D&D 5E Have you actually read the 5e DMG?

[noko]

Cover to cover and is it ever a padding-filled slog with a well-nigh unusable index. The PHB is just barely better but you need to read both to understand the game and don't get me started on the assorted monster manuals and modules. I'm enjoying 5e but it sure as blazes isn't for the writing...or the art which is an unneeded waste of space IMHO.

 

[noko]

I've read it cover-to-cover more than a few times. Same with the PHB and the MM... and whatever supplements I plan on using like Volo's, Xanathar's and Mordenkainen's. It's just something I like to do. The more I read, the more I can commit to memory and the more I can recall without touching a book the better I feel about my DMing. I've done this for 3e/3.5e, 4e and 5e. Basically every edition I've been a DM instead of a player.

To be clear, I don't have an eidetic memory or anything special like that and I love to improv. I can improv whole sessions and have. But... I feel more comfortable doing that kind of thing the more I have committed to memory and the less I need to reach for a book. It's a personal thing, that's all, and believe me I still have to reach for a book here & there.

Anyway, to each their own, but I read the books in their entirety because I just like it.

Exactly. I read the entire book, including the ISBN number and little blurbs on the typeface used and then I might just read it again sometimes for fun. I read a lot.

 

[noko]

As a long time DM (30+ years) I feel like a lot of experienced DMs are doing themselves and their players a big disservice by not reading the 5e DMG because "they have read it all before."

First, 5e is not the same game as any previous edition. You are making mistakes and applying rules incorrectly or incorrectly applying rules when you rely on your previous edition knowledge and experience to know how a wand works or whatever. Being the final arbiter of the rules is your primary function. You should probably at least make an effort to do it correctly.

Second, there are a lot of good bits in there that aren't obvious even based on experience. If you have been running the game the same way for 30 years, you could probably use a freshening up of your technique. Whether it is thinking outside the box in regards to optional rules, or digging into the designer's motivations behind the game, that information can only enhance your ability to run an engaging game.

Finally, you aren't the perfect DM. No one is. There are lots of sources online for helping you become an even better DM (even after 30+ years) but one of the best sources is right there on your shelf, and you haven't cracked it because the "What's a roleplaying game?" section bored you. Ok, boomer.

TSK ageist.

 

[FrozenNorth]

I read it. I find it the weakest of the 3 core books. The book should have started with “how to play the game” rather than “creating your own campaigns”.

Since then, pretty much the only section I use is the index of monsters for the Monster Manual, and I am still bitter that it wasn’t included in the monster manual itself. I also use the treasure section on occasion.

I find Xanathar’s much more useful for creating balanced encounters.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I've read the entire book except for the parts that are already in the PHB (which I've also read). Skipped the dungeon building section, and some of the "alternate" rules.

I read the magic items though, they are fun to read.

 

[delericho]

I read it cover-to-cover when I first got it. I had intended to reread the key sections (that is, everything except magic items) last year, but it never came off.

IMO it's the best of the DMGs. The 1st Ed one has much more flavour, but doesn't do well as a reference book. And since that's the primary use of the thing, it slips down a notch. 2nd Ed is basically useless, and 4e suffers for being my least-favourite edition.

The 3.0e one is good if you need lots of variations on doors, walls, and other dungeon dressing. The 3.5e then 'improves' on that by adding the broken Epic rules, and reorganising everything badly.

It's fair to say I'm not a huge fan of DMGs. IMO, the best one I've seen was the DM's book in the old BECMI Red Box.

 

[Asisreo]

I can't recommend it enough for people that are jumping into D&D. The rules there are give tons of inspiration and they deal with several of the mistakes a DM might have when hpmebrewing their own campaign. For example: how to structure a settlement to be interesting and not just "You're in a city. Uh, is there a herbalist shop? Uh...I think...maybe...yeah? What's in it? Uh...well...uh...herbalist things..." It also gives freedom to add madness, diseases, different types of poisons, all of which isn't really suggested in the DMG. It can help new DM's understand how they're free to structure their games.

Most people here have played for so long that they don't need it or are just plain pissed when they are suggested something that isn't a rule so anyone here probably won't use it much. But I think the book is really good, possibly one of the best since AD&D, for doing something a DMG does. Guiding the DM.

 

[Hussar]

I've told people that identical monsters get the same initiative and some of them were floored. Like, for some reason, they just assumed they knew initiative and didn't read the actual rule in the book. It's not even that hidden. I can understand not getting stealth since it's very spread out and there's still some questions with how darkness works but initiative is very basic.

Also, surprise is a very common misunderstanding. It drives me up the wall when a DM let's any character make a damaging attack roll outside initiative. People don't see how surprise is much of an advantage but...the surprise benefit is right there and it's very powerful so how? Idk, it just bugs me.

Initiative doesn't have to be by the side though. You can certainly use individual initiatives.

 

[noko]

Initiative doesn't have to be by the side though. You can certainly use individual initiatives.

We find blanket initiative quite unintuitive and I blanket only when I must for brevities sake.

 

[Asisreo]

Initiative doesn't have to be by the side though. You can certainly use individual initiatives.

Actually, individual initiative isn't even a variant. That's right, check the DMG. I thought it would be there too but there's nothing saying you can RAW do identical creatures with separate initiatives. It's actually more of a house rule than automatic success ability checks and injury tables since the books at least provide those two as variants.