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Again I’ll start with the cover. The front cover has a beautiful full color picture of a red dragon looking at the two adventurers from the PHB, again with the Dungeons & Dragons logo emblazoned in red on the cover. The back cover has a blurb about how the Dungeon Master can use the book to adjudicate the game situations, along with the other products that you need to play (the PHB, the Monster Manual, and the other two products I said I wouldn’t mention).
The first chapter is an education for players who have never played any kind of role-playing game before; describing the role of the Dungeon Master. The first pages suggest that there needs to be 5 players and one DM, and then goes into what they need to play D&D, mentioning the books (of course), dice, paper and pencils (it puts a character sheet as a “useful addition” rather than needed, but that’s true), miniatures, a battle grid or D&D dungeon tiles, and the DM Screen. It does mention that you can just use graph paper for your battle grid if you need to. It then suggest several extras; character sheets, snacks, computers for keeping all of your stuff together and for D&D insider, which is a useful pay-by-month product for those people who can’t get a group together and have to use the internet. The last ingredient needed, according to the opening blurb of the chapter is fun, which is one hundred percent true. That is the whole reason we play these games, after all; to have fun.
The rest of the chapter gives advice on how to deal with players (and even categorizes them in to neat pigeonholes), suggests how to build a party of adventurers (shouldn’t that have been in the PHB?), gives the question of what kind of DM are you (a useful question that every DM, GM, and Storyteller should ask themselves), and mentions home rules.
The next chapter is on running the game. This starts off with a treatise on how long you should prepare for the game session, goes into the different types of game play, specifying several “modes” of play, and then describes the different types of atmosphere and pacing. There is mention of using props to set the mood and give players who aren’t picking up on the DM’s description a little help, of using skill checks to give the players the info they need, and even mentions how you should improvise and the “always say yes” rule. The last part of the chapter is a troubleshooting section that gives you advice on how to deal with PC death, dealing with bad rule calls, encounters that are too difficult or too easy, characters getting too powerful because you gave them treasure and magic items, dealing with groups of more or less than five PCs, and how to deal with problem players (I know some GMs that should read those sections) and teach the game
Combat encounters gives you rules on what you should do when combat occurs. This consists of adjudicating Initiative, giving bonuses and penalties during combat, explains how cover works with different types of attack, movement and terrain, and other such rules. It even has a section on diseases (when are diseases a form of combat?), and even lists several examples. Finally there’s a section on poison rules, with a good number of examples and how they work
There are two more chapters on encounters; how to build an encounter and non-combat encounters. Personally, I think all three of these chapters could have been condensed into a single chapter with no issue beyond having less chapters in the book. The information in the other two chapters are really just additional information on how to deal with what was introduced in the combat encounters chapter, including how much experience should be given in an encounter, what constitutes an encounter, what setting to have an encounter in, and how to deal with things that have nothing to do with combat, such as skill rolls, puzzles, and traps. All of this could have been placed in a single chapter, really.
The next chapter includes how to build an adventure, first mentioning using published adventures (a good thing to have in a pinch), and gives rules on how to design your own adventure. If you’ve read previous additions of D&D or AD&D, you won’t find much new in this chapter, but it’s still very informative and always worth a re-read. Included in the chapter is an explanation f how to draw a map, complete with “official” symbols for different objects on the map.
Next comes the rewards chapter, which really should have been tacked on to the end of the adventure chapter, as it deals with an aspect of creating adventures; what some people consider the most important part of an adventure, in fact. It includes how much Experience you should give for monsters based on their level, on how to give skill encounters experience, and how to deal with quest experience and milestones (necessary to replenish the new action point mechanic). There is a small explanation of treasure and how to divvy it out to the players, which boils down to “pick a premade treasure package and hand it to them over a couple of encounters.” I would have been happier with an ala carte style of treasure supplying, where you roll randomly or pick from a list rather than just choose a pre-packaged list. Admittedly, the parcels give you some leeway, but not much.
The campaign chapter is still the same chapter as it has always been. As with the adventure chapter, players of previous editions should always reread it, so you can pick up some pointers every now and again. It includes different types of campaign styles, how the story and theme is supposed to work, and mentions the different “tiers;” a new mechanic that states that “at X level, players should be dealing with Y problems instead of what they’ve been dealing with.”
The campaign chapter is followed up by the World chapter, which describes how to build the world for your campaigns. Rules for towns, cities, and kingdoms are present; including how much population should be in each different type of settlement and other different types of rules. It includes different types of environments, organizations, and even the different planes of existence. It finally lists the evil deities for the campaign (sorry, no rules for making your own pantheon), and artifacts; listing several famous examples, such as they eye and hand of vecna.
Finally, there’s a list of things, the DM might find useful , including how to customize monsters and different monster templates (shouldn’t this be in the monster manual?), creating NPCs, creating house rules, and how to make a random dungeon if you need to in a pinch (something that was missing in the last two editions and makes it’s triumphant return here, huzzah I guess). There’s even advice on playing WITHOUT THE DM!
Finally, there’s a campaign setting for the DMs to use if they don’t feel like making their own (complete with a small first adventure for the players to be run through
After looking at this book, I say that the DMG completely compliments the PHB in style. I even think it has a little more substance than the PHB. It gives a lot more to the game, but that’s because the two are lesser parts of a whole, and you need both in order to make the game complete.
Okay, yes; there is a lot of good in this book. Ultimately, I do feel that my original opinion was fairly accurate. The game is ultimately about the old adage of “kick down the door, slay the monsters, get the treasure, level up, and do it all again.”
If you’re looking for more depth in a game, one in which you get experience for actually role-playing, you really should look elsewhere. There are rules in the book that seem to be rules for rewarding the role-playing style, but they ultimately boil down to giving experience for using a skill during those encounters. A role-playing encounter, a true role-playing encounter, doesn’t involve game mechanics at all. In fact, you often lose something during the role-playing that, mechanic-wise, you should not have done so. Does that mean that there can’t be role-playing in D&D? Of course it doesn’t. You can role-play to your heart’s content, but there’s no reason to do so.
Looking at this game reminds me of an old game called Hero Quest. In that game, you played a warrior, dwarf, wizard, and elf as you explored a dungeon, fought monsters, and gained treasure. Sound familiar? You could play the four characters beyond their numbers, but there was no reason to do so. Ultimately, I see D&D 4th edition as Hero Quest 2 at best, or D&D Miniatures 2nd edition at worst. It’s still a board game, no matter how much you look at it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find my old Hero Quest game and get some friends together. I’ve got an idea for a D&D 4th edition campaign.
