So, it’s your first time behind the Dungeon Master’s screen during a session ofDungeons & Dragons, and you’re naturally kind of anxious. DMs have much more to manage than the average player, and you’re one of the core components of making a session, you know, fun.

One way to make the situation less anxiety-inducing is to make sure you’re prepared. If you have everything you need before the session starts, you’ll be able to handle it when something goes wrong. To that end, here are some things you should always have when it’s your first time behind the DM screen.

A group of adventurers being attacked

Easy Access To Generic Stat Blocks

If you’re using a laptop, keep a tab or document open with some generic enemiesof an appropriate level for your party.

If you ever need to add enemies to make a fight tougher or improvise a new combat encounter all together,just reskin one of those.Usually, it’s best to have one humanoid and a couple of monsters and then go from there.

A group of Adventures in Dungeons And Dragons showing three alternating paths

A Goal For The Party

You always want tokeep in mind the ultimate goalof your campaign.

Are your players trying to slay a monster? Get a treasure? Whatever it is, keep it in mind and whenever your players deviate or miss clues or go on side quests, you can leave hints to steer them back to that ultimate goal.

Art of a group of adventurers discussing plans in a tavern

Have the players decided to investigate a bandit camp instead of exploring a dungeon? Have the bandits run away into the dungeon, leading your players to chase after them. Or maybe after they’ve defeated the bandits, discover hints of greater treasure in the nearby dungeon.

You don’t want to railroad the players, butit’s easier to improvise if you know the place you want them to end up.

A crowded marketplace from Dungeons And Dragons

A Reason For The Party To Be Together

This is dependent on how experienced your players are. If they’re brand new, it might be better tojust give them a reason to get the party together,like all being hired for the same job.

More experienced players will often know how to make it interesting without you necessarily having to lay it out for them, so you’re free tosimply set the sceneandlet them run into each other.

A close up of Volo from Dungeons and Dragons taking notes

A Lore Cheat Sheet

Whether you’re the type to make a novel-length backstory for everything in your world or you’re just winging it,have a quick bullet list of important characters, items,andlocations.

Each bullet should havea one to two sentence descriptionof the entry, so you have a quick way to reference something, and you can keep track of what’s most important to communicate to players.

A man surrounded by tentacles reaches up, a horrified expression on his face.

Notes For Each Session

You could write this down by hand or on a computer, but make sure you’rekeeping notes of the session, especially if it’s part of a larger campaign.

Be prepared totake your campaign one session at a time. If future plot points need to be rewritten, you can do that after this session is over. Get through this session, then go back with your notesand adjust as needed.

Dungeons and Dragons art of a group of adventurers playing cards and eating around a table

Also, if your players forget something, or you have a long time between sessions, you may have something to refer back to.

An Understanding Of Your Players

The point of Dungeons and Dragons is to have fun, and you don’t want to potentially ruin that for someone or make them uncomfortable.

At some pointbefore your first session, you should reach out to all the players individually and ask them if they have any “lines” or “veils.”

Dungeons & Dragons art of Volo in a tavern drinking while gesturing towards mounted monster heads.

Linesare hard “no’s” for someone, something they don’t want to see at all in the campaign. “Veils” are something that they might be okay with as a backstory or background elementbut won’t want to actively happen.

For example, a player might be comfortable with an abusive parent as a backstory element but might not be comfortable having to roleplay a conversation with an abusive parent.

Food And Drinks

Snacks are the unspoken savior of many a DM. For one, it’s nice to have something to munch on. Something for your hands to do if you’re nervous, you know?

Second,if you need to stall for a secondtocome up with somethingbecause your players have decided they want to fight a random NPC you didn’t plan on introducing, you’re able to take a long sip of water or eat something while you think.

Have a good collection of snacks prepared, even if you’re not hosting.

A Good Attitude

Remember, D&D is supposed to be fun for everyone,including the DM.Don’t psych yourself out because you’re worried you may’t improvise very well or come up with deep lore.

The goal is tomake a world you think is funand want to share with your friends.