Amateur review of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips
The following is my review of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips
To begin I want to tell you a little about myself as a gamer. I feel that this context may important to how you perceive this review. I was one of those much talked about “lapsed players,” who prior to the past 12 months had not played D&D in over 15 years. My interest was renewed in the game when I stumbled across the Penny Arcade 4e podcasts. They were simply having too much fun in the podcasts, and left me feeling that I had to get in on the good times. I promptly joined a weekly game at my FLGS and after a few sessions subscribed to DDI. Although I was truly enjoying my delve back into an old hobby, our group was too large and the sessions started to grind. The obvious solution was for another DM to step up and split the group. As fate, or dumb luck, would have it, that other DM ended up being me. I started my career as a DM with the first season of D&D Encounters. As a group we decided to pass on the next season and take the existing party on a continuing campaign. So as you can see, as a DM, I am greener than Astro Turf.
I am not a hardcore gamer. To me D&D is a hobby which shares its space with a number of others in my life: cycling, camping, reading. I enjoy the community, the roleplay and the strategy.
Now the review.
I found the overall tone of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips very enjoyable. Shea’s writing is very concise. While the book is by no means dry, Shea avoids overly adorning the subject matter, allowing the content to stand on its own merit. He uses humor sparingly and effectively, providing uninhibited access the insight he offers. The references Shea uses are rich and relevant providing a comfortable context in which he houses his information. The pacing of the book is swift and orderly. One can plow through it relatively easily or jump around the pages using it as a quick reference guide time and again.
The content of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is not overly technical, and although Shea often gives specific tips and instructions, it is clear he is not trying to transform your game into his game. Each piece of advice is heavily supported with the why behind it all. The specifics are items which can be found throughout much of Shea’s other writings, but I truly feel that he achieved a book where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For me the value was that Shea’s emphasis was not in “do this and do that” but rather “understand this, think about that and plan for it all.” Shea deflates what can seem like an overly daunting task, being a DM and provides a very approachable tack for the rookie by distilling the essence of a quality game session. Upon reading each section I immediately found myself thinking of applications for my game. In hind sight I should have taken notes
The design of the book i where I get nit-picky. I have been a professional graphic designer for over 13 years, so perhaps this causes me to be a bit overly critical in this arena. Visually the book lacks polish, and before all you self published authors reach for your torches and pitch forks hear me out. I don’t think Shea should have spent a nickel on a graphic designer for this book. That would have been a total waste and cut into his well deserved profits. I do, however, feel that he could have capably emulated other publications that display themselves more professionally. The document is rife with widows and awkward pages breaks. A number of pages had but a few lines of content on them, negatively impacting the overall legibility and pacing of the book. I am a fan of Hindman’s art, but felt the illustrations did little to enhance the content and would have preferred to see them better integrated into the text. In my opinion, the cover lacks punch. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that a mind as creative as Shea’s produced such a bland looking document. As strong as some of this may come across my issues with the design where really secondary to my overall experience with the book.
In summary, I feel Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is a must for the rookie DM. It’s informative nature is fueled by a spirit that reminds the reader that gaming must, above all else, be fun. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the design I feel that Shea placed his efforts where they count most, the content. The writing is top quality, highly applicable and genuine in tone, almost humble. What? A gamer giving advice with humility? Hey read it to believe it, folks. I feel that Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is a good value at the asking price. Some design tweaks would heighten the perceived value of the book and would provide a “I got this much for that little of cost? Sweet!” experience.
The following is my review of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips
To begin I want to tell you a little about myself as a gamer. I feel that this context may important to how you perceive this review. I was one of those much talked about “lapsed players,” who prior to the past 12 months had not played D&D in over 15 years. My interest was renewed in the game when I stumbled across the Penny Arcade 4e podcasts. They were simply having too much fun in the podcasts, and left me feeling that I had to get in on the good times. I promptly joined a weekly game at my FLGS and after a few sessions subscribed to DDI. Although I was truly enjoying my delve back into an old hobby, our group was too large and the sessions started to grind. The obvious solution was for another DM to step up and split the group. As fate, or dumb luck, would have it, that other DM ended up being me. I started my career as a DM with the first season of D&D Encounters. As a group we decided to pass on the next season and take the existing party on a continuing campaign. So as you can see, as a DM, I am greener than Astro Turf.
I am not a hardcore gamer. To me D&D is a hobby which shares its space with a number of others in my life: cycling, camping, reading. I enjoy the community, the roleplay and the strategy.
Now the review.
I found the overall tone of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips very enjoyable. Shea’s writing is very concise. While the book is by no means dry, Shea avoids overly adorning the subject matter, allowing the content to stand on its own merit. He uses humor sparingly and effectively, providing uninhibited access the insight he offers. The references Shea uses are rich and relevant providing a comfortable context in which he houses his information. The pacing of the book is swift and orderly. One can plow through it relatively easily or jump around the pages using it as a quick reference guide time and again.
The content of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is not overly technical, and although Shea often gives specific tips and instructions, it is clear he is not trying to transform your game into his game. Each piece of advice is heavily supported with the why behind it all. The specifics are items which can be found throughout much of Shea’s other writings, but I truly feel that he achieved a book where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For me the value was that Shea’s emphasis was not in “do this and do that” but rather “understand this, think about that and plan for it all.” Shea deflates what can seem like an overly daunting task, being a DM and provides a very approachable tack for the rookie by distilling the essence of a quality game session. Upon reading each section I immediately found myself thinking of applications for my game. In hind sight I should have taken notes
The design of the book i where I get nit-picky. I have been a professional graphic designer for over 13 years, so perhaps this causes me to be a bit overly critical in this arena. Visually the book lacks polish, and before all you self published authors reach for your torches and pitch forks hear me out. I don’t think Shea should have spent a nickel on a graphic designer for this book. That would have been a total waste and cut into his well deserved profits. I do, however, feel that he could have capably emulated other publications that display themselves more professionally. The document is rife with widows and awkward pages breaks. A number of pages had but a few lines of content on them, negatively impacting the overall legibility and pacing of the book. I am a fan of Hindman’s art, but felt the illustrations did little to enhance the content and would have preferred to see them better integrated into the text. In my opinion, the cover lacks punch. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that a mind as creative as Shea’s produced such a bland looking document. As strong as some of this may come across my issues with the design where really secondary to my overall experience with the book.
In summary, I feel Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is a must for the rookie DM. It’s informative nature is fueled by a spirit that reminds the reader that gaming must, above all else, be fun. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the design I feel that Shea placed his efforts where they count most, the content. The writing is top quality, highly applicable and genuine in tone, almost humble. What? A gamer giving advice with humility? Hey read it to believe it, folks. I feel that Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips is a good value at the asking price. Some design tweaks would heighten the perceived value of the book and would provide a “I got this much for that little of cost? Sweet!” experience.
