Pyramid Review
Dungeon Master's Guide II (for Dungeons & Dragons)
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Designed by Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Chris Thomasson, James Jacobs, & Robin D. Laws
Edited by Michele Carter, Chris Thomasson, Ray Vallese, Penny Williams, & Kim Mohan
Art & graphics by Matt Cavotta, Kalman Andrasofszky, Mitch Cotie, Ed Cox, Steve Ellis, Wayne England, Emily Fiegenschuh, Randy Gallegos, Brian Hagan, Ginger Kubic, Raven Mimura, William O'Connor, Michael Phillippi, Vinod Rams, Wayne Reynolds, Dan Scott, Ron Spencer, Arnie Swekel, Franz Vohwinkel, Dee Barnett, & Todd Gamble
288-page full-color hardbound; $39.95
It's a truism that just about anything that does well in modern media is going to see a sequel. The Dungeon Master's Guide II is a supplementary volume intended to make the referee's job easier, but it achieves only mixed results.
The chapters in this volume imperfectly track those in the original Dungeon Master's Guide -- chapter seven is about magic items in both books, for example. Wizards claims this manual is a lot more advice for the DM's benefit, and a way to raise one's game to the next level; the first part of the book lives up to this promise. It dissects the game group dynamics by player and game type, and tells you how to keep various personalities interested and active. This isn't new, but it bears repeating for some folks, and others might not have heard it. (Incidentally, Robin Laws, one of the authors, wrote similar material . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 23, 2005
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