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Have You Actually Read the DM's Guide?
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<blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 8181783" data-attributes="member: 6677017"><p>A DMG isn't primarily a guide for DMs, regardless of it's name. It is this:</p><p></p><p>1) The second part of the game rules for the edition. It typically contains magic items, poisons, diseases, rules for environmental conditions, traps, encounters and advancement, and various other things you literally need to play the game anything like it was intended, even when there is a highly flexible intent.</p><p>2) A world-building and running guide. It typically contains information about different types of political entities, settlements, geographical features and regions, natural and unnatural disasters, groups, planes, deities, NPCs and more. It describes how to create such worlds, how they might function, and how players might interact with them. This information is extremely useful for DMs whether creating their own worlds or using existing settings. You can usually get by with a this part of a DMG from a different edition than the one you are running, but you almost certainly will have better results if you at least reference the one from your current edition. If you don't make use of this type of content at all you are severely hamstringing yourself and just making it harder.</p><p>3) Advice for how to run the out of character aspects of the game. This can include how to manage player interactions, how to evoke certain genre conventions, how to support different playstyles, and how to resolve issues with the rules. It also includes general advice on how to handle a variety of situations in game, and how to make use of house rules and rulings. This part is often highly influenced by the particular edition's assumptions, although it relies less on the actual rules of the edition than any other category. It is the least necessary part of the DMG, and you can usually replace it with guidance from a completely different game, or years of experience. That said, it is quite useful to know in order to better understand designer intent behind the way the rules were designed to be used.</p><p>4) Optional/variant rules. A combination of hard mechanical options for the game, and mechanical guidance for developing your own house rules and additional content. This, like the first category, is fundamentally connected to the edition you are playing. If you have no interest in departing from official default rules selections or creating your own content, this section is not particularly useful for you. If you do intend to do either of those, its usefulness ranges from crucial to well-advised. It either gives you what you need without any work on your part, or it takes you step by step through the process, or it at a minimum shows you the way additional and variant options are designed to work. If you create such material without referencing this first, you are shooting yourself in the foot for little reason.</p><p></p><p>I think some people are thinking a DMG is supposed to be #3, which is actually the least important (and least page count) part of what a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sword of Spirit, post: 8181783, member: 6677017"] A DMG isn't primarily a guide for DMs, regardless of it's name. It is this: 1) The second part of the game rules for the edition. It typically contains magic items, poisons, diseases, rules for environmental conditions, traps, encounters and advancement, and various other things you literally need to play the game anything like it was intended, even when there is a highly flexible intent. 2) A world-building and running guide. It typically contains information about different types of political entities, settlements, geographical features and regions, natural and unnatural disasters, groups, planes, deities, NPCs and more. It describes how to create such worlds, how they might function, and how players might interact with them. This information is extremely useful for DMs whether creating their own worlds or using existing settings. You can usually get by with a this part of a DMG from a different edition than the one you are running, but you almost certainly will have better results if you at least reference the one from your current edition. If you don't make use of this type of content at all you are severely hamstringing yourself and just making it harder. 3) Advice for how to run the out of character aspects of the game. This can include how to manage player interactions, how to evoke certain genre conventions, how to support different playstyles, and how to resolve issues with the rules. It also includes general advice on how to handle a variety of situations in game, and how to make use of house rules and rulings. This part is often highly influenced by the particular edition's assumptions, although it relies less on the actual rules of the edition than any other category. It is the least necessary part of the DMG, and you can usually replace it with guidance from a completely different game, or years of experience. That said, it is quite useful to know in order to better understand designer intent behind the way the rules were designed to be used. 4) Optional/variant rules. A combination of hard mechanical options for the game, and mechanical guidance for developing your own house rules and additional content. This, like the first category, is fundamentally connected to the edition you are playing. If you have no interest in departing from official default rules selections or creating your own content, this section is not particularly useful for you. If you do intend to do either of those, its usefulness ranges from crucial to well-advised. It either gives you what you need without any work on your part, or it takes you step by step through the process, or it at a minimum shows you the way additional and variant options are designed to work. If you create such material without referencing this first, you are shooting yourself in the foot for little reason. I think some people are thinking a DMG is supposed to be #3, which is actually the least important (and least page count) part of what a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide is. [/QUOTE]
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