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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bramadan" data-source="post: 2008131" data-attributes="member: 1064">Altrough a very sattisfactory book DM's guide does not rise to the excellence that is Player's Handbook.  First section describes in great detail the basics of Dungeon Mastering and, had I followed it, would have saved me from many mistakes I have made over the years. this section is geared towards novices but in what it sets out to do, it does an excelent job.   Section on characters  introduces NPC classes - a novel and very usefull addition to the DnD, as welkl as prestige classes which, at first, I thought a great idea but am getting slightly disenchanted with after two servings of class rulebooks. It discusses shortly the changes you can make to existing classes but fails to provide, even as the guideline, some sort of measuring stick for various class powers. Of the two great dissapointment of this chapter first is very short rules on Leadership - I was very excited when I read about this feat in PHB as I like idea of player characters in charge of military and other groups. what is given instead is just repackaged followers rules from 2ed. Second disapointment is nine pages of NPC statistics. I am sure that there are people who find this usefull but to me, custom creating an NPC, even in the spur of the moment is faster and more elegant then trying to fit one of this fellows to an encounter in a campaign. "Runing the Game" is a needed section, yet one that can be very boring to read unless you have extraordinary interest in rules minutae. It desribes effects of anyything imaginable to game play. Sadly, in most cases gameplay in this chapter equals combat. The fact that 3ed uses smooth d20 mechanics makes the section predictable and altrough it is necessary read for the first time d20 DM it is not something you reference often despite the first appearances.Adventures section is another geared towards the novices but is not nearly as helpfull as the introductory one. It focuses very heavily onto dungeons, which, while fun, are by no means alpha and omega of the DnD game in ths day and age and even within that frame it gives 17 pages to physical features of the dungeon "...the pungent stench of mildew..." and one and a half to dungeon ecologies and rationals. Traps, which are one aspect of the  physical layout of the dungeon of great potential use to most DMs are given relatively little treatment compared with decriptions of the walls, flors and assorted furnishings which are in general so adventure campaign dependant that their inclusion into DM's guide in a first place is of questionable utility. Encounters and CR levels , both rather crude qauntification mechanisms are also parts of this chapter. Campaigns section is pitifully short and again geared at total novices. it fails to discuss at any length the issues like game time passage and character developent and the inpact of the characters on their surrounding - devoting only oner and a hlaf page to the entire subject of transition from low level to high level play. World buliding is somewhat useful but too short. With 11 pages total it has less space then physical furnishings of a dungeon. Altrough attempt is made to adress such important issues as demographics and economy (covered better in this eddition then ever before in DnD)  horrible space limitations make it of little use to anyone, especialy novice world builders to whome it appears to be geared.Next cemes the Rewards chapter and there are two possible attitudes one can have towards it. If one likes new 13 encounters per level XP system than je is to be sattisfied with this chapter that lays it out clearly and concisely. I happend to find this system a single greatest flaw of the new DnD game. Objections to it have been elaborated by many people elsewhere but the most important ones are that it lays the emphasis on combat as ther main veichle for accumulating experience and that it provides for linear progression through levels. something thought by many to ssriously  hamper character dvelopment as well as limit the epic scale of the campaigns. (With entire gamut of DnD game, from a novice to the godlike hero 1-20 level covered in 260 encounters). lack of a serious alternative XP system is serious drawback of this chapter.Chapter on magic items, description and creation is a saving grace of this book and is alone worth the cover price. The item creation mechanisms fill the long standing niche and inconsistency in DnD in a beautifuly elegant way. Descriptions of the items are better and their powes more interesting and more balanced then ever before. This is only section of DM's guide that i consult on regular basis and is truly an example of RPG sourcebook at its best - intersting to read and filled with elegant and useful information.Art quality throughout the book is superb and altrough I have focused to major points - lots of them negative - there is a fair number of small items throughout the book that come rather usefull at times. All of this, together with its superb magic items section and its greater uttility for novices earns it 4/5</blockquote>

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