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<blockquote data-quote="KirayaTiDrekan" data-source="post: 6445532" data-attributes="member: 6755061"><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Dungeon Masters Guide</strong></span> - Part 1</p><p></p><p>Originally published August, 1979</p><p></p><p>Version being read and reviewed: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Masters/dp/0786962410/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1416628500&sr=8-12&keywords=Dungeon+Masters+Guide" target="_blank">Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint</a> (July, 2012) </p><p></p><p>The Full title of this behemoth is...</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>(Caps are theirs, not mine.)</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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." </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Next up: Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) (Part 2)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KirayaTiDrekan, post: 6445532, member: 6755061"] [SIZE=4][B]Dungeon Masters Guide[/B][/SIZE] - Part 1 Originally published August, 1979 Version being read and reviewed: [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Masters/dp/0786962410/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1416628500&sr=8-12&keywords=Dungeon+Masters+Guide"]Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition Premium Reprint[/URL] (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) [/QUOTE]
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