The rules - I think that's one big thing that people seem to get caught up in is that I have to know all the rules... But, one thing you have to consider as a new Dungeon Master is you do not have to know the rules like the back of your hand.
The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.
The Way of Mastery is to break all the rules—but you have to know them perfectly before you can do this; otherwise you are not in a position to transcend them.
And I'm the first one to tell people to break the rules. But you can only break the rules once you know what the rules are. The other thing is, fashion is the last design discipline to actually have academic texts and historical analysis.
If you're going to play the game properly you'd better know every rule.
I always say that it's about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place.
You have to learn the rules to be able to know how to break them.
