D&D General A DMG for all of us

[Emerikol]

I was thinking of how many playstyles now exist side by side in D&D. And more than one is pretty popular. Often they are not compatible. Often people in a particular area don't even realize the other styles exist.

How can the designers of a DMG go very deep when whatever the direction they take they will alienate someone. They can't. The book ends up being a bunch of tables and some very light advice.

One thing about the 1e DMG. It was dripping with opinion. Gygax presented his way and taught players how to manage games his way. He ignored all other ways. For me, that approach really resonated and I learned what he was teaching and I made it work and work well. Others though may have been driven mad by it. I do also notice that many new games present their playstyle front and center and make few bones about it. Only D&D is caught in this web of making everyone happy. I do though think though that some version of D&D could be played in many different styles.

So what if someone created a DMG (or GMG) for a given playstyle specifically. Then imagine others create the same for other playstyles. If the rules were genuinely flexible enough, they aren't now but they could be, we could all play the same rules but with different underlying assumptions. Campaigns might even be named after particular DMGs. I'm playing with the Gygaxian philosophy.

The generic stuff would then be left in the official DMG.

 

[Stormonu]

I don't think it'd work very well, unfortunately. It'd certainly be confusing for new DMs - who have no idea what style they're going to fall in. Also, people are rarely any one thing 100%, and may change their style as time goes on. Worse, someone may pick up the book that's the wrong style for them and fall away from the game because of it.

Back in the day, I took the 1E DMG advice as gospel for how D&D must be run. But I don't play that way any more - if I were to use it, it'd just be for the tables and rules, sans the advice. Neither am I on board with a lot of 5E's opinion on several things and 2E's advice tends to make me cringe nowadays. But, that is something that I've learned for myself over time.

I think the DMG really should focus on what's universal - creating and adjucating the rules with a peek behind the curtain so you can understand why things were set up this way or that, advice for creating new content and options for different way of handling this subject or that.

I'd rather that teaching how to DM and different style be left to something like a starter set or books like those done to actually give advice about play styles.

 

[TwoSix]

From what I've heard of the 2024 DMG, it does seem to be fairly opinionated. It's just that the opinion is that people should play D&D in the modern D&D playstyle. Story arc focused, with a heavy lean towards unique characters and current tropes.

 

[TiQuinn]

I was thinking of how many playstyles now exist side by side in D&D. And more than one is pretty popular. Often they are not compatible. Often people in a particular area don't even realize the other styles exist.

How can the designers of a DMG go very deep when whatever the direction they take they will alienate someone. They can't. The book ends up being a bunch of tables and some very light advice.

One thing about the 1e DMG. It was dripping with opinion. Gygax presented his way and taught players how to manage games his way. He ignored all other ways. For me, that approach really resonated and I learned what he was teaching and I made it work and work well. Others though may have been driven mad by it. I do also notice that many new games present their playstyle front and center and make few bones about it. Only D&D is caught in this web of making everyone happy. I do though think though that some version of D&D could be played in many different styles.

So what if someone created a DMG (or GMG) for a given playstyle specifically. Then imagine others create the same for other playstyles. If the rules were genuinely flexible enough, they aren't now but they could be, we could all play the same rules but with different underlying assumptions. Campaigns might even be named after particular DMGs. I'm playing with the Gygaxian philosophy.

The generic stuff would then be left in the official DMG.

Or…and hear me out…there’s nothing wrong with playing an older version of the game that suits your preferences and style without care for what the current or upcoming version’s perspective is.

 

[TheSword]

I reckon a play style could probably be summed up on an A4 page if needed. Probably two sides of the page at most. Most of such a DMG would be duplicated. As mentioned in another thread there is far more that unites play styles than divides them.

One page to set down an approach to 5.5e. Most of it would be setting expectations.

 

[Remathilis]

There is no DMG that could satisfy all the myriad of playstyles, nor should it. At this point, I think it is wise WotC has opted to leave the OS styles to 3pp games and focus on the modern storytelling style. That way you find the game that suits your style rather than torture games into styles they don't support.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I reckon a play style could probably be summed up on an A4 page if needed. Probably two sides of the page at most. Most of such a DMG would be duplicated. As mentioned in another thread there is far more that unites play styles than divides them.

One page to set down an approach to 5.5e. Most of it would be setting expectations.

Anything that is only 2 pages can be one of several modules in a single DMG.

I think the OP wants lots of variant rules for a specific playstyle, but that is still a lot of overlap between styles. Reprinting Magic items 4 times for 4 different campaign styles? Nah, I don't find the value in duplicating the same 50% of content over multiple variations of a book.

 

[mamba]

How can the designers of a DMG go very deep when whatever the direction they take they will alienate someone. They can't. The book ends up being a bunch of tables and some very light advice.

…

The generic stuff would then be left in the official DMG.

based on the above that is already the case

 

[Scribe]

There is no DMG that could satisfy all the myriad of playstyles, nor should it. At this point, I think it is wise WotC has opted to leave the OS styles to 3pp games and focus on the modern storytelling style. That way you find the game that suits your style rather than torture games into styles they don't support.

Considering a number of us (its me!) said for years "Hey Wizards pick a lane!" it would be...unfair of me to now go "No, not like that!"

Wizards picked a style, tone, and approach, and now it is what it is.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Don't worry, that's what splat is for! I'm sure WOTC is working on a book that'll bring back race as class, gold for exp, or whatever else your heart desires!