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Dungeons & Dragons

D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook)

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Style: Physical Book


Features

  • Learn how to run a thrilling game of Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition)
  • Magic itemsa treasure trove of items for your players to discover
  • Advice for creating your own world, monsters, spells, and magic items
  • Guide to balancing encountersmake combat as easy or deadly as you want it to be
  • A Dungeon-Masters-only tour of each plane of the D&D multiversefrom the Feywild to the Shadowfell
  • 1 of 3 D&D Core Rulebooksthe Players Handbook (rules for playing the game), the Dungeon Masters Guide (how to run the game), and Monster Manual (creatures to encounter in your game)

Description

“The DMG is a dungeon master's best friend. It's the one book to rule them all, the most comprehensive and powerful set of resources needed to run a game of D&D.”—Charlie Hall, PolygonWeave legendary stories in the world’s greatest roleplaying game.The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and guidance you need to spark your imagination and create worlds of adventure for your players to explore and enjoy.Inside you’ll find world-building advice, tips and tricks for creating memorable dungeons and adventures, optional game rules, hundreds of classic D&D magic items, and many other tools to help you be a great Dungeon Master.

Release date: December 9, 2014


Type of item: Hardcover


Language: English


Item model number: Spielleiterhandbuch


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No


Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast


Country of Origin: China


Date First Available: May 18, 2014


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Saturday, Dec 28

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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Everything a newbie DM could ever want to know about being a DM
Style: Physical Book
Previously, I wrote a review for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide for Dungeons and Dragons, and I useful I found it for writing novels. All of that applies to the 5th edition too, but more so. I much prefer this edition as a writing aid. Oh yes, I also find it useful for running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. This book is split into three main sections, each describing the responsibility of the Dungeon Master in the game. They are "Master of Worlds", "Master of Adventures" and "Master of Rules". The first is for creating the campaign world, the second is for creating the adventure, and the third is a list of rules to help the DM run the scenario, tweak situations to fit the campaign, and a section with advice on homebrewing elements. As a Dungeon Master, I find this book extremely helpful. I have several areas of it bookmarked for easier and quicker reference. One of them is the area for building encounters and managing random encounters. This helped break my previous conception of random encounters, which I picked up from video games. In video games, there is no point to a random encounter other to beatdown on the monsters for some droppable resource (Experience points, money, some form of loot). Then you move on. Not so in a Dungeons and Dragons session, where some groups play for 2-3 hours a week or even less. That can become tedious (as it sometimes happens in video games as well). This area of the book taught me how to make a random encounter more meaningful. There is a "Sylvan Forest" encounter table in here that I merged with another table in the Monster Manual to create the one for the area that my party is currently adventuring in. These "random" encounters provided the seed necessary to create events that are relevant to the here and now of the session. I also bookmarked the area that explains how to create maps for dungeons, settlements and wilderness, as well as adjudicating and describing what your players do in each. Because each area is different, different methods are used for each one. For instance, a dungeon is likely to be traversed room-by-room, as the player-characters check for traps and treasure. The wilderness, by contrast, is more likely to be a more general environment that does not involve the player-characters checking behind each tree or the top of each hill. Unless, of course, they are in a particular section of wilderness that doubles as a dungeon. Also, my players have done a lot of foraging recently so it is useful to have a table that enables me to quickly determine if they find something and how much they find. A third bookmark, of which I currently have seven in total, is a rule variant for chases. In Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, all creatures have a set movement speed, which makes chases deterministic and therefore less interesting. This area lists certain rules that can be used to add randomness to this otherwise pre-determined scenario, basically obstacles that both the pursuer and the quarry can run into, which can slow them down. There are also rules for determining when the chase begins, ends, or turns around and makes the hunter the hunted. Oh, I wish I had read this book cover-to-cover when I first started DMing. I thought I knew the rules well enough as a player and that I would do fine by imitating what our group's original DM did, but I didn't do fine. Not in the least. I have several embarrassing sessions under my belt, and this book could have prevented several of them. Particularly the Chase section; especially the Chase section. On another note, there is gorgeous art in this book. This review is mainly about the usefulness of the book for a Dungeon Master (and therefore also a novelist) but I have to mention the gorgeous art. You can see landscapes of everything from mountains and meadows to the Shadowfell or the Elemental Plane of Fire. You get portraits of an adventuring party consulting/drawing a map or in combat with a dragon. Most of the magic items listed in the treasure also get their own images along with their listing. Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D 5E" an A+ ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2020 by BW
    • A Classic; DON'T buy this one first
Style: Physical Book
It's a common mistake for newbies to lean into the Dungeon Master's Guide in an effort to learn the game. I think it's weird that Wizards decided to market this as "All you need to run a Dungeons & Dragons game", because the DM's Guide doesn't actually tell you how to play D&D. It contains none of the essential rules. If you're approaching D&D for the first time, you should buy The Player's Handbook. Every single player and DM needs to know about Ch. 7 Using Abilities, Ch. 8 Adventuring, Ch. 9 Combat and Ch. 10 Spellcasting - this is the heart of the game. Once you're comfortable with the basics, you need to start customizing your game with "house rules", optional rules that work well for your group and playstyle. Your game will naturally flow between epic storytelling and gritty tick-tock action. Your players will do inspiring things worthy of reward. You'll sometimes need to ignore the dice, or follow the "Rule of Fun". The Dungeon Master's guide has solid, time-tested advice on all of that and more. Unfortunately all the good stuff is crammed in to Part 3; the DM's guide hasn't changed that much since the original bound AD&D version, including the awkward arrangement of chapters and information. Ch. 3 "Creating Adventures" and Ch. 5 "Adventure Environments" are important reads, and Chapter 8. "Running The Game" is what you think you're getting when you buy this - practical, detailed advice on running a D&D game. I really like Chapter 6 "Between Adventures", which helps you fill in the gaps with careers, philandering, politics and real-estate. All of Part 1 may as well be supplemental. It helps as background material for the official adventure modules, and can help ground your homegrown campaign in some official lore, but it's by no means essential, and you could get bored and discouraged if you tried to learn D&D by slogging through the differences between Arcadia vs Archeron vs Avernus. Save it for later. Chapter 7: Treasure. Ah, treasure. This is the other reason to get this book: it's the best all-in-one official sourcebook for D&D treasure. The stuff of legends. Some of this stuff - Boots of Elvenkind, Bag of Holding, Belt of Giant Strength - has been in the game 30+ years. There's newer treasure as well, and it all feels appropriately quirky and powerful. Old-school DMs have a reputation of granting treasure sparingly, and Chapter 7 has suitably stingy (but useful) random treasure tables, and additional random tables to give each magic item special characteristics - who made it and why, how is it activated, does it have a name? I like to hand-write the magic item's name, characteristics, background and quirky details on a 3x5 index card and hand it to players when they identify it - it makes getting one a little more special. All in all, the Dungeon Master's Guide is an absolute classic, but not an essential classic. You could play for a year before needing to crack it open, and I recommend buying The Player's Handbook and Monster Manual first. But once you've gained some experience as a DM, it provides tons of useful knowledge. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2019 by Scott Burton
    • Good product
Style: Physical Book
Cheaper and came in amazing condition
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2023 by Anthony
    • Good for those New to D&D
Style: Physical Book
I just recently started playing; like a year or so ago with a group of decades-long experience. They were a great help to explain things to me but I wanted to learn on my own. The most experienced player recommended three books. This one, the Player’s Handbook, and the Monsters Guide. I got all three and started reading. They’re very good books when used together to get the basics and to help build stronger characters (magic use can become confusing). Would recommend getting all three if you’re just starting out-they’re excellent. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2024 by DubV1986
    • Beautiful Book For Your D & D er!
Style: Physical Book
Review Image by Jenny Jenny
Review Image by Jenny Jenny
Review Image by Jenny Jenny
This was purchased as a Christmas gift for my significant other as he's wanting to create campaigns. I'm excited to give him this as the pages are chalked full of valuable insights and illustrations! Great price compared to competitors prices. My only qualm if you will was poor packaging and some dings on the corners of the book.Overall, I am pleased with the product and price. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023 by Jenny Jenny
    • Very helpful and didn't arrive broken
Style: Physical Book
Very helpful resource for creating words, maps, npc's, original monsters and spells, how to use guns, how to make sure different types of players have a good time, you name it it's in here. I highly recommend getting this alongside the handbook and monster manual if you are wanting to dm but don't know where to start or how to craft a world. The book also constantly reminds readers that the dungeon master is the first authority over the rules and can make their world and play their game how they want. Came in great condition, no ripped pages or wear on the cover. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023 by Royce Ledgerwood

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