Dungeon Master's Guide 2 (4th Edition D&D)

 (17 customer reviews)

As anyone who plays RPGs knows at this late date, the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D4E) has engendered a lot of controversy in the community by breaking dramatically with the game's past in several key areas, replacing decades-old systems like "Vancian" casting and skill checks with power lists and collaborative skill challenges. Where did these innovations come from? "4E rips off World of Warcraft," say people who in most cases know very little about either. The truth is that a lot of 4E's mechanics and underlying philosophy were heavily influenced by the burgeoning independent RPG movement of recent years, a collection of writers and designers that have worked to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in the world of roleplaying games. Games without dice or any random elements, games without referees or dungeon masters, games without rules...a whole new world of strange delights that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson could never have foreseen.

Influenced by...Read more

I was, at first, leery of the DMG II. What could it possibly have that would make it worthwhile?

The answer: plenty.

Where the first DMG focused on basic tools and techniques for the beginning DM, DMG II focuses on rules, techniques, and help for the experienced DM. The chapter on group storytelling techniques taught an old hand like me a few new tricks, and considering that I've been doing this for 20 some-odd years, that's no mean feat. This chapter alone makes the book worth it. But wait, there's more! We finally get rules for creating traps and minions, rules for running games without magical items, and rules for creating companion characters to fill out missing roles in the party. There is also an entire chapter on designing and running skill challenges, with plenty of detailed examples for DMs who feel mystified by this new mechanic. The monster creation rules have gotten some needed tweaking and streamlining as well.

Add to this new...Read more

A very solid book throughout, as much for the advice on techniques and food for thought as the crunchy bits. Which are pretty nice, too, by the way.

The book provides some good alternatives to magic item progression, for those who find that undesirable, and also some good nuts-and-bolts type advice for building traps and skill challenges (as well as a number of sample plug-and-play challenges you can adapt very easily). The Sigil section is very well done; it captures the feel of the old Planescape material without being overwhelming for those who've not had the pleasure of reading about it before. My only complaint with that section is that there's a lot of Cant slipped in, but no centralized place to look it up so you can use it when adventuring there. STill, that's a minor complaint; there's still plenty of resources for that kind of thing on the interwebs.

All in all, an awesome book. Would definitely recommend to any DM who wants to up their game.