If you could give one tip to a new GM what would it be?
Dungeon, Dungeons, and more Dungeons
Landon Gonzalez
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Ayden Russell
Have fun
Joseph Murphy
People bicker sometimes. Remember that these aren't real arguements, nor are they jokes either; They are fun to amuse for some times, but don't allow them to eat the time for everyone else. Just as well, when people bicker under stress, try to keep their attention; sometimes this sort of bickering will just end in arguments and make the situation worse. Just don't stress out if you loose the reigns for a little bit by players being goofy or being frustrated.
John Brooks
Err in the players' favor whenever possible. If player agency blows holes in your plot then your plot is too rigid. No one is having fun if you're shooting down ideas, let them run with it whenever possible.
Mason Robinson
Don't ride the Dungeons and Dragons ride. Getting a magic weapon isn't worth having to deal with Dungeon Master and Venger.
Bentley Robinson
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN
Jacob Hall
Build the adventure, not the world.
You wouldn't believe how many new GMs I see fall into the trap of building an entire WORLD with dozens of countries and countries and even lore for alternate planes... and yet the best adventures take place within a single country, or dungeon, or city. The end result is that the GMs end up with a huge lore dump that they end up dropping on players at the start and it's so overwhelming that most of them won't read it or care anyway, especially if their adventure isn't taking place in 98% of the places described.
Like, it's OK if that stuff exists in the GM's head, but the focus should always be where the adventure is taking place. There's a reason Elder Scroll games only tackle one region at a time, for example, even while all the others exist.
Jaxon Ross
I mostly build worlds for my campaigns because I can't be bothered to memorize any of the already existent worlds and I like my players to have enough information to write a coherent backstory even if the plot never brings them back to their homeland.
Wyatt Carter
This this this this.
And this.
Jackson Nguyen
As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Plans are useless, but planning is indespensible."
What this means, is that when you plan out adventures and campaigns, they won't ever go according to your plans. (The players will always go against your plans.)
Instead, you plan adventures and campaigns so that you, the DM, understand what your game is all about. That way, when your players inevitably kick your plans in, you will know what you have planned well enough to flex to the player's choices with ease.