I can’t say I’m an experienced DM, mainly because I am not. I’ve only run a couple of games and only just started my own campaign. So why create a blog?
Something that you should know about me is that I love hobbies. And not only do I love hobbies, but I also love to research my hobbies. So being what I’d call a professional hobbyist, I’ve learned some stuff and I’m confident that there’s still a lot to learn. The purpose of this blog is to create an archive of my finds; something new DMs like me can find on the internet and read. Something that is a compilation of all the information, tips, tricks and resources I’ve managed to find and will continue finding in the future.
The name
When I had the idea for this blog, I couldn’t think of what to name it. After all, the name is important. I wanted something that would be easy to type and remember. I wanted something that would communicate its own purpose. Something that would allow me to write about my journey into DMing. And then I had it. And dmsjourney.com was born.
A little bit about my relationship with D&D
Last year I was in a very low place in my life. I was in a deep depression that I still struggle with and my untreated anxiety was at a level that was not manageable anymore. My 6-year relationship had just ended, which definitely played a role in my mental state, and I had really only one course of action for the future. I threw myself into my hobbies and started therapy.
My hobbies included gaming, reading, watching movies and tv shows and what generally constitutes as “nerdy”. But I was not satisfied. I had lost almost all of they joy I used to get from these hobbies, to the point that I didn’t really wanted to do them anymore. So my time was filled with browsing reddit endlessly. That’s depression.
But I had been watching a lot of Acquisitions Incorporated at that time, so I thought I’d give D&D a try. It was something that I had tried to get into in the past but had never managed to find a group to play with. So I bought the starter set, and found people to play with. These people included my brother and one of his friends, a cousin and a common acquaintance. I, of course, was going to be the DM, something that looked like a chore at the time. The first game immediately hooked me. My group has changed a bit, including new players along with the old and have also managed to introduce the game to people that would have never played otherwise. And just like that, DMing was not a chore anymore. It brought me more joy that I had ever anticipated it would. I love it so much that I don’t even have the desire to play a character anymore.
I’ve embedded myself into geek culture but so far nothing managed to stick with me as well as D&D did. It got me meeting new people that I would have never met without it. It gave me a whole new outlook on life and dragged me out of my depression that I had been struggling with for years. This may sound dramatic -I’m awfully aware of that- but D&D might have saved my life.
DMing is fun
Dungeon Mastering is seen by many as a “job”. It’s a role that someone has to fill and it usually falls to the most knowledgeable player, or the one that has all the books (these two are usually on and the same). But I challenge this notion. As Matthew Colville put it in his introduction video to his “Running the Game” series, running D&D is fun.
It is a creative role, as it allows you to engage in many different aspects of the game. Do you enjoy writing? World building? Arts and crafts? There’s something in this role for all of you. And even if you enjoy only one or two from the myriad of aspects of DMing, there’s stuff people have made that you can use to supplement your main interest.
Now, I’m not saying DMing is for everyone because it is certainly not. What I’m saying is that it could be for you and you may not even know it. So why not give it a try?
I wholeheartedly welcome you to this blog then, where we can take this journey together, and I hope you find the joy in DMing as I have. If it’s not for you, then why not share it with your DM instead?
