The team behind the new DnD Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 knows that the latest version… well, it left a lot to be desired despite being a supposed entry point into running games for one of the best tabletop RPGs. This time, they came with a long list of goals and a tremendously positive attitude.
“The biggest problem with the DMG 2014 was the organization, the fact that the rules you needed were scattered throughout the book,” explains senior DnD game designer James Wyatt when we catch up on the new rulebook . “It threw you right into the deep end of world-building and not 'here are the basics of how to be a Dungeon Master.' So I think in 2014 people were supposed to not learn how to DM by reading the DMG, but rather they learn by purchasing a starter set. But this is really a Dungeon Master guide that will walk you through how to be a Dungeon Master. Surprise, surprise. So I think that's the biggest solution here.”
“We know there are players thinking about becoming a Dungeon Master,” adds creative director Chris Perkins. He notes that one goal of DMG 2024 was to give them a book “that contains things that they can play with and play with… and somehow help them get to the other side of the fence.”
This is part of what led to adventures you can run within the DMG itself, a first for the DnD Dungeon Master's Guides.
“We had a constant goal in mind to make sure everything in the book was useful, that all the advice was tried and true, approved by local DMs,” Wyatt continues. “It always saddens me to hear people talk about not having read the DMG or not really knowing what's in it, and I hope that only the organization will make that problem go away to some extent: it's easier to find what you're looking for. What's more easy to understand what's here and where, and there are fewer things you don't need.
“This is a very different situation than we had in 2014, when we were basically building a new edition of the game,” Perkins says. “We haven't blown up the system, we haven't blown up the edition. We're simply applying all the things on our checklist that we've been maintaining since the first DMG came out for 5th edition… We had the advantage of increasing our art budget. We had more things we could do this time, so part of the excitement for me was just making it a nicer, more practical, more accessible book and learning all the lessons from it over the last 10 years and applying them here. “.
The new DMG will arrive on November 12 and is currently $39.99 on Miniature Market instead of $50. Meanwhile, those in the UK can pick it up for £28.99 through Magic Madhouse instead of £40 usual.
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