DM Hacks and Tricks to Make Running D&D Less Tedious and More Fun

3 Wise DMs

What’s some of the tedious stuff you have to do as a DM that you really wish had an easy button? Why does WotC make some essential DMing info hard to find (or at least hard to find while you’re trying to run a game)? This idea comes from Kaila Evans on Twitter, DM of the Comedy of Terrors podcast, who posted, “I've been waiting for some OG Dungeon Master to show up and starting giving us all some wicked obscure advice on the craft nobody ever heard of yet. Like maybe there's a hidden page in the DMG where the cost of magic items is fucking calculated already.”

Well, we’re OGs, so in this episode, we’re going to talk about the tricks and tips we use to try to make DM chores from magic item pricing to map making and initiative tracking less tedious and more fun. And, spoiler alert, it’s different for all of us because every DM has different things they find tedious in running the game. Here’s our best advice, let us know in the comments if this advice is wise or just makes things even more complicated.

2:00 How can you make DMing less tedious?

4:00 Making it easier to go magic item shopping

23:00 What’s tedious for you? Identify the aspects of DMing that you want to spend your time on and what you don’t

28:00 How little prep can you get away with without introducing plot holes

31:00 Maps hacks, and how often do you really need them?

35:00 Don’t be afraid to ask your players to handle some of the things you find tedious, from initiative tracking to map making (and here’s how Thorin runs his combats).

46:00 Tracking (or not tracking) PC gold and other character sheet violations

57:00 Do you use and track spell components?

59:00 Why D&D 5E doesn’t always make things easy to find

64:00 Final thoughts