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<blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 2009583" data-attributes="member: 2013">The Dungeon Master's Guide is the second of the three Core Rulebooks for the D&amp;D/d20 System, published by Wizards of the Coast.Note: This review, along with the review on the PHB and MM is considerably shorter than usual and focused on my opinions and reactions because of the tremendous amount of reviews they have already received and the assumption that everyone is quite familiar with them by now.Percent of OGC: 0%* (This deserves an asterisk because a great deal of the DMG was released as Open Game Content in the System Reference Document)First Impressions: Just like the Player's Handbook, this book &quot;wowed&quot; me when I picked it up two years ago (a day early, thanks to Electronics Boutique).&nbsp; I sat in my car in the parking lot of the mall and flipped through page after page.&nbsp; The artwork is a step down from the PHB, but the writing was top-notch and there was plenty of stuff for even a grizzled DM (such as myself, in my 19th year of gaming).&nbsp; My favorite part in the whole book had to be page 130, the &quot;example of play&quot; in a dungeon - with a nod to the old 1st edition DMG.&nbsp; Awesome touch for the nostalgia factor, and did a great job of showing how the new rules actually handled some of the &quot;DM Fiat&quot; situations from the original.Initial Annoyances: Again, the Artwork was a problem.&nbsp; The style (grim-n-gritty) was not my favorite and in general, I think it was a step down from the technical quality of art in the PHB.&nbsp; Still, it is full color and usually relevant.&nbsp; The only other complaint I had was that &quot;why did I have to wait a month!&nbsp; Why couldn't this have been released concurrent with the PHB?!?&quot;The Good:&nbsp; The DMG does a surprisingly good job at explaining some of the &quot;whys&quot; in the game... especially with the rules.&nbsp; The &quot;Behind the Curtain&quot; features, which explain how to change rules and what implications those changes may have, should be required reading for anyone designing house rules.&nbsp; There should have been more of these.&nbsp; Also appreciated were the tables for &quot;Instant NPCs&quot; of any (single) class and/or level.&nbsp; The DMG also introduced us to Prestige Classes.&nbsp; While these have been beaten to death with a stick since, I think the concept is sound and well-executed in the DMG (with the possible exception of the Loremaster).&nbsp; The updated magic items - and the exponential costs for creation - sat well with me, too.&nbsp; Another plus was the section on Adventure Building, specifically the differentiating of &quot;Site-Based&quot; versus &quot;Event-Based&quot; adventures and the strengths and weaknesses of each type.The Bad: No instant multiclass NPCs.&nbsp; Also, the XP system, with its CR vs. Average Party Level is a good idea that comes off as a little bit &quot;ad hoc.&quot;&nbsp; I would have liked to see more encouragement given to DMs to &quot;wing&quot; XP awards since the CR system has taken away any hard-and-fast &quot;ruler.&quot;&nbsp; Significantly missing from the DMG were &quot;Behind the Curtain&quot; sections on things like designing Feats, Prestige Classes, and Traps.&nbsp; Also, I would have liked to have seen a little more attention paid to elaborating on the &quot;other&quot; types of rewards than XP and money and magic (e.g., land, titles, societal honors, etc.).The Ugly: The artwork (again) falls short.&nbsp; Other than that, it's hard to find anything really bad here.Presentation: Very good.&nbsp; The table of contents is beyond comprehensive and the &quot;tabs&quot; in the pages help some too.&nbsp; Some of the sections seemed a little out of order (e.g., talking about rewards and then having the XP tables some 40 pages away) but for the most part, everything comes together nicely.&nbsp; In my mind it sets the benchmark for DM-focused (and crunchy-bits focused) supplements.Conclusion: This is the second book that defines the d20 system, building on what is presented in the PHB.&nbsp; If you only buy two books ever for the d20 system, this should go along with the PHB, as you can create more stuff from this than nearly any other work, thanks to all the rules it covers.--The SigilOctober 18, 2002</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Sigil, post: 2009583, member: 2013"] The Dungeon Master's Guide is the second of the three Core Rulebooks for the D&D/d20 System, published by Wizards of the Coast. Note: This review, along with the review on the PHB and MM is considerably shorter than usual and focused on my opinions and reactions because of the tremendous amount of reviews they have already received and the assumption that everyone is quite familiar with them by now. Percent of OGC: 0%* (This deserves an asterisk because a great deal of the DMG was released as Open Game Content in the System Reference Document) First Impressions: Just like the Player's Handbook, this book "wowed" me when I picked it up two years ago (a day early, thanks to Electronics Boutique). I sat in my car in the parking lot of the mall and flipped through page after page. The artwork is a step down from the PHB, but the writing was top-notch and there was plenty of stuff for even a grizzled DM (such as myself, in my 19th year of gaming). My favorite part in the whole book had to be page 130, the "example of play" in a dungeon - with a nod to the old 1st edition DMG. Awesome touch for the nostalgia factor, and did a great job of showing how the new rules actually handled some of the "DM Fiat" situations from the original. Initial Annoyances: Again, the Artwork was a problem. The style (grim-n-gritty) was not my favorite and in general, I think it was a step down from the technical quality of art in the PHB. Still, it is full color and usually relevant. The only other complaint I had was that "why did I have to wait a month! Why couldn't this have been released concurrent with the PHB?!?" The Good: The DMG does a surprisingly good job at explaining some of the "whys" in the game... especially with the rules. The "Behind the Curtain" features, which explain how to change rules and what implications those changes may have, should be required reading for anyone designing house rules. There should have been more of these. Also appreciated were the tables for "Instant NPCs" of any (single) class and/or level. The DMG also introduced us to Prestige Classes. While these have been beaten to death with a stick since, I think the concept is sound and well-executed in the DMG (with the possible exception of the Loremaster). The updated magic items - and the exponential costs for creation - sat well with me, too. Another plus was the section on Adventure Building, specifically the differentiating of "Site-Based" versus "Event-Based" adventures and the strengths and weaknesses of each type. The Bad: No instant multiclass NPCs. Also, the XP system, with its CR vs. Average Party Level is a good idea that comes off as a little bit "ad hoc." I would have liked to see more encouragement given to DMs to "wing" XP awards since the CR system has taken away any hard-and-fast "ruler." Significantly missing from the DMG were "Behind the Curtain" sections on things like designing Feats, Prestige Classes, and Traps. Also, I would have liked to have seen a little more attention paid to elaborating on the "other" types of rewards than XP and money and magic (e.g., land, titles, societal honors, etc.). The Ugly: The artwork (again) falls short. Other than that, it's hard to find anything really bad here. Presentation: Very good. The table of contents is beyond comprehensive and the "tabs" in the pages help some too. Some of the sections seemed a little out of order (e.g., talking about rewards and then having the XP tables some 40 pages away) but for the most part, everything comes together nicely. In my mind it sets the benchmark for DM-focused (and crunchy-bits focused) supplements. Conclusion: This is the second book that defines the d20 system, building on what is presented in the PHB. If you only buy two books ever for the d20 system, this should go along with the PHB, as you can create more stuff from this than nearly any other work, thanks to all the rules it covers. --The Sigil October 18, 2002 [/QUOTE]

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