the Jester
Legend
Just the attempt is quite ambitious. I agree that doing it across multiple posts is probably wise. 
Let's Read...Everything D&D!
- Thread starter KirayaTiDrekan
- Start date
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
A brief note before I dive into the DMG - I have edited the reviews for the 1st Edition Monster Manual and Player's Handbook, redirecting the links from the defunct WotC website product pages to the Amazon listings for those books.
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
Dungeon Masters Guide - Part 1
Originally published August, 1979
Version being read and reviewed: Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint (July, 2012)
The Full title of this behemoth is...
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Special Reference Work: Dungeon Masters Guide - A COMPILATION VOLUME OF INFORMATION PRIMARILY USED BY ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GAME REFEREES, INCLUDING: COMBAT TABLES; MONSTER LISTS AND ENCOUNTERS; TREASURE AND MAGIC TABLES AND DESCRIPTIONS; RANDOM DUNGEON GENERATION; RANDOM WILDERNESS TERRAIN GENERATION; SUGGESTIONS ON GAME MASTERING; AND MORE. By Gary Gygax.
(Caps are theirs, not mine.)
I'm taking the advice of a couple of posters and dividing this review up into smaller sections, rather than taking on the whole DMG in one post. This book is a beast. A classic, beloved beast, but a beast nonetheless.
Mike Carr's Foreword opens the book with the question of whether DMing is an art of science. It is, of course, both, as well as a "labor of love."
We then move on to Gary's Preface, in which he admonishes those venturing into the field of DMing to not stray too far afield from what is set forth in the book, lest their game be incompatible with those of other DMs or stray into bad DM territory. Gary also talks about the many hats he wore when putting together this book and deciding what should go into it. There is a subtle undertone of "Father Knows Best" or in this case "Gary Knows Best" in terms of what should and shouldn't be in the game. Perhaps a little off-putting, at least from a modern perspective. Apparently the goal of keeping DMs on a bit of a leash was to ensure that all campaign worlds could conceivably exist within the same overarching AD&D universe, allowing relatively easy transfer of PCs from one campaign to another. There's also hintings of a vision for what would become the RPGA laid out as another reason for uniformity and adherence to the "laws" of the game.
Gary also seemed to have a somewhat negative view of players in general, believing that every player will attempt to push a campaign toward Monty Haul or power-mongering style play. Another less-than-subtle hint about Gary's attitude toward players is this lovely line - "As this book is the exclusive precint of the DM, you must view any non-DM player possessing it as something less than worthy of honorable death." One wonders how any new DMs came about if the existing DMs didn't share their tomes of arcane insight - i.e. the DMG.
As an aside, Gary was overly fond of the word "milieu" as it shows up a rather absurd number of times in the Preface alone.
Second aside, in the Credits & Acknowledgements section of the Preface, we have the first instance of someone named who I have met, albeit online - Skip Williams, Dragon Magazine's Sage for much of its print run. I interviewed Skip for my weekly news blog on the now dead and buried Gleemax back in 2007.
Moving on to the Introduction, the first paragraph uses alignment tracking as one of the many "secret" activities that DMs engage in. Did DMs really have little alignment graphs for each player character at the table? I'm having a hard time imagining this as a regularly indulged in activity at the game table.
Although tongue-in-cheek, yet another bit of animosity toward players presents itself - "In fact, what I have attempted is to cram everything vital to the game into this book, so that you will be as completely equipped as possible to face the ravenous packs of players lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce upon the unwary referee and devour him or her at the first opportunity." The last paragraph in the Introduction takes a similar tone, letting aspiring DMs know that the hard work put forth to create campaigns and adventures will likely go unappreciated by players. Lovely sentiment, that.
Next post I'm going to try to cover pages 9 to 36 or so, which cover various aspects of player characters in relation to the DM.
Next up: Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) (Part 2)
Originally published August, 1979
Version being read and reviewed: Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint (July, 2012)
The Full title of this behemoth is...
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Special Reference Work: Dungeon Masters Guide - A COMPILATION VOLUME OF INFORMATION PRIMARILY USED BY ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GAME REFEREES, INCLUDING: COMBAT TABLES; MONSTER LISTS AND ENCOUNTERS; TREASURE AND MAGIC TABLES AND DESCRIPTIONS; RANDOM DUNGEON GENERATION; RANDOM WILDERNESS TERRAIN GENERATION; SUGGESTIONS ON GAME MASTERING; AND MORE. By Gary Gygax.
(Caps are theirs, not mine.)
I'm taking the advice of a couple of posters and dividing this review up into smaller sections, rather than taking on the whole DMG in one post. This book is a beast. A classic, beloved beast, but a beast nonetheless.
Mike Carr's Foreword opens the book with the question of whether DMing is an art of science. It is, of course, both, as well as a "labor of love."
We then move on to Gary's Preface, in which he admonishes those venturing into the field of DMing to not stray too far afield from what is set forth in the book, lest their game be incompatible with those of other DMs or stray into bad DM territory. Gary also talks about the many hats he wore when putting together this book and deciding what should go into it. There is a subtle undertone of "Father Knows Best" or in this case "Gary Knows Best" in terms of what should and shouldn't be in the game. Perhaps a little off-putting, at least from a modern perspective. Apparently the goal of keeping DMs on a bit of a leash was to ensure that all campaign worlds could conceivably exist within the same overarching AD&D universe, allowing relatively easy transfer of PCs from one campaign to another. There's also hintings of a vision for what would become the RPGA laid out as another reason for uniformity and adherence to the "laws" of the game.
Gary also seemed to have a somewhat negative view of players in general, believing that every player will attempt to push a campaign toward Monty Haul or power-mongering style play. Another less-than-subtle hint about Gary's attitude toward players is this lovely line - "As this book is the exclusive precint of the DM, you must view any non-DM player possessing it as something less than worthy of honorable death." One wonders how any new DMs came about if the existing DMs didn't share their tomes of arcane insight - i.e. the DMG.
As an aside, Gary was overly fond of the word "milieu" as it shows up a rather absurd number of times in the Preface alone.
Second aside, in the Credits & Acknowledgements section of the Preface, we have the first instance of someone named who I have met, albeit online - Skip Williams, Dragon Magazine's Sage for much of its print run. I interviewed Skip for my weekly news blog on the now dead and buried Gleemax back in 2007.
Moving on to the Introduction, the first paragraph uses alignment tracking as one of the many "secret" activities that DMs engage in. Did DMs really have little alignment graphs for each player character at the table? I'm having a hard time imagining this as a regularly indulged in activity at the game table.
Although tongue-in-cheek, yet another bit of animosity toward players presents itself - "In fact, what I have attempted is to cram everything vital to the game into this book, so that you will be as completely equipped as possible to face the ravenous packs of players lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce upon the unwary referee and devour him or her at the first opportunity." The last paragraph in the Introduction takes a similar tone, letting aspiring DMs know that the hard work put forth to create campaigns and adventures will likely go unappreciated by players. Lovely sentiment, that.
Next post I'm going to try to cover pages 9 to 36 or so, which cover various aspects of player characters in relation to the DM.
Next up: Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) (Part 2)
Samloyal23
Adventurer
So, who was Gary playing with that would contribute to this attitude? Hmmm...
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
Quick update - I am looking for work, which is cutting in to my free time, and I have taken a break from reading old stuff to read new stuff (the 5E core books). I'm also going back and designing a setting from the ground up using the older stuff. All of this is a long-winded way of saying - I haven't forgotten about this but it may be a bit before I get back to ye olde DMG.
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
Dungeon Masters Guide - Part 2
Originally published August, 1979
Version being read and reviewed: Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint (July, 2012)
Its been a while again, hasn't it? Looking for work and catching up on 5th Edition have been occupying my time, but I figured it was time to get back to this and try to get the DMG out of the way so I can finally move beyond this behemoth.
In this next section - titled "The Game" - Gary is fairly adamant that AD&D is first and foremost a game, dismissing the idea of the "realism-simulation" as absurd, at best. An "amusing and diverting passtime" and not something "to be taken too seriously." In fact, Gary considers the game a "dismal failure" when used as a means of simulating medieval culture and warfare. Given the realism and simulation vs game debates that continue to this day, this seems to be a topic just as prevalent then and likely to continue to be a source of contention for years and editions to come.
When talking about dice, Gary gets a bit unnecessarily mathematical when discussing probability, linear curves, bell curves, etc. Later editions wisely omitted this sort of thing. This section certainly makes my eyes cross (I am firmly in the story over rules camp when it comes to playstyle so the less math I have to look at, the better). My wife always jokes about RPG rulebooks reading like textbooks. Well, this section certainly resembles a math textbook.
Sidenote: It seems as though the d10 wasn't common as of the writing of this book as the dice section makes mention of using the d20 to generate number ranges from 1 to 10 and mentions the d10 as one of the "non-platonic" dice available.
After a discussion of miniatures and other accessories like character sheets, we finally get to character creation and the generation of ability scores (which, as you may recall, was absent from the Player's Handbook). The classic 3d6 rolled in order is actually discouraged here, in favor of several other methods. Method 1 is the well known 4d6, drop the lowest and arrange as desired. Method 2 is rolling 3d6 twelve times and arranging the top 6 as desired. Method 3 is rolling 3d6 6 times for each score and keeping the highest roll. Method 4 is basically rolling 3d6 in order but doing so 12 times and keeping one set. Having "grown up" on the Mentzer Basic Set, where 3d6 in order was the rule of the day, I find it interesting that that method is discouraged. It also contradicts my memories of AD&D players I knew from my teenage years who were quite adamant about playing what I guess you could call "hardcore mode."
Moving on, the ability score section also talks about NPCs, where the DM is encouraged to simply choose scores for important high-level NPCs, use average scores for the general populace, and a special method for henchmen (roll 3d6 normally, but add +1 to each die for the henchman's prime requisite for their class).
Wishes were one of the very few ways to raise ability scores once play started. Regular ability score increases didn't show up until 3rd Edition.
Next up, we have the proto-form of what would eventually become non-weapon proficiencies and skills. There's a random table for player character non-professional skills, with things like armorer, farmer, miner, and teamster. There aren't any rules associated with these titles, but the DM is encouraged to work ways to utilize these proto-skills in to the campaign.
Gary's philosophy on starting level matches my own. He recommends starting all characters at level 1, running separate adventures for new players if necessary to catch up to the characters of existing characters before integrating them into the main campaign. I start all of my campaigns at 1st level and avoid starting characters at higher level whenever possible. I just feel like it robs the players and the campaign the experience of playing through the early history of their characters. Starting at higher level, feels, to me, like cheating. Boom, 9th level - well, what did you do to earn those levels?
Character age, disease, and death are up next. Age is a fairly elaborate affair compared to later editions, something else I personally prefer...I like to keep track of campaign time and see the characters age between adventures. 1st edition also had a variety of spells and other effects that caused unnatural aging, something that was done away with in later editions. Haste was hazardous to your health back then.
Despite emphasizing the lack of realism in the game, Gary goes to great lengths to simulate real world diseases and parasitic infestations (ew). It seems quite likely that if you use this system for diseases, your characters will die of dysentery or some other awful affliction before they ever reach the adventure site.
I think we'll stop here for now - I'll try for a bit more brevity in later installments as we're only up to page 15 so far.
Next up: Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) (Part 3)
Originally published August, 1979
Version being read and reviewed: Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint (July, 2012)
Its been a while again, hasn't it? Looking for work and catching up on 5th Edition have been occupying my time, but I figured it was time to get back to this and try to get the DMG out of the way so I can finally move beyond this behemoth.
In this next section - titled "The Game" - Gary is fairly adamant that AD&D is first and foremost a game, dismissing the idea of the "realism-simulation" as absurd, at best. An "amusing and diverting passtime" and not something "to be taken too seriously." In fact, Gary considers the game a "dismal failure" when used as a means of simulating medieval culture and warfare. Given the realism and simulation vs game debates that continue to this day, this seems to be a topic just as prevalent then and likely to continue to be a source of contention for years and editions to come.
When talking about dice, Gary gets a bit unnecessarily mathematical when discussing probability, linear curves, bell curves, etc. Later editions wisely omitted this sort of thing. This section certainly makes my eyes cross (I am firmly in the story over rules camp when it comes to playstyle so the less math I have to look at, the better). My wife always jokes about RPG rulebooks reading like textbooks. Well, this section certainly resembles a math textbook.
Sidenote: It seems as though the d10 wasn't common as of the writing of this book as the dice section makes mention of using the d20 to generate number ranges from 1 to 10 and mentions the d10 as one of the "non-platonic" dice available.After a discussion of miniatures and other accessories like character sheets, we finally get to character creation and the generation of ability scores (which, as you may recall, was absent from the Player's Handbook). The classic 3d6 rolled in order is actually discouraged here, in favor of several other methods. Method 1 is the well known 4d6, drop the lowest and arrange as desired. Method 2 is rolling 3d6 twelve times and arranging the top 6 as desired. Method 3 is rolling 3d6 6 times for each score and keeping the highest roll. Method 4 is basically rolling 3d6 in order but doing so 12 times and keeping one set. Having "grown up" on the Mentzer Basic Set, where 3d6 in order was the rule of the day, I find it interesting that that method is discouraged. It also contradicts my memories of AD&D players I knew from my teenage years who were quite adamant about playing what I guess you could call "hardcore mode."
Moving on, the ability score section also talks about NPCs, where the DM is encouraged to simply choose scores for important high-level NPCs, use average scores for the general populace, and a special method for henchmen (roll 3d6 normally, but add +1 to each die for the henchman's prime requisite for their class).
Wishes were one of the very few ways to raise ability scores once play started. Regular ability score increases didn't show up until 3rd Edition.
Next up, we have the proto-form of what would eventually become non-weapon proficiencies and skills. There's a random table for player character non-professional skills, with things like armorer, farmer, miner, and teamster. There aren't any rules associated with these titles, but the DM is encouraged to work ways to utilize these proto-skills in to the campaign.
Gary's philosophy on starting level matches my own. He recommends starting all characters at level 1, running separate adventures for new players if necessary to catch up to the characters of existing characters before integrating them into the main campaign. I start all of my campaigns at 1st level and avoid starting characters at higher level whenever possible. I just feel like it robs the players and the campaign the experience of playing through the early history of their characters. Starting at higher level, feels, to me, like cheating. Boom, 9th level - well, what did you do to earn those levels?
Character age, disease, and death are up next. Age is a fairly elaborate affair compared to later editions, something else I personally prefer...I like to keep track of campaign time and see the characters age between adventures. 1st edition also had a variety of spells and other effects that caused unnatural aging, something that was done away with in later editions. Haste was hazardous to your health back then.
Despite emphasizing the lack of realism in the game, Gary goes to great lengths to simulate real world diseases and parasitic infestations (ew). It seems quite likely that if you use this system for diseases, your characters will die of dysentery or some other awful affliction before they ever reach the adventure site.
I think we'll stop here for now - I'll try for a bit more brevity in later installments as we're only up to page 15 so far.
Next up: Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) (Part 3)
Samloyal23
Adventurer
Crunch and fluff have to work together to make a setting feel authentic. The math must reinforce the story and show tangible results of character development...
Prince Atom
Explorer
I have been thinking, lately, about giving the players a certain number of attribute points and letting them distribute as they wish. It has the possibility of a player putting most of his points into one or two attributes to get an 18, so maybe I'd better specify a necessary minimum attribute higher than 3 (but lower than 8). On the other hand, the players can't complain that their dice were cold, and everyone's totals are the same before play starts.
Samloyal23
Adventurer
Playing a weaker character is just more of a challenge, you have to be willing to run from a fight and use cunning to avoid or defeat foes. Kids these days a so spoiled. My first character rolled 3d6 for each attribute and I was lucky to score an 18 and a 15. The rest of my attributes were 9-12 each. I considered myself very lucky.
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