Dungeons & Dragons is as intimidating as it is freeing. On one hand, you have a game that’s only limited by your imagination — and a big book o’ rules, which you’re free to disregard as you see fit. On the other hand, if you’re the Dungeon Master, you have to walk a tricky tightrope.

It’s important to give your players the freedom they need to be crazy and creative, but you also need to restrain them a bit so you can actually complete the campaign or story line you’re attempting to play.

Running a game of Dungeons & Dragons, or any tabletop role-playing game, involves telling your players what they see. Players rely on you to give a sense of tone and ambience, but also to point out anything interesting or relevant to their quest. But they also need you to leave them room to ask and explore. A good game master learns how to describe a scene in enough, but not too much, detail.

One way to learn that skill, says redditor non_player on r/RPG, is to turn audio descriptions on when watching movies and TV shows.

Once upon a time, I was a wizard named Gandalf. It is an unimaginative moniker, admittedly, but it came from a tween who just finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As Gandalf, I knew a few common spells, for protection and attack and could speak dwarvish. I declared my alignment to be Lawful Good, naturally and went about my business seeking gold and magical treasure.