D&D 3E/3.5 The DMG: A CRITICAL HIT at 93.5%!

The 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is still pulling in rave reviews, and is trending at 93.5%. io9 says its "like a Hacker's Manual for D&D", and Geekdad reports that "this 5e ruleset has completely won me back!" There are dissenters, of course - 5 Minute Workday feels its "a whole lot of appetizers but no real main course" - but these are outweighed by reviews from the likes of boingboing who called it "gorgeous, evocative, hefty, organized, and readable".

So, clearly the Dungeon Master's Guide has garnered critical praise. You can look at the list of critical reviews from outlets around the web. The critics have given it an aggregate score of 85%; but fans have shown more support and weigh in with a whopping 93.5%!

Fun with stats: D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is ranked #3 out of 24 products with 10 or more reviews, placing it in the 92% percentile. It is rated 15.1 points higher than the overall average product rating of 78.4%. With 43 reviews, this is the #3 most reviewed product.

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[delericho]

It's not a rating out of 1000, you get 5 choices. Statistically, 20% of all RPG books you read should get a 5.

Nah, I grade on a curve. Getting a 4 is relatively easy (like getting into the Amazon top 10, I guess - or is that reference already too old? ), but getting that elusive 5 needs something special.

 

[mouselim]

* In fact, my understanding is that the 5e DMG is itself aimed largely at advanced DMs, with newbies catered too more with the Starter Set at the as-yet-upcoming "how to DM" articles on the WotC website. Again, having not read the DMG I can't comment, but if this is indeed accurate then I'd probably not even give them the DMG. Instead, I'd point them to the Starter Set and advise them to start on learning how to run and then build adventures first - the world can wait.

Then, sadly that will make the chapters 1-3 even more irrelevant to experienced DM as nothing in there aren't what I am already knowing.

 

[Agamon]

Nah, I grade on a curve. Getting a 4 is relatively easy (like getting into the Amazon top 10, I guess - or is that reference already too old? ), but getting that elusive 5 needs something special.

I'm not saying one should sing, "Everything is Awesome," while posting reviews for every book one has used in a game they enjoyed. But posting one 5 and 37 4's probably isn't the best way to go either.

 

[Umbran]

No. It's not just me. Since you directed it at me, let me return the question. Are you an experienced DM? Have you created worlds, campaigns, adventures? If so, will you use it?

Yep, I'd call myself experienced. Part of being a good GM is continuing your education and finding other perspectives and opinions on how to do things, rather than just relying on what you've done before yourself.

I will most certainly use their adventure creation section - it won't be the only information on adventure creation I'll use, but I want to include the designers' thoughts on the matter, as I do for every game that offers said advice. How a game plays is as much a matter of the adventure design as it does onthe game design - it is good for them to match up in a well-considered way. I am considering starting a 5e campaign in the coming months, probably building the world from scratch - I think I'll refer to the appropriate sections of the DMG when I do that, too. So, yes, I'll use those sections.

Are you an inexperienced DM? If so, if you have a full book on world building and a chapter of this in the DMG, what will you use?

Since we don't have a full book on worldbuilding for this edition, and are unlikely to have one in the near future, the question is an irrelevant hypothetical. It does not make sense to me to compare a chapter to a product that doesn't exist.

The logic of "if you might rate a full book on the subject a 5/5, then you must rate this one chapter lower" is further flawed, in that it follows for every other product ever written, and becomes absurd*. The purpose of a full book on a topic, and a DMG chapter on it, are not the same, so you can't really compare them directly.




*One could have a whole book on shortswords. The PHB has only a few lines on them. Clearly, the PHB is deeply flawed! FATE Core doesn't talk all that much about android characters, but you can have a whole book on them, too! So much for FATE being a better book! It has the exact same flaws!

 

[mouselim]

Nah, I grade on a curve. Getting a 4 is relatively easy (like getting into the Amazon top 10, I guess - or is that reference already too old? ), but getting that elusive 5 needs something special.

My way too

That's why I asked Morrus for EN World to do something about the scoring - it needs some way to weight it.

 

[delericho]

I'm not saying one should sing, "Everything is Awesome," while posting reviews for every book one has used in a game they enjoyed. But posting one 5 and 37 4's probably isn't the best way to go either.

Fair point.

Of course, in between times it has occurred to me that I have three reviews on this site, and all three are 5/5s. In fairness, though, those are all excellent products.

 

[mouselim]

Dude, seriously, PF core? Fate?? 13th AGE??? Those are definitely only in league with the nearest trashcan...

/sarcasm
#opinions_are_like_a$$holes...

Warder

You're kidding right? 13th Age core (which in my opinion is a much better book altogether than DMG) won the silver ENnie itself here yet it holds only a 85% rating.

If PF Core is bad (and they "enhanced D&D 3e), then D&D 3e will be in the same league and don't forget, D&D 5e "borrowed" from D&D 3e too.

 

[Agamon]

You're kidding right? 13th Age core (which in my opinion is a much better book altogether than DMG) won the silver ENnie itself here yet it holds only a 85% rating.

If PF Core is bad (and they "enhanced D&D 3e), then D&D 3e will be in the same league and don't forget, D&D 5e "borrowed" from D&D 3e too.

Once again, opinion isn't fact. Someone else may hate something you love. That isn't absurd, that's how we humans function.

 

[Agamon]

Fair point.

Of course, in between times it has occurred to me that I have three reviews on this site, and all three are 5/5s. In fairness, though, those are all excellent products.

Exactly. If you think a product is "Excellent", you give it a 5.

The system may be nebulous in how one defines "Excellent," but this isn't a scientific survey, it's just a bit of fun.

 

[Imaro]

There are nine chapters in the DMG. Yes, its a DM (GM) guide. It's split into world building and managing, adventure building and managing, rules building and managing.

You're right it isn't billed as a world building guide but there are world building materials found therein.

It isn't billed as a adventure building guide but nearly 1/4 of the book is based on that.

It isn't billed as a treasure or magic item compendium yet nearly 1/3 of the book is based on that.

Let's take Torchbearer as an example. The core book essential covers two main sections. One for players (PHB) and the other for GM (DMG). It goes from pages 58 to 80. If you have the book, help me to review these two sections and give me a score on each section ranging from 1 to 5.

Sorry I don't have Torchbearer and am not really a Luke Crane fan...