Dungeon Masters
Apart from player characters (PCs), there is another person that plays a very important role in the game. We call this person the Dungeon Master, or just DM. The DM directs, judges, and keeps the adventure flowing. Like a movie director, controls the events of relevance to the game, creates the adventuring world and the quests to fulfill. As the name states, he or she is the master of his/her world.
Becoming a
Dungeon Master
Being a good DM implies a good deal of imagination, as well as a good knowledge of the gaming rules. It is recommended that only experienced players act as DMs. Once you think you are capable of directing an adventure, you can become a DM.
What do I have to do?
Once you've decided to play as DM, you have to start planning. Every adventure anyone creates must be placed in a world, so, a good place to start would be creating a world. Create a town, the surrounding land, forests, rivers, evreything you want. Then you may place a society in the town, and add some history for their people. At this time, you can begin to plan adventures. You can make a cave nearby the town that's rumored to contain treasures, or just make a group of monsters attack the city for some reason.
You can make just about anything. The players may explore the world and find great riches, overwhelming foes, fame, or even death. Of course, the outcome of each adventure will rely upon the players. However, you must be sensible. You must not ambush the player characters (armed with swords and shields) with 10 dragons! You should make every adventure possible to accomplish, or else being difficult, but never impossible as in that way the players will not like it (and might even want to kill you).
Becoming a really good DM is the most difficult aspect to accomplish. A good DM is one that can entertain a group of friends, directing their advance through a world of his/her own creation. Inventing stories and legends, a good plot for every adventure, are things that will help every player enjoy the game, and that's the aim of every DM. Well, should be, at least.
Now that you've learned the basics for playing AD&D and D&D, I offer you an example of a gaming session, how players and the DM interact.
Next section: Example of a gaming session