D&D (2024) What can WotC do in OneD&D to make the DM's Guide worth buying?

[Clint_L]

It's a serious question. The "Big Three" books of D&D have always been the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide. The DM's Guide has always sounded like it is really important, but I don't think it has ever been an essential text in any version of D&D, aside from being where we hide the magic items (for some reason).

So what can actually make this book worth buying and reading, while remaining true to the basic 5e toolkit?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Slip a $50 bill into each copy.

 

[darjr]

Have you read the DMG?

 

[Clint_L]

Wow, snarky comment. That was useful. Let's assume that I wouldn't have made this thread if I had not. I still have my AD&D DM's Guide, for that matter. It was also the least useful book in that edition.

I'm thinking that the DM's Guide needs a clearly defined purpose. The PHB and MM have that. The DM's Guide is more like a bunch of half worked out optional rules and thinly sketched ideas that no one uses. If you asked WotC, "what is the purpose of the DM's Guide," I'm not sure that they could give you a clear answer. So what should a "Guide" actually do?

Well, the first thing a guide does is show you how to do things so that you can learn to do them yourself. So presumably, this book should be guiding Dungeon Masters to do the hardest job in gaming: running an RPG table.

But let's assume that you have been doing this for awhile and don't really feel you need that kind of guiding? Maybe you are ready to try new stuff - modify your game, etc. That's where I think optional rules would still play a role.

So I would basically divide the DM's Guide into two sections. The first would be geared towards teaching DM's how to run games, and it would be built around a series of short adventure arcs, similar to the ones in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. Those could be used to teach new DMs how to do the job, and though short, would vary in complexity. There would be one designed to show how to start a campaign (get the party together to solve a fairly straightforward problem - rescue the captives from the gnoll cave, that kind of thing). Another might have a simple traps'n'monsters dungeon to show DM's how to pace a session and build in a variety of challenges. And so on. I would make the adventures very setting agnostic, or else include a simple setting guide that could be easily transplanted into the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc.

The back half I would clearly label as optional rules for more advanced DMs. Here I would include the various systems (critical hit tables, etc.) that can add more complexity and rules depth for those who want them. Whatever was in here, I would make sure that it was fully play tested and complete, rather than the often too thinly sketched material in the current DMG.

I would move magic items to the PHB. I think they are currently only in the DM's Guide because that's where Gygax originally put them, probably to give people a reason to actually purchase the book.

 

[darjr]

Wow, snarky comment.

Not meant to be snarky?

I didn’t want to assume.

I know a lot of people who play who have not read it and a lot of folks online make commentary about things that they are surprised to find in the DMG. Even folks who HAVE read it. It’s kinda a meme.

 

[pointofyou]

There was a big thread that was at least adjacent to this.

D&D 5E - Regarding DMG, Starter Set and Essentials kit: Are they good for the starting DMs?

Hi! I'm writing this thread because in this forum I'm noticing several thread speaking on the role of the DMG: For some people it's a good reference book but not a starter book. For others the Starters and Essential Kits should be the real "starting" DM guide, for other the PHB, except for the...

www.enworld.org

The upshot is that some people want changes to the DMG and some other people want minimal or no changes to the DMG and neither group thinks the other has read the DMG. Some of the people who want changes listed at least some of the changes they want.

 

[Amrûnril]

I would move magic items to the PHB. I think they are currently only in the DM's Guide because that's where Gygax originally put them, probably to give people a reason to actually purchase the book.

My perspective is that the PHB is primarily for player-facing options. Magic items are used by players, but the player can't generally choose between them in the way they can choose between races, classes/subclasses, backgrounds or spells. Instead, they have access to the specific items they come across in the course of gameplay. This is primarily a matter of worldbuilding/adventure building, so I think the DMG is the best place for magic items.

 

[Yora]

Return to having actual advice on gamemastering skills in the book.
1st edition was a big mess 43 years ago, but at least it tried. Star Wars Roleplaying Game had a great Gamemaster Handbook back in the 90s that didn't need any additional game mechanics or tables to fill out its page count.
Make the book an actual guide, not just a collection of mechanics that didn't fit in the PHB.

 

[Lojaan]

It's gonna maybe sound weird but... make the DMG something that people want to read?

I think that so few people having read it shows you the real problem. DMs just wanna have fun yeah? And the DMG is a full on textbook.

So to add to this thread - what do people think could make people want to read the DMG? What could make it fun and interesting?

Here are some ideas:

Articles from high profile DMs on how they do things
Super cool art
Really basic instructions on how to actually DM, specifically how to:

• Describe the scene
• Invite player action
• Narrate action results (and repeat)

(Include examples of what NOT to do)
Weapon and armour game formula and advice on how to create your own, same for spells and classes
Some monster ecologies
How to world build using geopolitics (like the great YouTube channel by Baron de Ropp, https://youtube.com/c/DungeonMasterpiece)
Tips on how to invoke certain player/game experience (horror/fey whimsy/mystery etc...)
How to have fun as a DM (and what to do when it stops being fun)
No DnD is better than bad DnD

That's just off the top of my head.

Who knows - if the DMG was as much fun as the PHB then maybe we would have more DMs.

 

[tetrasodium]

I never read the 4e dmg but the 2e & 3.x dmg had good insight into running the game & the structure behind mechanical crunch. The 5e dmg however is like a grab bag of "PEACH my homebrew" that in far too many cases fails at rising to a level that wouldn't get mocked for being poorly thought out & incomplete.

My perspective is that the PHB is primarily for player-facing options. Magic items are used by players, but the player can't generally choose between them in the way they can choose between races, classes/subclasses, backgrounds or spells. Instead, they have access to the specific items they come across in the course of gameplay. This is primarily a matter of worldbuilding/adventure building, so I think the DMG is the best place for magic items.

I agree with most of this but having the magic items in the dmg when most players neither own nor read it presents two problems for me as a GM, magic items belong in the PHB or some other player facing book just like spells.

• Players don't have any idea what magic items they want or they only want the very specific magic items mentioned as being needed for some broken hypercharop "build" they read about. If it's not available they just shut down or keep looking for another place to get the thing they weren't going to get.
• As a GM I say "you find xyz" and the whole table effectively crosses their arms wanting me to explain what it is. Worse they often don't write down the details & make me look it up again when they use it.