D&D (2024) Are we going to see DMG previews?

[grimmgoose]

But is it?
I bet there are plenty of DMs who have never purchased or read the DMG.
It's the least important book of the core. Always has been.

I agree that it's the least important book, but it doesn't have to be so anemic.

I've gotten so much more out of 36 pages in the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition "Adventure Toolkit" chapter than all 224 pages of the 5E DMG. It's just a nothing burger.

I get excited everytime Pinnacle drops something for Savage Worlds, because it's clear they design with the DM in mind. WOTC, in contrast, designs with the players in mind.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I agree that it's the least important book, but it doesn't have to be so anemic.

I've gotten so much more out of 36 pages in the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition "Adventure Toolkit" chapter than all 224 pages of the 5E DMG. It's just a nothing burger.

I get excited everytime Pinnacle drops something for Savage Worlds, because it's clear they design with the DM in mind. WOTC, in contrast, designs with the players in mind.

The huge cottage industry of helping 5E DMs create better adventures, build better monsters, structure campaigns better, build better magic items, manage their tables, etc., is all filling a void left by WotC back in 2014.

Some of it would exist if the 2014 DMG had been amazing, but it's noteworthy that there's much, much more of this industry today than there was even in the 3E D20 glut -- its DMG covered these bases a lot better.

If WotC really create a vast improvement with the 2024 DMG, I would expect to see at least some of these publishers shift focus to other areas in the D&D sphere.

 

[Retreater]

It could be argued that the DMG is even less important now that there are blogs, online communities, videos, live plays, etc, that all guide DMs.
I'm a librarian, and we've seen the usage of how-to guides plummet over the past decade. Books are no longer the ideal way to convey that information.
Matt Coville's videos are probably a better source of advice than the DMG. @SlyFlourish's encounter guidelines work better than the 2014 DMG's as well.
The DMG is basically a collection of magic items, which are pretty much ignored by the design of 5E

 

[SteveC]

If WotC really create a vast improvement with the 2024 DMG, I would expect to see at least some of these publishers shift focus to other areas in the D&D sphere.

It sounds like there is much more emphasis on new DMs (Of course, I haven't seen the book yet, so take that as being from ad copy), but I'm going to posit: is a book really the best way to teach someone to DM or GM? I remember the classic "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastery," and I've seen it referenced a ton of times since it was first written. Aside from that, I can't think of a really good essay on being a GM/DM.

But I have seen a ton of good content on that, almost entirely videos. Heck, the MCDM world emerged from doing just that.

I'd posit again that writing about how to DM/GM is a lot harder than talking to someone about it. There is a book called "How to GM the Angry Way" that I quite like, but I know that's not to everyone's taste.

I guess I'm asking what the DMG can do for new DMs besides digging up the old Robin Laws essay. And no, that's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like some ideas.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It sounds like there is much more emphasis on new DMs (Of course, I haven't seen the book yet, so take that as being from ad copy), but I'm going to posit: is a book really the best way to teach someone to DM or GM? I remember the classic "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastery," and I've seen it referenced a ton of times since it was first written. Aside from that, I can't think of a really good essay on being a GM/DM.

But I have seen a ton of good content on that, almost entirely videos. Heck, the MCDM world emerged from doing just that.

I'd posit again that writing about how to DM/GM is a lot harder than talking to someone about it. There is a book called "How to GM the Angry Way" that I quite like, but I know that's not to everyone's taste.

I guess I'm asking what the DMG can do for new DMs besides digging up the old Robin Laws essay. And no, that's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like some ideas.

Big fan of the Angry GM here!

 

[Oofta]

Considering the changes they made to the PHB it will be interesting to see what they do with the DMG.

 

[Demetrios1453]

No, we haven't seen any AFAIK (apart from the Bastions, as you mentioned, which was a weak and half-hearted effort to fulfill a promise they should have gone GUNG-HO for). I'm fully expecting a very poor performance, albeit a smidgeon better than the 5.0 DMG, but that's damning with faint praise. No, we won't see anything, or at least I would be truly shocked if we did. Yes, the books will just show up. It's only the most important book for a game that's all rah-rah-sis-boom-bah "DM Empowerment!" and they'll tell us diddly-squat about it until it hits the shelves.

That's a... surprisingly iron-clad declaration on your end. Having a "probably" or "likely" here and there might have been a better course, because if there's even one single video in the next six weeks, people are likely going to refer back to this post.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

is a book really the best way to teach someone to DM or GM?

Watching YouTube probably is (although obviously not all RPG channels are created equal in this regard) but the 2024 DMG is going to be the most widely available book on DMing anywhere in the world by this time next year and will be the first stop for many, many, many DMs. It needs to have something there that's useful and accurate to get people going before they're then told to spend 30 hours watching Matt Colville.

As for what should be in the DMG, one could do a lot worse than to just crib from Matt Colville's "Running the Game" videos.

 

[Parmandur]

That's a... surprisingly iron-clad declaration on your end. Having a "probably" or "likely" here and there might have been a better course, because if there's even one single video in the next six weeks, people are likely going to refer back to this post.

Yeah, kind of absurd, WotC hasn't released a book in years without bombarding social media channels about it for weeks, including detailed YouTube previews.

 

[mamba]

What? When did I say that it had "Low Sales"? I'm pretty sure that I've been crowing about how well it's doing.

I did not mean to imply you considered that slow sales, but you did say that it was slow to ramp up, and that is where my 'sell out in a week' came from

the book took some time to start really moving

Yeah, that happened too. Strangely, even from people who preordered it, that we contacted on the 3rd and said, "We have it here for you now!"

that is weird, people are distracted I guess