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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6138277" data-attributes="member: 17106">I read the DMG when I was a kid, but instantly rejected a lot of it. The advice books I've read since then have occasionally provoke good thoughts, but have mostly been useless or counterproductive. My impression is that while a lot of work is put into developing and testing the main rules, DM content is often produced quickly and without a lot of thought or work. Occasionally, the writer has a good idea, but in general I would not look to rpg books to learn how to play or DM. The books are to give you a framework for creating a world. The rest is tangential.Nor have I ever observed and improvement in the quality of DMGs and DM advice over time. If anything, they seem to be getting worse.Probably the best advice I've seen in an rpg book is CoC d20. Even if you're not playing horror, it gives a lot of good story construction advice. Non-D&D rpgs in general seem to have shorter and better DM chapters, perhaps because they're divorced from some of the more toxic elements the D&D-specific culture.All that said, most of what I know about DMing I learned in psychology classes (how to manage small groups, engage/communicate with people) and by learning about other creative media. The Battlestar Galactica podcasts were tremendously helpful in getting a sense of how to subvert audience expectations, which is really the most important thing. In general, television and film commentaries and writings about the creative process behind them are very informative, and better developed than rpg advice. Sure, rpgs have different constraints, but once you know what you're doing it's easy to adapt.So for anyone learning to DM, my advice would be not to spend too much time on D&D books, but instead to educate yourself (either formally or informally) in social and creative skills. Learning the rules is easy. Learning to DM is harder. But more rewarding.</blockquote>

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