D&D General Dmg previews up

[kittenhugs]

We're 4 weeks past the early release of the PHB, 4 weeks before the early release of the DMG.... But a whole 4 months before the release of the MM. Yeesh. Which honestly, I'm more excited about as an experienced DM than the DMG proper. I'm really looking forward to the revised stat blocks and new art.

 

[Gorck]

We're 4 weeks past the early release of the PHB, 4 weeks before the early release of the DMG.... But a whole 4 months before the release of the MM. Yeesh. Which honestly, I'm more excited about as an experienced DM than the DMG proper. I'm really looking forward to the revised stat blocks and new art.

I expressed this same sentiment recently in another thread. I wish the MM was coming out in November and the DMG was coming out in February. Now that we've converted our 2014 characters to 2024 versions, I'm itching to send some updated monsters at the group.

 

[mamba]

11,500 views on the video currently

out of how many D&D DMs (let’s just assume that the viewers are DMs on top of that…)?

 

[Maxperson]

4. Bastions. Players can establish a bastion at level 5. Acts almost like an NPC, PC's can send orders (don't have to be present) to it to craft, farm, etc. on the bastion turn. Can combine bastions from multiple PC's. Portrayed as a player's opportunity to DM their own mini-world that they control.

I wonder if they are going to change bastions from the incarnation we saw. I really liked the concept, but they fell a bit short of being really good.

 

[mamba]

I doubt that first definition is commonly accepted as what the word, "complete" means. Perhaps they should have said, "everything you need to get started" or something to that effect.

the video definitely talks about it being a setting with room to fill in your own stuff, and that that is how Greyhawk has always been.

Not seeing anything misleading here, at most it is contradictory

 

[MarkB]

the video definitely talks about it being a setting with room to fill in your own stuff, and that that is how Greyhawk has always been.

Not seeing anything misleading here, at most it is contradictory

Honestly, a setting that is functionally feature-complete but leaves plenty of room for additional growth, detail and customisation seems like the absolute ideal for a DM who wants a generalised setting in which to place whatever type of campaign they want to build.

 

[Parmandur]

Nice.

 

[EthanSental]

I always enjoy listening to Chris Perkins talking D&D!

 

[OB1]

I see what you mean. Empowering the DM to come up with his own rules might sound like a good idea, at least in principle.

That said, I really think the DMG should have some knobs for the DM to turn and adjust the pacing, difficulty and tone of the game.

I'm talking about things like the variant rest rules, slow natural healing and full encumbrance. All of those are powerful tools for fine tuning a campaign. The professional game designers shouldn't leave this heavy lifting in the hands of the DM.

Right, but how many DMs want variant rest rules, slow natural healing and full encumbrance? Ask 100 DMs what variant rules they'd like in the DMG, and you'll probably get 100 different answers. There are thousands of knobs that could be turned by any DM, depending on what they and their table find interesting.

To me, rather than presenting 10 or 50 pages of possible variants, I think giving them a couple of strong guidelines to help them navigate how to make changes to suit their own needs is more important. Give them explicit permission to make the game theirs, and point them to Indie publishers, liveplays and forums like Enworld for inspiration and advice. That, I think, will be far more valuable in the long run for any new DM.

For example, Dungeons of Drakkenheim has a great way to combat the 5 minute work day in their setting and Critical Role has a system to make resurrection both more difficult and meaningful. Sure you could publish those rules in the DMG, but again, how does that serve DMs for who those specific rules don't help them?

 

[Zaukrie]

Or, you know, just play with 2014 Monsters, because they all share the same names. (Barring any new ones, which they probably won't use in the DMG).

And I'm guessing most won't change much, if at all....