Dungeon Master's Guide II

by Wizards of the Coast, Jesse Decker, David Noonan

A follow-up to the Dungeon Master's Guide, designed to aid Dungeon Masters and reduce game preparation time.
The "Dungeon Master's Guide II "builds upon existing materials in the
"Dungeon Master's Guide." It is specifically designed to facilitate play, especially
when the Dungeon Master has a limited amount of preparation time. Chapters include discussion on running a game, designing adventures, building and using prestige classes, and creating campaign settings. Ready-made game elements include instant traps, pre-generated locations, treasures, and a fully realized and rendered town.
JESSE DECKER is the development manager for Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
whose recent roleplaying game design credits include "Complete Adventurer"(TM),
"Races of Stone"(TM), and "Unearthed Arcana"(TM).
DAVID NOONAN is an RPG designer/developer at Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Recent credits include authoring "Complete Divine"(TM) and co-authoring
"Races of Stone "and "Unearthed Arcana."
CHRIS THOMASSON previously served as Editor-in-Chief of "Dungeon"(R)
Magazine. His design credits include "Fiend Folio"(TM) and "Monster Manual"(TM)
"III," as well as "Bow and Blade "for Green Ronin Publishing.
JAMES JACOBS is the associate editor of "Dungeon"(R) Magazine and has published numerous articles in "Dragon"(R) Magazine. His most recent credits with Wizards of the Coast, Inc. include co-authoring "The Book of Aberrations," "Races of Faerun"(TM), and "Frostburn"(TM).
ROBIN D. LAWS, game designer and novelist, is best known for the roleplaying
games "Feng Shui," "Heroquest," and "Dying Earth," along with, "Robin's Laws of
Good Gamemastering."

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Games, Reference, Fiction

285 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[Erin Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more info for DM's than the first Dungeon Master's Guide.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great source for some city-building and NPC-backgrounding.

[Viktor Davion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect supplement for dungeon masters. A lot of good ideas for game running. What I like most is chapter about types of players. Though it's not rocket science it draws my attention. I've never though about this aspect of game much.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

As opposed to the original DMG, the DMG II has more about how to go about actually running a game.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the same as the first edition.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basic DMG has a lot of good info on rules, tables for rolling random stats or NPCs or items or anything like that, it's very useful. But this? This is the book you really want to come to for help DMing. It veers away from being a rules dump and focuses on actual advice, analyzing possible player scenarios, suggesting ways to overcome challenges, helping build towns from the ground up. This is what I actually needed.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic Premise: This is a supplemetal rulebook for D&D 3.5 edition specifically geared towards people running the game.

This book is a lot more information and background, and a lot less rules and stats. While the DMG is useful for everyone, containing lots of useful items, classes, etc for players, the DMGII is pretty much just useful for DMs/gamemasters. That said, it has a lot of good stuff in it, and it's definitely worthwhile to have in the library.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as useful as I'd hoped, there's a lot in here that I might use someday, but nothing that jumped out immediately. Some new weapon enchantments are nifty, and giving your PCs a more detailed job if they buy the local inn, for example, but... overall, I wasn't super-impressed.

One outstanding addition, though, was the notion of a PC group summoning a companion spirit for the group, which gives them all abilities they can share. That was neat - and my PC groups have done so.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly helpful DMG.