I’m something of a D&D old-timer, having started back in 1981. My current rating of the 4e DMG is somewhere about 4 or 5 stars (out of 5). At present, I haven’t actually played enough 4e to give it a proper rating, but here are a few of my thoughts on the 4e DMG.

First, I’m not fussed with how many rules a particular book has. 4e, when you get down to it, has an astonishing lack of rules. The core system is very clean and is explained in remarkably few paragraphs in the PHB. Probably the thing I want in the DMG the most is help in producing adventures.

This is something both the 3E DMG and 4E DMG do pretty well. The 1E DMG was more limited (although it has some great stuff for making dungeons), and the 2E DMG was a joke.

The most astonishing thing about the 4E DMG to me, something that hadn’t been touched in the previews, is the advice for including Puzzles in an adventure. This detailed advice is something that hasn’t existed in a previous DMG (not counting the DMG2 of 3.5e, which informs a lot of the 4E DMG). I’m very, very glad to see it here. In many ways, it hearkens back to 1E AD&D adventures, although the 1E DMG didn’t give advice on it.

Something else that is new in the 4E DMG is specific advice on scaling adventures for different numbers of players. There’s nothing like this in 3E (one of the chief bits of wonkiness with 3e’s CR/EL system was how it didn’t adapt well to non-standard parties). 1E & 2E just assumed certain party sizes as well.

I’m delighted with the new way diseases are handled.

The 4E DMG is not as rich as either the 3E DMG or 1E DMG in features to stock your dungeons with, although it is not bereft of such things, nor are they consigned to appendices. I feel that the 3E DMG went into to many specifics at times with these things – just check the effects of different floor types! 1E really just gave lists of things and then you had to use your imagination to fill in the rest.

The way 4E handles traps is superior, IMO, to both 3e and 1e/2e.

Advice for running NPCs? Well, I thought there wasn’t much, but then I realised I’d overlooked “Cast of Characters” (pp116-7) which, when added to the Skill Challenges, does give some rather useful advice. Probably more than most previous DMGs. Gygax’s advice in the 1E DMG really boiled down to “run them as if they were real”, and his example was how to use a NPC to irritate the players!

The new way of dealing with Artefacts? Wow. I want more!

Most of all, I feel that the 4E DMG gives you a very solid understanding of the basis upon which 4E stands – how the parts fit together, things you have to think about when designing encounters, adventures and campaigns, and how to make it all work.

Yes, the book is mainly advice (although there are a few key rule areas, such as NPC creation, artefacts and PAGE 42!), but, for the most part, I find it advice that solidifies my understanding of the art of DMing and helps spur adventure ideas.

Overall, I probably like the 3.*e DMGs more, but that’s tempered with the knowledge that a lot of the detail in it was actually overkill, and some things (like the random encounter tables in the 3.5e DMG) were just BAD. I really liked the wilderness adventuring notes in the 3.5e DMG…

Still, the 4e DMG is a worthy tome in my opinion.