Below you will find a bunch of recommended sources for being a Game Master / Dungeon Master. If you have recommendations, comments or advice to share, please reply.
Items listed with a [FG] are Fantasy Grounds specific.
GM Blogs & Advice
- Sly Flourish - Though Mike focuses on D&D 5E, he has a lot of useful articles. Start with the section on General Dungeon Master Tips about a third of the way down the page.
- Game Mastery 101 - Jason writes what may be the most accessible and intellectual articles about gaming and GMing, you will find many hours of thought provoking reading within his site.
- The Angry GM - He cops an attitude and rambles a whole lot. But he also puts a lot of thought into the points and suggestions he makes. If you can find what interests you, it can be very interesting.
- Matt Mercer GM Tips (video) - From the popular DM of Geek & Sundry, videos from Matt to help you GM.
- How to Be a Great Game Master (video) - He holds your interest and has some interesting things to help you improve.
- Matt Colville's Running the Game (video) - Another D&D guy, but he has lots of popular videos that can help you get started if you have never DM'd before.
- DM Sage - Lots of thoughtful posts, they don't quiet resonate with me, but they might with you.
- DungeonMasterpiece (video) He has great advice on how to tie in random encounter tables, sink quest hooks into locations, develop factions, and interesting analysis on the geopolitics of various D&D settings
- How to DM for Young Players - Though he has other useful articles, this one is a must read if you are going to GM for pre-teens.
- D&D for Young Players and New Dungeon Masters - Geek Dad tells his story and observations of playing D&D with his own kids. Again, worth your time if this is your situation.
- Newbie DM - Targeted at the new DM, this blog has a selection of articles and DIY tutorials for various projects.
- Musing on Master GMs - Wonder what one experienced GM thinks it take to be a Master GM?
- Loot the Room - A website with a RPG Blog, Maps, Treasure Tables, Campaign Building Resources and more.
- Age of Ravens - A Blog with lots of Cyberpunk, L5R, Warhammer and other niche systems. Includes product reviews, game mastering advice and other topics of interest.
- Gnome Stew - A collection of blogs from numerous authors with over 3000 posts.
- Innroad Ministries - Lots of blog articles, but has a section for those to new to gaming as well.
- Your One Best Piece of GM/DM Advice - A post soliciting advice, it varies from great to not, but enough good suggestions to spend your time reading through it.
- [FG] Beginner GM org tips for running games in FG - A good write up and following discussion here on the forums.
- [FG] Session prep for running games in FG - Another good write up.
Resources
- D&D 5E Rules Answers by DM David - David has several blogs with answers and discussion on some of the most common rules questions for D&D 5E.
- [FG] Digital Dungeon Master - Dave's got a lot of stuff here; Twitch streams of his games, podcasts, downloads, and links to his favorite resources.
- DawnForged Cast (video) - Check out his playlists for Be a Better Game Master and Dungeon Master Basics
- Gnome Stew The Gaming Blog - With a handful of authors, you will get various perspectives on numerous RPG systems.
- Harbinger of Doom - Brandes has various articles on game theory and design.
- Dungeonsmaster D&D Resources - Lot's of various blogs on numerous GMing topics. It has a good selection of categories to filter on when you are just looking for something interesting to read or research.
- Heroes Wanted Online 5E Resources - A large list of resources for D&D 5E, though many can be useful with any system.
- The DM Lair (video) - a Series of 10-15 topic focused advice videos for GMs presented with humor.
- The Monsters Know What They’re Doing - This is a blog about tactics of various monsters (D&D 5E specific)
- Tools for Creating Gossip - A blog article with a good discussion of using rumors and gossip to shape a campaign, and some tools and examples.
Adventure Creation
- Node Based Scenario Design - The first post in a series that should be close to mandatory reading for anyone designing their own adventures.
- The Three Clue Rule - Another article from the Alexandrian, if you are going to make a mystery adventure, read this.
- [FG] Adventure Module Creation Best Practices - A comprehensive guide on FG module creation.
- [FG] Par5E - for creating FG content from text files
- [FG] FG 5E Parser - for creating FG content with a GUI
- [FG] Adventure-A-Week Module Creation Guide - A bit dated and mostly superseded by the AMC Best Practices above
- PC Agency - Gnomestew's take on this important topic for adventure design
- The Five Area Dungeon - This variant of the five room dungeon model is a good discourse for designing moderate length scenarios
- Matters of Fate - Running a Fate One-Shot (audio) - Specific suggestions for running a one-shot using the Fate Core system
- How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox - A 34 page in depth process for creating an open world setting for a fantasy RPG
- How to Make a Traveller Sandbox - A blog that outlines 15 steps for creating a Traveler campaign
Traps & Hazards
- Trick & Trap Agency Series - Though Hack & Slash has other good topics, this one is really good to help you spur ideas and get your creative juices flowing. (Link updated 1/3/21)
- The Right Use of Hazards - An excellent discussion on the use of hazards in a fantasy world.