Dungeon Master For Dummies (for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game) - Softcover

Slavicsek, Bill; Baker, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471783307 ISBN 13: 9780471783305

Publisher: For Dummies, 2006

Whether you’ve been a Dungeon Master (DM) before and want to fine-tune your skills or want to get ready and take the plunge, this is the book for you. It gives you the basics on running a great game, info for more advanced dungeon mastering, guidelines for creating adventures, and tips for building a campaign. It shows you how to:

• Handle all the expressions of DMing: moderator, narrator, a cast of thousands (the nonplayer characters or NPCs), player, social director, and creator
• Use published adventures and existing campaign worlds or create adventures and campaign worlds of your own
• Conjure up exciting combat encounters
• Handle the three types of encounters: challenge, roleplaying, and combat
• Create your own adventure: The Dungeon Adventure, The Wilderness Adventure. The Event-Based adventure (including how to use flowcharts and timelines), The Randomly Generated Adventure, and the High-Level adventure
• Create memorable master villains, with nine archetypes ranging from agent provocateur to zealot

To get you off to a fast start, Dungeon Master For Dummies includes:

• A sample dungeon for practice
• Ten ready-to-use encounters and ten challenging traps
• A list of simple adventure premises
• Mapping tips, including common scales, symbols, and conventions, complete with tables

Authors Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker wrote the hugely popular Dungeons and Dragons For Dummies. Bill has been a game designer since 1986 and leads the D&D creative team at Wizards of the Coast. Richard is a game developer and the author of the fantasy bestseller Condemnation. They give you the scoop on:

• Using a DM binder to keep records such as an adventure log, PCs’ character sheets, NPC logs/character sheets, treasure logs, and more
• Knowing player styles (role players and power games) and common subgroups: hack’n’slasher, wargamer, thinker, impulsive adventurer, explorer, character actor, and watcher
• Recognizing your style: action movie director, storyteller, worldbuilder, puzzlemaker, or connector
• Using miniatures, maps, and other game aids
• Using 21st century technology, such as a Web site or blog, to enhance your game

The book includes a sample adventure, The Necromancer’s Apprentice, that’s the perfect way to foray into DMing. It includes everything you need for a great adventure—except your players. What are you waiting for? There are chambers to be explored, dragons to be slain, maidens to be rescued, gangs of gnoll warriors to be annihilated, worgs to be wiped out, treasures to be discovered, worlds to be conquered....

Review:

If you’re a Dungeons & Dragons fan, you’ve surely thought of becoming a Dungeon Master. Learning to be a DM isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you have Dungeon Master 4th Edition For Dummies tucked into your bag of tricks!

From organizing your first D&D game to dealing with difficult players, this book covers everything a DM needs to know. Written for the newest edition of D&D by the experts at Wizards of the Coast, creators of the game, it shows you how to:

• Build challenging encounters, make reasonable rulings, and manage disagreements
• Recognize all the common codes, tables, and spells
• Understand the parts of a D&D adventure and how to create dungeon maps and craft monsters
• Shape storylines and write your own adventures
• Find your style as a DM and develop a game style that plays to your strengths
• Script an encounter, vary the terrain and challenges, and establish rewards (experience points and treasure)
• Decide whether to use published adventures
• Use and follow the official Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Develop a campaign with exciting themes, memorable villains, and plots that keep players entranced

If you’re getting the urge to lead the charge in a D&D game of your own, Dungeon Master 4th Edition For Dummies will introduce you to the DM’s many jobs. With the information you need to start your own game, craft exciting stories, and set up epic adventures, you’ll be on your way!

Look inside scenes from Dungeon Master 4th Edition For Dummies (Click on images to enlarge)

From the Back Cover:

See what it takes to host a game and plan adventures

Sharpen your DM skills, practice storytelling, and get to know your players

Whether you're just considering venturing into the world of the Dungeon Master or you want to hone a fledgling skill, here's the place to start. Not only do our experts give you the full scoop on running and improving a game, creating adventures, crafting plots, and building campaigns, they even include some sample dungeons for practice!

Discover how to

• Use prepared adventures or create your own
• Host the game
• Manage ongoing games and campaigns
• Explore various types of adventures
• Create memorable villains
• Develop plots and story lines

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0471783307
• ISBN 13: 9780471783305
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408