Many Dungeon Masters often seem like gods sending their players on an adventure through the creation of their imagination in Dungeons & Dragons. However, behind these gods is just a human doing their best – and that best is not always what you expect.
What secrets do your Game Masters keep? Even though your Dungeon Masters know more about your D&D campaigns than you do as players, many of them hold secrets that “destroy the magic when seeing behind the scenes,” as one Game Master stated on Reddit.
In response to a query from an interested new DM on Reddit about what tips experienced Game Masters could offer and what potential secrets they would never tell their players, many Dungeon Masters replied with a fairly similar sentiment: They let themselves be guided more by their players than the other way around.
“I have no idea what I’m doing here.”
What do Game Masters keep secret from their players? On Reddit, many Dungeon Masters share their own kept secrets that they can finally admit to. In their confessions, it becomes clear that you really don’t have to overthink your decisions, as more improvisation happens than one might think:
- “The economy doesn’t matter at all – I determine your income and the prices. Some decisions have the same consequences. Sometimes I adjust the difficulty on the fly. The major plot I only came up with halfway through the campaign…”, lists thegooddoktorjones without a guilty conscience.
- “I design puzzles or tasks for which I don’t have a solution myself, and let the players solve them for me,” admits aNomadicPenguin.
- “Sometimes they encounter the same encounter, no matter whether they go left or right,” reveals man0rmachine.
- And the probably biggest secret that many players would find hard to believe comes from A_Vinegar_Taster: “I secretly want my players to win.”
How do Game Masters deal with their role? On one hand, they have a lot of freedom since no one but them knows what the actual “plan” was. On the other hand, the role also comes with a lot of responsibility, as many feel responsible for the campaign and the enjoyment of others:
“I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’m always on the verge of panicking,” confesses thepetoctopus, “I love it, but damn.”
Another Game Master offers them hope, explaining that this state of panic will initially turn into fun and finally into “controlled chaos.” To do so, they offer a tip from Game Master icon Matt Mercer from Critical Role.
He battled anxiety before a session as well and explains that it’s okay to take a break when players turn the plan upside down. It is perfectly fine to say, “I wasn’t prepared for that, let’s take a 15-minute break while I adjust the session.”
This is a tabletop role-playing game. Your Game Masters are not a pre-programmed gaming engine, but human beings.
A secret that players can quickly uncover are the many sources of inspiration their Dungeon Masters have. It is not uncommon for players to gain inspiration for their characters, but also Game Masters for their world and story from already existing works, as in this case: Game Master creates their own secret language for Dungeons & Dragons, but the community deciphers their secret
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