It wasn’t that long ago that the controversy of the day in Twitter/X TTRPG space was certain high profile influencers having not read the (5e 2014) Dungeon Master’s Guide. I don’t think there’s a great need to rehash that, but one comment that came out a bit, that I found pretty understandable, was that the 2014 DMG lacked readability. “It’s not an easy read, so I’m not surprised people didn’t read it.”
There’s also a whole spiel some people have about whether or not readability there was a problem with the writing/editing or with the willingness of readers to, y’know, read. That’s also not something I’m in a hurry to spend energy on. What I think is a worthwhile takeaway is that this is an oft-repeated claim, and Wizards seemed to be listening to that.
After all, they made readability a key concern for the 2024 Player’s Handbook. While the 2024 rules aren’t really the game I personally want to play–perhaps another post for another time–I very much appreciate how much effort they put into readability of the book so newcomers could parse and utilize it. Against that precedent, the new DMG was released a couple months ago.
And I have to admit, they did a great job of making it readable and usable too.
Hopefully, this helps get more people to treat it like the core rulebook it’s always been. Hopefully, the “I’ve never even looked at the DMG” comments become less common as a result. Hopefully, the information and insights within the book are taken to heart resulting in net improvements for tables across the board.
The book isn’t without some shortcomings, and that largely has to do with target audiences in my estimation. If you’re an experienced DM–and I’d hazard a guess that you are if you’re reading this blog–then this probably isn’t going to be the best book you’ve ever read. The content within the book is good, but it is limited. This is especially the case if you’re looking to homebrew. The biggest disappointment in the book was, far and away, how little was there for creating spells or creatures from scratch. The book gives very little guidance in these matters.
That said, if you are new to DMing, or even newer to D&D in general, there’s probably a lot to like here. Even though I’ve been at this for a while, I wasn’t around when D&D began. My collection has largely been in the realm of 5e things. Now, in D&D history, there’s a setting that was notably missing in 5e up until now: Greyhawk. Even though a lot of the DM advice isn’t new to me, getting a nice bit of Greyhawk setting guide in this book is quite welcome, though I can’t attest to how well it reflects the original Greyhawk setting guides.
Anyway, more broadly speaking of the hobby and brand, there are some who say D&D has become a game for the theater kids. To Wizards’ credit with the DMG, rules and mechanics still matter. In fact, there’s more guidance for the exploration pillar of D&D her than I expected, which I’m quite glad for. Still, even if working with the assumption that D&D actually is for the theater kids now, the advice here would very much lead to more enjoyable games for everyone.
For this, the DM’s Toolbox is probably the most important and usable chapter in the book. Clocking in at around 50 pages, using the guidance here would result in better exploration, combat, storytelling, and so on.
That said, while rules and mechanics and roll tables are present, I think it’s reasonable to say that the DMG is a book more of ideas and getting into a DM’s mindset of generating immersion and an alive world filled with variety than it is about giving step by step implementations. As I put it to a friend, it’s a spice rack loaded with a variety of quality seasonings than it is a recipe book.
And for that, it’s perfectly fine. Heck, it’s probably a lot more than fine for newcomer DMs, and I wouldn’t discourage any newcomers from reading and using it. I have some philosophical and values differences with some of the bits in the book (the emphasis on fun at all costs, and the assumption of what constitutes fun, being a chief example), but there’s still a lot of good ideas here.
Moreover, it’s a lot more of a setting guide than I expected. If someone is just getting into D&D and wants to play with the most recent rules, then the DMG is absolutely essential. Not just for Greyhawk but for the cosmology/assumed framework all worlds/settings take place in and the 100+ pages spent on the Treasures chapter.
This post is running long, and I haven’t even touched on its new contribution: Bastions. I think I’ll circle back to that another time in more detail.
In parting, if you’re already a DM and have another DMG, you probably don’t need this one. If you’re a DM and want to do more homebrew, probably look into Kobold Press’s Game Master’s Guide for Tales of the Valiant is almost certainly a better buy. I’m still working on finishing that one, but I’ll post about it once I do.
But if you’re new to DMing and you’re going to play the new D&D rule revision, then this really is a great starting place to start your DM resource collection.