D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

[Stormrazor2000]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

I have all the books for every edition of D&D and Pathfinder, and even though I'm almost always the DM, I admit that I mostly just skimmed the DMG from other editions for the magic items and a table here or there. They by and large were dry reading and rarely inspired my imagination. The 5E DMG took me completely by surprise with how good it is. It's crammed full of ideas and springboards that set my imagination into overdrive, got my creative juices flowing and most of all got me excited to DM.

Lest you think it's all fluff and theory, this is probably the best collection of practical advice and tools, especially for a novice DM I have thus far read. As a toolbox it covers the basics of world and adventure building and even points out common pitfalls to look out for. It's like having a veteran DM by your side teaching you the ropes. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in the book that I know I'll be happily plundering it's depths for quite some time.

At the end of the day I think that is what a great DMG does. It nurtures more players to become great DMs and reinvigorates the grizzled vets, which will create more opportunities for games and bring more players into our grand hobby. Very highly recommended!

 

[Ajarn]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

Nearly every paragraph of the new 5e DMG inspires me. There are clearly things that are directed towards the new edition, but I would recommend this DMG for DM/GMs of any fantasy TTRPG.

 

[JesterOC]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

While obviously not able to contain everything I person would want in an DMs guide, this tome appears to be a highlight reel of information that will help beginner and veteran DMs a good guide on how to rule a game of D&D to the best of one's ability.

I enjoy how many options there are to the core rules that allow one to quickly run anything from a high fantasy to gritty sword and sorcerery game.Some of the things I am considering is passive checks on all skill rolls. While reading the options for initiative, I am considering some changes to the way I am doing thinks, and perhaps making a mod is a hybrid of their proficiency dice and their static Init rules.

As you can see the book adds many suggestions to your game which helps you see a problem you might not have noticed and provide a nice toolbox to craft your own rules.

Only cons I can think of are of the rules left out of the game (such as mass combat rules, which have been promised to eventually show up in a possible legends and lore article).

 

[Yaztromo]

3 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

Sara' che sono cresciuto con BECMI, sara' che crescendo ho chiesto ai giochi di essere sempre piu' veloci da preparare e da giocare, lasciandomi il divertimento e qualche spazio alla fantasia, senza annoiarmi con regolamenti tediosissimi e tabelle, ma tutta la produzione di AD&D e delle versioni successive di D&D (incluso Pathfinder) mi hanno spinto con sempre maggior convinzione ad affidarmi ad altri regolamenti, se volevo divertirmi senza per forza perdere un monte di orre per preparare le partite, lanciare un milione di dadi (robe da tunnel carpale fulminante), fare un sacco di calcoli, consultare un sacco di tabelle.... e avere contestazioni continue da parte dei giocatori sull'interpretazione di questa o quella regola.Beh, devo dire che questa versione del regolamento e' un (mezzo) passo indietro in quella che (per me) e' la giusta direzione.Ma c'e' ancora parecchia strada da fare... questo regolamento e' comunque da ben 320 pagine!...

 

[biotech66]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product-Dungeon Master's Guide
System- Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition
Producer- Wizards of the Coast
Price- ~$50 here http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Maste...7382314&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+masters+guide
TL; DR- Bands all together, let's rock! 98%

Basics- Let's get ready to roll! The Dungeon Master's Guide is the final book of the core three for Dungeons and Dragons. This book covers all the behind the Dungeon Master's screen aspects of the game. It is roughly broken into three sections: creating a world/universe, creating adventures, and the math of the game/how to run Dungeons and Dragons.

Mechanics or Crunch- Ya' know what I HATE in a RPG designed for the Dungeon Master? No random tables! Yes, I know they are a crutch that bad GM's use when they don't prep for an adventure. But, I don't want to have to figure out what I'm doing every second of the game, and sometimes the players will want to do something and having a random answer will really help make their choices happen at a moment's notice. This book as random tables out the wazoo-from making a complete random dungeon to a random adventure and the encounters between! Also, this book goes into great detail on how to make the adventures in a non-random thought out way. From the math behind monsters to how to hand out items and treasure, the book does an excellent job at making your life as a DM as simple as it can explaining how to set up a game in a manner where it won't crash and fail from problems on the DM's side of the screen. Also, found the missing monster by CR guide from the Monster Manual! It's good to see it here, but it would be better to see it also in the Monster Manual. 5/5

Theme or Fluff-This book is full of content and absent of any content in the right ways. The book goes into how to make a game work as a story and how to fill that story with people to meet and to kill while providing the default multiverse a bit of background too. From the geography of the multiverse to how a circle of elders works in a feudal village, the game explains how to design a world and a story. It's a little light on advice on how to handle players. That's an experience thing, but some more sage wisdom on how to handle different kinds of people is always appreciated my new RPG fans. The book does point to a reading list of books on how to GM, so that does cover kind of what I was hoping this book would have for the newer GM's out there. Overall, it's got great story and tips on how to build your own story! 4.75/5

Execution- Just like the other two DnD 5e books, this one is well done! There are enough words per page to inform, but not enough to bore. There are lots of pictures to make the reader think of ideas to throw at their players, and almost all of them are new! I used to play "spot the old art" in my DnD books, but I only saw one reused piece of art in this book which makes me extremely happy (along with the random tables!). And, the new art is awesome! If you want to learn how to make a book great from a layout, art, and design sense, then it's this and Paizo's books. 5/5

Summary- Look, if you're running DnD, you bought this on Black Friday like the rest of us. It's that simple. WotC spread out the core three books, and if you've bought the first two, then you bought this one too. If you're new to RPGs, then get this book as well as the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual. This book has an awesome layout, great story ideas, and some randomness to help you get your players into the action as quickly as possible. If you love Dungeons and Dragons, you need this book. If you want to learn how to run Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, this is an awesome book that will give you all the tools you need to build the games you want and have a blast doing it. This is a great capstone for the basic trinity of 5th edition DnD. 98%

 

[Scottius]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

Well the DMG is out (at least if you live near select stores) and it's a doozy. Every bit as nicely put together as the previous two core rulebooks and even more packed with information. Cover to cover this is one of the finest books for D&D and roleplaying in general in my estimation. Many times in my journey through it I was transported back to reading my 1st Ed AD&D DMG. I would recommend this for Gamemasters interested in running any kind of fantasy game even if it wasn't D&D and quite possibly to any starting GM period. It's filled with great art and even greater tables. This book rivals the tables of my personal favorite 3rd Edition 3rd Party book Toolbox which was just a giant book of tables. I don't have any dings to give this book. My one minor gripe isn't big enough to be a complaint more of a nitpick and that's the fact that I wish more of the old artifacts had appeared. I mean teasing us with a picture of Baba Yaga's hut but not including it is low Wizards. Seriously though if you're a Game/Dungeon Master you owe it to yourself to have this book in your library.

 

[Nefzyflin]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

I have nothing to add that others haven't already said better than I could. I'm not an rpg blogger / reviewer. I have been DM'ing D&D on and off since 1984. But wait. Maybe I DO have a little something I can add after all. Once in a while, my players manage to SOMEHOW, get themselves into very difficult situations. Sometimes, for some very strange reason, they tend to blame ME for their misfortunes. Like I could POSSIBLY have anything to do with it. Over the years this has resulted in the odd d20 being thrown in the very direction that my nose just happens to be in. And so at 320 pages, the DMG is the perfect thickness and weight, so as to be very easy to grab off the table, and quickly get up to the area of my head, efficiently shielding me from such non-magic missiles. And that's just one more reason I appreciate the DMG. Great job WotC. And thank you for making 5th Ed. so fun ( and safe ) to play.

 

[The_Gneech]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

I've been reading this all weekend and I'm still only halfway through. But I've got to say, I'm very impressed! The DMG is usually my favorite book of any edition (even editions I didn't care for), and this one is easily as good as they come. What's best about it is that it is clearly written to be a tool for DM's to use, rather than a philosophical tome on the nature of gaming or simply another splatbook in disguise. The random adventure generation tables are a great spark to the DM needing to prep for a session, and the artwork inspires all sorts of neat ideas. I particularly liked the image of Baba Yaga's hut, a terrific callback to the mythic origins of fantasy literature as well as to some classic old-school moments.As I say, I'm still only halfway through, so I haven't had a chance to dig in to the mechanical aspects (such as gridded movement, monster creation, etc.), but certainly at a quick glance and from the previews I've seen they appear to be nice and solid. I was also impressed and pleased by the appendix of random useful maps, which is a great resource to grab when you're in a hurry.Great work all around!-The Gneech

 

[Michael Long]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

I have to say, this book is well thought out and has so much meat to it, it is going to take forever to get through it all. I LOVE IT

 

[Gilwen]

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

While the DMG didn't have all the tables I wanted there is a plethora of information that will help make your game awesome. Everything from the additional actions to how to make a race to the details of the magic items had me riveted to the book.