Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the most creative Dungeon Masters that I have ever had the honor of meeting and playing Dungeons & Dragons with: Master Bryce Cheatham. With over 3 years of experience as a Dungeon Master, he has created numerous, masterfully created campaigns that have captivated his players time and time again.
Question 1: How did you get introduced to D&D?
Answer: “Surprisingly, it started as an addiction to story books – especially choose your own adventure types. I would spend hours on hours reading all the way through the different story lines and seeing how it would incorporate the different choices. A good one would easily end up in completely different ways than the others and this inspired me once I started to hear about D&D through Youtubers who would create wild campaigns from the generic medieval type all the way to obscure ones like a cooperative journey through a haunted house.”
Question 2: Do you have a favorite campaign in which you were Dungeon Master?
Answer: “It’s hard to pick a favorite, it’s almost like asking someone to pick their favorite child. It takes hours and hours of preparation to present a good and coherent story to your players while still keeping it simple enough to allow them freedom. You spend a lot of time building this world your players will spend days in.”
Question 3: In your opinion, what makes D&D different from other tabletop games like Magic: The Gathering?
Answer: “The pure freedom of it, as I’ve said before, allowed to both the Dungeon Master and players. If you can imagine it, you can make it, which is far outside of what most games even permit. Not to mention the moments where your players just come up with a solution you as the Dungeon Master never thought of is always an interesting moment. It can be either extremely smart to the point of scary or just so idiotic that when it works, it sticks in everyone’s memory.”
Question 4: What is one outstanding or memorable experience that you have had while presiding as the Dungeon Master?
Answer: “I always strive to give the players freedom, and this has come back to haunt me multiple times. There was a multi-part quest that should have lasted the entire multi-hour session. Long story short, within minutes of meeting this essential character (that in other sessions players loved), decided “wow, he’s so annoying, wanna kill him?”; effectively rendering his scripted betrayal weeks out to be cut short and instead he became a ghost that followed and annoyed the party from then on.”
Question 5: Having created your own D&D campaigns, what would you say is essential for anyone to incorporate into their own campaigns?
Answer: “I think it’s easy to say have fun with it; leave wiggle room, but make sure your plot holes are covered so it feels like a realistic and living world. Never be afraid to get goofy with encounters – the world can be a dark place, but that doesn’t mean everyone is a boring “go here, get this” type of person.”
It was an absolute joy to interview Bryce and learn more about his experiences with, and his takes on just a few ways to improve anyone’s D&D experience. If you have a desire to get into D&D or any other similar tabletop game, feel free to message me on any one of the platforms listed on my “About” page. Thanks for tuning in, and feel free to “wander about the tavern” and check out my other posts!
Truthful Game Reviews for the Adult Player 
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