Should the DMG be the cheapest core book?

[Umbra Semita]

From D&D XP Seminar: Critical Hits

• Communicate key concepts for running a great game. Players will NOT need to own this.
• How to build encounters, adventures, campaigns
• Rules for customizing monsters and creating NPCs
• More than 20 templates, from the Lich to Scion of the Flame
• Traps, artifacts, the planes, and more…

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

From D&D XP Seminar: Critical Hits

• Communicate key concepts for running a great game. Players will NOT need to own this.
• How to build encounters, adventures, campaigns
• Rules for customizing monsters and creating NPCs
• More than 20 templates, from the Lich to Scion of the Flame
• Traps, artifacts, the planes, and more…

sounds extremely useful to me!

 

[RandomCitizenX]

Trap rules alone make this a must buy for me. To this day my favorite moment as a DM was a session where the players had to navigate a maze of traps to reach the mythic temple city under a mountain. No combat at all, just a whole lot of saves and roleplaying *the poor cleric got hit by almost every trap*

 

[JoeGKushner]

So templates are going to be in the DMG?

Including the lich? Another previously classic Monster Manual style enemy?

:\

 

[Nebulous]

What the DMG needs is detailed rules for running variant campaigns, and ways to tweak the existing rules. Low magic vs. high magic, variant death mechanics, stuff like that, and plenty of sidebars that detail the thought processes of the designers. And a good chart of random prostitutes.

 

[Zinovia]

So templates are going to be in the DMG?

Including the lich? Another previously classic Monster Manual style enemy?

:\

I don't know what they will include in the MM in the way of classic monsters that could also appear as templates, such as the vampire or lich. What I'm hoping to see is the default "Human lich" in the MM, with templates for making other creatures into a lich in the DMG. Likewise with vampires. Most DM's don't need a bugbear vampire, but if you happen to want one, the template will be there in the DMG for those who want to take the time to create one.

I really do hope the defaults are in the MM, and playable out of the book though. That would be ideal.

 

[smathis]

What the DMG needs is detailed rules for running variant campaigns, and ways to tweak the existing rules. Low magic vs. high magic, variant death mechanics, stuff like that, and plenty of sidebars that detail the thought processes of the designers. And a good chart of random prostitutes.

Amen to that!

 

[Umbra Semita]

So templates are going to be in the DMG?

This may be to emphasize that templates can be applied to both characters and NPCs in addition to monsters.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Trap rules alone make this a must buy for me.

I wasn't too pleased with Traps in 3E or any previous edition either. Traps and Poisons actually. Seems like they were just things they made up on the fly and threw in. I hope they take more time and care, have better mechanics, and are a little more devilish and complex

 

[Spinachcat]

The DMG should be free!

But hey, this hobby has always put the financial burden on the GM. How often is the GM the person who offers the game space, breaks out the munchies, the minis, the dice, the extra PHB, the character sheet, blah, blah, blah just so there can be a game???

How many gaming groups have that player (or multiple players) who don't have their own PHB or dice and just show up waiting for the fun to start?

Since this hobby completely depends on the GM, you would think that the companies would do more than see them as walking wallets. If DDI really wants to succeed, they should make a metric crapton of free resources for DMs available with the monthly price and not force DMs to spend more money than players.

Paying for digital minis is UNCOOL.