DnD 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide review – fun, but not flaw-free

If you’re here, it’s because you’re seeking out a DnD 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide review. I’ve spent an extensive number of hours studying Wizards of the Coast’s newest rulebook (thank you to the publisher for providing a copy), so I can explain in detail where it peaks and troughs. But first, let’s get a few simple questions out of the way.

Is this better than the 2014 DM’s Guide? Yes. Is it an essential buy for every Dungeons and Dragons player? No. Is it useful for new Dungeon Masters? Absolutely. Is this now a flawless rulebook, with all the unnecessary chaff and awkward rulings removed? Absolutely not.

And now for something with a bit more detail:

What’s in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide?

Structurally, the 2024 DM’s Guide feels like an entirely different DnD book. It’s organized in a far more logical way, starting with the most basic tools before expanding into advice on creating entire campaigns from scratch.

DnD Bastions, the changes made to magic items, new tracking sheets, and a complete lore glossary were touted as the biggest changes to the book. Wizards of the Coast has also taken this as an opportunity to axe D&D’s more obscure or unpopular optional rules, as well as expand its advice for running games. The product feels far more practical, as the 2024 DM’s Guide offers new setting and adventure content that new DMs can actually use.

Beyond that, much of the content is a tweaked, upgraded, or streamlined version of what came before. Many rules and recommendations look familiar: for example, running combat, creating items and spells, designing dungeons, firearms, hazards, siege equipment, and dreaming up DnD campaign hooks.

Here’s a complete chapter list:

• Chapter One: The Basics – How DMing works, plus the key tools and tips you need to set up a game
• Chapter Two: Running the Game – Advice for handling group size, resolving dice rolls, plus running social interactions, exploration, and combat
• Chapter Three: DM’s Toolbox – A grab bag of optional rules and advice, covering everything from creating your own rules to designing dungeon traps and hazards
• Chapter Four: Creating Adventures – How to structure the overarching premise and individual encounters in a short adventure
• Chapter Five: Creating Campaigns – Similar advice to chapter four but on a larger scale, plus a ready-made Greyhawk campaign setting to use
• Chapter Six: Cosmology – Everything you need to know about the D&D multiverse
• Chapter Seven: Treasure – Treasure themes, magic items, and crafting magic items
• Chapter Eight: Bastions – All the new Bastion rules
• Appendix A: Lore Glossary – A who’s who of famous D&D names and places
• Appendix B: Maps – Ready-to-use maps of typical D&D dungeon environments

Who is the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide for?

This is a book that explains Dungeon Mastering from the ground up, with no assumed knowledge on the reader’s part. Naturally, this means brand-new D&D players will get the most out of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide. Experienced DMs will still get value out of the sections on magic items and Bastions, but the majority of the information in this book will already be well-understood by veterans.

The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide can still surprise you, even if you’ve many years of play under your belt. Going over the basics in detail reminds you of tried-and-tested lessons you might have forgotten, and you might even pick up a few new tricks.

However, we need to address the elephant in the room. This is a book of subjective advice and optional rules to expand your D&D game. It’s never going to be as essential as the 2024 Player’s Handbook – even if Wizards of the Coast have made significant improvements on the 2014 DM’s Guide.

What’s good about the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide?

The greatest hits from the OG DMG have made it into this new copy, and I’m glad about it. Wizards of the Coast gives useful, actionable advice on running dungeons and encounters. These core concepts have been enhanced with a bit of expansion here and there, some beginner-friendly language, and – my personal favorite part – practical resources that help you put these ideas into practice.

The tracking sheets introduced in this book are thoughtful, and I fully plan to use them in future campaigns. The pre-written settings and adventure ideas aren’t particularly exciting, but they’re a welcome addition.

The DnD magic items list has been bulked out with extremely common and extremely rare options that encourage their use at all tiers of play. Plus, the balancing of existing items feels fair overall. Some explosive objects have been reigned in a little, while less shiny trinkets get to pack more of a punch.

The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide understands something that its predecessor failed to. If you want to encourage players to try their hand at DMing, you should make that process as simple as possible, rather than overload them with additional complexity. Learning how to be a DM is an intimidating road for many, and more hand-holding is absolutely the way to show those people how capable they are of running a game.

It also helps that the 2024 DM’s Guide is a genuinely enjoyable read. I had a great time diving deep into the cosmology of DnD planes, despite the fact I knew all the information already.

The tone of voice here is approachable yet knowledgeable. This makes it perfectly pleasant to read the whole thing in one go – and then bookmark your favorite parts to use as a grab bag of tools and tips later on.

What’s bad about the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide?

All that being said, I have several issues with the new DM’s Guide. In short: Wizards of the Coast has experimented here, and it’s not been all that successful.

Bastions feels like a mixture of good ideas and unnecessary busy work. As a base-building mechanic, it strikes the right balance between basic and crunchy, and some of its facilities do offer benefits that could enhance roleplay or gameplay. Bastions are an easier way to source magic items, costly material components, information, temporary HP, and potential allies for your campaign.

However, not every facility is created equal. Since it’s near-impossible to destroy your Bastion, the rules for defending it – and the facilities that make you better at doing so – feel pretty superfluous.

At worst, you’ll lose the hirelings that allow you to activate a facility on your Bastion turn, and they’ll magically be replaced the next time you visit. And when other Bastion events, which can’t be defended against, are just as likely to put a random facility out of commission, why bother investing in defenses at all?

Plus, Bastions are biased in favor of spellcasters. Spellcasting DnD classes like Wizards, Clerics, Bards, and Druids qualify for most Bastion facilities. Meanwhile, their martial counterparts are barred from building some of the best rooms that Bastions have to offer. The select few facilities that require you to take a fighting style or Unarmed Defense are laughably bland in the face of magic-based facilities.

Another major feature that doesn’t quite land is the Lore Glossary, an extensive list of famous names, places, and concepts from D&D history. The items are listed in alphabetical order, with very little context or relation to each other. Reading it left one burning question in my mind – why should a new Dungeons and Dragons player care about any of this information?

Yes, it’s nice to read up on who Vecna is after discovering the Hand and Eye of Vecna in the magic items list. And some curious readers will appreciate learning who Jallarzi is after seeing her name attached to certain DnD spells. But why does a newbie need to know who Lord Soth is when he hasn’t been mentioned once in the 2024 rulebooks?

Minor spoilers for major campaigns are included for the sake of making D&D feel like an extended cinematic universe. The Lore Glossary is simply a lengthy exercise in dropping names. The fans who care about this lore will know most of it already, and newcomers will face the challenge of sifting through the walls of text to find something that’s actually useful.

Ever since its fiftieth birthday rolled around, Dungeons and Dragons has been overly focused on its legacy. In the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, Wizards of the Coast has let this sully an otherwise successful attempt to improve its most problematic core rulebook. This is a streamlined, practical, and approachable handbook to Dungeon Mastering that just happens to have a long, slightly tiresome D&D history lesson taped on the end.

For more on the new rules, here’s my full 2024 Player’s Handbook review. Or, for something more familiar, here’s everything you need to know about DnD races.

Source: Wargamer