To a player, the DM is a terrifying, mysterious, and capricious god. They are every villain who will ever try to murder you and every potential ally. If the party has a weakness, the DM knows it and will exploit it with a smile. They are the giver of treasure and the dungeon cartographer, storyteller and keeper of monsters.
An experienced player understands this. They can look at their friend over a flurry of campaign notes and a pile of dice, and see what makes the DM god. A new player probably won't understand. They might assume that a DM is someone who reads things out of a manual or knows the rules the best.
Eventually, one of these players (I'm gonna assume you) will step up to be a DM themselves. It could be a matter of moving away, or your DM doesn't have time to run a game, or a new group wants to start playing and needs a DM, or your DM wants to be in a game for once. The reason doesn't really matter. Bloody coup or line of succession, the player (that's you) is now the god.
Transitioning from player to DM is tricky. In a way, you have an advantage from those who start out playing tabletop games by being the DM. You've seen what you like and what you don't like. You've probably found out which rules aren't worth messing with (*coughgrapplingcough*) and which house rules let everyone have more fun.
On the other hand, experiences with other DMs may be making you wary. There are two possible cases. Either your DM was great, or your DM was bad. Both can present challenges.
Challenge 1 ) Your DM was the best!
As a player, your DM is the grand mastermind who constructs your world. They make the rules. They ensure that everyone is having fun and you've always loved the adventures that your DM creates. It seems reasonable to you, therefore, that your DM is the most capable among you or the one with the most charisma. They are, essentially, the bard of your party of friends or at least the leader of said party. With so much built up respect, it can be intimidating to think of taking over their role.
Will you be good enough? Will your other friends like you as much as they liked the last DM? Should you be the same and emulate them, or be new and different? You're pretty sure that you can't be as creative as your DM.
First off, calm down. You'll be fine. Chances are, you're playing with friends, and though friends can be the most brutally honest of critics, they will also be forgiving. If you're playing with a new group, remind them that you're new too. Hopefully, it will earn you some slack.
The important part here is to take what you've learned from your great DM and adapt it. House rules that you loved? Steal 'em. Liked that your DM used character voices? Make some of your own. Had a blast that time your DM let a party member bluff their hand back on after it was eaten off by a mimic? Keep that spirit of possibility alive in your own game.
You have a great example to follow, so use it and make it your own.
Challenge 2 ) Your DM was terri-bad!
Maybe you want to be DM because yours sucked. If you take over, at least they won't be running the lives of your fictional friends anymore.
Your DM set a terrible example, and now you don't know how a good DM should act. On the plus side, your friends will probably be really impressed with your DM'ing skills no matter how much you mess up. The down side is that you may not know what to do to improve.
This is the flip side of challenge 1, so the first thing to do is to make a list (mental or physical) of the things that you disliked in your previous game. Your DM gave an elf a bad southern accent (I apologize to my wonderful DM who that was a dig at. I couldn't help myself. I love you.)? All elves are now from Canada! Tired of caves, dungeons, sewers, and pretty much all other settings that could be termed underground? Forest battle time! Katanas are under-powered? House rule that shit! Katanas are now the best!
My other advice: find a good DM and watch them or read their articles. Youtube is a wealth of DM goodness these days.
If taking on a campaign length commitment seems like too much, start small. Run a one-shot and get feedback. In my very first one-shot, I accidentally killed all of my players with frost traps. Whoops...
A one-shot means that if it goes terribly, it was only a small time investment wasted. You can change the setting and the game system and the characters until you find the things that work for you because each one-shot is its own little world. Sometimes, it just takes practice. In fact, all the time it takes practice. Don't expect things to be perfect the first time, and hope for the forgiveness and acceptance of your players.
So get your ass out there and DM!
I'll be updating with all of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs (did you see what I did there?) of a brand-new, baby DM so you can watch me fail and feel better about yourself. Catch the story of this weekend's one-shot on Monday.
Baby DM out.
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