Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

Ok, I would like to start out with saying that in the beginning I thought that this would be twink gaming at it's finest, with such additions as the Dragonborn, Assimar, and Teafling as playable characters, when before they were reserved either for NPC or for 13 year old boys who would just like to be all powerful. That being said, the DM really dissapointed me. There were no magic items, say for the artifacts, in the whole thing, and instead, you are given charts on what to give your players from the PH, giving to much power to the players. This agrivated me even more when I realized that if I wanted to have the volume of magic items in the 3.0 DM,that I would shurley have to buy the 5 magic item books that are sure to follow this book in the coming year. Agrivating me still is the fact that now the golden rule "The DM is always right" no longer applies, for the simple reason that I can no longer make my saving throws behind a shield to prevent the adventure from either being to tough, or to easy. With the way the saves are worked out now with your save being like an AC, my gamers learn the magic number that they need to hit my fort, ref, or will saves, and can now tell when they hit or don't hit, taking the game from being ever changing and evolving, to a war game, which is exactly what this is. I tried, I really did, to give this game an honest shot, but when it takes a hour and a half to get through with one battle, I new that we were no longer playing D&D, but a war game, and if I had decided to put in any roleplaying, that it would have doubled an normal gaming session. Before you ask, yes, my gamers are experienced, with the lowest one being 2 years of playing and the highest one being 20 years of playing.I am going to also flame the PH and MM for other reasons, so go over to those books and read those reviews. And thank you Hasbro for trying to suck as much money out of us while spending as little money as possible, show us you really have a soul

Wow... this books assumes your an idiot... most of it is teaching you how to be a DM.. why that might be necessary for many.. be warned. If your a DM and have been for any amount of time, very little is useful here. No magic items.. only artifacts. Detailed instructions on HOW to DM.. thats about the size of it. Very disappointing. I hated first edition dnd.. didn't care for second... really liked third... and thought we would continue advancing forward... Unfortunately I was SOOO wrong.. *weep* The emperor has no clothes folks!!!! OPEN YOUR EYES!!!

OK....... I really REALLY REALLY wanted to love this game. To be honest I've been a sucker for every incarnation of DnD that's come out. I liked all of em in their own way. I prebought this one and every 'pre-book' they've put out... We were all so eager for this new incarnation. It read so well. I can't believe this, but this game has actually managed to depress me!! I HAVE played it. Just spent three hours playing, in fact.

When we finished the party reported that they had the distinct feeling that we had just played a board game version of WOW. Now we all LOVE WOW in our gaming group.. but that's NOT what we sat down to play around a table. We saw nothing 'quick' or 'streamlined' about the gaming experience. We moved pieces around a board adhereing to movement rules and 'squares' for this and that in a fashion that reminded me way too much of the old 'Heroes Quest', albeit a complicated version! Were the game mechanics good? Yes. Why did I give it a 'one star'? Because whilst the game is a good miniature warfare game it seemed to rob the flavor of DnD. The character creation was extrememly confined and the selections were limited. Gone was the ability to customize your character to the point that you actually felt like you had something unique. You will feel as if WOC is controlling the direction your character takes. The game DEMANDED a board and game pieces.. I've always felt that DnD's flavor relied on the 'minds eye', which is so much more colorful in my head than staring at plastic pieces on a piece of cardboard. I do realize that the 'original' DnD was just that, a wargame with a fantasy element. But I feel it evolved into so much more... I guess we've 'returned to our roots'... so why do I feel like we climbed back into the primordial ooze?!

A great deal of the time the magic users felt like they were 'hitting the hot button key'. They had one or two actions that they relied on every round to cause the maximum amount of damage. No inovation or imagination. Everything was geared towards 'how does this directly effect combat'.

The DM's guide isn't that bad. Reminds me a LOT of the first edition book. Information on how to be an effective dm, traps, dungeons, and artifacts. Not what 'thirders' would expect, but not bad.

The Monster Manual is awful. A third of the pictures are just rehashed from all the previous Monster Manuals. The book is concerned with stats so you can play your miniature game effectively. Again.... great if your into miniature gaming. The ecology and culture information is virtually non-existant. Make all the arguments you want about this now being in the pervue of the DM.. the honest answer is that WOC is being lazy. You have a vast variety of stats to place against your carefully created stats, but very little flavor to guide you in roleplaying the encounters.

I have read that the streamlined combat will enhance the rolplaying as you'll have more time available.... that was really exciting.. too bad this wasn't the case. Going to miniatures and a combat board, whilst carefully figuring out where your party and the encounter is, everytime combat arose was time consuming. You'll also notice that you'll have to change the map everytime, of course, which is also time consuming.

If you LOVE miniature wargaming. If Warhammer is something you daydream about.... this is the game for you! As a miniature game experience it ranks a three or four...

If you love games that take place in your head fired by limitless imagination then your probably going to be disappointed.

I really feel like power gamers are going to LOVE this game and probably flame me for my remarks. The game is geared towards being 'godlike'. I'm not knocking this. If you love powergaming and twinking then this is DEFFINITLEY the game for you. To each his or her own. You should buy it immediately... and keep DnD fiscally sound enough to perhaps manage an inevitable rewrite that might restore my faith.

Ironically I'll be keeping my set... I think it'll make a great board game for those rare nights when I just wanna run through dungeons killings things and working off frustrations. According to the DMG I don't even need a DM to do this..... Sound like any RPG you ever heard of???? No story teller... no RPG. Just another board wargame.. albeit a pretty good one.

Good day!

Even if you are opposed to 4e, the DMG is a great resource for a DM that has never run a game before. Amazing in the information and tools it provides, the book feels more like a resource document than anything. One of the best D&D books I have purchased in ages, and has helped me become a convert from 3.5 to 4e.

First, I want to rebuke the most common complaints from people who read the books (but apparently didn't play the game).

1) People say this is the death of role-playing, and the system is totally focused on combat. COMPLETELY UN-TRUE. First off, I am a self-taught 3rd edition player, and I can tell you from experience, 3rd edition has NOTHING on role-playing in any of the books. There is only HALF A PAGE dedicated to role-playing in the 3rd edition PHB. The 4th edition books actually have section on role-playing and personality development. I would also like to remind opponents of 4th edition that the amount of role-playing in a game comes from the DMs expectations, not the game mechanics. All the game mechanics (as in dice rolling) are geared towards combat (in 3rd and 4th edition). You don't need numbers to role-play. No matter how your character is statistically quantified, role-playing is still up to the person playing, not the character sheet in front of them.

2) The complaint that 4th edition is only combat oriented is another fallacy. The combat system in 4th edition has been streamlined and simplified. I ran an encounter, and it ran so much smoother then 3rd edition. And I ask, what are the hall-marks of the heavy role-playing RPGs like white wolf? Simplified character creation and combat (like 4th edition). I also ask, What are the hall-marks or a war games? A slow and overly complicated combat system (like 3rd edition).

3) The third complaint that I hate is that Wizards of the Coast is trying to market to the "world of warcraft" crowd. OF COURSE THEY ARE! It took WoW a year and a half to get an audience comparable to what it took D&D 30 years to get. By the way, about 9 out of 10 people I play WoW with, I also play D&D with.

So lets recap: Opponents of 4th edition say that by making combat simpler, you are somehow focusing the entire game on it. And that by including sections about role-playing (which 3rd edition was sorely lacking) you are some how discouraging role-playing.

Getting to the game I ran. I ran a 4th edition encounter with three 3rd edition veterans and a new comer to D&D. My three veterans loved it, and I found it so much easier to prepare a game. But the novice, who never liked 3rd edition, really enjoyed 4th edition. So soon I will be starting up a new 4th edition campaign.

Remember, actual role-playing has nothing to do with technical rules used in combat, no matter what system of dice rolling you use, role-playing isn't effected by that.

Simply said, 4th edition is new, innovative, and a better game. It isn't "dumbed down for stupid WoW players." Who the hell ever put points in "use rope" anyway?

On the Dungeon Master Guide (DMG): The new DMG is a perfect combination of the DMG and DMGII from 3.5. The DMG is now something you use to build adventures, but not have to bring to your game (all the rules you need for a game are in the PHB). The DMG is perfectly split between technical information (which the 3.5 DMG had too much of). And practical DMing advise (which the 3.5 DMG was sorely lacking in). Overall, it is a great improvement to the DMG and D&D.