Hussar
Legend
For a rulebook, shouldn't being useful be the #1 criterion?
I didn't like 4E as D&D, but it was set up for utility in both the PHB and DMG. It was beautiful, and it was well laid out for use.
Yeah, I gotta agree with this. Like I said, the 1e DMG is chock a block with all sorts of interesting tidbits, but, good god it's an organizational mess. The 4e DMG, for a book about teaching or guiding someone to being a DM, is a fantastic book. Great advice, easy layout, and actually fairly easy to read.
Even if you don't like the advice being given (which is perfectly fair, the 4e DMG suffers from having a too strong "voice" IMO ), it does remain the gold standard for what a DMG should look like.