3 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide
There is a lot of good stuff in this book, as well as a lot of stuff that really should have been in the PHB. It is hard to find, however, because it looks like the authors just threw all the topics into the air and stuck them in the book in whatever order they happened to fall on the ground. For example, chapter 8, "running the game" (which should have been chapter 1) has a nice section on chases, followed by siege engine statistics (not advice on running a siege - just a list of stats), followed by disease, poisons and madness. The sanity rules, however, are in chapter 9.The list of magic items is a mess. There are 64 pages of items, listed A to Z. They should have been listed by type: all the staves, all the rings, all the weapons, etc. If I want to, for example, reward a mage with a staff, there is no one place that lists all the staves - I have to go through 64 pages looking for them. Very poor.There is a section on random dungeons, something that was in this product decades ago. I fondly remember some really silly, but extremely fun, dungeons created by the dice!There are some standout sections in the book, but you have to stumble over them. For example, chapter 3, p85, explains what the point of random encounters is. Excellent. For example, appendix D, p316, a list of books to provide inspiration for a DM.There are many rules that should have been in the PHB. New downtime activities, for example. If you have read any of the D&D 5E book then you already know the quality of the artwork, the colours, the layout. The pictures are great, with a good mix of genders and races. The pictures of the magic items are well done -they will make player handouts look snazzy. There are some of Mike Schley's maps in the back, for no purpose other than to inspire you.One point I am very happy about is that the typeface used in the index is a lot bigger than that of the PHB. Good for my failing eyes.There is great information in this book but I'm marking it down for atrocious organisation and an inadequate table-of-contents. It is, however, pretty-much an essential buy for a DM, and I don't think your money will be wasted..