So on June 9th, 2008, I finally received my Player's Handbook, my Monster Manual, and what I expected to be my prized gem, the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Needless to say, being a DM, I tore through the DMG like a goblin on fire. Greatly, and to my surprise, the book suddenly stopped at page 219 with a short quest for a group of 5 level 1 beginners. I was shocked, 3.5's DMG is an easy 320 pages. Now, bigger isn't always better, don't never let a woman tell you that. So I read it again, and again and found something rather interesting.

ONE

While I found that it seemed much simpler to run an encounter, let alone an actual campaign, things were a very welcome shade of easy. The DMG easily guides you through modifying monsters, who, in my opinion, are grossly overpowered for a group just starting out at level 1. I would expect a group 5 characters strong to be battling goblins and kobolds till at least level 5 or 6 before they started taking on even one of the moderately low level monsters. But the DMG fixed that, so it isn't as big of a deal as I'd been bitching to my group about. Another thing that I want to praise is that the DMG is now very newbie friendly. By simply reading the book and making notes along the way even someone who is unsure and new to the game could easily build a decent, interesting campaign.

TWO

What got my goat and made it into something delicious is there are no magic items AT ALL, in the DMG. They are in fact, in the PHB, which makes about five pounds of sense when hit in the head with it. My gripe isn't so much that the items are ALL in the PHB, it is the fact that ALL those items, mundane or magical, are all incredibly plain! GAH! 3.5 had more items than you could roll a D100 at, and I should know! I had a group of level 10's who plundered treasure faster than I could generate it. I will give one note of praise before I move on, the DMG carries a nice and simplified chart of the amount of treasure groups should get based on their size and level. Other than that, I'm going to need to go back to my 3.5 and 4th Edition all the old magic items because personally, CRAP! The weapons don't get even close to good until your players are epic, most of their powers are based on Crit-Hits (Natural 20's now), and all come with a daily power, ooooh!

That isn't to say that some magic items aren't without their merit, but they are few and far between and the players won't see them until they're at paragon tier.

But fear not fellow DM's also annoyed to the Nine Hells about this development, I, THE GREAT LION! Have tasked myself with altering and creating swathes of new magic items and posting them for all to see.

Other than the items thing, everything is very clean and cut and dry. I'm still in the testing phases with my group and sadly getting them to shut up STILL isn't in the DMG... I wonder if I cast magic missile...