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<blockquote data-quote="Frozen DM" data-source="post: 3900593" data-attributes="member: 35841">Personally it's suggestions like these that I'm happy to have in the DM's guide. The DMG should be, first and foremost, a guide to helping a DM run their game better. It shouldn't matter where the good advice comes from. Now if you've been behind the screen for years maybe a lot of the advice won't be helpful, or maybe it's things you've already learned. But for new DM's, suggestions like these can ease the burden of running a game as complex as D&amp;D.Would you complain that the PH has a section explaining what role-playing is? Or describing a typical encounter? These aren't things intended for experienced players, they're aides for new players just starting off. Similarly, suggesting that the DM write down quests in an easy-to-read, easy to manage format, is just a way for new DM's to help players manage the information in D&amp;D. These are beginner skills for beginner players. I see RPG books a lot like recipe books. Recipes are like the game rules. To a first time reader they are hard and fast ways of preparing a dish (or game). But with experience you learn to recognize what elements of the rules are really just suggestions. An experienced cook can alter a recipe, add ingredients or remove things they don't like without upsetting the balance of the dish. In the same way, and experienced DM can follow the suggestions and use the rules they like, toss out and ignore what they don't. Personally I think the quest card idea is great. My players often have trouble remembering the details of all their missions/quests/adventures. How often do I have to answer questions like &quot;Why are we in this dungeon again?&quot; or &quot;Who was it that asked us to hunt down the ogres?&quot;. Quest cards would go a long way to keeping this info straight. And it's not a lot of work on the part of the DM, a few seconds to write down the basics of the quest onto a card. It would take me more time to come up with a NPC name on the fly (which is something I hope to see in a DMG too... NPC name lists).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Frozen DM, post: 3900593, member: 35841"] Personally it's suggestions like these that I'm happy to have in the DM's guide. The DMG should be, first and foremost, a guide to helping a DM run their game better. It shouldn't matter where the good advice comes from. Now if you've been behind the screen for years maybe a lot of the advice won't be helpful, or maybe it's things you've already learned. But for new DM's, suggestions like these can ease the burden of running a game as complex as D&D. Would you complain that the PH has a section explaining what role-playing is? Or describing a typical encounter? These aren't things intended for experienced players, they're aides for new players just starting off. Similarly, suggesting that the DM write down quests in an easy-to-read, easy to manage format, is just a way for new DM's to help players manage the information in D&D. These are beginner skills for beginner players. I see RPG books a lot like recipe books. Recipes are like the game rules. To a first time reader they are hard and fast ways of preparing a dish (or game). But with experience you learn to recognize what elements of the rules are really just suggestions. An experienced cook can alter a recipe, add ingredients or remove things they don't like without upsetting the balance of the dish. In the same way, and experienced DM can follow the suggestions and use the rules they like, toss out and ignore what they don't. Personally I think the quest card idea is great. My players often have trouble remembering the details of all their missions/quests/adventures. How often do I have to answer questions like "Why are we in this dungeon again?" or "Who was it that asked us to hunt down the ogres?". Quest cards would go a long way to keeping this info straight. And it's not a lot of work on the part of the DM, a few seconds to write down the basics of the quest onto a card. It would take me more time to come up with a NPC name on the fly (which is something I hope to see in a DMG too... NPC name lists). [/QUOTE]

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