D&D (2024) Deborah Ann Woll and Matt Mercer consulted on the 2024 DMG.

WotC consulted with celebrities including True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll and Critical Role's Matt Mercer when revising the upcoming 2024 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Apparently another (unnamed) consultant provided advice on running game for kids.

That's it; that's the news.

 

[mamba]

There are a lot of easier ways to get female knights with mustaches

 

[overgeeked]

I've long suspected that the new DMG is going to have a lot more "How To DM In <This> Style" features in it, and this further confirms my suspicions. Sure there will be a lot of Canonical/mechanical/Rules guidance. But I think there will be a lot of coaching advice, so-to-speak.

I'd kill to have a DMG that has outside guest "Op Ed" columns and sidebars about DMming, Worldbuilding, Effective methods of Plot-hooking, How to prep your DM Satchel, etc. It would give it a touch of the Best of Dragon in it. I just wish that I knew of more of the creative community being involved (Mastering Dungeons, SlyFlourish, the Dungeon Dudes on the YouTube side of things, would be nice votes).

Additionally, aren't they putting some setting material in this? Maybe they're contributing to that.

Who knows? Maybe some of them are, and just haven't said anything yet (fingers crossed, but not behind my back).

You should check out the 4E DMG 2. It doesn’t cover all those topics, but it is basically set up as you suggest. I view both 4E DMGs as evergreen reference books. They’re well worth the money and time.

 

[Arilyn]

Robin Laws is one of my favourite game designers. He was one of the consultants on the 2014 PHB. This had no impact on my interest in 5e. I do not find Laws' fingerprints all over the design philosophy of 5e. It is D&D, not a Robin Laws game.

Mercer is just a consultant. If you don't like Mercer's style you don't need to fear that it'll contaminate the DMG.

 

[Clint_L]

To me, this is about as controversial as a skateboard company consulting with Tony Hawk.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

What do you mean? It is the people in this community that are constantly going on about how hard AD&D was to learn.

the ones complaining here still managed to learn, even if it was hard at the time.

 

[overgeeked]

the ones complaining here still managed to learn, even if it was hard at the time.

That’s mostly because we didn’t learn from reading the books. We learned from friends, family, neighbors, and classmates who already knew how to play. As mentioned, AD&D was more an oral tradition than a learn from the book tradition.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

What exactly is this "streamer mentality" that you are so concerned about? How exactly do streaming shows change D&D, the game itself, that is a negative for you?

You're coming across as a "get off my lawn" type of fan without any real, concrete concerns.

Yeah, this is giving me huge “I don’t like that it brought people into the hobby, now they’re changing things and don’t understand true/my D&D”-gatekeeping vibes. It’s okay to dislike Critical Role. It’s the “but they’re changing things” and their evasiveness of saying what they specifically dislike that makes it feel like this to me.

 

[KYRON45]

Yeah, this is giving me huge “I don’t like that it brought people into the hobby, now they’re changing things and don’t understand true/my D&D”-gatekeeping vibes. It’s okay to dislike Critical Role. It’s the “but they’re changing things” and their evasiveness of saying what they specifically dislike that makes it feel like this to me.

It's the internet...gotta dislike something or you're using it wrong.

 

[michaeljpastor]

You should check out the 4E DMG 2. It doesn’t cover all those topics, but it is basically set up as you suggest. I view both 4E DMGs as evergreen reference books. They’re well worth the money and time.

I couldn't get past the 4E PH, so I must admit that I have never read it. Teos @ Alphastream has recommended it as well, especially when Mastering Dungeons was going over the 2014 DMG.

I was just spitballing ideas that would be cool to see. Having a sidebar about the DMs satchel checklist (notecards/post-it/pencils/.4 sets of dice...) would be just fun (especially if they mocked it up like an encumbrance tally), like all those segments on how to pack your suitcase if you backpack and bike and what-not.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

At what point are we no longer allowed to say that we don't like something? This has 0 political angle, this is purely what someone likes or doesn't. I'm not even being dismissive of the two consultants or the streaming they do. At a certain point I have to start wondering if people are just looking for a fight when you disagree with them...

The point where you call something a ploy (a cheap trick) when there has been cooperation between those people and WotC for years. That is where your opinion stops being an opinion but an unbased accusation. That is where people call you out on it.

Is it a marketing campaign? Of course. But noone trys to trick you in anyway.

This would be if they hired someone who is popular that tells people how they use product x for years. To get money out of people with a bad product.
In this case they actually put work into it. And promote woth people that openly use that product for real.