General Delivery (CSC)

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Developing the rut of a masterful delivery requires both patience and experience. As a DM's playing skills mature, he learns what fails and what works as he slowly acquires new tricks from other OMs and from his own players. One of the most difficult challenges facing the DM will be that of maintaining neutrality, walking that fine 1 ine between being either the enemy or a benevolent guide. Each DM's ultiumate style, approach, and technique will be highly personal. More often than not a DM's style will be somewhere to the left or right of perfect neutrality. It's a hard path to follow, yet there exist general rules that most successful OMs follow, whether they realize it or not.
==Don't Manipulate!==
One of the reasons the players have gathered to play an AD&D game is to experience the thrill of being a hero in another time and place. They want to be the masters' of their own fates, not the pawns of higher powers (which definitely includes the DM). In simple terms, let the players decide how their characters will act and where they will go. A good DM will not force his players to make decisions that match his goals and desires. Even if the sequencing of scenarios is primarily pre-planned, arrange events so that the players believe that they are choosing their character's actions and directions.
DM manipulation most commonly occurs when the players adamantly avoid involvement in a scenario that the DM has spent much time preparing or when the players are bound and determined to do something stupid-something that will either kill their characters outright or cause a major' world-changing catastrophe (the particularly annoying kind where a continent sinks or the entire political structure of a major land must be recreated).
In such situations it is better to improvise (also called "winging it") than manipulate. Heavy-handedness is usually resented and even the "mysterious voice from on high" type warning to keep players out of mischief gets old after a while. When a DM wants the players to act in a desired way, he should do what he can to either make his preferred choices more attractive, or manipulate events (not player characters) to give the players another opportunity to choose "correctly."
==Never Favor Characters==
Often, in extended campaigns, favorite personalities will emerge among the characters. It's a great temptation for the DM to favor such characters. Such a character may never die (or at least is always resurrected) and always gets the choice treasure. The job of the DM is to fairly administer the results of characters' actions. Playing favorites is not appropriate and can only lead to unhappiness. If a character dies in battle or chooses the cursed sword instead of the magical armor, then the DM should not alter the situation. He should only give the results of actions, not change the scenario to favor one character.
Character favoritism also applies to the creation of adventures. Try not to build a quest around a single character. [f that character dies, then the quest is over for the entire party and all the time invested is wasted.
==Never Punish Characters==
This is the other side of favoritism. A DM may dislike a player or a character in his campaign. It happens. Avoid the temptation to single out disliked characters for special unpleasantness unless the character (not the player!) has done something to warrant punishment and the outcome would advance the story line in a campaign.
==Never Choose Sides==
This cannot be stressed enough. "Killer" DMs who take the side of the monsters against the PCs are as bad as those who purposefully make the monsters ineffective by taking the side of the players against the monsters. A good DM will play monsters and NPCs to their fullest without actively trying to annihilate the party, or giving them smarts or insight that they couldn't reasonably possess. On the other hand, a 1 st level character should never be allowed to single-handedly destroy an entire family of red dragons.
==Always Maintain Game Balance==
Present the characters with challenges that are neither too easy nor overly difficult. This is best illustrated in combat situations. If a party enters a room of ores, adjust the number of ores present to match the fighting ability of the party. If it is a strong party, increase the number and upgrade their weapons. For a weak party, reduce the number and arm them with inferior weapons. Challenges which are too easy to overcome can be boring while those which are too difficult will cause the players to become discouraged. Remember, even low level monsters can be dangerous foes if played cleverly.