Dungeon Master's Guide: Essential Reference Information for Gamemastering Advanced D&D (Hardcover)

~ Gary Gygax (Author), David D. Sutherland III (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: TSR Games; Revised edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935696024
• ISBN-13: 978-0935696028
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #217,878 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1979 printing is one of Gygax's finest, May 1, 2000

By	Kent D. Kelly "darkseraphim" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's the ultimate version of the DMG for Gygax purists. You get all of the charm, advice, and "dark stuff" that was frowned upon as being "too esoteric" in the cleaner versions to come... Highlights include classic illustrations, using monsters as PCs, assassins and the use of poison, tribal spell casters (makes those giants and orcs a lot more interesting!), magic items with XP AND GOLD PIECE values (WHY did they stop doing this? WHY? ), old school psionics (for all those Illithids in GDQ1-7), the original "down to the last hit point" monster XP value charts, building NPCs and evocative dungeon settings the "Gygax way," player creation of spells and magic items, and much more; my personal favorite touch is the endless extolling of the virtues of encouraging the PCs in the early levels, while only a few pages later, we're treated to a graphic depiction of a game in progress that STRONGLY implies it's good to kill the PCs at 1st level, even if they do everything right... :) (see pp. 97-100) Hehe! A highly recommended pride piece for your retro-AD&D collection.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Play 3rd edition all you want...but this is the best..., March 19, 2003

By	FBRobertson "fbrobertson2" (SC United States) - See all my reviews

Yes I roleplay 3rd edition, but I know that this ... the 1st edition AD&D is the best there is. The rules are simple but strong enough to provide hours and hours of games. I would suggest that you get this and the player's manual (and the Monster manual 1 and 2 from G.G.). Have hours of fun in this game.

What's good about this game manual for DMs is that there are so many suggestions, explorations of the different faces of the game, enough to make the DM ready for most anything the players might throw at him.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gary Gygax is the Master., March 19, 2003

By	FBRobertson "fbrobertson2" (SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Player's Handbook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) (Hardcover)

I have been roleplaying for years, many many years. I have seen games come and go, I have seen the white box set of G. Gygax. I have seen games like RuneQuest, Warhammer FRP, MERP, Torg, so many games.

Yet this is the real start, the real truth of how great roleplaying can be. You might find 3rd edition more intricate, more things to do in it, but the original AD&D players manual and DM manual were the best in my humble opinion.

This book shows how to create characters quick and just start roaming the worlds that the DM makes. GET IT. and the Dungeon Master Manual by G. Gygax. You will love it better than almost anything else the roleplaying world has to offer.