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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 4318482" data-attributes="member: 3586">Here's an interesting point: If I remember the designers discussing the DMG correctly, you're not actually meant to take the DMG to sessions. The DMG is almost purely for reference whilst you design adventures. As to how useful the advice will be after you have read it a few times... well, yes. I do expect it will diminish in usefulness. However, I don't particularly mind this as......I'll have already gained use out of the advice (and it will continue to be useful, even if I'm not reading it again), and...this is really, really good advice for new DMs. With the criticism of how newbie-unfriendly the PHB is, I wonder what Chris Pramas and others think of the DMG?I'm really thinking of investing in either a colour printer, a laptop, or both. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Stupid? Not really. You must understand that I occasionally approach D&D DMing from a "puzzle/adversarial" direction. The adventure is something the players need to negotiate successfully without aid from the DM. (This happens more when I run dungeoncrawls than story-based adventures, I hasten to add!)I don't want the players to die or have too easy a job with it, so I'll use any tools I can to set up the challenges and hope that I'll have a good idea of how difficult it will all be. Some challenges will be really hard and they'll need to run, some challenges will be really easy.However, as a whole, the adventure is achievable. 4e has a very interesting balance point, which you really need to see in play to appreciate. In the 4 combats I've run so far, each has lasted at least 6 rounds, and often one or more PCs have been unconscious and dying at the end - although partly that is due to poor tactics on their part and worse rolling. Still, the combats have felt much better than the very swingy nature of 3e.Diseases have a number of "states". If you fail checks, they get worse and worse until they reach a final state which will only improve through healing magic (ritual). (You're blind. Enjoy!)Artifacts "like" you - they have a rating that changes depending on whether you do things that advance their cause, or if you're troublesome to them. The more they like you, the more powers you have.Also, Artifacts tend to "move on" after a few levels. The Hand of Vecna is not something you want to move on...To some extent, I look at this from the point of view of a teacher or D&D evangelist: Is this something that will help new to intermediate DMs? I think it will, and that's something to be thankful for.Cheers!</blockquote>

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