recording everything in one paragraph blocks rather than attempting one long extended take

If that idea sounds about as appealing as splitting up the party during a Halloween-themed game, then you can download a recording app on your phone. Which may not be as fancy but free is for me and it can still get the job done. 

3. Keep Things Moving Forward by Saying No to the Grind

A well run session is one where the players walk away feeling like their actions led to meaningful accomplishments. Which, admittedly, can look like something different from table to table. However, I would dare say a good benchmark is when the game strikes a balance between both character and main story development. As some players are eager to level up quickly so they can explore how their character’s abilities will develop. While others could literally care less about that and want to see what’s next with the story, or even their own.

With that said, neither progressing through the story, leveling, or combat should feel tedious. And this can happen extremely easily as combat can soak a ton of time in your games with minimal effort – which is great if that is what your players are into and their solution to nearly every problem is to roll for initiative. However, to some players, an especially long or difficult combat will come off as a substitution for actual material.  You know, the kind of battle where it’s not the season finale but reinforcements arrived three times. 

4. Have the Battle Strategies Prepared for Key Encounters

All DMs have rolled out a boss encounter and expected this creature to be truly menacing, but instead it got destroyed faster than the time it took you to set up the board. One of the reasons why this can happen when the person running the game either misses some of the boss’s abilities or underplays the strategy they should employ. 

Why would that happen you might ask? Because when doing your game prep you might clearly remember that there is a dragon, a beholder, or a mind flayer in the last room just not the complexities of their stat blocks and abilities. Now you don’t have to go crazy trying to remember what the boss’s Dexterity Save bonus is. However, it’s advised to start off by knowing their strengths, weaknesses and resistances going into the battle. For example, an ability like resistance to non-magical weapons against the right group can completely change the dynamic of the entire combat. 

Try to plan out a general round to round battle plan which highlights the creatures abilities – such as do they have a lot of AOE abilities and will target that cluster of spell casters in the back row? Do they have control effects which are great for locking down martial characters with? Or are these the type which might drop back and try to pick the players off one at a time. In any case, it’s best to have these things determined and nailed down before the action starts. 

5- Have Your Props Organized

When you are playing a live game at the table with your friends, changing scenes smoothly can be more complicated than its sounds. This can especially be the case if you are like us and enjoy lots of visual aids. Which is why in a nearby room, everything that is needed in terms of props, terrain, and creatures can be ready scene by scene, set up on a folding table, running left to right. So if the party is descending into the depths of a crypt, have the dungeon tiles already assembled. They can then be brought out on a flat surface and placed on the table as intended. Rather than bringing out a stack of tiles and then playing the memory game as you try to put everything back together like Humpty Dumpty as everyone watches. 

The same applies when a new battle map or board is placed on the table. Which trees, rocks or any other props including creatures should be selected in advance and can be brought to the table. This is why you can focus more on describing the scene and actually running it rather than digging through your collection for two more creatures that could pass off as orcs. Also while you’re doing your set up, don’t be afraid to ask the players to clear off the existing board so you can save time.

Final Thoughts

Pregame prep is valuable, if not essential, to a smoothly run game. However, it is all too easy to not prepare in the most advantageous ways. So visualize the scenes you intend to run and what obstacles may occur from them. Whether they be in what needs to be spoken, items placed on the table, or the mechanics. Then invest the time in making sure that everything runs by the numbers through your adventure which feels natural and enjoyable for everyone at the table including yourself. 

And, if you find yourself needing additional dice or accessories for your session, feel free to check out our affiliate link at FanRoll, where you can get 10% off your entire order!