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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GM Dave" data-source="post: 5795100" data-attributes="member: 6687992">I am not much on the argument that things were done in the past one way and so they should be done that way again.  I deal often with ideas that get passed on to next generations without people taking the time to think and challenge those past views.I have lived through all the generations of DnD (and yes I am that old) and my only real concern is creating better tools for myself and my players.  I usually buy and read five or six different RPGs a year just to look over the rules (and over all those years that leads to many many shelves of rulebooks, editions, and supplements).Despite all that buying of books, I normally would skip purchasing the MM/Bestiary of the various games because 90% of the time it was a 'throw away' book that listed the same general information to be found in other bestiaries or could be made up.  The 1e DMG had the monsters listed in the appendix (very useful as a young teen trying to save money and getting the book required mail order or traveling out of country to a game convention).The Player's book clearly should cover the material for generation of PCs and their interaction with the game world.The Gamemaster's guide should cover the material on how to run and handle the game, assemble adventure materials, and how to help people have a good time.The thrid book should be the tool kit that supports the Gamemaster's guide in performing the duties of developing the adventures and filling in encounters.For one thing, it makes sense for Kobolds and Kobold Traps to go together.Another thing is that players expect more in adventures then rooms of things to kill.  They expect to find clerics of Tiamat to be found aiding dragons.Another things is that I have yet to have a decent General Store, Wizard's Library, or Alchemist's Lab in the initial materials and yet how often are these things common and important to play?This goes for NPCs which are another big element of game play.  Guidelines for NPCs can go in the DMG but there should be some examples of merchants, thieves, assassins, and other things that a GM is constantly needing to reach for in the course of play.I love a good Ooze or Mindflayer but I need sample theives guilds (with sample master thieves and beggars) more than I need a Brown Dragon or a Three legged Bird.The concept of the 1e MM was to have a horde of things to fill dungeons and mostly wait for people to come across them.There was a time when I wrote those sorts of adventures but I now right adventures using ideas pulled from things like Smallville and Dresden Files.  My players have friends, enemies, and parents that they need to interact with along with crazed cultists, and dragons only known by the name 'The Silence'.I would prefer a book that has the materials to help me build an adventure in minutes or on the fly if I need to because my players can suddenly decide they want to look for some store owner in an unscripted part of a town.</blockquote>

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