Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The 5e DMG Part 2- The Purpose of the DMG
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8800608" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>That would certainly help, but (at least for me) both the DMG and PHB should be updated. E.g. for the PHB:</p><p>1. In the Race(/Ancestry/Whatever We're Calling This Now) chapter, talk about how DM curation is important for setting the tone and style of a setting. Spend a page or so giving examples of different worlds and how limiting <em>or not limiting</em> races gives them their flavor, e.g. Athas vs Eberron. Possibly include oblique references to popular video game franchises like Elder Scrolls or Warcraft.</p><p>2. Ditto for the Classes chapter. A world without Clerics or Paladins (Athas) is very different from a world totally without arcane magic (no Artificer, Bard, EK Fighter, AT Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard!) A world where Artificers, Monks, and Rangers are commonplace but Wizards, Clerics, and Druids are nearly unknown will feel very different from a more "typical" Tolkienesque world.</p><p>3. Discuss the benefits, and costs, of permitting feats. Present options like allowing feats as a special reward for completing major personal stories or for unique experiences (e.g. drinking from the Vernal Queen's spring might grant the Eldritch Adept feat, as you are now bestowed a portion of her power in a way analogous to a Warlock.)</p><p>4. Actually give an <em>example</em> of creating a complete custom background, including a homebrew ribbon feature at its center, ideally from whole cloth but if necessary as a riff off of an existing background. This would be <em>huge</em> for helping players understand how to appropriately discuss areas where they'd like something the system just doesn't currently provide, but that its systems <em>could</em> provide if tweaked.</p><p>5. Fix the equipment chapter, for goodness' sake. The trident either shouldn't exist or should do something the spear doesn't, just to name a prominent example.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The latter is my primary concern, and also what I consider to be the <em>significantly more likely</em> situation. Keep in mind, if the numbers we've seen are to be believed, D&D has experienced something like <em>tenfold growth</em>. I really don't think the majority of that tenfold growth is people who were already friends of someone who could teach them...and watching something like The Adventure Zone or Critical Role is <em>not</em> a good guide for how to play or run D&D! Not even slightly! It would be like watching Iron Chef and thinking of it as a good instruction on how to cook for yourself--meaning, <em>not at all</em>. That doesn't mean there <em>aren't</em> things that can be done to learn how to cook (nor do <em>those</em> things imply that experience isn't important.) What it means is, there are now a lot more things that give people a reason to check out D&D, and a significant fraction of them--I would argue a majority of the newcomers!--are ones who <em>don't</em> have a friend group that can teach them well.</p><p></p><p>Hence, expanding what the DMG and PHB do, so that they give useful, productive advice that is style-agnostic (that is, "useful for all styles") or that is multi-style (that is, "advice for style A, and related styles B and C, and style D" etc.), seems like a top priority to me. Going beyond maintenance and toward sustainable continuing growth means being supportive of the plethora of ways players approach the game, and I mean that both in the sense of "gameplay styles" and in the sense of "how people get introduced to, involved in, and (hopefully) hooked on D&D."</p><p></p><p>Completely leaving the onboarding process to other people seems like a pretty great way to get caught with your pants down sooner or later. I mean, what do you do if CR decides that "One D&D" is to them what 4e was to Paizo, and thus pulls up sticks and makes their own competing edition? Suddenly, the people who handled a huge chunk of your onboarding are now onboarding for <em>their own game</em>, not your own, and you can't just re-issue your PHB and DMG to compensate for the loss because it will piss off your existing fans.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8800608, member: 6790260"] That would certainly help, but (at least for me) both the DMG and PHB should be updated. E.g. for the PHB: 1. In the Race(/Ancestry/Whatever We're Calling This Now) chapter, talk about how DM curation is important for setting the tone and style of a setting. Spend a page or so giving examples of different worlds and how limiting [I]or not limiting[/I] races gives them their flavor, e.g. Athas vs Eberron. Possibly include oblique references to popular video game franchises like Elder Scrolls or Warcraft. 2. Ditto for the Classes chapter. A world without Clerics or Paladins (Athas) is very different from a world totally without arcane magic (no Artificer, Bard, EK Fighter, AT Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard!) A world where Artificers, Monks, and Rangers are commonplace but Wizards, Clerics, and Druids are nearly unknown will feel very different from a more "typical" Tolkienesque world. 3. Discuss the benefits, and costs, of permitting feats. Present options like allowing feats as a special reward for completing major personal stories or for unique experiences (e.g. drinking from the Vernal Queen's spring might grant the Eldritch Adept feat, as you are now bestowed a portion of her power in a way analogous to a Warlock.) 4. Actually give an [I]example[/I] of creating a complete custom background, including a homebrew ribbon feature at its center, ideally from whole cloth but if necessary as a riff off of an existing background. This would be [I]huge[/I] for helping players understand how to appropriately discuss areas where they'd like something the system just doesn't currently provide, but that its systems [I]could[/I] provide if tweaked. 5. Fix the equipment chapter, for goodness' sake. The trident either shouldn't exist or should do something the spear doesn't, just to name a prominent example. The latter is my primary concern, and also what I consider to be the [I]significantly more likely[/I] situation. Keep in mind, if the numbers we've seen are to be believed, D&D has experienced something like [I]tenfold growth[/I]. I really don't think the majority of that tenfold growth is people who were already friends of someone who could teach them...and watching something like The Adventure Zone or Critical Role is [I]not[/I] a good guide for how to play or run D&D! Not even slightly! It would be like watching Iron Chef and thinking of it as a good instruction on how to cook for yourself--meaning, [I]not at all[/I]. That doesn't mean there [I]aren't[/I] things that can be done to learn how to cook (nor do [I]those[/I] things imply that experience isn't important.) What it means is, there are now a lot more things that give people a reason to check out D&D, and a significant fraction of them--I would argue a majority of the newcomers!--are ones who [I]don't[/I] have a friend group that can teach them well. Hence, expanding what the DMG and PHB do, so that they give useful, productive advice that is style-agnostic (that is, "useful for all styles") or that is multi-style (that is, "advice for style A, and related styles B and C, and style D" etc.), seems like a top priority to me. Going beyond maintenance and toward sustainable continuing growth means being supportive of the plethora of ways players approach the game, and I mean that both in the sense of "gameplay styles" and in the sense of "how people get introduced to, involved in, and (hopefully) hooked on D&D." Completely leaving the onboarding process to other people seems like a pretty great way to get caught with your pants down sooner or later. I mean, what do you do if CR decides that "One D&D" is to them what 4e was to Paizo, and thus pulls up sticks and makes their own competing edition? Suddenly, the people who handled a huge chunk of your onboarding are now onboarding for [I]their own game[/I], not your own, and you can't just re-issue your PHB and DMG to compensate for the loss because it will piss off your existing fans. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The 5e DMG Part 2- The Purpose of the DMG
Top