D&D (2024) What can WotC do in OneD&D to make the DM's Guide worth buying?

[pointofyou]

Darn tootin' on the index. WotC should be embarrassed at the quality of that in their rulebooks.

I wonder how much they want to pass to DnDbeyond? Like, articles on how to track initiative....should that be in the DMG, or online? It is a lot easier to show those online than take up space in a book.

Bad indexes are a TRPG tradition.

 

[CleverNickName]

I wonder how much they want to pass to DnDbeyond? Like, articles on how to track initiative....should that be in the DMG, or online? It is a lot easier to show those online than take up space in a book.

I wouldn't really be surprised if the new books were digital-only, DDB exclusives. Disappointed, sure...but not surprised.

 

[Gorck]

A section on encounters. Add encounter charts based on locations and how to modify them. Examples of mixing monsters for varied challenge ratings. Maybe skip the wandering harlot table.

This x1000. I want more of the random encounter tables like the ones in Xanathar's. And I want them expanded upon (tables for Planes, creature type, etc.)

I'm considering having my group travel to the Shadowfel, but I really don't know enough about it to know what they would find there besides Shadar Kai.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm considering having my group travel to the Shadowfel, but I really don't know enough about it to know what they would find there besides Shadar Kai.

Book of Ebon Tides for 5th Edition - Kobold Press Store

 

[Zaukrie]

There are some great DMG type books out there.....I wonder what they'll borrow.

 

[ART!]

Third, provide toolkits. Noncombat challenges are a great example of an area where this would be helpful. Just as the Monster Manual provides a whole lot of components from which to assemble combat encounters, the DMG could provide components to assemble social encounters or exploration challenges. (Please do not refer me to 4E skill challenges. I have an extensive rant on the subject, but this is a 1D&D thread.)

I think the game needs this, badly.

Using D&D Byond's encounter-building tool recently, I was really struck by the lack of a social encounter or exploration-bulding tools.

And look, I get it - I've been playing various versions of D&D and other games for 45 years, I'm well aware that one can do all that without rules, or with loosey-goosey rules.

But, what if? Just, what if you had a system that took the skills, passive skills, and even ability scores, and laid out how each can affect or be actively used in common social situations, and in different ways in different kinds of situations. Include a system of NPC (and monster?) dispositions, each affected (or not affected), positively (granting advantage to the PC) or negatively (disadvantage) by that array of ability scores, passive skills, and active use of skills. Is an NPC hard up for cash, is a monster defending a nest, are the bandits looking for a leader?

I can imagine another counter-argument, that it would be too had to cover all the possibilities, to which I shrug and say "5E combat doesn't cover all the possibilities".

That said, I won't be surprised if the three pillars of play concept doesn't even get mentioned in this new edition. We've only had the two playtest docs so far, but there's nothing in them to suggest more support for social and exploration stuff. 5E brings it up but doesn't support it much, so I can imagine them learning the wrong (IMHO) lesson and just not bringing it up.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm not sure there is much they can do for 1dnd to make the DMG worth buying if you already have the original 5e DMG. If you have none of the books though, and they more or less reprinted the 5e DMG, I'd probably still recommend it.

 

[Yaarel]

My only issue with that is that the MM is already the biggest of the core rulebooks, and it really should get the various monster tables that shouldn't be in the DMG. So unless there's a significant increase in page count or reduction in artwork (and I'd expect the opposite, on both counts), adding traps/hazards would come at the cost of dropping a significant number of monsters.

I suppose they could drop upper-level support from the core 3 to make room, but I'd rather they didn't do that either - if it's not in the core 3 then it's probably gone for good.

It might help to split the MM into two books, one for lower level creatures and one for upper level creatures.

 

[delericho]

It might help to split the MM into two books, one for lower level creatures and one for upper level creatures.

There's a lot of sense in that, except that D&D has always been sorely lacking in upper-level support. So if they split the core into a "lower level" bit and an "upper level" bit, I fully expect that that will turn into "the game now has 10 levels" in short order.

(It's the same with DM support generally - my expectation is that going forward the DMG and the MM are likely to be the only books aimed squarely at the DM. Everything else will either be player side or shared. (Counting adventures as "shared", of course.))

 

[SteveC]

It would have to be something exceptional to get me to go another round. 5E is the first edition that I don't own a DMG and I've run two successful campaigns of it, so I didn't miss too much.
I think the most important thing to figure out is who the book is for. If it's for beginning GMs it should talk to people about how to actually create and run a game. (If you're looking for a great book on that, consider "Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way"). The problem is that type of material is pretty much useless for an experienced GM so they won't be interested in it.
Then there's the "grab bag of optional and alternate rules," which is great to a point but I've found that most of those rules aren't playtested and need serious expansion to actually use in game.
Then I suppose we have the magic items, which people do want to get, but 5E has gone out of the way to make less important to the game.
I think WotC should break the DMG up into several different books to speak to the people with different needs. Yes, that would be heresy, so I don't expect it to happen.