D&D (2024) The New DM Tools In The New Dungeon Master's Guide

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide contains a 'toolbox'. The DM's Toolbox is the third chapter in the book, presented as an alphabetical miscellany of varied things to help you prep or run a game.

Each entry is 1-2 pages long and includes things like creating monsters, fear and mental stress, chases, firearms and explosives, and traps. For example, it goes in depth into chases, with details about wilderness or urban chases.

Much of the topics were already in the 2014 DMG--albeit organized differently. Some new topics include character death, and more detailed look at alignment--and how actions determine alignment and not vice versa.

Also included is a big table of 'dungeon quirks'--why, then, and by whom was it built? Examples include made by giants (with everything being larger scale), built on top of a cloud, and so on.

There's plenty more stuff--environments, a settlement tracker (Chris Perkins and James Wyatt roll up a random settlement in the video), hazards, mob rules, marks of prestige (rewards like deeds, medals, or titles).

 

[dave2008]

That needs to be nipped in the bud, ASAP! My players certainly don't feel that way. I'd hate to see the community moving away from roleplaying away from the active adventure.

Yes, downtime is a substantial portion of our game - pretty much anything that isn't an adventure. We can easily spend a whole session or more on "downtime"

 

[dave2008]

This has been my favorite DM video so far and, for me, the most encouraging. I do think that this was close to confirming that the variant rules are not in the 2024 DMG. However it looks like they are giving some more thought and space to the optional rules though which is welcome.

 

[Selas]

That needs to be nipped in the bud, ASAP! My players certainly don't feel that way. I'd hate to see the community moving away from roleplaying away from the active adventure.

Not refuting this, as I like Downtime activities myself. However, I have played at some tables where there's that one player that hates Downtime and complains about it the entire session; they're usually very combat focused and hate any kind of roleplay. Most end up quitting

 

[Oofta]

For the record, I am supporting the concept (and verbiage) of downtime, not saying that WotC has dropped it without any evidence. Someone suggested it had a bad connotation, and I was refuting that.

I just think that there is a tendency to jump to conclusions by some people (not saying you did). We'll know in a few weeks what the contents are and I'm sure we'll have plenty to argue about.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'm very interested to see what shows up in the NPC section. Answers to the interminable discussion on NPC loyalty in the Bastions thread looks to be touched upon here. As they mentioned NPCs as part of the party, I do wonder if we'll get the NPC sidekick classes from Tasha's here, as it would be a good place to reprint them. I know that most parts of this section will be 1 - 2 pages, but it does seem that the NPC section (as well as a few others) might be a bit longer.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm very interested to see what shows up in the NPC section. Answers to the interminable discussion on NPC loyalty in the Bastions thread looks to be touched upon here. As they mentioned NPCs as part of the party, I do wonder if we'll get the NPC sidekick classes from Tasha's here, as it would be a good place to reprint them. I know that most parts of this section will be 1 - 2 pages, but it does seem that the NPC section (as well as a few others) might be a bit longer.

I would be stunned but delighted if sidekicks show up in the 2024 core books.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I would be stunned but delighted if sidekicks show up in the 2024 core books.

If they aren't they were seemingly talking about something near them. Maybe not full-on NPC classes, but how to design NPCs to fill gaps in parties.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Not refuting this, as I like Downtime activities myself. However, I have played at some tables where there's that one player that hates Downtime and complains about it the entire session; they're usually very combat focused and hate any kind of roleplay. Most end up quitting

Quite frankly, while I would try my best, such a player is unlikely to be happy at my table.

 

[tetrasodium]

Not refuting this, as I like Downtime activities myself. However, I have played at some tables where there's that one player that hates Downtime and complains about it the entire session; they're usually very combat focused and hate any kind of roleplay. Most end up quitting

That's a symptom that grows from the fact that said player doesn't feel like they can get anything of value for the combat they care about in an edition designed around the assumption of starting gear and other mundane nonmagical equipment as the only gear needed or expected for their PC to keep up.

Yes there are other reasons why a player might be interested in those downtime activities, but at some point the realization of how pointless it all is in the grand scheme of things starts to chip away at those reasons. Once those chips start forming it winds up resulting in those reasons sliding towards feeling hollow unless the gm just keeps working harder and harder to spin the plates carrying those reasons faster and faster.

When there is a mechanical need both types of players are more eager to hook onto the thing the other enjoys because they can see personal value in it.

 

[Distracted DM]

Not refuting this, as I like Downtime activities myself. However, I have played at some tables where there's that one player that hates Downtime and complains about it the entire session; they're usually very combat focused and hate any kind of roleplay. Most end up quitting

I have players that like downtime but hate doing it during sessions. Those players want sessions to be reserved solely for adventuring, no downtime or shopping. I try to get some or all of it done between sessions buuut it can take a lot of the DMs time/effort and players may not realize that by running their downtimes between sessions you're essentially doing an extra mini session