3. Crafting Unforgettable Villains: From First Foes to Your Big Bad Evil Guy (Part 1)

Nothing motivates players more than a truly memorable villain. Whether it’s a petty bandit lord or the mastermind orchestrating the entire campaign, villains give your heroes someone to root against and measure their characters to. Let’s dive deep into building antagonists that feel real, challenge your table both mechanically and emotionally, and leave a lasting impression.

Start With Why: Goals, Motives, and Stakes

• Define their goals. Do they want to gain power, protect something, avenge a perceived wrong, or simply survive? A goblin chieftain raiding caravans to feed their starving tribe is different from a cult leader summoning an eldritch horror to remake the world.

• Understand their motivation. Goals tell you what the villain wants; motives tell you why they want it. Are they desperate, ambitious, vengeful, misguided, bored? Knowing this colors every decision they make, and even makes your job at the Game Master easier.

• Tie them to your world and your party. The best villains have personal stakes with the heroes. Perhaps they’re after the same artifact, they hurt someone the party cares about, or their actions threaten the players’ favorite bar. The closer the connection, the more invested your table will be.

• Give them flaws and virtues. Even monsters can have loves, fears, and quirks. A necromancer might sponsor orphanages because of his own tragic childhood; a tyrant might genuinely believe order is necessary for peace. Sometimes it’s okay to make a villain who the party ultimately ends up siding with; just be careful that this doesn’t happen too often or the party may get fatigued from never having a clear bad guy to stomp.

Low Level Threats: Small Fish With Big Hooks

Low level villains set the tone for your campaign. They don’t need elaborate schemes; they need hooks that make them feel distinct and personal. Try these techniques:

• Keep the scope local but the stakes personal. At early levels (1-5 in a level 20 max system), your villains should threaten something tangible. An innkeeper extorted by a gang, a village elder kidnapped for ransom, or a rival adventuring party that sabotages the player characters. I will often have the party get to know an NPC right before or right after something has befallen them. Pull on your players’ heartstrings.

• Emphasize personality over power. These adversaries often survive on cunning, connections, and attitude over raw power. Give the bandit captain a distinct mannerism (chews mint leaves, hums a familiar melody) or give the goblin leader a unique tic where he stomps his left foot every few steps. You can then tie this in later by having a party member smell mint in the mayor’s outhouse, or hear a unique walking pattern in the healer’s attic.

• Use minions and environment creatively. A “boss fight” against a monster of appropriate difficulty can feel especially epic when surrounded by thematic elements. The kobold inventor might employ traps and potions; the cult fanatic will lure the party to a desecrated chapel where there are braziers of green flame spawning 1hp flaming skulls.

• Show their impact before combat. Let the players witness the villain doing something they consider to be evil. The bandit leader kicks a puppy, the goblin stabs a merchant, or the cultist sacrifices a dwarf to his deity. Or, the bandit leader hesitates before giving bread to an orphan if you want this to be a more compassionate villain; again don’t overdo this though.

• Make consequences matter. If the party allows a low level villain to escape, have them come back later stronger or with allies. Conversely, sparing them could earn unexpected allies, resources, or information but at what cost? Does this villain betray the party later, or do the townsfolk find out and get upset?

Crunchy Tips for Low Level Villains

• Customize stat blocks lightly. Reskinning an existing creature saves prep time. Add a special attack (e.g. a poisoned dagger that inflicts a status effect), a special reaction (the thief gets to move one square every time he is attacked), or change up resistances (5 cold resistance instead of 5 fire resistance). You could even take something like an owlbear and flavor all of its attacks so that it can be a bandit thug.

• Leverage the environment. Give the villain advantage on stealth checks in their own lair, after all they should know their lair better than some adventuring party. If you’re afraid your villain won’t be able to keep up with your party due to action economy, but you’d don’t want to buff them so that it feels like two stat-balls going at it, give them a lever in their office that they can pull to drop a net on the party. Environmental hazards can replace high damage numbers at low levels, causing them to feel impactful without one-shotting a character to do so.

• Stage the encounter in phases. Start with minions harrying the party before transitioning the the villain’s grand appearance. Or, have the villain flee part way through the encounter creating a chase scene. If the party “fails” the chase, the villain gets to their health potion in the next room over. Combat can be fluid, and it is okay to break in and out of it as necessary.

Mid Campaign Adversaries: Raising the Stakes

As your party levels up, your villains should evolve. Middle tier villains can and should challenge the party in ways that require strategic thinking and emotional depth.

• Complex goals and means. Once you pass into the next tier of levels (5-10 in a level 20 max system), the antagonists will often have multi-step plans. Maybe an ambitious noble is secretly amassing an army and forging alliances; maybe a demonologist is collecting relics to weaken planar boundaries. These should be villains that are capable of complex thinking and aren’t just brute forcing their way through their problems. It doesn’t mean they can’t have access to more brute force methods, or that they can’t do their own dirty work.

• Allow for Intrigue. Let the villain operate in the background, sending assassins, spreading rumors, or framing the party. Players should feel that their decisions matter and that if they cut off a resource from the villain it affects them and causes them to lose options and potentially shift strategy.

• Faction dynamics. Introduce competing interests. The villain might be part of a secret cabal with internal divisions, or they might clash with other antagonists. Open opportunities for temporary alliances or choices between lesser evils.

• Growth and escalation. The cult leader the players thwarted earlier now commands an army of fanatics; the werewolf alpha they spared returns to warn them of a greater threat. Use callbacks to show how actions have consequences.

Crunchy Tips for Mid Level Villains

• Add legendary actions or lair actions. Even non-legendary creatures can feel more threatening by taking extra actions. Homebrew a “mini-legendary” mechanic: the villain can command a minion to move or attack outside its turn, the villain can bite an adjacent enemy to do 1d4 damage and heal 1d4 hp. As with all homebrew content, be careful not to make something more powerful than you intended, but this can add a unique and memorable element to your villain.

• Mix it up. Give that evil cleric a rogue related ability such as letting them sneak attack. Let a sorcerer have a signature spell that isn’t normally on their list. Mixing features can keep your players guessing and make the game feel fresh (especially if you are a group of veterans!).

• Involve skill challenges. Fighting the villain doesn’t always have to be direct combat. Perhaps they’re escaping via airship and the players have to disable engines while avoiding hostile crew or the wizard’s ritual needs to be disrupted via Arcana and Athletics checks while skeletons continue to spawn.

• Your villain doesn’t have to be your boss. The noble has no combat ability whatsoever, but they have a powerful mercenary group at their beck and call causing the battle to be a 5 vs. 5 between the party and the mercenaries. The scholar has a stone golem that he climbs inside of like a mech suit. The cultist summons a demon before running deeper into the crypts.

Building Your BBEG: The Campaign’s Ultimate Threat

The Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) is the villain your campaign has been hinting at, the one whose defeat signals a climactic turning point. Designing a BBEG requires foresight, foreshadowing, and flexibility. Not all campaigns need a true BBEG either, sometimes a few mid level villains are all it takes to get the job done. It depends on how big and long of a story you are trying to create before rolling new characters. I love crafting a BBEG but I often think one of the biggest flaws in modern TTRPG is that campaigns are strung on too long. More on this in a future article! With that said, if your campaign deserves a BBEG, it deserves a damn good one so let’s get after it.

• Foreshadow early and often. Drop rumors, symbols, books, or minor agents connected to the BBEG in early sessions. A mysterious sigil on a bandit’s shield, a prophecy in an ancient library, or a letter signed by initials can all build mystery.

• Make them truly powerful, and fallible. A BBEG should feel beyond the party’s reach at first. Legendary resistances, powerful magic, or armies at their command make confrontation risky. Yet the party should discover weaknesses; an over reliance on a magical phylactery, a hidden fear of betrayal, or a ritual that must be completed under specific conditions.

• Give them a worldview. The BBEG should have a coherent philosophy that players can argue with or even empathize with. Maybe their ruthless actions stem from a legitimate fear of an impending catastrophe. This doesn’t justify their actions, but it makes them more than cardboard cutouts. While I think there should be nuance to your BBEG, and they should have a worldview that your players can understand, you need to make sure they view your BBEG as something to be defeated. This is not like the lower tier villains where sometimes the party may side with them, the BBEG has to be the penultimate thing to be defeated. If they are trying to protect the world from some world ending cosmic horror and your party teams up with them to do so, they weren’t your BBEG - the cosmic horror was.

• Introduce lieutenants and arcs. Break the BBEG’s plan into several arcs, each with a lieutenant or sub-villain. Defeating these lieutenants reveals more about the BBEG’s plans and slowly erodes their resources. These lieutenants will often work for the BBEG but don’t always have to. They can be partners who don’t realize the BBEG is much more powerful and is just using them. They can even think they are in charge of the BBEG but really aren’t.

• Evolve their tactics. As the party thwarts their schemes, the BBEG learns and adapts. If a demon prince loses his cult in one city, he might shift to corrupting a noble house elsewhere. This gives your campaign a sense of an ongoing struggle.

Crunchy Tips for Big Bad Evil Guys

• Custom stat block. First off, it is perfectly fine to use an existing stat block of the appropriate difficulty out of your preferred monster rulebook with no modifications. If you want to spice it up a bit though, you can start with a high difficulty monster (e.g. a lich, archdevil, or ancient dragon) and reskin it to fit your villain. Swap spell lists, change damage types, or replace a legendary action with a unique power (e.g. Reality Break forces each PC to make an Intelligence save or be banished to a random plane for a round). Have fun with this, you’re really taking a step beyond what is traditionally considered “reskinning” but without all the hassle of building a statblock out from scratch (which is also fine to do!).

• Phases and forms. A climactic fight should feel dynamic; break the battle into stages. Once the BBEG drops to half health, they summon reinforcements, transform (mortal wizard becoming a demilich), or shift terrain (the glacier begins to collapse opening a portal). Each phase should present a new challenge without overwhelming the party or feeling cheap. You can also make the monster “overpowered” and weaken them once they are at half hp (more on that later).

• Lair features. Design the environment to reflect the villain’s theme. A necropolis might have waves of undead and necrotic geysers, while a fey queen’s glade might have enchanted trees that grapple intruders. Lair actions tend to happen on initiative 20, the top of the round, or the bottom of the round depending on how you want to structure it. They don’t always have to damage the party, adding conditions, repositioning players, altering spell effects, or healing enemies can help keep things fresh.

• Retreat and return. It’s okay if your BBEG lives to fight another day. A well timed teleportation, contingency spell, or structural collapse can allow them to escape a losing battle. This sets up rematches and increases anticipation but be careful not to overuse it or it may fall flat. Do not let it feel cheap either; unless the party is woefully under prepared they should feel like they have the opportunity to stop the BBEG from escaping.

Making Villains Memorable Outside of Combat

Villains come alive when your players interact with them off the battlefield. Don’t be afraid to let them speak, parley, or monologue. In character conversations reveal motivations, deliver exposition, and allow characters to make choices beyond “attack or run.” Your players might surprise you with how they handle villains through non-violent means; they may potentially even solve the villain’s problems causing them to be neutralized before they were an issue.

• Send messages and minions. Letters written in flowing script, magical projections, or mouthpieces (a doppelganger posing as a friend) can deliver threats or demands. These interactions build tension and give players glimpses into the villain’s mindset.

• Offer deals and dilemmas. The BBEG might bargain, “Give me the relic and I’ll spare the town.” Forcing the group to weigh moral choices deepens the story. Even low level villains can cut deals; perhaps the bandit leader offers information about an even worse threat in exchange for mercy. The party may have the opportunity to sacrifice 1,000 lives to defeat the BBEG here and now, or 2 lives to defeat a minor villain, but is that something they are willing to do?

• Show vulnerability. Maybe the vampire lord visits the grave of a mortal lover, the archmage hesitates to attack when their estranged sibling (a party member!) is present. These moments humanize the villain and can lead to unexpected outcomes.

• Create recurring moments. A golden ring, a smoke poof entrance, a pet raven. Small details help players instantly recognize the villain’s presence and build anticipation. It can act much in the same way that a leitmotif does in a soundtrack.

• Lie. No, really, lie. Your players are so used to you, as the GM, being a point of truth and knowledge, that sometimes they forget your villains are allowed to lie to them. There is this huge payoff when the villain does the opposite of what they said they would and one of your players is absolutely flabbergasted realizing that they were lied to. It feels like a scene from Breaking Bad where Badger truly believes cops aren’t allowed to lie to him.

Bonus

The Angry GM has a post (two actually) about crafting boss encounters in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition (D&D 5e). Part 1 and Part 2. I often manipulate what he has outlined in these posts to work for my campaign, scenario, and party but the premise is sound. In these posts he tries to fix a very real problem for bosses in most TTRPGs, action economy. What happens all too often is that the party just circles up around the boss and wallops them to death, the boss is a massive damage sponge, or the boss one shots party members (or some combination therein). Bosses also often have to use minions to mitigate their action economy issues (even with lair and legendary actions at their disposal). The Angry GM’s solution isn’t always perfect but it has provided me a framework to manage my boss battles within for years and has allowed me to create encounters where a boss feels fun and challenging even if it is a solo boss without minions. I highly recommend you give it a read and see if you can use it or draw some inspiration from it for your own battles.

Final Thoughts

Designing villains is where you get to flex your creative muscles. Start small with low level threats who have clear motivations and distinct personalities. As your campaign unfolds, layer complexity with mid tier adversaries and weave threads that lead to a climactic confrontation with your BBEG. Mix narrative depth with mechanical tweaks to ensure battles feel unique and impactful. Above all, remember that villains exist to challenge, provoke, and inspire your players. Give them someone they love to hate, someone they’re tempted to understand, and someone they’ll remember long after the campaign ends.

The next article will be a continuation of this one using real world examples. I want to discuss some major villains I have already introduced to my party as well as some I have planned for them to meet later on in my current campaign. In part 2 I will show how I brainstormed my villains, how they are connected, what foreshadowing I’ve planted, and how my party has chosen to interact with them. I’ll see you there!

2. Session Zero: Setting the Stage for Your Campaign

So you’ve got a taste for being a Game Master and you’re itching to go bigger. Maybe that one-shot left everyone wanting more, or perhaps you just want to avoid those awkward “Wait, we’re doing what?” moments in your next game. That’s where session zero comes in. Think of it as a planning session meets group hangout, giving you and your friends a chance to set the tone, decide on the ground rules, and get everyone on the same page before dice start rolling. I hope by the end of this article you don’t feel like you “have” to do a session zero and rather that you’re looking forward to all of the benefits a session zero brings.

Why Bother with Session Zero?

I’ll admit it. I used to skip this step and jump right into the action. Sometimes it worked; sometimes I ended up with players expecting lighthearted hijinks while I had planned gritty intrigue. Session zero solves that (among many other issues). Here’s a few reasons it’s worth your, and your players’, time:

• Expectation alignment. Every player has a different idea of what makes a game fun. Tactical combat, character drama, puzzle solving, you name it. Talking about your campaign concept and hearing what excites your group helps ensure everyone gets a taste of what they love.

• Comfort and safety. RPGs can explore heavy themes. Discussing lines (content to avoid) and veils (topics to gloss over) keeps things respectful and lets everyone relax knowing they won’t be blindsided by something uncomfortable. More on this below.

• Logistics. Scheduling, session length, communication channels, and other things that aren’t glamorous but make everyone’s lives easier. Sorting it out upfront means less scrambling later.

• Creative spark. Brainstorming characters and world details together generates excitement and gives you a ton of story hooks to play with. This also gives your players to discuss their character backstories with one another and decide if they want to overlap and meld them at all.

A Session Zero Agenda

You don’t need a rigid agenda, but having a checklist will help you cover the essentials. Here’s how I structure mine:

1. Pitch your campaign. In a couple of sentences, describe the vibe. Is this a swashbuckling epic? A dark survival story? A lighthearted romp through a magical school? Mention any major themes or inspirations.

2. Discuss tone and themes. Ask your players what they enjoy and what they’d rather avoid. Use cards, consent checklists, or just an honest conversation. From humor, to romance, to horror, find out where everyone’s boundaries lie.

3. Talk rules and house rules. Let the group know which rulebooks you’re using and whether you’re tweaking anything. Are you starting at level 1? Are critical hits beholden to house rules? Will you pause and look up rules questions, or make a call and check later?

4. Character creation. Will you build together or separately? Encourage sharing ideas. I love hearing when one player says, “I’m thinking of playing a pacifist monk,” and another chimes in, “Ooh, maybe my rogue is your estranged sibling…” Those connections enrich the game.

5. Sort out scheduling. Decide how often you’ll play and how long sessions will run. Agree on a communication channel (Discord? Group text? Carrier pigeon?) for scheduling updates and group chatter.

6. Wrap up and next steps. Summarize what you decided. Does anyone need time to finish a backstory? Are there any homework tasks, like reading a setting primer? Set a date for your first session and get excited!

Making Backstories Matter

I love it when players bring me juicy backstories, but they don’t have to hand you a novel. Encourage them to think about three things:

• Motivation. Why is your character adventuring? Revenge, curiosity, wanderlust, or any other goal that helps drive decisions.

• Connection. Is there another PC you know from your past? A mentor you want to protect? A hometown you left behind? These connections give an easy hook into the world.

• Problem. A problem or flaw is narrative gold. Maybe they owe money to a crime lord or have a forbidden secret. Problems give you opportunities to weave a personal story arcs into the main plot.

During session zero, listen for overlaps. If two characters grew up in the same village, I might plan an early encounter involving that village. If someone wants a redemption arc, I’ll sprinkle moral dilemmas along their path. The goal is to make each player’s story matter.

In more recent years I supply a backstory template to my players that I ask them to fill out. I wouldn’t do this with every group but the dynamic that my players and I have fosters a healthy outcome with this approach. I stole my template from a 13 year old Reddit post and it has served me well. Here is a simple text file to download as well. I may not always send this as-is, I may trim it or add questions based on the setting I am creating, but below is what I start with:

1. What is your character Name?

2. What Race is your character?

3. What was your mother’s profession? What was her personality like? Did she die? If so how old were you when she did? How did this impact you? If you are half-breed what race was your mother?

4. What was your father’s profession? What was his personality like? Did he die? If so how old were you when he did? How did this impact you? If you are a half-breed what race was your father?

5. How did your parents meet? What was their relationship like?

6. Is there any story surrounding your birth?

7. Where is your Hometown? Did you move? If so why and where to? What was your hometown like? (Don't be afraid to ask about the world)

8. Early Childhood: Family relations-- How did your mother treat you? How did your father treat you? Did you have any siblings or other relevant family members? If so list their relationship with you here. Did you have any close friends? If so list the relationship with you here Significant Events. Name one positive or neutral event that happened to you in your childhood. How did this affect you? Why/how did this happen? Name one positive, negative or neutral event that happened to you in your childhood. How did this affect you? Why/how did this happen? Name one negative or neutral event that happened to you in your childhood. How did this affect you? Why/how did this happen?

9. Teen/Young Adult Years: Name one positive or neutral event that happened to you in your teenage life. How did this affect you? Why/how did this happen? Name one negative or neutral event that happened to you in your teenage life. How did this affect you? Why/how did this happen? How have the major events in your childhood impacted your teenage life?

10. Adult Years: Name one positive, negative, or neutral thing that happened to you in your adult life. How have the major events in your life impacted your adult years?

11. What two events are the most significant? Why? (Character traits may be able to help inspire this!)

12. What one secret or quirky behavior does your character have/exhibit?

13. What personality does your character have? Choose an Alignment to match this.

14. What caused your character to choose their class? (Be sure to look into class archetypes, as these can vastly change your character dynamic)

15. Is your character religious? If so what Deity? What event in their life caused them to choose this particular god or goddess?

16. What Profession is your character?

17. What does your character look like? Optional: Find a picture online that you like as a fit for your character

18. What do your ability scores say about your character?

19. Based on your Intelligence, Select languages that your character most likely would have encountered or wished to learn. If you want an extra language, lets talk (no pun intended)!

20. Does your character have plans for the future? What goals does your character have?

21. How has your character gotten to the place where they begin the adventure? Why did they go there?

22. Why does/will your character join a party of adventurers?

23. What are YOUR plans for your character? How will they develop? What will they do when join a party of adventurers? What will they do when X happens?

Establishing Table Norms

A great campaign isn’t just about the plot; it’s about how your table interacts and taking a moment to enjoy time with your friends. Use session zero to talk about:

• Respectful play. Agree to let everyone speak without interruption to share the spotlight. Remind your group (and yourself) that being inclusive and listening makes the game more fun for everyone.

• Rules arguments. Disagreements happen. Decide if you’ll resolve rules questions immediately or after the session. I prefer making a quick ruling and then researching later so we keep the momentum.

• Safety tools. Explain how players can signal discomfort. This can be through a hand gesture, a code word, or a text message. Check in after each session to see if adjustments are needed. There are a few methods commonly used in the TTRPG community in the safety tools section further below. Please take the time to read these so that you aware of the options you and your players have to help everyone feel safe.

• Table etiquette. Take some to decide what is permitted at the table. Phones, cross-table chatter, advising other players on their turns, transferring information without being present in game, etc.

Safety Tools

There are many safety tools available for the modern TTRPG group. I don’t claim or pretend to have created any of these. Please take a look through and understand the options you as a GM have for your table to make everyone feel comfortable and included. Some tables need minimal safety tools, and some need more than others, but please don’t just assume your table doesn’t need them. Often times we use safety tools, especially lines and veils, without even realizing we’re doing so because they are built into how our society and friendships function. This doesn’t mean they should be taken for granted and not discussed with your group. Please foster a healthy and safe environment for everyone. The titles of the tools below are all links to a page with more detail.

• The “X” Card. The X-Card is a safety tool created by John Stavropoulos that allows everyone in your game to edit out any content anyone is uncomfortable with as you play. Since most RPGs are improvisational and we won’t know what will happen till it happens, it’s possible the game will go in a direction people don’t enjoy. An X-Card is a simple tool to fix problems as they arise.

• Lines and Veils. A quote in this link that I particularly like is, “The Veil or The X-Card doesn't replace our complicated interpersonal toolsets that we've spent our whole lives developing... it signals that now is the time to use them. Maybe the stock solution of "edit out the problem content, keep moving" works, but maybe not. It's case + person + issue + game-dependent.”

• The CATS Method. Designed by by Patrick O’Leary. One of many frameworks for discussing content and safety is the CATS Method. This framework presents four elements to discuss with your players to decide what the group wants from the game: Concept, Aim, Tone, Safety.

• TTRPG Safety Toolkit. The Safety Toolkit was created as a way to help compile and centralize some of the safety tools that are available in the tabletop space, and is co-curated by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk. The toolkit is a living resource, meant to change as safety tools—and the conversations around them—develop and grow. Due to the living and changing nature of the resources and text within the TTRPG Safety Toolkit, we recommend bookmarking the toolkit to your browser instead of downloading the documents to ensure you’re accessing the most up-to-date versions. TTRPG Safety Toolkit Credits Link.

Pro Tips for a Great Session Zero

• Keep things loose. Ask open ended questions and let the conversation flow. You’re facilitating, not dictating.

• Write it down. Take notes on what people want, what they don’t, and any fun character connections you hear. Trust me, you won’t remember everything later.

• Stay flexible. You might have a grand campaign concept in mind, but if your players gravitate towards a different tone, consider pivoting. At the end of the day, the game is about all of you.

• Make it fun. This isn’t a corporate meeting. Toss in a short improv scene or a mini encounter to break the ice and let everyone try out their new characters.

After Session Zero

Once the session wraps, you should have a solid framework to build on. Use your notes to plan the first session, flesh aout NPCs tied to your players’ backstories, and refine the world based on the ideas you brainstormed. Share a recap of what you agreed on so everyone’s on the same page. From there, it’s off to the races! Your campaign has direction, your players are invested, and you’ve created a space where everyone feels heard. As your group continues, keep revisiting the agreements you made. Players’ interests evolve and new situations pop up so treat session zero as an ongoing conversation rather than a one time event.

What’s Next on Roll for Prep

Now that you know how to lay a solid foundation, we’ll be digging into topics like crafting memorable villains, improvising entire sessions from a single hook, and balancing crunchy mechanics with narrative freedom. Have questions from your own session zero experience? Drop them in the comments or send us an e-mail at innkeeper@rollforprep.com - we’re here to prep with you.

1. New GM Quick-Start Guide: From Nervous Novice to Confident Storyteller

Stepping behind the screen for the first time can feel like marching headfirst into a dragon’s lair. You’re excited to lead your friends through epic tales, but the sheer volume of rules and lore can make even the bravest Game Master (GM) feel overwhelmed. Take a breath. You’ve already done the hardest part by deciding to start. This guide will walk you through the essentials of running your first tabletop role playing game (TTRPG) session with confidence and lay the foundation for deeper GM skills.

I feel it’s important to focus on some core principles: collaboration, preparation, and flexibility. The aim is to help you build confidence and a personal style without relying on any single source. Whether you’re planning your first session, are interested whether or not GMing sounds fun, or are a veteran looking for a fresh starting point, you’re in the right place. This guide is intended to help brand new GMs get their feet under themselves and feel supported going into their first session.

You’re a Facilitator, Not a Dictator

A common misconception is that the Game Master must control every aspect of the story. In reality, your job is to create a framework for players to interact with. A great GM sets up situations rather than writing a rigid story. Think of yourself as a facilitator: you present challenges, describe the world and adjudicate rules, but you also encourage player agency and collaboration. Don’t get me wrong here, some players prefer a little more hand holding, on the rails, style of GMing and if that’s the case, give it to them. What I’m saying is that if the players all seem to want to go off the rails a bit, and it makes reasonable sense to allow them to, LET THEM! This is their story too and you’re trying to help them tell it with you.

My players are the happiest when I can enable them to do what they want but give their characters obstacles along the way. Read that again. It is so important to distinguish whether you are setting obstacles up for the players or for their characters. Some players like an obstacle or two thrown in their path, and tailoring to suit the personalities at your table is important, but in my experience most players want their characters to be the ones being obstructed (even if they wouldn’t articulate it that way themselves).

How to begin: Start by brainstorming exciting situations rather than a scripted narrative. Ask yourself, “What would be a compelling conflict, mystery, or exploration opportunity?” Leave room for your players to surprise you.

How Much Prep Is “Enough”

I often see advice focused toward new Game Masters telling them to find a nice balance of preparation vs. improvisation before moving on to talk about all of the preparation techniques that have helped over the advice giver’s X decades of GMing. At it’s core, this advice is sound and the techniques shared are invaluable once internalized and put to use. Unfortunately this often causes a new GM to go into a prep spiral where they never feel ready for game day. At best this causes anxiety that they need to navigate through until they eventually find their flow. At worst, this novice GM never finds the confidence to play session 1 and ultimately cancels or forever-delays the game until their world and campaign are “done” (spoiler: that day never comes). Don’t get me wrong, I have seen my fair share of totally under prepared GMs (myself included!) but at least those GMs made it to session 1 to learn from their mistakes and improve. I’d argue there is are a countless, unknowable, amount of people who have never even gotten to GM for their friends due to a desire to be “ready” (which I at one point was guilty of as well!).

I tend to recommend that if you’ve never GMed at all before you start with a pre-made module/adventure. If you’re up to the challenge of creating your own world, by all means feel free, but that is a tall task while you’re also still learning and honing the skill of GMing. I also tend to recommend most GMs start with a one-shot or extremely short campaign. Below are some reasons I would use to convince my past self to try running a series of one-shots and shorter campaigns while still learning to GM:

• You still need to confirm that you actually enjoy GMing and not just the thought of it.

• It will avoid burnout if you need breaks between stints of GMing.

• It lets you make mistakes without them feeling “permanent” or like they have long lasting ramifications on your campaign.

• You can flex new GM strategies, tools, skills, and styles that aren’t always compatible with one another.

• It allows players to drop out for a few weeks without feeling like they’re letting down the group. It also allows players to join in “late”.

Once you’re ready for session 1, I recommend you prep enough to not be lost at the table, but don’t try to account for every circumstance or feature of your world. Okay, random guy talking about Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons on the internet, that sounds great but how do I do that? Below is some general advice to start with, that you can expand on as you get better at and more comfortable with this whole GMing thing.

1. Outline a starting scenario. Write a one-paragraph summary of the opening scene, key characters, and the initial conflict. Don’t worry about how it ends yet, the players and their character’s choices will influence the outcome.

2. Stat out essential challenges. If you’re running combat encounters, prepare stats for monsters or adversaries. For investigations, ensure important clues can be discovered in multiple ways (e.g. through different skills or NPCs).

3. Understand your initial NPCs. If you know what NPCs you are absolutely planning on the party meeting with, make sure you have at least a loose sense of who they are. Brush up on their names, general attitudes, important backstory, and their role in the session and campaign.

That doesn’t sound like that much right? Honestly, what I wrote is probably still too much prep for your first session as a GM ever. I almost rewrote this with even less but I wanted it to stand as a testament of how easy I think it is for a veteran GM to over prescribe prep to a new GM. This may not be too much for me, and maybe is even a bit light on how my prep looks now, but as a new GM you have so much on your plate I really recommend you just make sure you and your players are having fun. Be honest with them about how nervous you are, they’ll understand. If I were to rewrite this, truly targeting a first time GM, I’d probably recommend session 1 be focused on the party interacting a bit in character with each other and with some NPCs you’ve prepared. I’d recommend you keep it short, and that it’s alright if the session ends a little early due to a lack of content.

While I’m clearly pushing for slightly too little prep over way too much prep, I do have to stress that you need to be familiar with the rules for the system you’re playing. Whether you’re playing Pathfinder 2e, Dungeons & Dragons 5e, or some other system entirely, make sure you know the basics of the system. If you’ve been a player in this system before, great, you’re already a step ahead, but you should still brush up on rules and interactions from the GM’s point of view. Even an experience GM can be intimidated running a game in a system they’ve never played before. If it is your first time every GMing, I would avoid running a system you’ve never played in if you can help it, but I realize you might be reading this as the GM for a group of friends that have never played a TTRPG at all before and you need to take the plunge. If that’s the case, thank you for taking on that responsibility and you’ve got this!

Now, what do I mean when I say “be familiar” and “know the basics”? I don’t expect you to know every single rule, cover to cover, for your system of choice. I do expect you to know the general flow of combat, how turns work, what the action economy looks like, and how player stats work. I’d like you to at least know how to be a player in your system and you can grow from there. You’re often going to be the most knowledgeable person at your table so you’re going to need to support the players with their own knowledge gaps. If you don’t know the right way to rule in the moment, and you feel it will take too long to find the answer, it’s okay to come to a decision that is valid for the session until you find the right answer at a later time.

Remember, your first session is about learning. Start small and adjust based on what works at your table. You are going to make mistakes, stutter, forget a rule, and feel overwhelmed at times. That’s normal. Just take the experience and level up your GMing skills with it.

Use Published Adventures Wisely

Running a pre-written adventure can be a lifesaver for new Game Masters. It provides a clear structure and plug-and-play encounters, allowing you to focus on pacing and the players. I even recommend using them in the section above as they take an enormous load off of a new GM. However, published modules are guidelines, not scripts:

• Read the adventure once before the session. Familiarize yourself with the story beats, NPC motivations, and encounter locations. I would give the adventure a cover to cover read to understand the general intended flow.

• Modifying to suit your group. As you gain more experience, feel free to swap out monsters, change treasure, adjust difficulty, or remove unnecessary sections. Tailoring the material can help it feel personal. If this is your first adventure, I would recommend avoiding major modifications and only adjusting difficulty to be easier until you’re more comfortable with what you’re doing.

• Don’t panic when players go off script. If your group skips chapters or improvises, roll with it. Repurpose unused encounters or locations to fit the new direction.

Not all adventures are created equally. If you’re going to run a published adventure I recommend you read reviews, watch some videos, and select one that sounds well polished and good for a new GM. Some adventures are quite advanced, others poorly made, and you want to make sure you’re focusing on the right things and that the adventure is helping you. You should also speak with your players and make sure this adventure’s theming jives with them, they may even want to make characters that fit the adventure.

Create a Collaborative Table Culture

Your players’ comfort and engagement are critical. There was this old school idea back in the day that it was the Game Master vs. the players during a session. This is unfortunately still is misunderstanding at times with newer, and especially younger, GMs and players. I cannot stress enough that the goal at your table should be for everyone to be having fun, hard stop, period. If there is a reason that fun isn’t being had, or tensions are rising out of game, it often falls on the GM to handle as they are often the unofficial group leader. It is a group effort, but again often falls on the GM, to ensure people are keeping what happens in game separate from real world emotions. I have had players cry because their favorite NPC died in game, and in the context of the situation this was a beautiful response from a player and what I took as a compliment as a GM. A player crying because another player is being mean to them and using the game as a guise to get away with it is completely different and not okay. There is a bit of common sense required here, but it boils down to treat your players well and make sure they are treating you and each other well.

It shouldn’t solely be your responsibility to police this as the GM but, like I said, you are often the first person people look to when something needs to be handled. You are the arbiter of the rules and often this extends beyond the game for TTRPG groups. If you aren’t comfortable in this role, and you don’t feel you can foster an environment where everyone treats each other well, then you need to have an honest conversation with yourself on whether everyone will be emotionally and physically safe in the space you are creating for them to story craft and play a game. This is especially true if you are creating the physical space for them to play (e.g. it is your house, store, yard, garage, etc). Don’t be a jerk, don’t let other people be jerks.

Here are some ways to foster collaboration:

• Session zero. Before starting your campaign, meet with players to discuss expectations, tone, preferred content, and scheduling. Decide on safety tools and any house rules. Use this to have a conversation to help set boundaries and encourage investment. Session zero deserves to be its own article and is.

• Shared world building. Ask players to contribute small details about a setting: a tavern’s name, a cultural tradition, a rumored monster. Collaborative world building improves immersion and reduces your workload. When you have three of the same enemy (lets use bandits) fighting your party, ask them to describe them. Now it isn’t bandit #1, bandit #2, and bandit #3, but rather “The red haired bandit”, “The bandit with one eye”, and “The hungry looking bandit”. You got descriptions you may not have thought of on your own, your party feels involved and engaged with your world, and if one of those bandits live and you describe them in a scene six sessions later the party is far more likely to remember them.

• Regular feedback. After each session, ask what worked and what didn’t. Checking in with your group allows you to refine your game and keep everyone engaged. After every major story arc I like to ask my players what their goals as players are and if they’ve changed, what their characters’ goals are and if they’ve changed, and I check in on whether they feel like I’m providing the style of game they want.

Embrace Improvisation

No matter how well you prepare, players with always surprise you. Improvisation isn’t about winging everything; it’s about being ready to adapt. We’ve already covered that you cannot prepare for everything, and I just said that you can’t wing everything either, GMing is about finding that balance. Be ready to pull an idea out of a hat or an NPC out of a list of names, and then breath some life into it. I find improvisation to be the easiest when I put myself into the minds of the NPCs or creatures involved in a scenario and act as if I am them. Why is that spider attacking? Well, she is the mother of dozens of egg sacs that she has to protect. She won’t chase the party further into the cave because once they are no longer a threat to her babies, she is fine returning to her hiding spot and waiting for easier prey.

If you have prep that you weren’t able to use earlier in the campaign or session, keep it in your back pocket to use if an opportunity presents itself. Perhaps that inn the players didn’t go into in the first town can be replanted as a farmer’s house the players went looking for in the fields of corn. Change a few NPCs out, make the previous barkeep the new farmer, and the rat problem the barkeep needed help with in the basement becomes a barn the farmer needs cleared out. This is still improv, but you’re starting with something instead of nothing. Random tables for names, NPCs, menus, and many other things can also serve as a mix between prep and improve. Don’t be afraid to take a second, look down at your notes, think, and then answer a player. You’re secretly scrambling for an idea in your unorganized mess you’ve created half way through a session that’s totally gone off the rails, while the player is thinking, “I can’t believe they have something prepared for this!”

I can’t write an improv section without talking about the famous “Yes, and…” we’ve all heard of. Yes, this is generally good advice, and I recommend you use it as long as you understand its limitations as well (see what I did there?). The general premise behind this is that if a player wants to do something outlandish you don’t tell them no, but rather you say yes and then spin it in a way that makes sense or add onto it to make it work. This is awesome improv advice, but TTRPGs aren’t a comedy sketch on a stage either. In many cases, “Yes, and…” works and I recommend you use it, but sometimes you really do have to tell a player something isn’t going to work. Whether you allow their character to do something and they face the repercussions, or you go out of character and warn the player that it isn’t going to work, their 2’9 gnome is NOT going to seduce the ancient red dragon known as “The Destroyer of Worlds”. Now “Yes, and…” can still work here if you spin the gnome’s seduction attempt as an attempt to distract the dragon while the rogue steals the “Gem of Saving Worlds” from behind them. “Yes, and…” is excellent advice and incorporating it seamlessly will improve your games, but make sure you use it reasonably and don’t feel like you have to allow every idea your players ever have to work.

Build a Toolbox of Resources

Part of becoming a confident GM is knowing where to look for help. You don’t need to do this before session 1 but if you are looking for useful places to learn and grow throughout your journey as a GM, here are a few resource categories to explore:

• Rule references and cheat sheets. Create or download a condensed rules summary for quick consultations during play. This is typically what GMs have on the other side of their GM screen. How does character size affect the rules, what does feared do, how does grappling work, how much damage does falling X feet do, and other useful quick rules.

• Random generators. Names, NPCs, weather, and dungeon generators can all help save you time and energy.

• Adventure reviews and lists. I touched on this a bit earlier but it is worth looking at reviews of adventures you may be interested in. Many reviewers often compile lists of adventures by level, theme, difficulty, or rating. These can help you find your next module without sifting through endless titles.

• Community forums. Join forums or online communities where you can ask questions and share experiences. Talking with other GMs is invaluable for honing your craft.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a great GM is a journey and not something you can do without a lot of trial and experience. You’ll make mistakes, learn from them, and gradually build a style that suits you and your players. There’s no one right way to run a game. The common threads are passion and a commitment to creating memorable experiences for your players. Gather your dice, sketch out that starting scenario, and invite your friends to the table. Your adventure as a Game Master starts now. In upcoming articles, we’ll delve into crafting unforgettable villains, improvising entire sessions from a single hook, and balancing crunch with narrative freedom. May your rolls be high and your stories legendary.