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).

 

[DEFCON 1]

I like Greyhawk simply because it's not so completely overstuffed like FR.

My biggest issue with Greyhawk was always that I just didn't like the names for things. Even putting aside the puns and anagrams and palindromes of so many original characters and places that the originators came up with... even other locations across Oerth just had really poor-sounding letter combinations and "fantasy naming" in my opinion.

That's what both Greenwood has gotten right with Faerun and Baker with Eberron... their naming conventions produce much more pleasing-sounding names to me.

 

[nyvinter]

Not just weird, I would say it's downright arrogant on their part to think they could create "content" for a game they haven't even read all of the basic rulebooks.

I've read the 5.14 DMG, and frankly I understand why they haven't. It's not good. Terrible disposition hampered by uninspired writing and vague rules descriptions written for experienced dungeon masters that don't really need to read it. Coming after the excellent 4e Guides, it's a disgrace.

The new one seems to be an all around improvement there, and hopefully James Wyatt is back at the helm of it.

 

[Parmandur]

My biggest issue with Greyhawk was always that I just didn't like the names for things. Even putting aside the puns and anagrams and palindromes of so many original characters and places that the originators came up with... even other locations across Oerth just had really poor-sounding letter combinations and "fantasy naming" in my opinion.

That's what both Greenwood has gotten right with Faerun and Baker with Eberron... their naming conventions produce much more pleasing-sounding names to me.

I like both Gygaxian and Greenwoodian naming conventions, but truly that ia one of the stronger differences between the Settings vibes.

That, and the Forgotten Realms has Aslan ruling over Druid Narnia.

 

[dave2008]

There's a difference though, between "incorporating downtime" and "incorporating downtime rules" in a game.

Sure. However we've played D&D for 30 years and it wasn't until 5e introduced "downtime" that we started incorporating and then embracing it as part of our game.

WotC's problem is which elements to feature within the DMG, and for which of them to provide hardcoded rules vs sensible guidelines only.

Well that need is going to be different for everyone. Personally we treat all rules as guidelines, nothing is "hardcoded." That is the spirit of D&D for us - make it your own.

Now, it wasn't until WotC developed rules for downtime that we ever really considered it. We have since modified and expanded downtime far beyond WotC's tentative steps. I just appreciate them giving use the inspiration for a new way to play the game (for us).

Downtime is something we dedicate a significant attention to, but hardly use any rule for it.

We have definitely gone that direction, but it started with the rules for us and expanded from there. We have added our own guidelines / rules as well. For example, PCs can only level up during downtime and it requires successful downtime activities to solidify your level advancement.

 

[dave2008]

I've read the 5.14 DMG, and frankly I understand why they haven't. It's not good. Terrible disposition hampered by uninspired writing and vague rules descriptions written for experienced dungeon masters that don't really need to read it. Coming after the excellent 4e Guides, it's a disgrace.

I disagree with this assessment (in part). I'm not a new DM (I wasn't during 4e either) so I can't judge how effective either was on that account. But for the experienced DM that I am, I have gotten a lot more use out of the 5e DMG than I did the 4e DMG or DMG 2. I will agree that the 5e DMG was poorly organized which made it more difficult to use.

Edit: I should also clarify that a I am a big fan of 4e and I got use out of the 4e DMG, just not as much use as I have from the 5e DMG.

 

[Composer99]

I've read Adam Tooze's "The Wages of Destruction" cover to cover, for fun! So, like, high-density text isn't too much for me. The 2014 DMG is so sloppy, though, that I've yet to read it cover to cover. I use it as a reference but the layout and organisation is sufficiently irksome that I try not to.

Looking forward to improvements on that score in the 2024 DMG!

 

[KYRON45]

Not just weird, I would say it's downright arrogant on their part to think they could create "content" for a game they haven't even read all of the basic rulebooks.

I've been DMing for quite some time and have never read the DM or any of the "basic rulebooks". To me they are reference material to be used as needed. Does this make me less of a DM?
The "content" I create is for my players and it's based on my experiences and vision of how the game is played.

The "content" they create is for their viewers based on their experience. There are infinite versions of the game because everyone who plays sees things differently. Calling someone arrogant because they see things different than you seems problematic.

 

[mamba]

Except like the encounter building assumptions, magic item distribution assumptions...

yes, and those are easily ignored with the DM going with their experience over the guardrails for newbies (how transferable that experience is might vary, but no one says that all encounters need to be balanced)

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've watched the video now and honestly, I'm really looking forward to this book. And much like many have said, I generally don't get a lot of use out of a DMG.

 

[mamba]

To hear that the man behind Dungeon Craft has said he hasn't read the 5e DM Guide is pretty insulting when you look back at his videos attacking WotC etc. He literally says, in ten years, he's never read the 5e DMG. And yet, 136,000 subscribers and who knows how many random viewers have listened to his views on the way to run D&D and taken it as valuable.

and why not, I do not need him to rehash the DMG pages, I can read those myself

Whether he is giving good advice, no idea, rarely watch him and those times he rarely does and talks more about things other than advice