D&D 5E In Search Of: The 5e Dungeon Master's Guide

[Aldarc]

That was sarcasm. As @pointofyou immediately said after the bit you quoted.

Calling for change to the DMG is no more one true wayism than calling for it to remain as is.

IMO, the latter is a lost cause as we know that it will be rewritten and reorganized by Chris Perkins to be more new player friendly. It's not a question of whether the pendulum will swing or not but how far it will swing. The important question, again IMHO, is how Chris Perkins will change the DMG so that it improves on the aforementioned new player friendliness.

 

[Maxperson]

I do not think it is the people who want the Dungeon Master's Guide to provide actual guidance who are committing the category error here.

The entire book is actual guidance. It's a refence guide for DMs to refer to when they need guidance about a particular subject, such as magic level of the setting, gods, etc.

 

[Maxperson]

How can it provide guidance if no one reads it?

Many people do.

 

[pointofyou]

Never mind. I read the second paragraph differently than it seems it was intended.

Apparently I overdid the sarcasm. No worries.

 

[Maxperson]

There is very little I would call "guidance" in the 5e DMG. What there is is a lot of optional rules and approaches with nothing to help a DM understand why to use them.

I don't believe that there is a "why" to use them, or a "why not." The DMG provides guidance on how to say change the religious system from polytheistic into say Monotheism. Changing it, though, isn't something that you either should or should not do. It's there to give you guidance on the process if that's what you as the DM want to do.

Presenting the guidance neutrally like that is appropriate, because it doesn't unduly influence DMs(new or old) to run the game in a particular manner.

There is also guidance for new DMs right at the beginning. It's on page 9 under Core Assumptions. It lets the new DMs know what the default dials for the setting are and explains what those dials mean in broad terms.

 

[Maxperson]

Apparently I overdid the sarcasm. No worries.

That was me. I interpreted the "without sarcasm" to just be you saying what you wanted the DMG to do without any sarcasm that paragraph, not that you were being sarcastic with the first sentence. It was my bad there.

 

[pointofyou]

The DMG tells the DM what the default assumptions are. The rest is advice on how to change those default assumptions and what it would look like if they did, and some little extras that the DM can choose. I expect a new DM will just go with the defaults until he is comfortable enough to tinker, and by then he will have an idea of what he wants to change and why.

From what I can tell the default assumptions are for the DM to have all the details worked out for the entire cosmology before play. Or I suppose to use the default cosmology. I think the cosmology is a thing to worry about if and when it becomes relevant and otherwise not at all.

 

[Maxperson]

Cool. I must have missed the part in the DMG where it gives actual guidance about deciding how much to rely on the dice while running a game. How would someone new to DMing figure that out from reading the the putative guide?

You didn't see The Role of the Dice on page 236 where it gives guidance on the three main ways to use die rolling? It even gives subtle primacy to The Middle Path by using "some DMs" for the other two, but "many DMs" for The Middle Path.

 

[pointofyou]

I don't believe that there is a "why" to use them, or a "why not." The DMG provides guidance on how to say change the religious system from polytheistic into say Monotheism. Changing it, though, isn't something that you either should or should not do. It's there to give you guidance on the process if that's what you as the DM want to do.

Presenting the guidance neutrally like that is appropriate, because it doesn't unduly influence DMs(new or old) to run the game in a particular manner.

There is also guidance for new DMs right at the beginning. It's on page 9 under Core Assumptions. It lets the new DMs know what the default dials for the setting are and explains what those dials mean in broad terms.

Running your game with monotheistic religion is a choice I agree. I think there can be discussion of how that changes the presumptions of the game without imparting any judgment for or against it or implying DMs should or shouldn't do it.

 

[pointofyou]

You didn't see The Role of the Dice on page 236 where it gives guidance on the three main ways to use die rolling? It even gives subtle primacy to The Middle Path by using "some DMs" for the other two, but "many DMs" for The Middle Path.

My gawds you may have just caught the DMG in the act of having an option. Clearly it is a book that must be burned.

In the interest of clarity I will state that second sentence is sarcasm and I hope no one will take it literally.