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gridloreA few weeks ago, I wrote up my feelings on the new Players Handbook for D&D4e.
Well, the time has come to examine the Dungeon Master's Guide.
OK, all my previous comments about physical quality remain in place. I'm impressed by the restraint in art when compared to 3/3.5. A nice thread throughout the book is Tips From the Pros, little text boxes where the designers drop out of their professional mode to pass along nuggets of advice.
We start with "How To Be A DM". I've been running games for over thirty years, and still found useful information here. We start with what you need to play, go from there to the different types of player from the Power Gamer to the Watcher with advice on how to both control their excesses and still give them what they want. Then there's a section on building parties, motivations, and different types of games.
Chapter Two is "Running the Game". Preparation, starting sessions, and handling the ebb and flow of the actual game. This section is worth the price of the book in of itself. I own a couple of books on gamemastering, and never have seen so much good advice presented in such a clear and organized manner. I don't care what you're running. Read the first two chapters of the DMG and you will be a better game master.
Next up is "Combat Encounters". Now we start getting crunchy! First, we get led throw how to run a combat encounter from surprise to looting the bodies. Then comes the rules for fun things like falling, mounted combat, and the like. Oddly, diseases and poisons are in this section. All god stuff, with the important parts in highlighted text boxes.
"Building Encounters" follows, with all the rules for monster roles and making challenging encounters. The roles (Artillery, Brute, Controller, Lurker, Minion, Skirmisher, Soldier, Elite, Solo, and Leader) carry over into the Monster Manual so you can build with a variety of threats. One role deserves special mention: the Minion role is given to cannon fodder. They are eliminated by any damage. So when the orc horde pours out of the caves, the heroes can wade in and cut great bloody paths without the DM needing to track the HP status of 150 monsters.
Interestingly, the method for building encounters is based on an XP budget. You choose the level of the encounter, multiply the base XP value for that level by the number of characters and that is you budget to spend on monsters. For example, a Level 6 encounter for a party of four PCs would have a budget of 1,000XP. It should be noted that this budget can also be spent on traps. So, that encounter might be 3 Orc Warriors (100XP ), an Orc Bloodrager (600XP), and they've dug a concealed pit (100XP). Sample templates for several types of encounter are given along with customization suggestions. Terrain, both mundane and fantastic is the final portion of chapter 4. How different monster roles use terrain, how to bend bars/lift gates (as all us old farts smile) and some very interesting terrain types.
Chapter Five covers noncombat encounters. Skill checks and tests, puzzles, and traps. Good stuff, but pretty basic.
Chapter Six is "Adventures" Once again, this is mainly a combination toolkit and step-by-step guide to creating and running adventures.
Then comes "Rewards". How to figure and dole out XP, plus the obligatory treasure tables.
I'd love to say more, but these sections are all pretty dry. In fact, there really isn't anything new or outstanding until one reaches "Artifacts" on page 164. These are the Items of Power, singular, intelligent, and with a will of their own. Thus we have the idea of Concordance, how pleased the item is with its current owner. The more you meet the expectations of the item, the more powers it grants. Great, until you run into the Eye and and Hand of Vecna. The rules specifically state that artifacts are temporary boons, and will move on after a time. Four artifacts are listed, two or which are Vecna's body parts. Where's the Rod of Seven Parts?
Finally, the "DM's Toolbox". Lots of randomness. Monsters, NPCs, dungeons, and a fun bit on monster templates like "Lich." The write for that, by the way, includes the idea of a Mind Flayer Lich. Brraaaiinnss indeed! There are also more mundane templates like the "Demagogue", who can inspire his followers to heights of fanaticism while getting double his usual move when running away. That one little thing made the entire section for me.
The last section of the book is a sort of sample campaign and adventure. Meh.
Despite the tone of my review (It's a warm day, and I'm considering a nap) the DMG does exactly what it sets out to do: guide people through the chore of running a D&D game. There is excellent advice in here both for new DMs and those of us who bought their first dice from Lou Zocchi himself!
Next up, Monster Manual
Well, the time has come to examine the Dungeon Master's Guide.
OK, all my previous comments about physical quality remain in place. I'm impressed by the restraint in art when compared to 3/3.5. A nice thread throughout the book is Tips From the Pros, little text boxes where the designers drop out of their professional mode to pass along nuggets of advice.
We start with "How To Be A DM". I've been running games for over thirty years, and still found useful information here. We start with what you need to play, go from there to the different types of player from the Power Gamer to the Watcher with advice on how to both control their excesses and still give them what they want. Then there's a section on building parties, motivations, and different types of games.
Chapter Two is "Running the Game". Preparation, starting sessions, and handling the ebb and flow of the actual game. This section is worth the price of the book in of itself. I own a couple of books on gamemastering, and never have seen so much good advice presented in such a clear and organized manner. I don't care what you're running. Read the first two chapters of the DMG and you will be a better game master.
Next up is "Combat Encounters". Now we start getting crunchy! First, we get led throw how to run a combat encounter from surprise to looting the bodies. Then comes the rules for fun things like falling, mounted combat, and the like. Oddly, diseases and poisons are in this section. All god stuff, with the important parts in highlighted text boxes.
"Building Encounters" follows, with all the rules for monster roles and making challenging encounters. The roles (Artillery, Brute, Controller, Lurker, Minion, Skirmisher, Soldier, Elite, Solo, and Leader) carry over into the Monster Manual so you can build with a variety of threats. One role deserves special mention: the Minion role is given to cannon fodder. They are eliminated by any damage. So when the orc horde pours out of the caves, the heroes can wade in and cut great bloody paths without the DM needing to track the HP status of 150 monsters.
Interestingly, the method for building encounters is based on an XP budget. You choose the level of the encounter, multiply the base XP value for that level by the number of characters and that is you budget to spend on monsters. For example, a Level 6 encounter for a party of four PCs would have a budget of 1,000XP. It should be noted that this budget can also be spent on traps. So, that encounter might be 3 Orc Warriors (100XP ), an Orc Bloodrager (600XP), and they've dug a concealed pit (100XP). Sample templates for several types of encounter are given along with customization suggestions. Terrain, both mundane and fantastic is the final portion of chapter 4. How different monster roles use terrain, how to bend bars/lift gates (as all us old farts smile) and some very interesting terrain types.
Chapter Five covers noncombat encounters. Skill checks and tests, puzzles, and traps. Good stuff, but pretty basic.
Chapter Six is "Adventures" Once again, this is mainly a combination toolkit and step-by-step guide to creating and running adventures.
Then comes "Rewards". How to figure and dole out XP, plus the obligatory treasure tables.
I'd love to say more, but these sections are all pretty dry. In fact, there really isn't anything new or outstanding until one reaches "Artifacts" on page 164. These are the Items of Power, singular, intelligent, and with a will of their own. Thus we have the idea of Concordance, how pleased the item is with its current owner. The more you meet the expectations of the item, the more powers it grants. Great, until you run into the Eye and and Hand of Vecna. The rules specifically state that artifacts are temporary boons, and will move on after a time. Four artifacts are listed, two or which are Vecna's body parts. Where's the Rod of Seven Parts?
Finally, the "DM's Toolbox". Lots of randomness. Monsters, NPCs, dungeons, and a fun bit on monster templates like "Lich." The write for that, by the way, includes the idea of a Mind Flayer Lich. Brraaaiinnss indeed! There are also more mundane templates like the "Demagogue", who can inspire his followers to heights of fanaticism while getting double his usual move when running away. That one little thing made the entire section for me.
The last section of the book is a sort of sample campaign and adventure. Meh.
Despite the tone of my review (It's a warm day, and I'm considering a nap) the DMG does exactly what it sets out to do: guide people through the chore of running a D&D game. There is excellent advice in here both for new DMs and those of us who bought their first dice from Lou Zocchi himself!
Next up, Monster Manual
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Date: 13 Jul 2008 23:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Jul 2008 00:10 (UTC)1) The Minion role where any successfully damaging hit kills the target supports the idea that Hit Points are intended to reflect more than actual physical damage. If a low-level human being can be killed by a single arrow, and yet a 20th level human hit with the same arrow can survive a dozen such hits (barring specific things like damage reduction or spells), there's more at work than actual physical sturdiness. Having a monster that can be cut down with a single blow as easily for a low-level adventurer as by a high-level one favors this, as well. Fortune favors the heroes and champions of the orc and human alike, so a classless thug falls like chaff compared to the warrior with that extra spark.
2) Building encounters explicitly by XP budget is the most sensible thing I've ever seen. It's long overdue.