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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6121461" data-attributes="member: 22424">None of the editions have actually had a good DMG. Though by compiling the best of all editions we might get somewhere.The 4e DMG is reasonably good on the advice side, especially for new DMs, but is lacking for anybody but new DMs, and is also lacking on the crunch. (Yes, all that boring stuff on doors, walls, traps, etc.)The 3e (and 3.5e) DMG, on the other hand, is really solid on crunch, but spends so much time on that that it almost completely neglects the advice on how to actually run the game. Also, it puts the crunch (which is major boring... stuff) front and centre in the book, where it really should be in an appendix. Good for reference, lousy to read... and it needs read to gain familiarity with where things are to be found.The 2nd Ed DMG is worthless, with the sole exception of the magic item entries. Seriously, the old Red Box covers considerably more ground in its booklet, in a fraction of the pages, half of which are given over to monsters.The 1st Ed DMG is the closest to what it should be - it provides both the advice and the crunch, and it places the crunch in those marvellous appendices (rather than in the body of the text - seriously, 3e designers, what were you thinking). And it remains useful even for experienced DMs, even decades after first publication.Alas, the 1st Ed DMG has three weaknesses that mean that, while it is a great work, somehow it fails to be a good one. Specifically, it is poorly organised, especially for reference use. It is extremely authoritative, as you point out. (This may be a feature of age - in the decades since, we've seen considerable exploration of playstyles, different types of games, the theory of games as a whole, and so on.) And, unfortunately, it is written in High Gygaxian, which is high on flavour, but all too often obfuscates meaning in the verbiage. A guidebook, especially one intended to teach a complex subject, really needs to be written in simple, approachable text.In theory, the ability is there to create a "best of" DMG by taking the structure of the 1st Ed book, nailing down the crunch in the appendices a little more (as 3e, 4e and probably 5e are a lot more specific on a lot of things than 1st Ed was), rewriting the advice for a wider audience, and broadening the advice to cover more playstyles.Of course, that's easy to say, not so easy to actually do.</blockquote>

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