This review originally appeared on neuronphaser.com, and has been moved here for archival purposes.

Dungeon Master’s Guides have to serve so many masters and cover so many topics that it’s almost a failing venture even before you’ve written the first word in regards to making it successful at every facet. That makes them hard to review, too, but in the case of 5th Edition’s entry onto the DMG scene, it’s actually been a pleasure! Taking the shortest path to cover every topic imaginable, this edition’s guide for running the game is chock full of functional advice, sleek mechanics, and an unreal number of random tables, optional rules, and variants that can inspire, inform, or redefine how you run a D&D game. It’s dead sexy to look at, too!

Rating: Content 5/5 and Form 4/5.

Buy the hardcover at Amazon or pick it up digitally at D&D Beyond.

Read on for the full review!

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This review originally appeared on neuronphaser.com, and has been moved here for archival purposes.

Even if you don’t like 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons — to which I say, “You, good sir, are crazy-pants” — the Player’s Handbook is a gorgeous piece of work that expertly pulls together the largest swath of playable stuff from editions past, presenting it in as comprehensive and well-curated form as we’ve yet seen. It’s certainly an effort that looks back to D&D’s past with rose-colored glasses, but it adds just enough new stuff and blows off plenty of chaff, creating a much more streamlined approach to the game than we’ve seen in recent editions. It provides more than just token support to the interaction and exploration “pillars of play,” rather than beefing up combat at their expense.

Rating: Content 4/5 and Form 5/5.

Buy the hardcover at Amazon or shop for it on D&D Beyond.

Read on for the full review!

Continue reading