Mastering Dungeon Mastering: Intro and Bibliography

I think I’ve stagnated as a dungeon master/game master over the last few years. I’ve fallen out of doing voices, I tend to be woefully unprepared, and I don’t really incorporate players’ stories into the game or encourage roleplay. I definitely know I can improve, and with that, I’ve decided to embark on this new quest I’m calling Mastering Dungeon Mastering.

My plan is to track tips, tricks and ideas with this book here, which Kato Katonian suggested I call The Book of Exalted Deeds. I’ll be sorting all of the advice into different categories, bullet journal style, and before each session, I’ll refer to the book and try to do a few of the things I’ve written down to improve my game.

I’ve been gathering up RPG materials for advice on how to improve, so here’s the bibliography I’ll be gathering advice from. If you have any more you would suggest, lemme know in the comments.

1. Dungeon Master’s Guide (5e, 4e): Both of these books are filled with fantastic advice, including advice on types of players and campaigns, as well as being the source for stuff I’ll actually be using in my campaigns.
2. Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 (4e): Possibly the best DMG ever written, thanks to Mr. Robin Laws. The book can be used for not only any edition of D&D, but any RPG ever. Amazing advice, covering topics such as story structure, player motivations, cooperative world building and more, you all need to own this one yesterday.
3. Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering: I reviewed this one not long ago, but it was my original tome of all knowledge, providing me with great info and making me a good DM back in the day. Much of the advice within has fallen to the wayside out of my head, which probably contributed to the failure on my part to be a better DM.
4. XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery: This one, by Tracy Hickman and his son Curtis, is pretty great. It’s an odd combo of satire, mocking the culture of dungeon masters, as well as providing great practical advice.
5. The Lazy Dungeon Master: Sly Flourish’s fantastic book helps you become a better dungeon master with as little work as possible. I’m going to add here his Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master which just recently released and contains even more great tips.
6. Hackmaster Game Master’s Guide: This is their first version, not the current rules. Hackmaster was designed to be an overcomplicated version of 1e D&D, but it’s got some really cool ideas in there as well including their elaborate looking but inevitably simple alignment chart guide.

What else should I add into my list? Lemme know in the comments!