Crothian
First Post
The Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 is the second book designed by Wizards of the Coast for 4e D&D specifically for DMs. The book covers a wide range of information from traps, to encounters, to rewarding the PCs, to crafting campaigns. The book keeps what is the central themes of the game and expands on how they can be done and adapted.
The book does a lot of things really well. The section chapter is about encounters and goes through what an encounter is and how to use them. It takes into consideration what the players motivations are and using encounters as part of the over all story. There is good advice on pacing and how to keep the PCs going instead of constantly resting. One part of this chapter that is expertly done is Terrain Powers. While the jargon is very 4e the concept is one found in other games more so then D&D. It is all about using the environment in combat. It can be as simple as rolling a boulder downhill on an enemy or pulling a tapestry over top a foe. The way the game does this is different and making them powers fits in with the game. But the overall idea is very cinematic and an aspect that the game needed.
Another area the book does very well is with the monsters. There are two ways to modify existing monsters and both of them are interesting and can be used together. There are monster themes and monster templates. Each though looks more on the story reasons that creatures like these would exist. For instance with the themes it can be as simple as monsters that are all allied with Goblins. It has a list of powers that can be used to modify the monsters and also some explanation on why some typical more powerful creatures would be part of the group. Other themes deal with Demogorgon, Lolth, Orcus, Fey, and Tiamat’s Red Hand. The last group especially is nice to see carried over from third edition and very fine module.
The book is not all good however. The rewards are a neat idea but for some reason it just seems like the same old system using different terms. I would have liked to see new rewards that are different instead of just be called something different. The organizations are another good idea that need to be carried farther. The information on them just scratches the surface and leaves a bit more for the DM to do and one thing 4e seems to want to do is lessen the work of the DM.
My other major complaints might be seen more as nit picks but they bothered me. The Rod of Seven parts is an artifact that has existed since the days of 1e and maybe longer. It has always been an item of tremendous power and a great back story. The box set adventure around it that came out in 2e is a favorite of mine. Because of that the neutering of the item in 4e really gets to me. It would have made a great artifact item set like the magical items found in Adventure’s Vault 2. Instead it is treated as one item and has one power. It does not even have cool abilities. It is basically a weapon that gets higher pluses the more parts that are found. The other nitpick is the art especially in the Sigil section. Sigil is a planar city described in this book. When Sigil first appeared in Plansescape it was surrounded with great art that made the city come alive. In this book though there is just a few pieces of art and none of them inspire me to the glory of Sigil.
Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 is a book that will be of great use to DMs. It has a lot of option and useful bits. Just reading over the table of contents should be enough to let DMs know specifically what it in there and what topics they like. Much of the information I imagine will not be available on line for those that subscribe to DDI. Even so the book is good to read sections of and just reap in the good advice and ignore a few weak areas.
The book does a lot of things really well. The section chapter is about encounters and goes through what an encounter is and how to use them. It takes into consideration what the players motivations are and using encounters as part of the over all story. There is good advice on pacing and how to keep the PCs going instead of constantly resting. One part of this chapter that is expertly done is Terrain Powers. While the jargon is very 4e the concept is one found in other games more so then D&D. It is all about using the environment in combat. It can be as simple as rolling a boulder downhill on an enemy or pulling a tapestry over top a foe. The way the game does this is different and making them powers fits in with the game. But the overall idea is very cinematic and an aspect that the game needed.
Another area the book does very well is with the monsters. There are two ways to modify existing monsters and both of them are interesting and can be used together. There are monster themes and monster templates. Each though looks more on the story reasons that creatures like these would exist. For instance with the themes it can be as simple as monsters that are all allied with Goblins. It has a list of powers that can be used to modify the monsters and also some explanation on why some typical more powerful creatures would be part of the group. Other themes deal with Demogorgon, Lolth, Orcus, Fey, and Tiamat’s Red Hand. The last group especially is nice to see carried over from third edition and very fine module.
The book is not all good however. The rewards are a neat idea but for some reason it just seems like the same old system using different terms. I would have liked to see new rewards that are different instead of just be called something different. The organizations are another good idea that need to be carried farther. The information on them just scratches the surface and leaves a bit more for the DM to do and one thing 4e seems to want to do is lessen the work of the DM.
My other major complaints might be seen more as nit picks but they bothered me. The Rod of Seven parts is an artifact that has existed since the days of 1e and maybe longer. It has always been an item of tremendous power and a great back story. The box set adventure around it that came out in 2e is a favorite of mine. Because of that the neutering of the item in 4e really gets to me. It would have made a great artifact item set like the magical items found in Adventure’s Vault 2. Instead it is treated as one item and has one power. It does not even have cool abilities. It is basically a weapon that gets higher pluses the more parts that are found. The other nitpick is the art especially in the Sigil section. Sigil is a planar city described in this book. When Sigil first appeared in Plansescape it was surrounded with great art that made the city come alive. In this book though there is just a few pieces of art and none of them inspire me to the glory of Sigil.
Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 is a book that will be of great use to DMs. It has a lot of option and useful bits. Just reading over the table of contents should be enough to let DMs know specifically what it in there and what topics they like. Much of the information I imagine will not be available on line for those that subscribe to DDI. Even so the book is good to read sections of and just reap in the good advice and ignore a few weak areas.
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