D&D 5E People don't read the 5E DMG for a reason

[James Gasik]

I think the game would benefit from 2 DM-focused books:

1) Stuff to throw at my players' faces: mix the MM (and a monster builder) with the encounter builder and evolving traps from Xanathar's, NPC reaction rules, puzzles, journey rules and magical terrain hazard from Tasha's and Saltmarsh.

2) The art of DMing: worldbuilding stuff, alternate rules, magic items (and a magic item builder) etc

DM books don't sell, which is why WotC doesn't make a lot of them. That's why almost every book they do make has player facing content as well.

After all, for every DM, there's a handful of players who want fun new options for their characters. Why market a book for a fraction of your base?

 

[payn]

DM books don't sell, which is why WotC doesn't make a lot of them. That's why almost every book they do make has player facing content as well.

After all, for every DM, there's a handful of players who want fun new options for their characters. Why market a book for a fraction of your base?

I thought WotC/Hasbro just said the opposite? GMs are 20% but the ones doing all the buying.

 

[Minigiant]

It's not a bad idea & not one I disagree with. Ultimately this is an area where they would benefit writing more books to incentivize their subscription thing. If the DMG got split into two or even an eventual third book that were each more heavily full of useful stuff it makes doing the read all of them subscription a better value until you pick them up one by one & by then a lot of people will find that the online tools have gained enough value to drop 5$/month or whatever*.

* or buying each of the books at once was no big cost & 5$/month is likewise a trivial amount.

Exactly. I'd pay $5/month for access to advanced tables and charts a veteran like me might need and a newbie DM would do the same for all the guidelines for starting up. The books just aren't big enough for the size of the community.

 

[pukunui]

I guess I’m an outlier in that I have read the DMG and I do use it regularly in play.

 

[Nikosandros]

Personally, I find the 5e DMG poorly written and poorly organized, so I'm not too surprised that it isn't widely read.

 

[EpicureanDM]

If 5E is supposed to be someone's first RPG, or even just their first game mastering experience, the DMG isn't the book for them to start with. (Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is better, but even that is meant for an already experienced DM looking to detox a bit.) But it should be, since it's the resource new DMs are most likely to have.

5e wasn't supposed to be anyone's first RPG. It was designed to lure Pathfinder players back to D&D. Returning Pathfinder DMs had the experience and skill to implement 5e's "rulings, not rules" vision, so a lot of the advice in the 5e DMG could rely on returning DMs' ability to muddle through.

 

[EpicureanDM]

Yeah, the 5e DMG reeks of having been written by someone who has been DMing so long it comes naturally to them, and they have no idea how to explain what they’re doing because they’re doing it all intuitively at this point.

Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, and James Wyatt are the credited leads for the 5e DMG. They're all currently on the D&D design team, two of them in the most senior design positions for 1D&D. I wouldn't hold out much hope.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I've long said there should be FIVE core books.

Why stop at 5. Let's go full throttle and make it an even 20 (given the iconic 20 levels).

1. Basic Players Handbook (Free)
2. Advanced Players Handbook
3. Equipment Expanded
4. Treasures and Trinkets
5. Spell Compendium
6. Basic Dungeon Masters Guide (Free) (teaching new DMs)
7. Advanced Dungeon Masters Guide
8. Monstrous Manual - Heroic
9. Monstrous Manual - Planar
10. Monstrous Manual - Mythic
11. Cosmologies and the Planes
12. Epic Level Handbook
13. Complete Psionics
14. Complete Alchemy
15. Portents, Sigils and Rituals
16. Bastions, Territories and Kingdoms
17. The Big Book of Deities
18. Dungeoneering Expanded
19. Wilderness Expanded
20. D&D Hardcore (would include mature topics)

 

[Vaalingrade]

Wasn't there a thread recently that was just a long mockery of people for not reading it?

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

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