Book Description
Weave exciting tales of heroism filled with magic and monsters. Within these pages, you’ll discover the tools and options you need to create detailed worlds and dynamic adventures for your players to experience in the
Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.
The revised
Dungeon Master's Guide is an essential rulebook for Dungeon Masters of the
D&D game. The
Dungeon Master's Guide has been reorganized to be more user friendly. It features information on running a D&D game, adjudicating play, writing adventures, nonplayer characters (including nonplayer character classes), running a campaign, characters, magic items (including intelligent and cursed items, and artifacts), and a dictionary of special abilities and conditions. Changes have been made to the item creation rules and pricing, and prestige classes new to the
Dungeon Master's Guide are included (over 10 prestige classes). The revision includes expanded advice on how to run a campaign and instructs players on how to take full advantage of the tie-in
D&D miniatures line.
Customer Reviews:
Help the Dungeon Master! Please!.......2007-08-07
This is a great supplement for the DM. It gives you loads of great information in a clear manner. I really like the way this book is organised, it is quite intuitive. The re-vamp of Magic Items is a great improvement, as well as the introduction of Prestige Classes. My group LOVES prestige classes, maybe a little too much!
Overall if you want to introduce you group to the wonderful world of D&D 3.5 pick up this book plus the Player's Handbook 3.5 and you will find them both clear and easy to read.
EXCELLENT SERVICE!!!.......2007-06-15
Everything was here faster than all other orders and in great shape!!!
DM.......2007-05-25
My boyfriend's birthday was coming up and instead of just getting him a steak dinner and some electronic device, I decided to get him something that was a little more exciting. DM's Guide. He wants to start a game this summer and this is a must so I bought him a couple books and we are on our way. Nothing says I love you and I want to be with you a long time than a Dungeons & Dragons book.
(plus it arrived the next day -it was great)
I Have Nothing Bad to Say About this Book.......2007-05-10
Pros
* Increased detail in the Adventure's section. Encounter charts, for example.
* The inclusion of a section on the planes. While this has little use for those who own Manual of the Planes, it considerably opens up the options to d20 companies.
* Epic Level rules, while simple, open up characters above 20th level to other game designers.
* Many additional prestige classes. While most of these are published elsewhere, their inclusion here (and therefore in the SRD) means that game designers can now include arch mages and duelists (to name two examples) in their d20 products.
* Many great changes in the magic items department. They gave Adamantium a purpose, finally, made certain magical properties effect only the price of an item, not its overall plus. They fixed the price of skill bonus items, as well.
* Inclusion of templates at the back of the book allow for more ease of play, were miniatures are involved.
Cons
I have nothing bad to say about this book.
Good magazine material, poor hardback material.......2007-04-15
Dissapointing is an understatement. There is not a bit of information in this book that would not have been better placed in Dragon magazine. It's useful to some extent, but most players view hardback books as "cannon" and softback as "suggestion" - and everything in this book is in the catagory of suggestion. No DM should be held to anything in the DMG-2. You can agree to adopt some of it's good ideas if you want to, but this is not golden enough to justify the price tag. If you want it, get it used, and don't spend more than $10.
Book Description
A follow-up to the Dungeon Master's Guide, designed to aid Dungeon Masters and reduce game preparation time. The Dungeon Master's Guide II builds upon existing materials in the Dungeon Master's Guide. It is specifically designed to facilitate play, especially when the Dungeon Master has a limited amount of preparation time. Chapters include discussion on running a game, designing adventures, building and using prestige classes, and creating campaign settings. Ready-made game elements include instant traps, pre-generated locations, treasures, and a fully realized and rendered town.
Customer Reviews:
DM Guide II .......2007-07-23
This book has several good points. It has some new material and a few new things for players and GM's alike. It's one irritating thing is the number of "after you buy the canned game book spend 4 hours reviewing it". It could have had a lot more things to help those of us with a creative mind that like to generate our own worlds. It is, overall, worth the money.
Useful to Any DM.......2007-05-10
All right. Let's begin with a discussion of irony. Not irony as in the Alanis Morissette song (the greatest irony of which almost none of the things she calls ironic actually are). Instead we will talk about true irony.
Those of you who have read my previous reviews may have noticed a certain resistance to a phenomena I call "prestige class bloat." DMG II arrived at my door a bit late for a review copy, and I had some time to think about how I would view the prestige classes in this book. Every other book has drawn my anger, my disdain, sometimes even my pity for their prestige classes. But this book, I thought, "You know . . . I'm gonna give them a pass on this book. They might put the contents into the SRD at some point (it's possible). I'll let this one go."
And there are no prestige classes in this book.
I might weep. I might actually weep.
Anyway. We won't hold that against them. We won't. My review will be objective. Honest.
Actually, that won't be very hard. There's a lot to like in this book. Almost everything is useful. Some of it is downright insightful. When I reviewed the first DMG all those year's ago (all right, the first 3.x DMG . . . I'm not that old, people) I was amazed at how good the advice was. This wasn't just a set of DM specific rules, it really was a guide to being a good DM.
So here we are, years later, holding DMG II.
Chapter 1 deals with the actual running of a game. Now, in many ways this chapter resembles the Gamemaster's Law product from ICE. For years I've said that was the best book on GMing ever written. I'm friends with one of the authors. I'm crushed to say this, but, I like this one better. The bits on how to actually run are pretty blaise, although if your DM routinely shows up surly, sleepy and unwashed you might make him read this book. No, the true genius is the treatment of the different play styles. There was a lot of insight here I've missed over the years. In this section they talk about the different type of players and how to tailor a game for them . . . most importantly, they talk about how to avoid the pitfalls caused by these players. For instance, I've had problems with "Outliers" over the years. These are the players that choose strange class/race combinations, bizarre backgrounds, and seem to set themselves up to fail. An outlier can cause a great deal of trouble in a game if they go out of control at a bad moment. This book gave the simplest advice, to give the outlier the opportunity, a specific set up, to allow him to fail spectacularly early in the session, when it won't hurt anything. By doing this you'll avoid the problem of the character imploding later and taking your plot line with him. It's the simplest advice, but I've missed it for years, and now I know. I'm anxious to put it into use.
Chapter 2 deals with adventures. Now, this was sort of a ho hum chapter for me. When it's useful, I expect it to be very useful, but otherwise I doubt I'll ever look at it. It gives a section on using published adventures that I hope no one needs to read (but if you do, study it. I'm going into business as an e-publisher). It follows this up with some new traps, which are probably the most consistently useful thing in the chapter. Then it moves on to strange locations, such as the tree top city and all the rules necessary for play there. Then it moves onto special encounter rules, such as how to deal with mobs, which again, could be useful. Finally it wraps up with miniature and encounter advice, which was fine.
Chapter 3 deals with building a campaign. Most of the advice is pretty good, but the detailed examples of some medieval environments was truly spot on. I've studied a lot about medieval culture (I'm no expert, but above the gamer layman) and I thought they did a fine job here, especially in examining the fine line between realism and the style of play that is conducive to a good game. You absolutely need to compromise to find the perfect ground between the two, and I loved this book for even trying it. The rest of the chapter treats with general subjects like building a city or magical events and I looked upon it and I called it good.
Chapter 4 outlined the city of Saltmarsh. You know, I could have done without this chapter. I mean it was fine and all, but I thought the locale was a little too evocative of specific images to be as universal as a city in a book like this needed to be. We needed a Homlet, or better yet, a location that doesn't carry the baggage of roleplaying history with it (either good or bad). This chapter just didn't work for me as is. No offence to the writer. I believe this one went astray at conception (and as a game designer, I know the feeling. I've taken the fall for decisions that weren't mine in at least one book.)
Chapter 5 deals with NPCs. Its starts with a treatment of contacts and hirelings, plus a section on unique abilities. Then it hops into my favorite part, the complex NPCs. Lets face it, when you suddenly need a Blackgaurd, you need it now and it's not something you can wing and do it justice. This section gives a nice sampling of these types of difficult-to-improvise characters.
Chapter 6 is the character chapter, it starts with apprentices and mentors and moves on to running a business. Then it hits on teamwork benefits, like those given by special training in Heroes of Battle. I'm still glad these were added into the D&D system and I'm anxious to see more. Then it moves onto prestige classes. Sigh. Now, I was willing to see a few prestige classes in this book, hoping they'd make it into the SRD. Let's face it, only so many people can create versions of the Knight before you're accidently stepping on a half-dozen copyrights. I doubt anyone would sue you over retreading the same ground as everyone else, but we need to stop beating this poor horse. Still, they went a different way. This section is on how to build even more prestige classes. When I read the words, "Why make your own prestige class?" I wanted to find a set of precision needles and stick the one after another into my eyes. Flash forward ten years. "Why did he kill so many people, officer?" "Well, prestige class bloat was bad enough, but then they came out with DMG II. It was the beginning of the end." The chapter wraps up with some stuff on PC organizations.
Finally, the finishes with expanded magic item rules. The book needed this section, and I was happy with it. Of particular note is the section on magical locations which are essentially giant, immobile magic items. These types of locations have worked their way into my campaigns several times over the years. I was happy to see them here.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend that everyone who intends to run a game read at least the first chapter. I thought it alone was worth the cover price, and so if you can find a good use for the other material in the book, so much the better. Now I'm going to take a nap an imagine a world where prestige classes are few, balanced, and in some way prestigious.
New stuff is good.......2007-04-26
While this book is not nearly the resource that many of the more staple books are, like the Epic Handbook and PHB2, it is still extremely useful to add more flavor to the campaign. It gives some very good tips to create details and subtlties that make the campaign much more real without seeming narrated to the players. Anyone creating a new campaign could benefit with some of the examples in the Saltmarsh city, novice and veteran players alike.
There are also new and interesting traps, items, and rules that make this book very useful. I havn't read anyone talking about the Teamwork benefits, which are very interesting to me. I intend to implement them into my next campaign, assuming the players want to use any of them. The basic idea is that the group has worked and trained together, so they have studied each other to an extent that you gain special abilities and even feats when certain conditions are met. For example, a character with high Spellcraft and the Evasion ability can teach the rest of your party when to dodge a spell cast by a teammate. This means that the mage can cast fireball right on the fighter wading into melee and he gets to avoid the damage on a reflex save.
The new items, magic locations, and traps have some good ideas behind them, but nothing that a clever DM can't come up with on their own. I'm not saying they are useless, but many are hard to place into a campaign. The magic locations grant the owner specific powers and abilities, but in order for the players to get the location, it almost has to be the entire focus of the campaign. Very few are "side-quest" material, and the majority can take several sessions to get to, capture, find reagents to use them, and defend in order to reap the marginally useful benefits.
Most of the rest of the book is given over to npcs. There is a very large section of sample npcs to use for a fight. Unfortunetly, many aren't optimized, but that doesn't prevent them from being used by a lazy DM that doesn't feel like leveling up every single important npc in case the players fight him. There is also a section on making npcs more distinctive. This can easily be skipped over since DMG1 has a very similar section.
Overall, I have to say there is some interesting material and ideas to make a campaign world more interesting and unique. On the other hand, nothing in this book is game-changing. Useful? yes. Needed in any way? no
A decent read, not great.......2007-02-18
Overall this book contains about 50 pages of useful materials. The rest is really just fluff and made for a beggining gamer/DM who needs ideas for their campaigns.
I would recomend just buying a low level adventure if your starting out as a DM, and save your money on this book as its quite expensive for what you get.
For those who are familiar with the game, there is usefull material in the book on items, treasure charts, etc. Its just a smaller portion of the book.
If you have an extra $35 dollars go for it, it not don't worry your not missing much.
Good supplement.......2006-07-13
This book is a useful supplement for DMs. The new magic item traits and the magical events and locations can really spice up an otherwise stale treasure hoard, and the specialized example NPCs are pretty cool.
While it is by no means necessary (hence it being a supplement), it is not as full of fluff as some of the other d&d 3.5 books out there. Everything in it can be of some use to DMs and players alike.
My one complaint is that WOTC forgot to proofread it before sending it off to the printers. It's chock-full of typos and spelling mistakes (I must say, though, that it's not as bad as the Monster Manual 3.5, which actually has a proofreader named in the credits and yet still manages to come off looking like a rough draft).
Definitely worth getting if you're a DM looking to spice up your game a bit and don't know how/don't have time/can't be bothered to think of ways of doing it yourself. Also useful for new DMs, as it has tips on managing unruly players and the like.
Book Description
A deluxe, leather-bound version of the essential tool every D&D Dungeon Master needs.
The follow-up to the special edition Player’s Handbook™ released in 2004 for the 30th anniversary of
D&D, this special release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide™ features an embossed, leather-bound cover and premium, gilt-edged paper.
Customer Reviews:
D&D.......2007-05-26
loved the book. the leather binding gives it a beautiful touch on one of the Dungeons and dragon most bought book i loved it.
Warning: Not truly "leather bound"! .......2007-04-10
From WotC's description, the Special Editions are "premium black bonded leather". "Bonded leather" is a manmade compound; it is essentially leather fibers plus latex. This is far from the quality of a true leather-bound book (which would use real leather). As one bookbinder puts it: "recommended for use only if the book will be used infrequently."
new and improved.......2007-01-12
I think this is one of the areas where WOTC actually improved the D20 exepience. The DM's guide is well organized and contains lots of quality info and tools. I think this manual better lends itself to the person trying to create their own story line than the past offerings did. The only bad part was that the silver paint on the edges of the pages was literally painted on, so when I first opened the book I had to carefully seperate each page from the others.
Master Class.......2007-01-10
If you truly appreciate the quality of Dungeons & Dragons gameplay then look no further than this edition of the DMG. I have a leather bound copy of the Player's Handbook as well and will soon purchase the Monster Manual leather bound.
Beautiful tomes and highly recommended.
fantastic.......2006-07-13
I am most pleased with this book. The faux leather cover is just so cool, and it's so nice to have all but the most recent errata corrected in the book already. I didn't mind having to separate each page when I first got it -- as someone else said, it just proves you really are the first person to open the book.
D&D 3.5 is all about choices. Fans of older versions might not like it for various reasons, but that's ok. 3.5 has been designed with the next generation in mind -- it's simple, straight-forward, and endlessly customizable (thus giving it much broader appeal than previous versions). If you prefer the more restrictive and sometimes confusing rules of the older versions, don't play this game. You can still find older edition stuff secondhand.
My only real complaint is with the quality of WOTC's illustrations. They just aren't as good as the ones from 2nd edition. Those were truly reflective of 'epic fantasy', especially the full-page pics ... but the 3.5 pics are all fairly cartoonish, and some are downright silly. My guess is that WOTC couldn't afford to employ TSR's artists.
(As a side note, the Amazon.com image of the cover really doesn't do it justice. This book is actually black with silver -- the image here makes it look rather bland and grey.)
If you're like me and don't want to have to pencil in all the changes to the rules, get this copy. It's cheap enough here at Amazon. Otherwise, go for the regular version of the DMG. Maybe WOTC will release the SE printing in a regular cover soon like they did with the player's handbook.
Amazon.com
The 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide focuses on how to create and run a fun Dungeons & Dragons game. Like previous editions, the 3rd Edition DMG further explains the rules introduced in the Player's Handbook. But this book goes beyond rules and offers valuable tips on pacing, story creation, conflict, villains, motivation, and player rewards.
Novice DMs will benefit from the sections on creating individual adventures and describing action, while even experienced DMs will appreciate the notes on extended campaigns, detailed world creation, and high-level play. We loved the "Behind the Curtain" blurbs, which explain the reasoning behind the changes made in 3rd Edition. Well-considered optional rules are offered to daring DMs, including rules for monsters as PC races (troll paladin, anyone?), high technology, and guidelines for creating custom races and classes.
The nuts and (lightning) bolts of DMing are also covered in great detail. The book teaches DMs how to gauge Challenge Ratings for players and monsters in order to create balanced encounters. These encounters are easier to run thanks to 3rd Edition's standardized monster abilities, each of which are covered in depth. Rewarding players for successful encounters is also easier, now that the cumbersome treasure tables of 2nd Edition have been replaced. Particular attention is paid to magic items: how to award them, how players create them, how to adjudicate them, and how to take them away. The new magic item enhancement rules (similar to the magic items in the computer game Diablo) are also detailed.
One dramatic departure from D&D as we knew it could have used a bit more attention. The DMG introduces the concept of prestige classes, and includes rules for six sample prestige classes: arcane archer, assassin, blackguard, dwarven defender, loremaster, and shadowdancer. Characters can't take these classes at first level but must instead work toward them by choosing specific classes, skills, and feats. For example, before taking a level in arcane archer a character needs to be an elf or half-elf and have a high attack bonus, specific archery feats, and the ability to cast at least one arcane spell. Unsure how these classes will affect your game? Want tips on how to properly create and balance these classes? Sorry, the DMG does not provide adequate answers.
But aside from this complaint the DMG stands out as an honestly useful guide book to the incredible new Dungeons & Dragons game. The rules and tips are well organized and easy to find, thanks to a detailed table of contents and full index. Artwork, examples, and diagrams are liberally placed throughout the book. All this attention to detail makes the DMG an easy and effective read. We wouldn't want to DM without it. --Mike Fehlauer
Book Description
The Third Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is an essential rulebook for the D&D game and is a must-have for every Dungeon Master. A Dungeon Master runs the Dungeons & Dragons(r) game-part storyteller, part actor, part referee. The Dungeon Master's Guide features 224 pages of beautifully rendered, intuitively presented rules and material designed to get a Third Edition D&D campaign up and running.
Customer Reviews:
Dungeon Master's Guide.......2007-05-09
You sit down at the table, and the players are amicably chatting about Everquest or the upcoming D&D movie. You listen to the conversation as you begin to organize your notes. As the conversation draws on, you know that it's time to reel it in and begin, but somehow, you can't seem to work up the courage.
What do you do if a character falls into a water trap? What are the chances of having an encounter? Did you put enough combat into the adventure? Too much? Will it be a challenge?
This is your first time at the head of the table. You've been talking up a good storm, but now it's time to put you money where your mouth is.
Are you prepared?
There are two things that are important in a gamemaster's book. The first are all the rules necessary to run a game, those that players don't need to know. The second are all the little bits of advice necessary to make a person into a fine gamemaster.
Let's tackle those subjects one at a time.
First of all there are all the DM only rules. This is an area the all versions of the DM's Guide have been strong in. In fact, certain additions (2nd, for instance) seemed to concentrate solely on these issues.
There is a wealth of information in this book. They handle many of the old standby's. There are sections on NPC's and encounters. There are rules for assigning experience and treasure. There are methods of generating magic items. None of this is, in and of itself, a surprise.
We have some new additions. There is a system for generating towns. This allows you to calculate the highest level person of any given class in a town. It also tells how rich the town is, showing the most expensive object than can be purchased and total funds that can be taken out of a town (for the purposes of selling items). This was a welcome addition.
Another new feature are Prestige classes. These are classes that allow a character to explore career opportunities not usually available to a starting character. The arcane archer is a fascinating example of a prestige class, perfect for the elf who wishes to combine magic and archery.
Also, we have the new concept of NPC classes. In truth, NPC classes have been around for a long time, but they were never official and almost always set apart by how powerful they were. The NPC classes in the new addition deal with all the things PC's usually find too dull to explore. Why doesn't a commoner raise levels? Now they do, within the commoner class. Are all those town guards fighters? No, they are probably the less powerful warrior. NPC classes add a fine new element to the game.
Ever since Tomb of Horrors debuted at Origins, traps have been an important part of the D&D game. The new DM's Guide actually acknowledges this fact, listing several typical traps, along with all their stats. This allows a DM to easily extrapolate on traps of his own. Also, traps have challenge ratings now, which means they are worth experience.
Another big surprise comes in magic items. They are now organized (at least on the charts) by power level. This makes it very rare to roll a Staff of Power for the treasure a kobold is carrying. It also allows a GM to track more accurately the amount of treasure that his party is receiving.
All in all, a very strong showing.
But what about the second part? Does this book teach you to be a better DM?
Yes. Whereas 2nd addition had little dedicated to making a person a better gamemaster, the new edition seems to treat the subject very seriously.
There is an entire chapter dedicated to world building. Through it, a DM can gain advice on designing his own world. Various forms of governments are discussed, and the chapter is at times thought provoking. Not all that it should be, however. I wanted more on subjects like communication and healing, which can radically effect a game where magic is the norm.
The chapter on designing good adventures fares much better. Perhaps it should have been called, "Adventures for Dummies." This section discusses how to craft an adventure to suit the tastes of your group. It even goes so far as to give a statistical breakdown for the encounter levels of every fight.
Ever since I read Rolemaster's Gamemaster's Law, books have been fighting an uphill battle when it comes to teaching a person to be a good GM. This book falls far short of that mark. Still, it is a good beginner's guide to running a game.
Where did this book fall short? Well the art, right off. The art is not nearly up to the quality of Player's Handbook or Monster Manual. It is obvious they saved their best artists for those.
They also failed to complete some very good thoughts. For instance, they have sample character stats for all the PC classes, but not for the NPC classes. They could have done more with traps, I think. I'd also have liked to see more on environment (cold, heat, drowning etc.).
Still, a thumbs up. This is a strong addition to the D&D line.
DM'ing Made Simple.......2003-06-09
Let's face it. All my fellow DM's know Dungeon Mastering is hard. You need to be in tune with the entire game enviornment, and every NPC and every monster and...I could go on, but I'm not going to bore you. Anyway, I think 3rd Edition rules are pretty darn good, but this Dungeon Masters Guide is useless for experienced DM's.
There are many useful tables throughout the book based on almost everything imaginable. They are quite useful for in-game reference. The classes included are quite interesting. My personal favorite is the "Paladin Gone Bad." It's real name is the Fallen Blackguard, and he is very bad-arse. They have other interesting ones, like the Arcane Archer, and Loremaster. There are tips in the first chapter of the book for beginners, that could come in handy.
The problem is this book is geared for neophyte DMs. Experienced ones can rip out Chapters 1,4, and 5, because they just give you pointers on what adventures and campaigns are and how to control them. Trust me, If you've DMed for a fair amount of time, don't even bother buying this, and stick with your 2E Dungeon Master's Guide for reference. iF you are new to DMing, this is the perfect review for you.
The How and Why of D&D3e.......2003-01-08
The 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is exactly what it should be - a description of the how and why of 3rd Edition rules.
It is so much more than a collection of tables and charts. Sure, those are there as a short cut, an easy reference. What the book really brings to the table, though, is a system for knowing how to modify the system and add things to the game without throwing the power balance all out of whack. An example of the is the "Most important thing for a DM to know:" a quick and easy rule for modifying a situation. If it's easy, give a +2 bonus. Difficult? -2. REALLY difficult? -4. After the session is over, look up the actual 'rule' on the situation, and most times you'll find that you were right.
Most importantly, though, is that the book does this without cramming a default campaign setting down your throat. Many DMs out there, myself included, want to play in our own worlds that we've created, and the DMG lets you do exactly that.
This book is better laid-out than the Player's Handbook, which is why I gave it 5 stars. If half stars were available, I would have given it 4.5, since the book isn't perfect. Sure, there are some problems, but they're so much more minor than 2ed, with so many more possibilities for expanding the system that they're easily overlooked.
3rd Edition is what brougth my circle of gamers back to the table. It's so much easier to play that I can't imagine how we ever dealt with other systems. Much more time to roleplay, and less time taken looking up rules!
So much less than it seems..........2002-11-27
The Third Edition DMG is not the book it should have been. It is a disjointed collection of rules that really don't fit together very well.
The most important flaw is the experience and rewards systems. It's designed to rocket the characters to 20th level without ever placing them in any real danger. Please, since when is one lone 4th level NPC a challenge for four 4th level characters? Any why are 1st and 3rd level characters treated the same on the experience chart? A 3rd level party is going to have more than triple the resources that a 1st level party has available. Combined with a reward chart that puts a truckloads of magical items into the characters hands, this book puts Third Edition D&D solidly into the munchkin world (For the RPG terminology impaired, that's like a Monty Haul campaign but without any danger of loosing).
Other irregularities include the fact that there are rules on drowning and being crushed to death by water pressure (deep under the sea), but no rules for actually moving in water or fighting under water.
There are rules for generating towns and cities. Those rules do not function in a reasonable manner, unless the DM manually saturates the cities with specifically placed characters. Even something as simple as using the tables to determine what the levels of the high priests of the religions present in a city breaks down unless there are less than four seperate religions present in the city.
The section on magic items is poorly laid our and difficult to use for anything other than random magic item rolls. Some of the magic items are undervalued, overly powerful, or both.
A lot of space is devoted to incomplete tutorials on how to be a game master. Ironically, that's not matieral that should actually be in the Dungeon Master's Guide. This is supposed to be a reference book for running a campaign, not "The Dummies Guide to Dungeon Masterery".
The rules for gunpowder weapons and lasers are useless filler that takes up space that could have been devoted to environments that average game master would actually like to see his characters in, like say astral combat rules and underwater combat rules. Who cares how much damage a laser might do if it were in the hands of a barbarian. Anyone who actually wants to use laser weapons is just going to use a d20 modern or futuristic sourcebook anyways.
The D&D economy is so disfunctional that no wizard or sorceror who can create any magic items (including scrolls) should ever be allowed to die. It's always worth a cleric's while to bring the chump back from the dead and make him work off the investment. Also it becomes blatantly clear that NPCs are supposed to give special respect to the PCs simply because they are PCs, otherwise how can you explain the fact that a character can earn a wage of 15 gps a week as a stablehand but only needs to pay his stablehands 1 gp per week.
The section on special abilities is redundant because most of it is repeated in the Monster Manual and the encounter tables are useless without the Monster Manual. Since they were also rendered useless by the first expansion printed for the Monster Manual, it is very obvious that they should have been printed in the Monster Manual itself.
Half of an entire chapter is dedicated to charts of stats for average characters of each of the classes at each level. This space is completely wasted.
Overall, the DMG is first book produced for Third Edition that was simply bad. No attempt was made to turn a collection of notes and rules into a good refence book for Third Edition D&D. Instead it seems to have been thrown together with a nice binding and cover and some artwork and rushed out the door. Not all of the material is bad, but all you have to do is try to use the book to realize how useless it really is.
I would only recommend this book to someone who is being forced to run Third Edition D&D.
Simply Great.......2002-09-25
The PHB was awesome, and the DMG is doulbly so. Prestige classes are a great tool. What's more are the very useful NPC classes. Finally there are rules for making magic items. I don't know why 2nd edition rules assumed that only NPCs can make these things. Now I have something for my players to strive for!
Average customer rating:
- Good book, available free online
- Great Book! Only one problem...
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Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
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The Complete Book of Elves (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, Player's Handbook Rules Supplement/PHBR8)
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Arms & Equipment Guide (AD&D 2nd Ed Rules Supplement, DMGR3)
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The Complete Paladin's Handbook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, Player's Handbook Rules Supplement)
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The Complete Priest's Handbook, Second Edition (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Player's Handbook Rules Supplement/PHBR3)
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The Dungeon Master's Guide (Advanced Dungeon and Dragons 2nd Edition Hardcover Rulebook)
ASIN: 0880388374 |
Customer Reviews:
Good book, available free online.......1998-02-24
I realy enjoyed this book, good resource for most players. The book is available online free from TSR's homepage. Good luck in finding it.
Great Book! Only one problem..........1997-05-19
THE book for all who wish to build castles in the ADND world. With complete instructions for building your castle from the conception stage to the random encounters whilst building it. Numerous examples are evident, and there are even sections on the history of castles, chilvary, and even special racial castles are included. There is only one problem ... and this is that the entire book is available in electronic form (scanned & OCR'ed), from the TSR Inc. homepage at:
www.TSRInc.com/Games/ADND/Core/Scanned/DMGR2/CASTLE.ZIP
Customer Reviews:
A must for any demihuman or humanoid campaign.......2000-05-04
The Monster Mythology is a necessary addition to any campaign featuring demihumans or humanoids especially if some of the Pc's are priest. The book present 8 new pantheons ( the demihuman one is mostly reprinted from Unearthed Arcana). The informations included inside about each of the different gods and religions are presented in a clear and concise way. The sections about the gods of the Underdark and the one about the gods of the Dark Folk were of special interest to me. As you can guess from it's title the book doesn't just talk about humanoid or demihuman gods it also includes gods of the undead, feary gods, giant gods etc... This is an excellent work from the TSR staff, an the only real down side of the book is the artwork which is pretty bad...
good complement for the Monstrous Manual.......2000-03-12
In these pages are described the pantheons of the demihumans, goblinoids, dwellers of the Underdark, giants and kin, avian and aquatics, undead and lycanthropes, and the sylvan folk.
As far as applicability goes this isn't a very useful supplement. The various priesthoods are useful and your PC's will have something interesting to listen to when they eavesdrop on the monster's church services. ...but part of the fun of being a DM is coming up with that stuff yourself. Most of the stuff in MMyth doesn't have a lot of immediate usefulness in your game.
As far as an entertaining product this is probably the best material from TSR besides the Volo guides. You will find unknown depths of the monsters' psyche not explored on the Monstrous Manual. Many of the creation myths and descriptions of the gods (and other worshipped immortals) are well fleshed out and feel like almost Tolkienesque.
I don't know why this book is out of print, some of this material could be out of date.
The Gods of the Demi-humans finally revealed!!!!.......1998-02-28
This is the book I have come back to time and time again for my AD&D campaign, and when I play under other DM's. With this book you get the skiny on every god of all the races, including Dragons, Elves, Drow, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Faerie, Unicorns, and many many more. If you DM or play in ANY campaign setting using the standard AD&D races, this book is a must!
Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
The updated and enhanced version of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They also sanitise it a little to keep those whacky religious nuts in the USA happy from memory, as well, as they do in other books.
A little bit of the charm of the original is missing, but they do try and make things more consistent.
the @nd edition Dungeons and dragons game books........2000-11-28
This stunning edition was the best of TSR's work unsurpassed by the latter revision and though I have not had the chance to actually have the third I'm sure it is unequal to the 2nd edition. If wizards of coast now owners of TSR were intelligent they would bring the 2nd edition back to printwith the original artwork but stronger more durable covers. Overall besides the shoddy bindings and how easily the books wear out I found the 2nd edition to be supreme in it's easy to generate characters and easy explanitions. The history the book also imparts was most intresting as well.
an invaluable referance.......1999-08-07
an easy to use referance of everyhting you need to run a gam
EXTREMELY USEFUL FOR THE DM.......1998-07-30
My friend showed me D&D and with the info in the DMG and the Players handbook i was able to creat ED&D with my friends and it willl be publish in a few months!
DM's Guide.......1998-07-06
This book is pretty useful, it contains lots of info and the such on things such as poisons and reincarnation and even a chart of character flaws.
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Resource.......2007-07-15
The wonderfully unique writing style of Gary Gygax shines through on just about every page of this book.
This work is an essential companion to the 1st Edition AD&D Players Handbook. It gives you combat charts, rules for followers, average sale values for magic items (something left out of the 2nd Edition Dungeon Masters Guide), general advice on how to run a game, several pages of artifact descriptions (fascinating descriptions that give amazing depth to the objects), random monster encounters for different environments and dungeon levels, random dungeon generation tables and even several pages of monsters from the monster manual in abbreviated form. This book is packed with great information from cover to cover.
Maybe what I like most about this book is its almost total lack of political correctness. From the nudity in the artwork (the topless mermaid on page 180) to the descriptions of various disgusting diseases and forms of insanity, it gives you a raw, gritty version of the game full of style and flavor. Unfortunately, this is something the Dungeons & Dragons game will never likely see again.
The only thing I dislike about the book is the combat system. Although playable, especially with a few house rules thrown in to smooth things over, its hard to get an understanding of exactly how combat is supposed to work just from reading the text.
If you can find a used copy of this book, I recommend you pick it up. It's definitely worth a read.
The Way It Used To Be Done.......2007-07-09
This book harkens back to the "good old days" when playing the paper and pencil D&D used to be new and fun. There have been several reincarnations of this manual and I've thumbed through them but they just don't hold a candle to the original, despite the fancier artwork and rule changes. I remember spending hours combing tables as I built a new dungeon. I am not at all happy with the direction TSR took after Mr. Gygax was booted out (or left, can't remember which) and one big loss was the original manuals. They are now up to version 3 something of the rules but I do not even know what they are because I just play computer games now. All I know about the new rules is that multi-class characters are easier to work with. It was an exciting time, a different era. I still have this manual and will always treasure it. If you can find one, pick it up just to see how things used to be done. Highly recommended.
Player's Handbook (AD&D, 1st Ed. revised).......2007-05-14
This is a great players' resource for refererencing some of the forgotten races and images that were updated and/or revised from 1st edition into the 2nd edition.
It is an historical find in terms of role-playing games, since these books are now in extremely limited numbers and are quite collectible. I purchased this book together with the Dungeon Masters Guide (AD&D 1st Ed. revised) and they are a part of my role-playing game collection.
With a few pages with pen marks and a slightly damaged hardback cover, I now have a decent addition to my RPG collection.
An AD&D Gamer..........2006-08-08
I have seen many RPG throughout time, those of which have succeeded in being good PRG's, and those that have not. This is one of them that is not only a good RPG, but one that will last a lifetime. This book, in adition to ones like the Dungeon Master's guide, was really the start of it all, and other RPG's to come.
This book is extremely helpful in many areas that people may not have knowledge in. It is good for notes, or for people who want to design their own character from scratch. It tells you how to do this from the beginning, like scoring character abilities, to classes and spells, and much more.
This book is a MUST HAVE for players interested in serious AD&D, and is definitely a timeless classic.
RAWK!.......2006-06-06
My collection is now complete! YAAY.
although I want the edition with grateful dead teddy bears on the cover (I had it and it was stolen *grumble)
This one is good too.
my advice.. 3rd ed was so horrible.. buy these, keep them secret, keep them safe.... play the games and love them.
Product Description
The Dungeons & Dragons Players Kit is the perfect purchase for a graduate of the Basic Game, or anyone else looking to join a game of Dungeons & Dragons. The Dungeons & Dragons Players Kit contains a trade paperback version of the D&D Players Handbook, a full set of roleplaying dice, and a supplementary booklet that helps new players create and advance characters. This kit is a great value for new D&D players.
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Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
The Player's Handbook is the second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons version. It is pretty good, even if I think I still preferred the old one. This is definitely a more polished and streamlined product, and a little bit more haphazard, even if maybe not quite as much fun. Still, it did good things for the product.
Perhaps the Best Version of the Players Handbook.......2007-07-15
Of all the players handbooks that have been produced for the Dungeons & Dragons game, this one is probably my favorite.
The combat system is a streamlined version of the 1st Edition AD&D system. Initiative and surprise are explained well and have the added benefit of being easy to learn an implement. Several spell descriptions from 1st Edition were slightly reworded so that there is now less ambiguity when it comes to what certain spells can and can't do.
One of the best things about the rules in this book is their optional nature. For example, combat can be boiled down to just the basics or you can add a set of optional modifiers to make it more detailed and complex. Either way, the game runs fine.
Non-weapon proficiencies (another optional rule addition) allow the players to customize their characters and quantify specifically what a PC knows or does not know. Secondary skills from 1E are there too in case the DM wants to use them in his or her game.
Many important rules that were left out of the core 1st Edition AD&D books were added in here -- there are now rules for jumping, holding your breath, swimming, etc...
The interior artwork is based on traditional fantasy and is very good for the most part. The blue ink used in some of the art takes a little getting used to... I would have preferred black and white throughout the entire book but that's a minor complaint.
To sum up, the rules in this book are clearly written and easy to learn. There's as much or as little complexity as you want... options allow the DM to customize the game in many ways while still adhering to a set of standard core rules. I give it my highest recommendation.
oooohhh yeah.......2006-06-06
I bought the third Ed and wished I could have used the pages to wipe my backside.
Second Edition is classic, the best and the final edition of true AD&D playing. Save your 3rd ed money and buy a good used copy of second Ed and keep them sparkling new.
The end of a true Era in imaginative gaming.
my favorite.......2004-07-08
it all started when i was in 5 grade i was 10 years old and my freind jay and chris and his brother alex thught we should all play dungeons and dragons it was before 3 so i learned how to play on second edition advanced.it was so fun i loved the pictures and the classes so i would highly recomend this book to anyone who loves the classic DUNGEONS and DRAGONS
2nd edition will reign for all time.......2003-07-13
I recommend 2nd ed. over third for various reasons, most important being the emphasis on roleplaying over strict rules...3rd ed. seems to encourage players to see it as a video game, making the *best* characters, and hacking away at baddies...I however, have always seen character development and backstories more important, and that is why I, as a DM and a player, prefer 2nd ed. Pick up the books while you still can.
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