The Dungeon Master Download: What Does a New DM Need?

Hello hello! Come one and come all to the amazing world of being a Dungeon (or Game) Master!

Being a DM is honestly one of the coolest things in my life. I have always been imaginative, with a pension for heroes, villains, a good arch and who doesn't love a little math? Being a DM was something I taught myself how to do, watching movies and tv shows that mentioned it, and interrogating my friend's older brother. When I realized I was just...telling a story live time? And my characters EXIST? I was all in. Sure I took some time to learn the actual mechanics of gameplay, but after that, all bets were off. The summer of 8th grade I started making my own campaigns, hosted my first game (I forced my mother, brother and sister to play on my birthday), and by the first year of high school, I was in my own little Hell Fire Club. Well...we were't called that and certainly weren't as cool as Eddie but hey, we had fun. In my D&D club I wasn't the DM and I actually learned a lot from the guy who was running it. Our Eddie was named Ace, and he was actually super cool. He let me play even though I had never been a character before, and taught me a lot of what I know.

Now, I come to be your Ace. Well, ew, don't call me that. Since we're friends you can call be SunnyAngelBaby, okay? I'm here to be your helper, to guide you into the world of being a Dungeon Master. 

DUNGEON MASTER OR GAME MASTER?

Okay a lot of newbies get stuck on this. Game master is a newer term that is used, it was popularized for two main reasons. The first being that other brands like Critical Roll were getting more popular and you didn't actually have to use Dungeons and Dragons branded lore. The second reason was some people didn't like the use of dungeon because of its NSFW vocabulary used in the BDSM world. I know some kids used it too because they read about satanic panic and wanted to keep their parents from burning their character sheets LOL. Do whatever feels best for you. I use them pretty interchangeably. I have one set of players who are all Muslim women and so I use Game Master with them simply to be sensitive to how it might make them feel. Obviously for here, I am using Dungeon Master. It is the traditional term, it's the one most widely used and recognized. And of course with the Stranger Things 5 release, D&D is getting some extra attention so most new people would recognize DM faster than GM. But yeah, call yourself whatever you want.

OKAY THESE STARTER BOOKS ARE $60...

"But SunnyAngelBaby! These D&D books are like $60 a pop! I can't afford that! Why is D&D so expensive?" Honey...Sweet baby angel...put that hard cover book in Barnes and Nobles down. Yes, most of the official items from D&D, Critical Roll and others are going to be a bit pricey. You do not need these to start playing or planning campaigns. Firstly, I know we all wish we were in 1986, but the good news is that we have the internet. Cool, fast, super available internet. Even if you're in a restricted region you can download a free VPN, say you're in Canada or Sweden and see all the material you could want. 

Now, if you want some real life experience learning with D&D I would suggest finding either a professional conference which has some of the most famous D&D players working together, or find a podcast or just any video creator who has posted their sessions. There are tons of YouTubers who make professional grade videos about D&D. There are dozens of websites with free resources. I would look up some videos about plotting, and physically writing/keeping up with your campaign. Honestly all of it will come with practice. As for monsters, I can't think of a single monster that you can't find the stats for free online.

Now if you REALLY want to see a professional campaign laid out, check your local library for D&D books, online for anyone who might have uploaded a PDF online, or even used sites like eBay for someone who is selling some stuff used. 

SO...WHAT DO I NEED?

In the event that you really do take my brilliant advice and skirt around a lot of those random book costs, let me tell you what you do need for a good home-brew game. Well, any game, but I think the heart of D&D really is home brew games. So if you're trying to be a book nerd go ahead and drop seventy-five bucks every time you want a new campaign. I will say, the official player handbook isn't a bad buy if you really are having a hard time figuring out how to play, or don't do well with screen leaning. (and OK obviously I am just kidding, if you want to buy books that totally fine. But Kate Bush will have been right, it will have you running up that bill.)

Firstly, you will be needing a durable binder and plenty of sheet paper. Now if you want to plan on your computer you can bypass this, but there's a special kind of sauce that goes into pouring over your campaign like a mad genius cooking up a plot to end all plots. But typing is cool too. I've done both before. I like typing because I can work on it pretty much anywhere, but I do prefer hand written because it just feels more fun that way. I feel like a teenager listening to Green Day in my bedroom all over again. Now, in addition to this, at least one pair of dice, as well as a DM screen will be helpful. I suggest some form of tokens and figurines. If you're not very talented at drawing maps or want to avoid buying poster board, there are these dry erase grid maps you can buy online for about twenty bucks sometimes more, that I personally think are the best at saving your money in the long run. If you don't want to do that D&D does have a few official editions of pre-made map books where you can open to a page already and use it as is. So to be clear: DM screen (homemade is fine) a binder and paper, dice, and figurines/tokens. 

NOW LETS MAKE IT EVEN CHEAPER

One of my favorite things to do is not spend a lot of money. I think most things are pretty much fine not being bought new and that we are pretty wasteful as a society so any chance we ge--- (editing SunnyAngelBaby here...you're welcome.) I bet you're thinking "But SunnyAngelBaby, we already aren't buying a lot of stuff, how can we make it cheaper?"

THRIFT STORE BABY. I am telling you, thrift stores are the magical land of insane finds and total practicality. Now, I am not expecting you to just walk into your local Good Will and find everything you need for D&D, but you will be able to find components. For figures and tokens I always go to the game board section. A lot of the time, Monopoly with weird board themes are there, and that means inside there are usually figures that are actually pretty magical. Keep an eye out for the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings sets specifically. Other specialty games like the Wonder Woman Amazonian TTRPG has some cool figures. Just turn stuff over and try and look at the game pieces, see if there's anything to use. 

Games with lots of different color tokens I like using for fight and village scenes. At the start of games I often tell my players whatever color coordination I am doing and go from there. I have these random resin cubes in green, white, orange, and purple, as well as plastic grey cubes. I use these to represent innocents, possible enemies, monsters, etc. Some games even have fixtures that come as props that you can use inventively. I'd also look out for chess sets. I painted mine, and used the pawns to represent monsters. If you're not half bad at drawing, flat tokens drawn/painted on also work perfectly! This is a game of imagination so use your ingenuity. I even have a friend that used a game board, dry-erase duck tape and made their own erasable map.

As for dice, it's pretty rare to find them at a thrift store. I would suggest researching any occult shops, comic book shops, and specialty shops that you might be able to visit. If not, Target, Walmart, and bookstores tend to have a small section with some dice options. I'd compare prices with online retailers and just do what you can and think is best. Short, long board games are also good to alter and make your DM screen! You can paint them black or another color, add design or whatever you want to personalize them! Another little trick is to look in an office section. Not only might you score that binder or paper, you might be able to make your own dice tray!

Dice trays are exactly what they sound like. They're a shallow tray of any shape that DMs and players alike can use to roll their dice, without the risk of them going anywhere off the table. These trays can be any size. I personally want one around the size of a laptop that way you have room to roll. Lots of desk containers are a good size for this. Or even seeing actual trays that are wooden. You can use craft glue and those 99 cent sheets of felt to make it yourself! And if that still feels a bit pricey for you, you can do the same process with a cardboard box! 

LE GRANDE FINALE (idk what language that's supposed to be...its 1 a.m. ok?) 

The more you play, the more you will be able to think of what you want and need to run games. I know it might not be what you imagined. And there's nothing to say that you can't/won't eventually spring for a more expensive set up. But I genuinely urge you not to take on a financial burden to play a game that's meant to be about playing around with your friends and having fun. Use that big brain of yours, and see what you come up with. May the games, begin!

xoxo, SunnyAngelBaby

TLDR; Dice, binder with paper or notebook (digital writing is good as well), access to the player handbook, figures and a dungeon master screen. Now visuals aren't exactly necessary to play the game as it is mostly imagination, but it does help keep track of everything and well...gives you and your players something to LOOK at.