Finely! I said Finely! Emi has come to Jack’s Blog! With that ‘The Rock’ impression, I would like to introduce myself to those who don’t know who I am. I am known on Social Media as Elven Maid Inn, and people started calling me Emi or Elven. I am the creator of Tales from the Tavern Magazine and I do create some homebrew stuff for different games, so give me a follow @elvenmaidinn!

Now, I am here as I promised I would write an article for Jack’s Blog. After many weeks of thinking about what to write, I picked my topic: Dungeon Master’s Guide by EMI or, more precisely, what the DMG should be in my opinion. Initially, when I started writing this article, it very quickly turned into a massive slam-dunk on the 5e DMG and 2024 DMG, and that version went into the bin; it was filled with anger and pain. The new version that you are about to read focuses on what should be included in the D&D DMG.

Let’s get to it.

First of all, D&D EMI’s DMG is a massive book; maybe, in fact, it should be split into two separate books: DMG Basic and DMG Advanced, or at least into three separate chapters. But let’s see what’s inside.

Chapter 1: New Dungeon Master Advices
Chapter 1 is fully dedicated to Dungeon Masters starting their adventure with that role. It will explain how to run a game, how to make preparations for a campaign, what types of campaigns there are, how to use Adventure
Modules, how to use World Settings, how to create encounters, how to create NPCs, how to include players into the world, explain terms like railroading and sandbox, explain the basics of running shops, explain ways to award players with XP or Gold, and explain your role as a Dungeon Master.

I do believe that often DMGs are thrown into deep water. Yes, if you’ve played other systems, you’re accustomed to many of these parts, but if we want our hobby to thrive, we need more Dungeon Masters, and that role cannot be intimidating. At this point, a DM doesn’t need to know that there are six different ways to roll players’ Attributes. This section of the book is a basic explanation of how the Dungeon Master role works and what kind of
preparations you need to make to run a game.

This part of the book should also contain a few guidelines about Safety Tools. Yes, you heard me right, the DMG should focus on informing Dungeon Masters that the best safety tool is to have a conversation with their players,
explaining what the campaign is about, how the tones will be present in the game – there’s no need for X signs or Safety Check Lists if the Dungeon Master is open for conversation with his players. This should be hammered into new DMs’ head – Listen to your players, observe their reactions, and adapt. The DMG should also clearly state that Dungeons & Dragons is not a therapeutic session and that the Dungeon Master is not a therapist. Yes, D&D
can be used for this, but a DM should have proper education about therapy sessions. A normal DM should not play a role they don’t understand as they can do more harm than good, especially when playing with young
people. The DMG needs to hammer that into DMs’ brains.

Chapter 2: Expert Dungeon Master
Chapter 2 is for any DM with experience. You’ve run a few campaigns and are ready to expand your rules. In this section, we will explain how to have different types of rolling for attributes, like 4d6 pick 3 highest for Heroic
Fantasy, or 3d6 down the line for Gritty Fantasy, Point Buy, or any other way to roll stats. We will introduce alternative rules such as flanking, attacking from the side, and many other rules that expand the D&D game. This
chapter will focus on homebrewing your games, how to create new monsters, how to adjust existing monsters, how to create your own race, your own class, your own adventure, your own world. DMs will learn how to craft
unique Boss Monsters and their lairs, how to use the environment in the game – everything an experienced Dungeon Master needs to tailor their own worlds for personal campaigns.

This will be a huge chunk of the book, as DMG Chapter 2 will tackle hundreds of optional rules and guides to create everything from Monsters to Items. The goal is that after reading Chapter 2, a DM will be able to create
Homebrew Material and even their own books, because if the third-party scene is thriving for a system, then the entire system will flourish. I am thinking about what should be tackled in this section other than that, but it’s not easy to decide, so let’s move to the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Expanding the D&D
The last chapter might be the hardest to pull off, but I believe it’s essential to D&D; it’s about expanding the rules of D&D to new horizons. I do applaud the 2024 DMG for trying to introduce Forts, but I must say this is by far their worst attempt at introducing it. I must stop here, but you probably see how my initial version of this article looked.
So, how would I see it?

• Domain Rules – Rules and explanations on how players can rule their own Land, Castles, or Keeps.
• Naval Combat – Rules for Naval Combat, making it fun for every player involved.
• Player Business – Rules for how players can run their own businesses, Taverns, Shops, or Guilds.
• Airship Combat – Similar to Naval Combat but focused on Flying Ships.
• Army Combat – Rules on how to play huge battles, how to maintain units, etc.

This and more would be covered in Chapter 3, in a compact way. With time, separate books for each could be
released, expanding those concepts.
But yeah, this is how I see DMG Emi’s Edition. Let me know how I did!

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