Dungeon Master for Dummies

Whether you've been a Dungeon Master (DM) before and want to fine-tune your skills or want to get ready and take the plunge, this is the book for you. It gives you the basics on running a great game, info for more advanced dungeon mastering, guidelines for creating adventures, and tips for building a campaign. It shows you how to: Handle all the expressions of DMing: moderator, narrator, a cast of thousands (the nonplayer characters or NPCs), player, social director, and creatorUse published adventures and existing campaign worlds or create adventures and campaign worlds of your ownConjure up exciting combat encountersHandle the three types of encounters: challenge, roleplaying, and combatCreate your own adventure: The Dungeon Adventure, The Wilderness Adventure. The Event-Based adventure (including how to use flowcharts and timelines), The Randomly Generated Adventure, and the High-Level adventureCreate memorable master villains, with nine archetypes ranging from agent provocateur to zealotTo get you off to a fast start, "Dungeon Master For Dummies" includes: A sample dungeon for practiceTen ready-to-use encounters and ten challenging trapsA list of simple adventure premisesMapping tips, including common scales, symbols, and conventions, complete with tables

Authors Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker wrote the hugely popular "Dungeons and Dragons For Dummies." Bill has been a game designer since 1986 and leads the D&D creative team at Wizards of the Coast. Richard is a game developer and the author of the fantasy bestseller "Condemnation." They give you the scoop on: Using a DM binder to keep records such as an adventure log, PCs' character sheets, NPC logs/character sheets, treasure logs, and moreKnowing player styles (role players and power games) and common subgroups: hack'n'slasher, wargamer, thinker, impulsive adventurer, explorer, character actor, and watcherRecognizing your style: action movie director, storyteller, worldbuilder, puzzlemaker, or connectorUsing miniatures, maps, and other game aidsUsing 21st century technology, such as a Web site or blog, to enhance your game

The book includes a sample adventure, The Necromancer's Apprentice, that's the perfect way to foray into DMing. It includes everything you need for a great adventure-except your players. What are you waiting for? There are chambers to be explored, dragons to be slain, maidens to be rescued, gangs of gnoll warriors to be annihilated, worgs to be wiped out, treasures to be discovered, worlds to be conquered....