What It’s Like Being A Dungeon Master

At the age of 12, Jason Koh’s cousin introduced him to Dungeons and Dragons and he was immediately hooked. By age 15, he was running games after class for friends and soon after, he was playing Dungeons and Dragons with people all around the world through chat rooms and message boards. We asked the now 38-year-old why he’s still playing the game 2 decades on. 

Q: Hi Jason, welcome to LUCK-IT! Could you tell us a little about yourself? Who are you and how do you tick? 

A: I’m the overlord (well, director) of a pop-culture marketing and events agency, the convention producer for one of Singapore’s largest comic art and illustration festivals, a game writer, and game master-for-hire. Basically, I do many things and wear many hats, but they’re all things I do out of love for all things pop-culture related. Lots of people think it’s challenging to make a career out of your hobbies, but here I am. I’m living it. 

You are also known as a dungeon master? What’s that and how did you get started doing it? 

A dungeon master (DM), or more commonly, a game master (GM) serves as the referee or storyteller for games, but you are an entertainer first and foremost. By telling an engaging story or creating clever scenarios, you can transport players from the familiar and ordinary into a fantastic world where they can slay imaginary dragons, become heroes, and take respite from the mundane, at least for several hours. 

I began playing Dungeons & Dragons over two decades ago, and have been a game master for private games and games with friends for almost three quarters of that, but organising and running public games at conventions and hiring out my services as a game master is a fairly recent endeavour. It was a suggestion from a client who enjoyed the spectacle of one of the massive, multi-table adventures we ran at a convention, and since I have the game materials, resources and the know-how, it seemed like a natural next step. 

For those who might not know, can you explain what Dungeons & Dragons is and how it works? How do people play it and where do they go to play it? 

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop roleplaying game where players take on the role of heroes (and sometimes villains), and partake in adventures. It’s a very vast, open and collaborative experience where the game master and players work together to tell a story. The game master is like the director, and the players are the stars of the show. 

All you need to play D&D are some polyhedral dice, a pen and paper, and your imagination. In the past, hobbyists would play at local game stores and conventions, or meet up at cafes or in someone’s home for a game. Now, many groups have gone digital, and you can play through platforms like Zoom or Discord, or even highly specialised sites designed to facilitate such play like Roll20.net.

As a dungeon master, how do you create the games? Do you have a source of reference or is it all created by you from scratch? 

In convention games and community play, we use D&D Adventurers League organised play rules. This system uses worlds and stories produced or endorsed by the publisher of D&D, and it allows players around the world to create persistent characters, record their achievements, and play with whomever they wish. The materials are available online, through the publisher’s website, and through a portal for community-created, crowdsourced content called the DMsGuild. 

But it’s not too tough to create your own world or tell your own story if you’re familiar with the tropes of the genre and are willing to do a bit of research. I personally enjoy telling stories that draw on Eastern influences and themes, and crafting elaborate and suspenseful mysteries for my players. In fact, working with your players to develop the story, letting their actions impact the world, and having the world evolve with them is great too.

What’s the D&D game you’ve created that you’re proudest of and what is it about? Where can people go to play it? 

I’ve published several adventures on DMsGuild for D&D Adventurers League, and one of the titles, “Ooze There?”, was nominated for an ENnie Award in 2019. The ENnies are like the Oscars of the RPG world, and it was a first time an RPG writer in Singapore was nominated, so that was quite the achievement. I have several other projects in the pipeline that will be published on the platform soon, and they will all be available for purchase as a digital download. I’m also currently working on some RPG Kickstarters, including an insect-themed one with a popular digital artist, and a Wuxia-themed project slated for release next year. 

As for those who want to dip their feet into D&D, the D&D Adventurers League Singapore Community runs monthly games online, and new players are always welcome to participate. Just check out their Discord at www.bit.ly/discalsg for more details. 

What is your monthly routine like as a dungeon master and… do you get paid for being one?

Being a game master is just a small part of what I do in the agency. If it’s a corporate engagement, we might have to devote time to research so we can craft a storyline and scenarios tailored to the client’s team-building needs. If it’s for community building or outreach, we might have to pick suitable adventures following the theme for that month or event. With games taking place remotely right now, it’s inevitable that I have to devote some time to creating visual aids and inputting data into the platforms we use for online play. 

We typically charge clients for any corporate team-building projects we run. We also charge a fee for private bookings that take place in our studio. 

With the current global health crisis however, games take place strictly online, and are typically run on Discord. We don’t charge players to participate in such online games, but they’re encouraged to tip us on Ko-fi if they had a good time. The tip goes towards keeping the Discord servers we run games on boosted, and the costs of any materials we purchase to facilitate online games. 

Which 3 people or things are most useful to your dungeon mastering work? 

I’ve found it incredibly helpful to have the rulebooks on hand, not as a reference for myself, but for players who might be newer to the game. They’re a great reference, and it’s even better now that they’ve been fully digitised and are available online. Other than that, I’d say lots of post-its and writing material. You never know when an idea might suddenly strike you, or if you might need to jot down something in a hurry. Players love it especially when you remember the little things they do, and then use it to make the story more engaging for them later.

Which place is most important?

Any place with a large enough table to fit your playgroup, really, or a place with good connectivity if you’re playing games online. That’s the beauty of the game. It takes hardly anything at all to get started.

Can you list 3 things you realised only after becoming a dungeon master?

1) Managing player expectations is easy. It’s managing player egos that is hard. 

2) Players who join the game without any preconceived notions of what D&D is can be some of the most fun to play with. 

3) Time management, and making sure your games don’t take more than four hours though, can be incredibly tough. Sometimes, you just get so caught up in the story and the roleplaying you simply lose track of the time. 

For players, what do they get out of playing Dungeons & Dragons games? How different is Dungeons & Dragons from say video/computer RPGs or life simulators like Second Life?

Playing D&D fosters cohesion, and promotes bonding through shared experience. We’ve also discovered that it’s a great tool for helping people develop communication, problem solving and social skills, heightening concentration, and in some cases, improving confidence. 

Unlike a video game, where dialogue and interactions are pre-scripted, and scenarios have predetermined endings, D&D is incredibly open-ended. If you are immersed in the game, you’ll soon realise that the story is shaped not just by the game master, but by the decisions of you and your fellow players. You’re capable of actually making a mark on the world. You’re the hero. You’re the star of the show.

Can you recommend some good places people can go to play D&D games in Singapore and around the world? 

I’d definitely say check out the D&D Adventurers League Singapore Community Discord (http://www.bit.ly/discalsg). You can also download the basic rules for D&D from the official Dungeons & Dragons website to play with friends and family. 

Some game stores may run physical games on-site, but we all know how that may not be the best right now with Covid-19, so definitely check for communities that play online near you instead. 

Lastly, what advice do you have for those hoping to become dungeon masters too? 

Lots of people don’t dare to make the jump to becoming a game master because they think they’re not good enough, or that they don’t know the game rules enough. The truth is, it’s a learning process. If you like writing stories and telling stories, it might not be a bad idea to just give it a try. Take that first step, play with friends you feel comfortable with. Practice, and you’ll definitely be able to make it. 

Jason is presently pivoting towards producing more content for DMsGuild and through Kickstarter, while also organising monthly games for the community through Discord. He is also planning to launch a D&D stream on Twitch. You can find out more about his updates through his Facebook page  (“check out the #dailylivesofntp hashtag”) or ask him anything you need to know using the comment box below. 

More interviews with professionals of all sorts here.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Jason Koh. Interviewer: Sy
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