B60 "Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art"

Somewhere in the Dragon Magazine issues I've been perusing lately, Moldvay comments that the part of the Basic set he is most proud of is B60 "Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art", where he gets to impart his own experiences as a DM to newbie DMs. I leave the entire passage transcribed here below without further comment:

The success of an adventure depends on the DM and his or her creation, the dungeon. The DM should have the dungeon carefully mapped out before play begins. Even so, a DM will quickly find that it is impossible to predict every possibility. After all, there are several players, and only one DM! It is not unusual for players to find a solution, or pose a new problem, that the DM has not even thought of. It is very important for the DM to be flexible.

It is important that the DM be fair, judging everything without favoring one side or another. The DM is there to see that the adventure is interesting and that everyone enjoys the game. D&D is not a contest between the DM and the players! The DM should do his or her best to act impartially when taking the part of monsters or handling disputes between characters.

"That's not in the rules!" The players will often surprise the DM by doing the unexpected. Don't panic. When this happens, the DM should just make sure that everything is  done in the order given by the outline or sequence of events being used. Minor details may be made up as needed to keep the game moving. All DMs learn how to handle both new ideas and unusual actions quickly and with imagination.

Quite often a DM can decide on a solution to a player's actions not covered by these rules. Other times, a problem may have no simple solution. One quick way for a DM to decide whether a solution will work is by imagining the situation, and then choosing percentage chances for different possibilities. For example, suppose the DM is running a combat that is taking place on a ledge next to an unexplored chasm. One player suddenly decides that his character has no chance to survive combat. The player announces "My character wants to jump into the chasm to escape!" There may be a chance that he will fall to a nearby ledge or land in a pool of water at the bottom of the chasm. The DM thinks about the dungeon for a minute, and remembers that an underground river flows through some of the lower dungeon levels, so there might be a pool below. Even so, the character will fall 60', and a normal fall will do 1d6 points of damage per 10' fallen. This character has only 7 hp, and seems likely to die even if the water cushions his landing and reduces the damage. However, there should always be a chance to do something nearly impossible. A player should have, at the very least, a saving throw or a stated percentage chance of a miraculous occurrence saving the character. The DM answers: "Looking down into the chasm, your character can estimate that he has a 98% chance of dying, no saving throw, if he jumps. If you decide your character jumps, roll percentage dice. A result of 99 or 00 will mean that your character lives, but any other result will mean that he will die in the attempt. Do you still want to jump?"

"There's always a chance." The DM may want to base a character's chance of doing something on his or her ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and so forth). To perform a difficult task (such as climbing up a rope or thinking of a forgotten clue), the player should roll the ability score or less on 1d20. The DM may give a bonus or penalty to the roll, depending on the difficulty of the action (-4 for a simple task to + 4 for a difficult one). A roll of 1 should always succeed, and a roll of 20 should always fail.

"The DM is the Boss." The DM decides how these rules will be used in the game. A good DM talks about problem areas with the players and considers reasonable requests by them. The players should realize, however, that the final decision is the DM's: not theirs, and not this booklet's! If a disagreement holds up play, the DM may make a temporary decision and talk it over with the players when the adventure is over. If a player disagrees strongly enough, he or she may quit the game. It is up to the DM to create an adventure the players can enjoy.

"Everyone is here to have fun." The DM should make the adventure seem as "real" to the players as possible. All should avoid getting stuck in long discussions about rules or procedures. The game should move along with humor, as well as excitement.

"Everything is balanced." The DM should try to maintain the "balance of play". The treasures should be balanced by the dangers. Some groups prefer adventures where advancement be tween levels is swift. In such a case, since the treasures are generally greater, the monsters should be "tougher". Other groups prefer adventures where character development is more important, and advancement is slower. If the monsters are too tough, and if the parties are reduced by many deaths, then few characters will ever reach higher levels. (The DM should keep in mind that further supplements will detail character levels up to the 36th. It should be very difficult for a character to attain this level, but it should not be impossible).

"Your character doesn't know that." A player should not allow his or her character to act on information that character has no way of knowing (for example, attacking an NPC because the NPC killed a previous character run by the player, even though the NPC and current character have never met). If the players get careless about this the DM should remind them. The DM may, in addition, forbid certain actions to the characters involved. The DM should make it clear to the players before the adventure begins that characters may not act on information they don't have. It will save lots of time later.