D&D 5E Dungeons and Dragons: The "Dungeon Master's" edition.

[Jeff Carlsen]

I agree that WotC did not entirely deliver the modularity that was promised, mostly because it turned out they didn't need to.

They went in to the playtest expecting there to be a few large, highly different groups of D&D players. Over time they found that to be false. They were instead able to build a game that appealed to a vast majority, which could be modified in small ways and through DM empowerment to handle most of the outliers.

So we have a collection of simple rule tweaks, but few large modules.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Seriously, most D&D editions are at their best just before a new edition comes out: I can't wait for 6th edition because then 5th edition will be so friggin' awesome! LMAO!

You think so? I've always felt that editions totally fall apart just before a new edition. For me Skills & Powers killed 2nd Ed, 3rd had it's power levels all skewed before 4th, and as much as I liked some of the design work in Essentials, 4th was toast not long after.

But I agree that 5e is pretty sweet at the moment!

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I agree that WotC did not entirely deliver the modularity that was promised, mostly because it turned out they didn't need to.

They went in to the playtest expecting there to be a few large, highly different groups of D&D players. Over time they found that to be false. They were instead able to build a game that appealed to a vast majority, which could be modified in small ways and through DM empowerment to handle most of the outliers.

So we have a collection of simple rule tweaks, but few large modules.

That's probably the most charitable read of the situation. I'd add that when they sat down to include stuff like alternate healing rules and spell points, having specific meta-terminology for rules "modules" and "sliders" probably didn't seem worthwhile.

 

[Iosue]

The game to me looks plenty modular, if one looks at it from the point of view of "My D&D". That is, as a DM, you can use it to really make it play the way you want it to play. But if you're looking for some switches and dials to make it a particular edition, it doesn't really have that.

But one thought I had about the DMG is that some stuff we were told would be in there (conversion rules, kender, warforged), seem to have been cut for space. While things like "DM Advice" were supposed to be left to online media, and not included in the book. But from reading reviews, it sounds like there's a lot of "DM Advice" in the book, that seems to have pushed out some of the other modules. Any thoughts from people who have the DMG? Any sections you thought would have been better served on the website, to clear up room for other stuff?

 

[Sailor Moon]

Well the rules for monster creation should have gone into the MM because you have to reference it anyway so that would have saved some space.

 

[Fralex]

Well the rules for monster creation should have gone into the MM because you have to reference it anyway so that would have saved some space.

It would save space in one book and take up an equivalent amount of space in the other. From what I understand, all the books had as much squeezed in as possible. What if they could only fit in monster creation if they took out the flumph entry (I would literally die)?!

I personally think it will be more convenient if I can look at the MM for reference without having to turn back to the monster creation rules every time. If they're in a separate book, I can just leave that part open. Ditto for the lists of monsters by environment and CR, though putting that in the MM would have also made a lot of sense.

 

[Ravenheart87]

Well the rules for monster creation should have gone into the MM because you have to reference it anyway so that would have saved some space.

Sure, and leave out monsters from the Monster Manual for that? It already got bigger than they planned, and the NPC/animal section is pretty compressed.

 

[MichaelSomething]

There's always splat books....

 

[wedgeski]

I'm impressed by the options they managed to cram into the DMG but won't be entirely convinced until I try some of them for real (miniatures combat, for example). Other sections, like the monster building chapter you mentioned, just jump off the page as being everything I need. Sure, it could have been in the MM (as could some of the appendices), but at that point you're just shuffling pages from one book to the other.

The Dungeon Master's Guide, as a whole, is pretty amazing. It's just rammed with stuff. There's a commitment to completeness and quality about all of the core books that really deserves a lot of respect, IMO.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I'm impressed by the options they managed to cram into the DMG but won't be entirely convinced until I try some of them for real (miniatures combat, for example). Other sections, like the monster building chapter you mentioned, just jump off the page as being everything I need. Sure, it could have been in the MM (as could some of the appendices), but at that point you're just shuffling pages from one book to the other.

The Dungeon Master's Guide, as a whole, is pretty amazing. It's just rammed with stuff. There's a commitment to completeness and quality about all of the core books that really deserves a lot of respect, IMO.

Sure your shuffling pages, but the DMG tells you to reference the MM anyway when looking for abilities so instead if having to flip back and forth between books, you can flip back and forth in the same book.