Being the Dungeon Master (DM) in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign isn't easy, but it's an important job. The DM is the person that guides all the players through their adventure and creates encounters and introduces all the creatures and NPCs that the players encounter as they make their way through the world. In order to make sure that things run smoothly and are fun for the players, the DM really needs to stay organized and be ready for anything that the players do.Related: Dungeons & Dragons: Cheats In D&D That A DM Should Never Give A PartyA DM screen is a screen that is put up between the DM and the players. It separates the DM from the people that are playing the game as well as hiding any secrets they may be planning. The DM screen can also serve as a way to display or hide important tools and information that the DM is using to run the adventure.Updated September 5, 2021 by Gabrielle Huston: Becoming the Dungeon Master of a D&D campaign is no small feat. Plenty of fans take it on without realizing what they've actually signed up for! It's a thankless job, to weave a world and story around your players that feels as alive as the one they live in. If you're struggling with how to improve some aspect of your DMing skills, we've detailed a few suggestions here for you to review.

Customizing The DM Screen Itself

Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) - Split image of various DM Screens
images via makezine.com, darkelfdice.com, and onlyplaywizards.com

This article details the things that are handy to have with you while running a D&D session, but that often goes hand-in-hand with how your D&D Screen itself is set up. Do you like to have one at all? If so, how large?

Consider these ways you might customize and/or add information to your DM screen, whether it is premade (you cannot change the information, like the ones sold by Wizards of the Coast) or made by you or purposefully customizable (like the kind which can be bought from small creators on sites like Etsy):

  • Stick post-it notes to it
  • Include a little shelf to place miniatures on
  • Add magnets so you can highlight important information
  • Add pictures of important characters to the top, so they can be seen (and better imagined) by players
  • Print out stat blocks and hang them over the top of the screen
  • Make space for your dice

Only you will know what to put on your DM Screen because only you know which rules you refer to and which you leave behind (many DMs don't bother calculating encumbrance, for example). However, consider these suggestions for important information:

  • List of the players' characters' names and classes
  • Costs of the regular items you might buy in any inn
  • Random names to use for an NPC when you're having trouble improvising
  • A scale detailing how difficult a particular action will be and what roll the player must make to be successful
  • Stat blocks for recurring enemy types

6 An Hourglass

Timers

Anyone who has ever been a DM before will know that some players like to take their time with their turn in combat. Players always want to really think about their options and get really thorough about how they're going to handle a situation. This is great... Except you want to keep your game going.

Related: Dungeons & Dragons: Items A D&D Player Should Never Lose

Getting an hourglass behind your screen that you can set out to show players they only have a limited amount of time for the rest of their turn is always a good idea. They can be purchased pretty cheaply, or more fun and decorative ones can be found online and in hobby stores.

5 Notes About Your Adventure - Post-Its, A Notebook, Campaign Details

Dungeons and Dragons (dnd) - DM screen with notes in front of it
via u/Pooblbop on Reddit

Here, we detail a few ways you can keep organized notes on your adventure.

Bring Succinct Notes on Your Campaign To Refer To Mid-Session

There are a ton of D&D adventures out there. DMs can come up with their own, original adventure, or use one that was pre-written and is perfect for the skill level of their players. Either way, there's a lot to remember about the adventure, no matter how many times a DM has lead the campaign. Instead of constantly flipping back and forth between the pages of the adventure, a good DM should keep all their notes at the ready. Having the essential notes either bookmarked or written on a separate piece of paper where they can easily be referenced is definitely the best way to keep everything straight.

Bring A Way To Take Notes About The Session's Events

Most players tend to bring a notebook with them to a campaign so that they can keep track of what's going on, and the DM definitely should as well. The DM is the person who is in charge of keeping the entire adventure straight. Of course, the pen and paper route isn't the only way to go. Electronic solutions - laptops, tablets, phones, etc. - are just as viable and potentially more accessible.

You can include the aforementioned campaign notes in this notebook, but should also use it to take your own notes as the session progresses. For example, maybe your players started investigating something that you didn't fully flesh out behind-the-scenes - like a particular NPC's house - and you need to improvise. Whatever improvised details you come up with may become important later, so you should jot them down. Or, perhaps you can divert the players for the current session, but want to make a note to flesh out the thing they were investigating.

Have Some Post-It Notes Handy

The DM of any campaign is likely going to have quite a few stacks of papers and books sitting behind their screen. One way to keep these straight is with sticky notes and page flags that the player can peel off and stick to key pages and sections of the book or notes that they're going to want to reference later. For the super-organized DM, these can even be organized by colour. One colour can be for enemies that the players have defeated, one can be for names that have been used up, and one can be for items that have been handed out. These are super useful and can be used however the DM sees fit to keep themselves organized.

4 Information About Enemies And NPCs

Dungeons and Dragons (dnd) - DM screen with stat blocks

Different enemies and NPCs have their own special abilities and other important information that a DM will have to remember for when their players encounter them. The best way to keep all of this straight is to have it written out very simply and stuck to the inside of their DM screen. That way, the DM can quickly look at that NPC or enemy's information as they need it without having to stop the campaign, look up the stats they need, and then keep going. Staying seamless is the key to keeping players immersed in the story.

Throughout the course of a campaign, players are likely to meet a ton of NPCs of all different mythical races. In order to really immerse the players (and to help them keep all these NPCs straight!), the DM needs to come up with a ton of different names for them. If you're not good at improvising, the best way to do this is to go online and find a list of names for each gender for each different race that the players might encounter. Just keep these names behind the screen and then, as players encounter them, put a note next to it and write down some small details about them in your notebook while the players are taking their turns.

3 A Portable Speaker

Man holding portable speaker
via:YouTube

This item is one that's more optional and really depends on each DM's different style, but a portable speaker can be really helpful for building a certain atmosphere and bringing a ton of immersion to the players' experience.

Related: The Most Cliche Ways To Start A D&D Campaign

A DM can then go online and find a playlist of D&D background music to turn on and play softly while players are going through the campaign. It can really help to set the mood and make the whole experience feel like the players are really on an adventure, not just sitting at a table together.

2 Miniatures And Dungeon Decor

D&D setup

Many DMs like to use miniatures and decor to put out on the map area in order to really give the players a feeling of where their adventure is taking place.

These are definitely not necessary, but can be a fun way to help to make the experience feel more real and immersive. Plus, many of these pieces of dungeon decor can be totally made at home and there are DIY tutorials for different pieces of decor and spell effects all over the Internet!

1 Status Markers And Boundary Markers

Dungeons and Dragons - Status Markers on left, Boundary Markers on right

For DMs that use miniatures to represent different enemies, characters, and NPCs, it can be tough to remember what's going on with each of the little miniature figurines on the map.

Luckily, status markers can help with that! These are plastic rings that can be put on or around the miniature and will tell both the players and the DM what that character's status is. A status is something that is continuously effecting the character, like being on fire or being blessed by a healer. The status markers can be bought online or can even be made at home for a DM with a 3D printer with a whole variety of colors, designs, and different statuses.

Another excellent tool for DMs that use miniatures in their campaigns are boundary markers. Many spells that players can use have a certain range of how far out and around the character they go. This is important to remember because anyone and anything that gets within the spell's range is going to be impacted as well.

Boundary markers are plastic corner pieces, or pieces designed to be exactly the right size for a particular spell, that can be placed around the miniature on the map to represent an area of space. Typically, they're used to mark out the range of a spell that was cast, but DMs can really use them to measure the range of anything they need to.

Next: Successful Character Builds In D&D For Advanced Players