Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Not if you present one edition's work as superior to the others.Edition Wars can always be avoided.
Not if you present one edition's work as superior to the others.Edition Wars can always be avoided.
The first thing I do when I start a totally new campaign is create the world. Adventures comes after, and then encounters. The 5e DMG is the right order for me.
Probably not, strictly speaking. I would buy the heck out of a Campaign Guide or Worldbuilder's Guide. But there will always be a DMG, because tradition.As I tried to get at in the post that came in as you were typing yours, I'm not sure what the DMG is really for anymore. In 1e it had a lot of roles since many things were hidden from the players -- and so everyone had to read it. Does the way it is actually put together today make something that's worth calling a core book? Would putting in some monsters and removing some of the more in depth campaign building make an actual core book that was more useful to more people? Is there any reason besides tradition to have the core PHB, DMG, MM? Would a "Campaign Masters Guide" allow for a lot of new things?
Sure, but that does not necessarily reflect a good order or progression for learning the game. When I learn a new game as a GM, for example, I will need to know the basics for how to run the game rather than how to create the world.The first thing I do when I start a totally new campaign is create the world. Adventures comes after, and then encounters. The 5e DMG is the right order for me.
Sorry, but saying that I think that the 4e DMG did a good job of laying out the contents of their DMG is not invitation for an edition war.Not if you present one edition's work as superior to the others.
My first DM experience used 1e, and I had been playing for a while by then, so yes.Is that the order you did it the first time you ever DMed at all?
There is absolutely no consensus on what D&D's best practices actually are though, so I'm not sure how realistic that is.Quite right. It's not literally as difficult as brain surgery, right? If you want to do something difficult, try landing a jet on an aircraft carrier! I'm with you, Paul.
And, as we've already established, it's not more difficult to do more work than less, since DMing isn't difficult. I think we can all agree that doing a "heck of a lot more work" is no more difficult than doing less work.
What fools we are to believe that a body of best practices could be built in support of a system designed by mere human beings. Let's not try to improve things. If the Albert Einsteins and Isaac Newtons of D&D failed to unravel this dilemma in 1984, then I fear the solution will lie forever beyond our reach.
I don't know how we shifted from taking about DMing advice to the rules of 4e, but you seem to want to make it unavoidable, Paul, so I won't stand in your way.
So people who disagree with you should just keep their mouths shut? I loved the 1e DMG, for example, much more than 4e's. Should I just remain silent on that issue?Sure, but that does not necessarily reflect a good order or progression for learning the game. When I learn a new game as a GM, for example, I will need to know the basics for how to run the game rather than how to create the world.
Sorry, but saying that I think that the 4e DMG did a good job of laying out the contents of their DMG is not invitation for an edition war.
No one is asking anyone to be silent. Agreeing or disagreeing does not require edition war. It would be a gross error to conflate the two.So people who disagree with you should just keep their mouths shut? I loved the 1e DMG, for example, much more than 4e's. Should I just remain silent on that issue?
Agreed. You can discuss whether the 4e DMG did a good job of supporting 4e DMs - and whether that approach and presentation could be good for future editions - without commenting on the relative merits of 4e compared to other editions.Sorry, but saying that I think that the 4e DMG did a good job of laying out the contents of their DMG is not invitation for an edition war.
This is an unrealistic, unfair standard for improvement.There is absolutely no consensus on what D&D's best practices actually are though, so I'm not sure how realistic that is.