Rating: Summary: An encyclopedia of info Review: The new books have a lot of info, and is well organized
Rating: Summary: A handy resource Review: Okay, so a lot of the introduction material is quite common sense stuff, and will make anyone over age 5 nod off to sleep. However, the rest of the book is pretty important if you want to be a good DM or want to create your own adventure. Some stuff is pretty crucial, since the Player's Handbook doesn't explain it at all and refers you to look in the DM's guide. You'll also find a lot of useful quick reference charts and all the magic items you need. Anything else can be provided free of charge by your imagination, provided you shipped with one. Aside from that, the guide is well illustrated and written, and will probably give you a lot of ideas you wouldn't have come up with otherwise. Some of the pointers are pretty useful if you're playing with a big group, as well. If you're new to D&D (as I was when I got this) and are an aspiring dungeon master, I would especially recommend you check it out.
Rating: Summary: Useful but don't take it as gospel... Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which I had been told was useless. While a lot of the info was review for an experienced GM of any system, a lot of it is useful -- the sections on creating your own races, for instance. I have only seen or used the prestige classes as villains, so far, so I am not sure how they balance out, but the concept is intriguing. The random monster generation tables are very useful, especially for ideas (the Monster Manual is so vast as to sometimes intimidate) and the section on creating monster generation tables for a climate/area is quite good.My one major beef is about the "Rewards" section. This kind of table is one of the places where a GM new to 3rd ed, or to the D&D system in general (me! me!) is most likely to rely on the tables. I found the treasure charts to be a little on the generous side with the coins, and the experience charts to be *way* too generous. If you go by the book, your PC's will most likely be levelling so often that it barely excites them any more. I urge people to run a little adventure by themselves and test out these tables to see what they think of the wealth and progression before implementing them in their own game. I don't think they were playtested rigorously enough (or stingily enough).
Rating: Summary: Good, but not Outstanding Review: As usual, the DM book is neccesary and a "must-buy" but it is not as useful as the player's handbook counterpart. I was hoping the DM book would come with a CD-ROM demo of some sort as well, but it did not. The DM Guide is a useful tool for storytellers and Dungeon Master's alike who are either new, rusty, or just looking for ideas for their campaign. Chapter 4 gives you dungeon dressing to drop into your stories for expanded detail and all that jazz. It's a good enough buy for the price and it has some good information, just don't expect to be grabbing for it during the game as much as you will the Player's Handbook.
Rating: Summary: A great complement Review: This book really makes things easy when creating adventures. Explains certain topics which could be confusing in the player's book and helps to create more solid worlds, dungeons and places to challenge your players. A simple good book that helps to build your own worlds with a better structure.
Rating: Summary: Everything the DMG should be Review: This book contains everything that it should and nothing that it shouldn't. The information is presented in a clean, readable fashion that makes it easy to index/referance parts on the fly. There is an index of tables in the back of the book and the full index is clearly legiable as to what is in the DMG (rather than also cross-referancing to the PHB). The information that is presented are the kinds of things that the DM needs but that the players not only shouldn't know, but really don't need: there are chapters on world building, rewards, magical items, and running campaigns in general. Prestige classes are introduced in a clear and concise way, along with a few examples that are, for the most part, well thought out (personally I thought the Assassin needed work, but I digress). The Challenge Rating table (the way experience is determined in D&D 3) is clear and easy to follow, with simple rules for monsters that are not on the table. Everything is clearly explained and easy to calculate. Unlike AD&D 2, where the only purpose of owning the DMG was the magical items section in the back, I have found--after 10 years experience--that this book still had things to teach me. All in all, if you are running a campaign, this book is a virtual necessity.
Rating: Summary: Wizards.com has taken over where TSR left off Review: D&D 3rd Ed was a long time coming. Took forver to get here. Granted, I still play (have been playing since 1976, as I STILL own the Original D&D small 4 yellowish tan books in near mint condition) D&D, AD&D, AD&D 2nd Ed., and now D&D 3rd Ed. It's come a long way, and the new system seems to work pretty well, but in some ways I still prefer 2nd Ed over them all. Oh well, at least in this case, a "newer updated version" was actually just that. It cleared up a lot of the older versions problems. I give it 5 stars as a great RPG for people from young to old. Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: The best edition of D&D ever! Review: This is the Dungeon Master's Guide, the best possible resource for a beginning Dungeon Master. I heartily recommend it. It is well laid-out, and very accessible.
Rating: Summary: A New Approach Review: It's about time for this rewrite, but there are a lot of Dungeons and Dragons veterans who aren't going to be satisfied with this volume of rules. It is in this dissatisfaction, however, that these rules provide their greatest service. The core rules Dungeon Master's Guide must be written, first and foremost, with the novice DM as the intended audience. In that regard, the 3rd edition incarnation of the DM's Guide excels. This guide provides rules and advice on everything that a beginning DM should have a question about, and what's better, it provides suggestions and tables in a lot of cases. Now, some veteran DMs will tell you that these tables are worthless or even counterproductive, but these DMs are forgetting their younger days, when even they couldn't come up with workable, balanced adventure ideas. This is a guide that most players and DMs should grow beyond, but that is as it should be. The rules changes that have been made have been made well--the experience system is clearly and rationally laid out, and the new magic item rules should indeed lead to an increase in PC production of those wonderful devices. The writing itself, while slow at times, remains readable throughout, which is a good thing, since any starting DM should read the book cover to cover. Frankly, I'm glad to see the breaks that this new guide takes from the 2e model, which provided comparatively little information distinct from the Player's Handbook. While the sections on world building, campaign organization, and adventure design could certainly have been more extensively fleshed out, as they stand they are excellent building blocks. For veteran DMs, this is probably a good pick up, but one that you can put off for a while if you've got a real feel for game balance. However, I wouldn't chance it--these rules may feel similar to the ones that you've run in the past, but the balance has been changed and tweaked in ways that may not be readily apparent. For the freshman Dungeons and Dragons game master, this book is a must have, and it should provide no small amount of invaluable knowledge. All things considered, this is an excellent guide book for DMs of any age and experience level.
Rating: Summary: Its easy to make a adventure with this book. Review: This is a incredible book. Lots of info for beginners ,but it is also very usable for veterans.
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