Dungeon Master's Guide (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) by Wizards of the Coast LLC
320 pages
Published 2014
Read from April 19 to April 29
Rating: n/a
I've been in another reading lull. I began several books but haven't finished anything since March. I've also been craving D&D, which I haven't played since January. At some point it occurred to me that I'd never actually read the game's core rule books cover to cover, and once I started, I discovered that reading the DM Guide helped me feel like I was part of a game again, even as it left me hankering to play more strongly than before.
To review this as a book, I suppose I'd need to be more conversant with game rulebooks and their comparative merits. Fifth edition D&D certainly has its flaws and shortcomings (social interaction and exploration, supposedly two of the three central pillars of gameplay, aren't given much in the way of specific quantifiable rules; martial character classes peak early and are left to clean up in the shadow of magic-users quickly becoming as powerful as gods), but I enjoy it all the same. I've never played any other tabletop game to compare it to, but I enjoy the rich history and lore lurking within the experience of the game. It has charm and replayability that sleeker, less clunky rulesets seem to lack—though again, I don't have any experiences to compare and contrast with it.
During my read-through of the DMG, I was surprised by how few rules are actually in this book. The bulk of its pages are devoted to worldbuilding advice, tips on handling players and running the game smoothly, and random tables meant to inspire creativity. You could 100% play this edition of D&D without picking up the DMG. As long as you have the Player's Handbook and a nice assortment of monsters, you have all the rules you truly need. That said, I'm a worldbuilder at heart, and I enjoyed those sections of the DMG.
