Wish Me Luck: I'm Reading the DM Guide Cover To Cover!

[VirgilCaine]

The 1st edition DMG is filled with (looking back) startling bad advice delivered in such a colorful and eclectic manner that you don't notice. Reading it now I wonder how the game hung together for so long. But on the other hand I remember reading the 1st edition DMG for the first time and finding it to be a trove of mysterious secrets and power. Bad advice notwithstanding, the true measure of the value of the 1st edition DMG is that I feel perfectly free to forgo the 3rd edition one with its 'useless' lists of treasures (as if my own imagination could not more than suffice by this point) and such, but I would never give up my 1st edition one.

I have the book...and, um, what bad advice?
I don't like the spellcasting theory explanation (energy-sound resonance...eeugh), and I suppose the scroll/potion formulas and guidelines for trading spells with NPCs are stringent, but the examples of defensive precautions of various bad guy lairs seem good...guess I failed my Will save?

As for "mysterious secrets and power"--yeah, those are some nifty artifacts, but the powers are pretty limited...like every artifact is supposed to be a weapon?
As for the useless 3rd edition treasures, I'd rather have some standards that I can go to so I can work on more important aspects of the adventure/campaign.

A thorough knowledge of the text comes in handy when one is arguing against the stupidity of gaming fundamentalists who quote DMG (and PHB) verses out of context for their own nefarious uses. I did the same thing after being left speechless when the ol' grump up the street quoted at me, "A die for a die."

Oooookaay. Whereever he got that from. Any other examples?


As for not reading the DMG, if you haven't YOU NEED TO. It has basic stuff that would fix 75% of all bad campaigns if the DMs could get it into their head.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I actually found reading the PMB more of a slog than this current trek through the DMG. Bloody hell, it can be dry, but Dear Monte does inject life into what could be the equivalent of reading about your dryer.

Oooh....wilderness campaigns! Maybe there will be squirrels! Who like Tennyson!

The Dreaded Tennyson Squirrels! Stat block! Stat!

I never noticed dryness. I was more interested in finding out what they put in there (for the DMG) and how things worked (for the PHB).