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Business Stationary Mart - Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition
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List Price: $34.95
Our Price: $17.97
Your Save: $ 16.98 ( 49% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Brand: Wizards of the Coast
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.93
EAN: 9780786948802
ISBN: 0786948809
Label: Wizards of the Coast
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2008-06-06
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: 2008-06-06
Studio: Wizards of the Coast
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: I don't want a table top game that feels like a lap top game.
Comment: In these hard economic times Hasbro has saved me a lot of money buy making a D&D's that I have no interest in buying. Thanks Hasbro, I've still got tons of 3.5 material to use and Pathfinder comes out with tons of great stuff.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another edition of D&D so another edition of the DMG
Comment: Look there are lots of reviews for 4th ed. products and even more opinions about whether people like or hate D&D 4th ed. I will let people make up their own minds and not get on a soapbox and preach one way or the other.
All I can say is I have had fun with 4ed. so far but I had fun with all the editions in their time.
I just want to point out a couple helpful things that those wanting to play 4th ed. should know.
1) After the dungeon masters guide, players handbook, monster manual and DM screen were released there were some changes in the rules, some errors were discovered, some things that confused readers were corrected etc. Make sure after you buy your books you go to the TSR/WoTC website and get the updates for these books
[...]
I was confused after reading the rulebooks but after I stumbled on the updates it cleared up a lot of the confusion I was having about some of the rules.
Just make sure you read the rules before you read the updates because the updates wont make any sense out of context.
2) There is a forum at TSR/WoTC/D&D website in the 4e forums titled "Ask a quick question get a quick answer." If you have questions about the rules or are confused about something that's the place to go and ask a rules question. It has helped me out a great deal just by browsing through the questions. The DMs guide is very good but everyone will have a few questions about how a rule works etc
Seriously after reading the rulebooks I was confused about things and thought of just skipping this edition but after stumbling on the errata and then the question and answer forum 4ed suddenly made a lot more sense and I am glad I picked these books up.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: I love the 4th ed. all I can say is that flows smooth when played, is fast and easy to develop and understand (even for my 6 year old son) forget the hundreds of tables and modifiers of 3.5, D&D4 is far better than that edition.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners, a bit of a retread for seasoned DMs
Comment: This is NOT a review of 4th Edition D&D Rules.
The new Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) is a very useful reference for new and seasoned DMs alike. Similar to the 3.5 DMG, the 4E DMG is mostly devoted to teaching GMs the black art of creating the adventure and running a game. This may come naturally to seasoned and as such the book is of somewhat less value to those folks.
The book's most easily stated purpose can be found in the title of the first chapter: How To Be A DM. This theme is echoed throughout the book as it goes on to provide reams of inspiration for any DM looking to craft a memorable play experience.
The first three chapters are devoted almost entirely to those folks who are DMing for their first time and want to put their best foot forward. The middling chapters provide guidelines for constructing the actual content of a game: Encounters, Adventures and Campaigns. The final chapters focus on the rules minutae of creating monsters, dealing with environmental hazards and construction of entire worlds. It also presents a completely developed town and area to start your players out in if you so choose. You can also use this area as a useful example when designing your own worlds.
Naturally, however, even experienced DMs would be wise to take a look over this book as it contains numerous useful nuggets of information and guidelines on structuring well paced 4E adventures. It's a great refresher for any DM - especially those who think they know it all. Seasoned D&D DMs are, in my humble experience, usually very thickheaded. They have ONE way they like to run their game and they actively ignore any ideas to the contrary. Every DM has his "way" that he follows like a religion and is very closed off to change or feedback. I am guilty of this myself to some degree, but I try to always remember that I am there to make the game fun for my players. I think some DMs miss these points and these are the type of folks that won't like most of this book.
(FYI, these are most of the people giving this book 1 Star reviews, as they clearly have no grasp of the purpose of this book and are just using Amazon to vent their frustrations with what they perceive the rules are lacking. What these folks are missing is that the rules aren't as important as having fun at the table.)
The bulk of the rules type stuff is contained in the last half of the book. These chapters contain rules on rewarding players, various environmental factors, artifacts, world-forging, monster-making and random dungeons/encounters. For those thickheaded DMs, this is mostly the stuff you will pay for as it constitutes the bulk of what you will need to make 4E adventures. Another interesting thing I personally noticed about the monster creation sections is how easy it would be to "fake" a monster on the fly if the DM needs it. Very cool indeed.
This book's stated purpose is to teach someone how to be a good DM. Truth be told, there are exceedingly few "good" DMs out there and newbie DMs can be advised that if you follow the guidelines in this book then you can't go wrong. With the exception of some seemingly forgotten items like constructing Minions, this book otherwise fulfills it's purpose completely and admirably. The 4E DMG stands as an awesome reminder of what D&D is all about: having fun!
Customer Rating:
Summary: useful but lackluster
Comment: This DMG is a decent read and somewhat interesting. I have allot respect for James Wyatt however find this edition to be pretty much a snore. It has a lot of good points to consider when running a 4.0 game, however its more of a book of systems to keep a game on track rather than a cool guide for bringing your world to life.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The third of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game.
The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master.
The Dungeon Master's Guide gives the Dungeon Master helpful tools to build exciting encounters, adventures, and campaigns for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game, as well as advice for running great game sessions, ready-to-use traps and non-player characters, and more. In addition, it presents a fully detailed town that can serve as a starting point for any D&D game.
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