The 5.5E Dungeon Master’s Guide is Full of Practical Advice for Running YOUR Game
The new Dungeon Master’s Guide will be full of advice that bends more towards actually running Dungeons & Dragons.
As part of WotC’s Core Rulebook press-stravaganza (pretty sure that’s not the official title, but hey, if anyone reading this needs event names, call me), we got a closer look inside the new Dungeon Master’s Guide. And this time, it sounds like the focus has shifted more towards Dungeon Mastering.
Which, again, doesn’t sound like it should be news. But you have to understand that the 5E DMG is something of a meme in the D&D community as a book that no one reads, even the DM. And it’s kind of true, because most people don’t read the book cover to cover. It’s all by section. The part most people will be familiar with are the Magic Item sections.
But in the 5E DMG are rules for climbing on large creatures, dealing with illness, weather, and honor and reputation. And that’s just the scratching the surface. None of that, though, is necessarily about the overall arc of “running a game of D&D”. Those are specific components, and from what WotC’s said, it sounds like that stuff will be moved to the PHB.
So what, then, will be in the DMG? Well I’m glad you asked…
Inside the 5.5E Dungeon Master’s Guide
One of the biggest focuses of the Dungeon Master’s Guide in 5.5E will be the actual art of running the game. To that end, the book will talk about the things you need to know to do that. Including some stuff that sounds a little philosophical, like:
- Learning what you, the DM, want out of the game
- Knowing what your players like
- Understanding how to combine them
And all of that’s the early stuff. How to handle players and pacing and all that is the one, part of a one-two punch of good advice. Once all that settles in and you get a taste for what it’s like, the DMG is here to ramp you into actually playing.
In Chapter 4, as you’ll see, there’s a whole section on creating adventures. Adventures that are playable and workable for the DM. Because an adventure that you create yourself may look very different from an adventure module designed to be sold and used by other people.
And then in Chapter 5, we go a step further into creating your own campaign. WotC seems very invested in giving DMs tools to keep their campaign on track. We got a look at some campaign record sheets that’ll be available to DMs.
And beyond that? Building your own world. Creating your own campaign setting is a big part of the DMG, and to exemplify that, we get a look at Greyhawk.
Greyhawk is the sample setting published in the DMG. I don’t know yet if this is going to step in and fill the role the Forgotten Realms has in 5E, but there’s a gorgeous map of the world. And it’s a hexmap. Which is extra delicious. Every hex has adventure, one hopes.
But even if you’re not using Greyhawk, there’s good practical advice on what to do when exploring your own campaign world.
In summary, the DMG looks to be more about running the game as a whole than running just parts of it. And that’s exciting for new DMs and veteran DMs alike.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide is out November 12th!
