Creating your Character

Being a Dungeon Master
I will be honest, being a DM is not easy, and it's not hard. Everyone does it different, and the only way you can learn is by doing it. To learn it best, I suggest trying out several styles with short, one-shot adventures, which are not campaigns, but single adventures. One and done. There are many reasons to do this, for my, it's because I have issues with my players. Some will take the game seriously, others won't. You'll have to find what works for you, and who you can work with. I suggest you also try different styles of gameplay, from hack and slash dungeon crawls, to complicated politics and interpersonal relationships, focusing more heavily on the roleplay. No matter how you do it, it's not wrong, it's just different. I will tell you how I started. I dove headfirst into writing my own adventures, very combat focused, and as plausible as possible. It ended with a lot of character deaths. Since then, I've learned to adapt on the fly, but I've kept that as my style. My usual session preparation is usually a flowchart of several possiblities for how each encounter might be resolved, and where that might lead. WARNING : Regardless of how extensively you prepare, your players will ALWAYS find a way to do something you never would have planned for. Get used to it. When this happens, don't think of it as a problem, but instead, go with it, and prepare some encounters for when things go off the rails - it'll happen. Just have fun with it. All you have to do is apply the rules, and run enemy monsters that you have created, or are using from other sources like the monster manual, and run NPC's. Make characters, make dungeons, make a simple story, keep it simple. The more complicated things get, the harder it is to run, and the more frustrating for the players. Simple is good, because while the answer is obvious to you, it's because you know the answer. The players - they don't. Also, spice up your encounters some. Combat is great, but use some roleplay too, social interaction. And add some environmental challenges as well. Exploration, Social Interaction, and Combat are the 3 pillars of adventure. Plan for about 5 different big encounters in a night, and you're gold. Just do it, it'll feel natural in no time, and you'll enjoy it a lot. Your players will to, because they get to play because of you.

Being a Dungeon Master

I will be honest, being a DM is not easy, and it's not hard. Everyone does it different, and the only way you can learn is by doing it. To learn it best, I suggest trying out several styles with short, one-shot adventures, which are not campaigns, but single adventures. One and done. There are many reasons to do this, for my, it's because I have issues with my players. Some will take the game seriously, others won't. You'll have to find what works for you, and who you can work with. I suggest you also try different styles of gameplay, from hack and slash dungeon crawls, to complicated politics and interpersonal relationships, focusing more heavily on the roleplay. No matter how you do it, it's not wrong, it's just different. I will tell you how I started. I dove headfirst into writing my own adventures, very combat focused, and as plausible as possible. It ended with a lot of character deaths. Since then, I've learned to adapt on the fly, but I've kept that as my style. My usual session preparation is usually a flowchart of several possiblities for how each encounter might be resolved, and where that might lead. WARNING : Regardless of how extensively you prepare, your players will ALWAYS find a way to do something you never would have planned for. Get used to it. When this happens, don't think of it as a problem, but instead, go with it, and prepare some encounters for when things go off the rails - it'll happen. Just have fun with it. All you have to do is apply the rules, and run enemy monsters that you have created, or are using from other sources like the monster manual, and run NPC's. Make characters, make dungeons, make a simple story, keep it simple. The more complicated things get, the harder it is to run, and the more frustrating for the players. Simple is good, because while the answer is obvious to you, it's because you know the answer. The players - they don't. Also, spice up your encounters some. Combat is great, but use some roleplay too, social interaction. And add some environmental challenges as well. Exploration, Social Interaction, and Combat are the 3 pillars of adventure. Plan for about 5 different big encounters in a night, and you're gold. Just do it, it'll feel natural in no time, and you'll enjoy it a lot. Your players will to, because they get to play because of you.