No love for DMG II !?!?

[Southern Oracle]

I got the DMG 2 on Tuesday, and I think it's fantastic! It's not just limited to usefulness in 4E, either; I play in a 4E campaign and run two 3.5E campaigns, and I've converted a bunch of stuff from 4E to 3.5E with no problems. Cooperative storytelling, making better use of terrain, even skill challenges are all usable (to some degree) in any edition.

And it's got Sigil! Granted, it's not as indepth as I would like, but it's enough that I can build on it for 4E. Stats for dabus and cranium rats go a long way to giving me insight in how to convert Planescape to 4E.

 

[Badwe]

i can't speak for everyone, but i intend to pick it up (along with revenge of the giants) as part of D&D game day. this is at least in part because participating in game day gets you 10% off (25% if you DM the adventure) at my FLGS.

I'm definitely excited about this. although i had attempted to GM other systems back when i was a teenager, 4e was my first foray into DMing for D&D, and while I've gotten much better very quickly (i think), i'm definitely the kind of guy who just needs a book full of pages of "maybe try this". I'm sure for some of the old folks out there a book like this would be full of things they consider self evident. Also, having never played any specific settings in 2e (just generic fantasy "D&D" setting, i was young so maybe it was greyhawk or FR) i'm looking forward to seeing a treatment of sigil for the first time after having it so regularly lauded.


I'm also looking forward to revenge of the giants. While encounter design is generally my favorite part of campaign prep, it turns out having a module adventure do it for me allows me to focus on things like extra side plot, character development opportunities, etc.

 

[Phaezen]

I'm definitely excited about this. although i had attempted to GM other systems back when i was a teenager, 4e was my first foray into DMing for D&D, and while I've gotten much better very quickly (i think), i'm definitely the kind of guy who just needs a book full of pages of "maybe try this". I'm sure for some of the old folks out there a book like this would be full of things they consider self evident.

Can't speak for other "old folks" but after 23 years of dming I am still interested in new and fresh ways of running games.

 

[The_Gneech]

Umm.. fyi, loving a book of any sort is a bad thing... it leads to sticky pages.







*from, you know, the sweat of your fingers soaking in to the page as you flip through so often, yeah, that's what i meant ...

Insert "bibliophile" joke here.

-The Gneech, scared of paper cuts

 

[davethegame]

Ooh - it reprints the Skill Challenge from "Journey Through the Silver Caves", which has been my favourite skill challenge so far, really showing what the format can do.

Seconded!

I ran it by the book, telling the PCs what skills were useful and what they did at each stage, to a group of experienced roleplayers... and they loved it. I haven't run skill challenges that way any other time, but I think it really speaks to the strength of how it was designed. I was a bit iffy on all the reprints in DMG2 at first but I think it works precisely because they are showcasing the best.

 

[Aramax]

Umm.. fyi, loving a book of any sort is a bad thing... it leads to sticky pages.







*from, you know, the sweat of your fingers soaking in to the page as you flip through so often, yeah, that's what i meant ...

As long as we consenting adults(me and the book)are doing what Im doing
in the privacy of my home.......(Hope my wife sees it that way.....)

 

[Zustiur]

As long as we consenting adults(me and the book)are doing what Im doing
in the privacy of my home.......(Hope my wife sees it that way.....)

How can a new book be a consenting adult? It's only just been born/printed!
You need to stick with the 1E or possibly 2E DMG.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm still reading it.

One thing that strikes me right away is wondering how much of this is material I've already read. Save My Game, Dungeoncraft, Ruling Skill Challenges, and even blog posts are reprinted here. Between this and the various art reprints my buying habbits for WoTC material may start going south. I've already got the DDI. I want NEW material, not compilations of material I've already read packaged in a different format. If the company can't afford to print new material, at least put on the front something like "Compiled from the DDI and other online resources."

 

[wedgeski]

There is a lot of reprinted material (see Skill Challenges chapter), something I will want to see less of as an Insider in the future, but in this case there's also plenty of new stuff to justify the outlay. And I have to say, taken overall, this is an amazing book.

 

[Rechan]

I can let slide the reprinting within reason. Reprinting some good skill challenges for instance, or reprinting the traps article (It has all the detailst o make traps).

As far as skill challenges, SO MUCH has been written (a weekly article on them!) that it would be hard to not repeat themselves.