Dungeon Master's Guide: Special Edition (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) [Leather Bound]

Wizards Team (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

A deluxe, leather-bound version of the essential tool every D&D Dungeon Master needs.
 
The follow-up to the special edition Player’s Handbook™ released in 2004 for the 30th anniversary of D&D, this special release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide™ features an embossed, leather-bound cover and premium, gilt-edged paper.

Product Details

• Leather Bound: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786939427
• ISBN-13: 978-0786939428
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once again, Nothing beats a leatherbound book, December 11, 2005

By 

David Goodkin (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide: Special Edition (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Leather Bound)

The qualities I enjoyed about this book are the same as those of its predecessor, the Special Edition Player's Handbook.

If you love the look and feel of a well-made leather-bound book, then this book is for you. In fact, it is ONLY for you, as you have no reason to buy it if you otherwise have the 3.5 DMG. And that is a good thing. It was nice that, as with the Special Edition PHB, they incorporated the erratta, but that was already available online. With no new content, this is no money-sop for Wizards. This is just an extra choice in the marketplace for those who love books, love the game, and want to have a book that can take years of heavy thumbing as a reference work that a rulesbook requires.

Like the Special PHB, some may complain about the pages sticking together initially due to the gilded edges, but I think that is a boon. They unstick easily enough the first time you open them and you can quickly separate them all with a quick spin past your thumb. I like it because it tells me that I'm the very first person to open the pages of the book. (And they don't make a papercut hazard as someone fretted about with the PHB - in fact, the silver gilded edges make the paper thicker on the ends, making a paper cut less likely). It also makes the book have a stiffer, more substantial feel as you flip through the pages, as if it were an older tome rather than a modern book.

The blue cloth bookmark, as contrasted to the red one with the Special PHB, was a nice touch. It helps identify the books, which look at a glance to be very similar when they are lying on the tabletop. When one is stacked on top of the other, the red and blue cloths make a nice contrast and there is almost an artistic beauty to seeing the books together that way.

This is a well constructed book that is sure to last a long time and I love having it under my fingertips with each game.

I'd love to see a few other of the more heavily-used Wizards books given this treatment - like perhaps the Monster Manual (to make the core books complete) and something like the Spell Comependium.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic, July 12, 2006

By 

Jonathan Longstaff "NZ Yankee" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide: Special Edition (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Leather Bound)

I am most pleased with this book. The faux leather cover is just so cool, and it's so nice to have all but the most recent errata corrected in the book already. I didn't mind having to separate each page when I first got it -- as someone else said, it just proves you really are the first person to open the book.

D&D 3.5 is all about choices. Fans of older versions might not like it for various reasons, but that's ok. 3.5 has been designed with the next generation in mind -- it's simple, straight-forward, and endlessly customizable (thus giving it much broader appeal than previous versions). If you prefer the more restrictive and sometimes confusing rules of the older versions, don't play this game. You can still find older edition stuff secondhand.

My only real complaint is with the quality of WOTC's illustrations. They just aren't as good as the ones from 2nd edition. Those were truly reflective of 'epic fantasy', especially the full-page pics ... but the 3.5 pics are all fairly cartoonish, and some are downright silly. My guess is that WOTC couldn't afford to employ TSR's artists.
(As a side note, the Amazon.com image of the cover really doesn't do it justice. This book is actually black with silver -- the image here makes it look rather bland and grey.)

If you're like me and don't want to have to pencil in all the changes to the rules, get this copy. It's cheap enough here at Amazon. Otherwise, go for the regular version of the DMG. Maybe WOTC will release the SE printing in a regular cover soon like they did with the player's handbook.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahhh Nice, January 23, 2008

By 

Elizabeth Liemandt (Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide: Special Edition (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Leather Bound)

Having been a gamer all my life (since 1980) and have coddled and loved and invented different covers for many of my DnD books, this Special Edition just spoke to me. After receiving it as a gift and going through it, it is now my favorite gaming book. Satisfyingly reminds me of all the things I imagine in my game worlds, books of spells, lore and adventure.