Besides just being the only person willing to do it, how do you become a Dungeon Master in D&D?

Designer Chris Perkins has been a Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons for over 40 years. But like everybody else, he still had a first time. And the wisdom he's dispensing for first-time DMs in the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide has a decade's worth of 5th Edition experience informing it. Because for the last 10 years—the entirety of D&D 5e—he's been taking notes.

Here are some takeaways from one of the best Dungeon Masters working in the industry today, who very intently took notes on some of the other best Dungeon Masters out there, specifically naming Deborah Ann Woll (of Daredevil fame).

• The first thing Perkins says is, "You're going to have a blast. It's a ton of fun."
• Also, "Be careful. You might get addicted."
• Every DM is different. Every DM is unique.
• Prep as much as you want. But don't feel like you have to prep everything. (Perkins used to plot out entire campaigns in advance. He's since abandoned that exercise in futility.)
• Part of the fun of D&D is thinking on your feet and watching how things will go.
• Before the game even starts, ask your players what they want.
• You're not doing it wrong if everyone is having fun.
• If you're not sure how far you want to go down the rabbit hole, don't start a year-long campaign: run a one-off.
• Be okay with doing things on a whim, and "changing the truth of something."
• You don't have master of the rules. If you've got a player who's sharp about the rules, you can lean on them. 
• Having players take on some of the DM's roles can be good.
• There are real scientific reasons why roleplaying games can engage a human brain more than other forms of entertainment. 

Some of Perkins's most enjoyable moments in D&D never made it to the table. Just letting his imagination run wild with possibilities can be an enriching activity as a Dungeon Master. Examining the "what if" is an engaging thought exercise. And those "what ifs" are what Perkins wants to fuel in other DMs. That's why he put a lot of "what if" fuel in the DM's Guide.

There is a not entirely misplaced conception that DMing is work. It can be. It can be fun work. But it doesn't have to feel like a chore.

Some DMs will be brilliant improvisors. Another DM might embody the nonplayer characters wonderfully. Other DMs are good at prep and keeping the gameplay tight and on track. And yet others can turn a phrase and make the world come alive. Rarely is any one DM great at all of those things. And that's perfectly fine. 

Even with decades of experience under his belt, Chris Perkins still vaguely recalls his very first time as a Dungeon Master. It was him and one other person. That one other person played all four characters: a Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Cleric. They were just rolling dice and having fun. It wasn't until later that they realized they were doing so much "wrong," at least as far as the rules were concerned. But that didn't matter. They were only obeying the first rule of D&D:

Have fun.

"The fact that you've got all of these different hats that you're wearing is probably the sexiest thing about DMing to me."

Thank you, Chris Perkins. It's nice to feel sexy.

We review the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide and 2024 Player's Handbook. To steal Jacob's words from XP to Level 3, "I fear they cooked."