Why Your Sessions Fall Flat—and the DM Energy Fix That Changes Everything

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts122/v4/1d/0e/33/1d0e337a-7c7f-16f2-5b11-8d05a3cc56a7/mza_863806423336401215.png/600x600bb.jpg

How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM

Justin Lewis

235 episodes

1 day ago

Learn how to be a better DM (Dungeon Master) so you can tell better stories for yourself and your friends. Learn things like how to start a campaign, how to create realistic NPCs, how to move the plot along, and how and why to use session 0's for your party. Join hosts Justin Lewis, Cayden Ottley and Tanner Weyland as they distill all the DM tips, tools and resources for the beginner DM, for the DM with a few years of experience and for the Forever DM who's been playing for 20 years. If you're sick of searching for things like, "How to create a homebrew DND campaign?", click the play button and listen to become the best dungeon master you ever could be! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/betterdungeonmaster Discord Server: https://discord.gg/g77qt8quM2 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@session0studios YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@session0studios Professional Dungeon Master Services: https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ DM Coaching: https://session0studios.com/coaching/

Hobbies

Leisure

RSS

All content for How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM is the property of Justin Lewis and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Hobbies

Leisure

https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_episode/44137710/d5ed82c26f2fdacd.png

Why Your Sessions Fall Flat—and the DM Energy Fix That Changes Everything

How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM

24 minutes 44 seconds

5 months ago

Why Your Sessions Fall Flat—and the DM Energy Fix That Changes Everything

TL;DR:

If your sessions start strong but crash halfway through, it’s not your story, your prep, or even your players—it’s your energy management. In this episode, Justin breaks down the hidden reason your games lose momentum mid-session and teaches you how to fix it permanently.

Here are today's sponsors:

Worldsmith - Easy D&D Prep - Start a Free 7 Day Trial: https://session0studios.com/worldsmith-podcast

Roll and Play Press - Easier D&D: https://session0studios.com/rollandplay

Studio Fantasms: https://session0studios.com/fantasms

Our Patreon: https://session0studios.com/patreon

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

-The Real DM Killer: It’s not scheduling, it’s session fatigue—and most DMs don’t even realize it’s happening.

-Mental vs. Physical Energy: Why you’re probably managing the wrong one (and what to do about it).

-The “Secret Breaks” Technique: How doing less mid-session can actually supercharge your impact.

-Hydration Science for DMs: Why sipping water wrong is draining your stamina (and how to fix it).

- Find Your Energy Style: Why trying to copy Mercer or Mulligan might be sabotaging your flow—and how to unlock your personal DM tempo.

The Big Promise:

After this episode, you’ll know how to control your energy like a resource, just like mana or spell slots. No more sluggish sessions. No more zoning out. Just peak performance when it counts.

You’ll walk away with:

Tools to maintain high engagement from start to finish
Confidence in your pacing, presence, and delivery
A repeatable framework for showing up energized at the table every time

Ready to stop running out of gas halfway through your game?

Hit play and let’s supercharge your DM style.

Want this kind of energy in your own campaign? Book a pro DM session at Session0Studios.com

Special thanks to:

Benj Weyland for Graphic Design (https://www.instagram.com/benjweydesign/)

TJ Max, Juka, and TechSenpai for being amazing moderators

Kyle Wilson, Nick Ammann and Professor Nobody for being our patrons.

Mentioned in this episode:

Join Our Discord

So a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today.

Discord

Give Us a Rating and Review

You obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.

I Made a CR 100 Monster

I made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100 Why? Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith. And the best part? You can do this and much more. Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between. Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free. That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout. Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith. Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith.

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.