It’s been seven years since the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide was released. While the book received a positive reception at the time, the book has since been viewed as less essential to running a good game than later releases such as Xanthar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Even Wizards of the Coast staffers have made jokes poking fun at the fact that many players aren’t reading the DMG and I’ve seen many recommendations for Sly Flourish’s Lazy Dungeon Master series as a superior way to introduce new people to the hobby.
While it’s great that there are a plethora of resources out there for DMs, it’s worth remembering that the Dungeon Master’s Guide is unique in that it is Wizards of the Coast’s chance to clearly define the rules, terminology and practices that should be used by everyone when running games. Unfortunately, the DMG is missing several topics that have since been explored across multiple releases and makes a few mistakes when it comes to organizational structure. The way information is presented, the book makes it seem as though creating your own homebrew realms and multiverse is worth learning before how to simply adjudicate dice rolls and keep your friends at the table entertained, which simply isn’t the case. But even so, there’s plenty of useful tables and advice throughout the book that makes it worth consulting from time to time. Here are the practical sections of the Dungeon Master’s Guide that I use at my tables.
The Introduction
It might seem like an obvious place to start, but the opening of the DMG provides a solid explanation of what a Dungeon Master actually does at the table. As the book clearly states, “A Dungeon Master gets to wear many hats,” so it certainly helps to understand what those hats are. But the most useful sections come later on, when discussing how to be a good referee at the table. Being able to communicate the rules as they come up and making rulings on the fly is far more practical and important than memorizing the entire Player’s Handbook.
Lastly, the final section on player types can help people get a sense for what aspects of the hobby they enjoy most. I don’t think every player will fit cleanly into these types, but understanding what your party likes at the table should be good motivation for plotting out the game. Those who are truly new to the concept of running a tabletop game shouldn’t skip these opening pages of the book.
Chapter 5 – Adventure Environments
When you don’t exactly have a plan for the next several sessions, random tables are a DM’s best friend. Chapter 5 is filled to the brim with them as well as plenty of legitimately great advice to help make your dungeons, settlements and wildlands feel compelling and alive. Odds are your D&D games are going to involve a location that this chapter can help you out with, so it’s worth reviewing when you can.
The dungeon tables at the beginning can turn any random cave or ruin into a place with history and factions, so it doesn’t just feel like a series of rooms with random threats inside. Beneath that you can use the dungeon features to standardize obstacles and hazards that might be within. And if you’re not keen on using traps as written in this book (which isn’t surprising since Xanathar’s Guide revised the rules here), consider the dungeon hazards instead. Brown Mold and Green Slime are great options to throw the players for a loop. Suddenly they’ll think twice about lighting torches or stepping into a room without first trying to scope out its walls or ceilings.
I often use overland travel in my games, and the tables here can really help create fantastic locations to explore or stumble across. The rules for hex travel are a bit simple, but a great starting point that could be used on the fly at your table. But if you want to go all in on wilderness survival, don’t miss the rules of extreme environments, hazards, foraging and what happens when you get lost. These are perfect for adventuring in a harsh place like Icewind Dale or Chult and will really encourage your party to take things slow and steady rather than treating travel like a bit of filler in between dungeons or cities.
Speaking of cities, there are also plenty of resources for making settlements in this chapter. The tables here can be great to roll on ahead of the games where you know that your party is going to head somewhere new. There are a lot of different tables though, so I’d only suggest using the ones you think will matter during the game. Determine the size of the settlement, who runs the place, and what the local tavern is like and you should have a quick location ready for use during a game. The rest of this section can be used to expand on your location if you want the party to stick around longer.
Ultimately, this is one of the best chapters in the book, only held back by the fact that some of the more important rules related to travel and exploration were included in the Player’s Handbook, meaning that new DMs may have to go back and forth between both books to understand how they work together. A special Wilderness DM Screen that collects all of these rules was released last year, but that simply feels like a band-aid that you have to pay for.
Chapter 7 – Magic Items & Other Rewards
Let’s be honest, this is probably the reason many groups own this book. Magic items and all manner of treasure can be found in Chapter 7 of the DMG. To be honest, I don’t bother using a lot of the tables in this chapter as I find them a tedious way to generate items that the party is just going to try and convert into gold as soon as possible. Plus, there’s only so many ways you can explain why monsters with no interest in fine art are stashing portraits in their lair.
What I do enjoy in this chapter are the tables of unique properties you can give a magic item to make it feel more exotic and interesting. Not only are these a great way to give these items more flavor, they could even be used to springboard all manner of high magic concepts into your game. If that Longsword +1 is associated with the ritual of a particular deity, then it might be a good idea to start steering the party towards learning more about the ritual and what consequences it might have if it were carried out.
Near the end of the chapter, we have a section on alternative rewards that range from clout and prestige, to land and strongholds. Not every reward has to be money or an item with combat capabilities, especially if you’re playing in a game that favors social interaction. But the real meat comes from the Supernatural Gifts and Epic Boons, which can really help make your characters unique. Being rewarded with increased Ability Scores or innate spellcasting from a dragon or celestial is sure to be a memorable moment, especially if you’re playing an Epic level game, where XP is not really a means of progression anymore. These options can really make your game feel more magical and I really wish more tables took advantage of them.
Chapter 8 – Running the Game
What should have been the opening of this book was instead squeezed into the back as Chapter 8. Here the book goes over the most important aspects of being a DM, which is managing your table with respect. You are missing out if you don’t read through all of the advice on display, though many have observed that there are topics (such as hosting a Session Zero) that are strangely absent. Aside from that, the explanation for how to employ and resolve dice rolls is quite clear and informative, especially since they make a point of letting new DMs know that they don’t have to make players roll if they don’t want to.
There are also a lot of sections detailing how to run different events, such as social interaction, exploration and chases. Much of what’s in here can be useful to read, but many DMs are likely ignoring how these concepts are codified in favor of just making rolls at the table, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I imagine many people don’t use the chase rules at all, but the section on social interactions can really help make it clear if the players are actually making an impact on the NPC they have to convince.
Since I run my games virtually, most of the advice on tracking Hit Points and Initiative doesn’t apply to me but there are some useful tables for coming up with damage rolls in the event that someone is getting hurt by the environment or a creature you don’t have a stat block for. Be sure to check the section on flanking, so that you can be sure to note how it actually works as well as the fact that it’s explicitly listed as an optional rule. While many players love to get Advantage simply by teaming up on a monster, you may find that provides too much of a boon to them at your tables.
The final section with diseases, poisons and madness is one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Many players complain that the Poisoned doesn’t really do much, but reading this chapter provides a huge list of possible poisons with more nuanced applications that can be used as well. They even have costs assigned, so players who are interested should be able to get them. The Madness section is something that’s always interested me and it’s sadly underused in official adventures. But if you want to run an encounter with aberrations or other horrific entities, you should absolutely check this out.
Chapter 9 – The Dungeon Master’s Workshop
Chapter 9 is my personal favorite out of everything in the book, but it’s definitely not for beginners. This section contains all manner of mechanical additions and tweaks you can make to your game that will truly turn it into something unique. If you want an interesting spin on Inspiration, then try Hero Points. Considering a game in Ravenloft or something with Lovecraftian elements? Consider adding the Sanity Score. Interested in adding firearms without worrying about homebrew misfire tables? Just try using the various guns in this chapter! And most importantly of all, the guide tells DM’s that they should consider if these new rules will actually make the game more fun. It’s for that reason that I allow my players to use all of the new Action Options included in this chapter, as they can really add to their options in combat.
For some time, I’ve been wanting to run a gritty, post-apocalyptic adventure set in the demon-infested ruins of civilization. To make it truly special from other D&D games, I know that I would want to use the rules for alternative healing methods as well as the tables for dealing with Lingering Injuries. That right there can really set the tone for a different experience that still fits into the style of D&D. Too many changes and you may be better off just finding a different system entirely to use.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a very in-depth section on how to homebrew your own monsters, races, spells and magic items in a way where you shouldn’t have to worry whether or not you’re making something too powerful for its level range. While some DMs are content to just use what’s in the adventure, the options in this table provide so much more that can help foster creativity while adhering to the D&D 5e system’s strengths.
Conclusion
This is just a sampling of the best that the 5th Edition DMG has to offer. Third-party resources can be quite useful and many of them address this book’s blindspots or summarize information more effectively, but to say that this book isn’t worth reading at all is simply wrong. Before you learn how to bend the rules, a Dungeon Master needs to learn those rules in the first place and there’s no better way to do that than actually getting your hands on the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Who knows? Maybe some of these shortcomings will be addressed when the book is reprinted in 2024 along with the “evolved” Player’s Handbook?
Rocco Pepe is a serial gamer who has spent well over a decade studying the science of play and how it enhances our minds and brings us together. He has been running tabletop games professionally for several years and contributes to various projects through design, writing and editing.
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