I'd also like to see a "Dungeon Master's Guide" that has actual concrete advice about running games. Not lots of random tables, but how to construct a campaign, an adventure, side treks, and encounters; how to run NPCs, how to balance the "three pillars", how to handle initiative, when to end a combat early (or narrate it), how to recognize when your players are looking for something different in a game and how to provide it, how to grant XP for encounters that the PCs find a way to avoid or resolve without combat, how to work an "adventuring day" that doesn't include a bunch of combat (e.g. travel with few/random encounters), and etc. and etc. and etc.
It's not so much that I can point to areas I need help with, it's more that I enjoy reading blogs about stuff like that, and often stumble across really good ideas, or an explanation of something that was sort of assumed without being stated explicitly.
The challenge is, there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach. I guess it would need some investigation to see if it could be helpful without just prompting objections to the parts that don't apply as much to a given group or DM. It might be better done by a third-party GM who says "here's all the stuff that works for me" rather than being presented as The Wizards Way.
It's not so much that I can point to areas I need help with, it's more that I enjoy reading blogs about stuff like that, and often stumble across really good ideas, or an explanation of something that was sort of assumed without being stated explicitly.
The challenge is, there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach. I guess it would need some investigation to see if it could be helpful without just prompting objections to the parts that don't apply as much to a given group or DM. It might be better done by a third-party GM who says "here's all the stuff that works for me" rather than being presented as The Wizards Way.
