D&D 5E The Mystery of the 5E Dungeon Master's Guide

Mercurius · May 22, 2014

So the Player's Handbook seems relatively straightforward - it is both the main rulebook with the core rules, and used for character creation and development. Same with the Monster Manual. Nothing new here. But what about the DMG? It seems that it changes the most of the core rulebooks over the editions, and the description from the product page doesn't give us a lot to go on:

Everything a Dungeon Master needs to weave legendary stories for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and the guidance you need to spark your imagination and create worlds of adventure for your players to explore and enjoy.

Inside you’ll find world-building tools, tips and tricks for creating memorable dungeons and adventures, optional game rules, hundreds of classic D&D magic items, and much more!

Item Details
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 320
Price: A million dollars

My little joke aside, what more do we know? Does that last sentence ("Inside you'll find...") tell us everything we need to know, making this thread another exercise in speculative futility? Or have their been hints along the way of something else?

Remember, this is 320 pages - a meaty tome for the DMG. Magic items are back, which accounts for a lot, and presumably there will be some modular options ("optional game rules"), but I suppose I'm wondering about the first couple parts - world building, adventure design, etc. And will there be setting info and/or example adventures?

What say you?

delericho · May 22, 2014

Take the 4e DMG, add magic items, and you've got 320 pages (or pretty close).

And, actually, they could do worse - the 4e DMG had quite a lot of good stuff for the new(-ish) DM. Certainly, it was better than the 3e version with those endless walls, doors, and floors!

(And the less said about the 2nd Ed one the better.)

Mercurius · May 22, 2014

delericho said:
Take the 4e DMG, add magic items, and you've got 320 pages (or pretty close).

And, actually, they could do worse - the 4e DMG had quite a lot of good stuff for the new(-ish) DM. Certainly, it was better than the 3e version with those endless walls, doors, and floors! (And the less said about the 2nd Ed one the better.)

My favorite part about the 2E DMG was the class designer. I know, it didn't work great, but it was fun and that's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to see more of (and is generally what [MENTION=6688049]DnDPhilmont[/MENTION] is getting at here, I think).

delericho · May 22, 2014

Mercurius said:
My favorite part about the 2E DMG was the class designer. I know, it didn't work great...

Now that's an understatement!

Ruin Explorer · May 22, 2014

Mercurius said:
My little joke aside, what more do we know? Does that last sentence ("Inside you'll find...") tell us everything we need to know, making this thread another exercise in speculative futility? Or have their been hints along the way of something else?

Remember, this is 320 pages - a meaty tome for the DMG. Magic items are back, which accounts for a lot, and presumably there will be some modular options ("optional game rules"), but I suppose I'm wondering about the first couple parts - world building, adventure design, etc. And will there be setting info and/or example adventures?

What say you?

I'm guessing we'll see ALL the major modular rules and elements in the DMG, none in the PHB (optional stuff like Feats sure, but not tactical rules etc.), which may take up a lot of space.

We know some races will be in there - Warforged, fr'ex. Again could take a lot of space.

Add in magic items and "the usual DMG stuff", and that's probably an easy 320 pages.

Cyberen · May 22, 2014

Random tables !
Lots of them.

DMZ2112 · May 22, 2014

AD&D2 DMG: 192 pages
D&D3.5 DMG: 320 pages
D&D4 DMG: 224 pages

What I'm concerned about regarding the DMG is that it be a useful reference for hard crunch regarding adjudication of the three pillars of the game: Exploration, Combat, and Roleplaying. It should be at least as useful to me in constructing worlds, adventures, and encounters as the PHB is for players constructing characters. Not in a self-help manual way, but in a do-it-yourself guide way.

I'm not interested in chapters entitled "Fictional Positioning: You're Never Gonna Die; You're Gonna Make it if You Try" or "Player Agency: There'll Be No More Screaming But You May Feel a Little Sick." If the Starter Set is really targeting new dungeon masters, put that crap in there.

A third of the book being devoted to magic items seems egregious. I'm not saying it hasn't been done in the past, I'm just saying that it is a lot. It's possible (just possible) that the DMG doesn't need to contain /every/ type of Wondrous Figurine or Quaal's Feather Token.

Iosue · May 22, 2014

Just a note. Given that Mearls only completed the PHB forward today, and the DMG isn't even finished yet, and the fact that ALL of the core three on Amazon come to an exact 320 pages, I submit that that number is just a placeholder, and we don't quite know how big the books will be.

Texicles · May 22, 2014

ENWorld said:
You must spread some Experience Points around before giving it to DMZ2112 again.

For two Floyd references in one sentence. Also because I share your desire for a DIY-style DMG.

DMZ2112 · May 22, 2014

Iosue said:
Just a note. Given that Mearls only completed the PHB forward today, and the DMG isn't even finished yet, and the fact that ALL of the core three on Amazon come to an exact 320 pages, I submit that that number is just a placeholder, and we don't quite know how big the books will be.

I'm not going to get this completely right, so anyone with more publishing experience than I have should step in and correct me.

That said, this is something I don't think a lot of people know, but there's a reason why numbers like 320 and 224 and 192 show up a lot in publishing, and it's because of the way books like this are bound. All of these numbers are divisible by 32, which is the size of a bound section of pages in the book. If a page count goes to, say, 193, and can't be reduced, a new section of pages has to be added and suddenly the designers have 31 more pages to fill.

So while 320 pages might be a placeholder, it's pretty likely that it is accurate, because it can't end up at 315, or 325, or even 321. It will either be 320, 288, or 352.

Did I explain that without making a total ass of myself?