I have written multiple blog posts about the tips and tactics that I have learned throughout my long years of being a Dungeon Master. The one thing I feel all Dungeon Masters should do is something I haven’t yet mentioned.

When I started playing D&D as a Dungeon Master, it quickly became part of my identity. I found it similar to being a goalie, pitcher, or catcher in sports. You are part of a team, but you also are an individual with a status and role that you can quickly become enamored with. I am one of those people who never had the opportunity to play as a player before I became a Dungeon Master. We needed a Dungeon Master and I volunteered!

I found a comfort in being a Dungeon Master but the style of most my early campaigns were quite similar. It was all I knew how to do. Probably the one thing that held me back from advancing and progressing as a Dungeon Master was this one thing – I wasn’t playing as a player.

Playing D&D as a player gives you two invaluable experiences that you can’t really acquire any other way.

1. Players perspective – It is so crucial to be able to learn first hand what players like, hate, and dismiss. You quickly get a different feel for the game and whether you are bored as it gets bogged down in too much of any particular tactic. As a Dungeon Master we can get overwhelmed by the story and planning that we don’t have the opportunity to look across the table and see if everyone is engaged or if some people are checking their phones. A Dungeon Master can also get a refresher on the player rules that perhaps they had forgotten about. Both of these experience will definitely assist the Dungeon Master in improving their next campaigns and sessions.
2. Learning from another Dungeon Master – I can’t stress this enough. I have become an exponentially better Dungeon Master by learning from other Dungeon Masters. From incorporating sessions recaps to the use of technology to creatively awarding inspiration to tactics to incorporating NPCs and character backstories. Every single Dungeon Master I have had the pleasure of playing with have taught me so much and made me a better Dungeon Master. I would recommend that a Dungeon Master play a campaign as a player between every two or three campaigns they run as a Dungeon Master.

So if you are a career Dungeon Master, go find a game and rejoice in just playing. Learn from other players about what aspects of the game they love and from other Dungeon Masters what tips and techniques you can incorporate into you future games.

It is the ultimate multi-classing opportunity.

Who knows? You might even meet some celebrities.