Foreword

Foreword

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- - - - DMG

Is Dungeon Mastering an art or a science? An interesting question!

If you consider the pure creative aspect of starting from scratch, the ”personal touch” of individual flair that goes into preparing
and running a unique campaign, or the particular style of moderating a game adventure, then Dungeon Mastering may
indeed be thought of as an art.

If you consider the aspect of experimentation, the painstaking effort of preparation and attention to detail, and the continuing
search for new ideas and approaches, then Dungeon Mastering is perhaps more like a science - not always exacting in a
literal sense, but exacting in terms of what is required to do the job well.

Esoteric questions aside, one thing is for certain - Dungeon Mastering is, above all, a labor of love. It is demanding, timeconsuming,
and certainly not a task to be undertaken lightly (the sheer bulk of the book you hold in your hand will tell you
that!). But, as all DM’s know, the rewards are great - an endless challenge to the imagination and intellect, an enjoyable
pastime to fill many hours with fantastic and often unpredictable happenings, and an opportunity to watch a story unfold and
a grand idea to grow and flourish. The imagination knows no bounds, and the possibilities of the game of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS are just as limitless. Who can say what awaits each player, except a cornucopia of fantasy and
heroic adventure? So much is waiting, indeed!

This book holds much in store for you as a DM -- it is your primary tool in constructing your own “world”, or milieu. It contains
a wealth of material, and combined with the other works of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (the MONSTER MANUAL
and PLAYERS HANDBOOK) gives you all the information you need to play AD&D®. But, as always, one more thing is needed
- your imagination. Use the written material as your foundation and inspiration, then explore the creative possibilities you
have in your own mind to make your game something special.

Dungeon Mastering itself is no easy undertaking, to be sure. But Dungeon Mastering well is doubly difficult. There are few
gamemasters around who are so superb in their conduct of play that they could disdain the opportunity to improve themselves
in some way. Fortunately, this work addresses the matter at length, and gives you plenty of suggestions on all aspects
of Dungeon Mastering (as well as some of the finer points) in order to help you improve your own efforts. Take heed, and
always endeavor to make the game the best it can be - and all that i t can be!

Mike Carr
TSR Games & Rules Editor

16 May 1979

Cover: The book cover painting shows an encounter between three adventurers and on efreet on the Elemental Plane of Fire.
The fabled City of Brass can be seen floating over a flame-swept sea of oil.

Quote:
Two quick, last questions, if I may:

(1) Can you explain the methodology of the organization of the DMG? If this was explained somewhere else, please tell me to bugger off and use google! :D

No, as I wroite it from the top of my head, did little re-organization, and what is there generaly follows the rules organization and what I think the DM needs to know, have help with.

Quote:
The MM and PHB are just so... different? The DMG feels like a different staff helped with organizing it.

The works in question were published much as I wrote the ms. each. Of course a compilation of monsters is different from a handbook for players...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Mentzer
Oh scholarly senescent sloth:

In certain early TSR works if the 1970s, you sometimes wrote a Foreword, sometimes a Foreward, and sometimes a Forward.

Was there a hidden message in such variations?

-- ye nagge

Sure!

Lazy, shiftless, good for nothing editors, do your petty work and be quick about it. Them who can't put ideas together can clean up the spelling of those who can <stick out tongue>

Heh,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by tzor
In one sense it depends on how you define "art" although few people who would claim a relationship between art and role playing would define it in such a way that might make sense. Art can be defined as opposed to science; the former being the "skill acquired by experience, study, or observation," as opposed to science which is "a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study." Thus we have the "Art" of rhetoric.

"It depends on that the meaning ofr 'is' is..." Right.

Beg pardon, but I think that is a plain old crock. There are creative and performing arts. and playing a game doesn't qualify in eithert sub-category, and that includes chess grand masters.

Quote:
So in that way, while it is silly to call role playing in general art, it is proper to consider the art of various aspects of role playing. Are good DMs good because of a systematized knowledge or because of experience, study and observation? Is there a science of good DMing or an art of good DMing?
More weasel wording doesn't change the matter in the least. Don't be swayed by such sophistries. Is chewing gum a scievce or an art? How about picking one's nose? tell those pretentious ones to be honest.

"Let's Pretend" is a game, and nothing more. Games can be entertaining, enjoyable, educational, and more, but playing them is nothimg more than that, playing a game.

Quote:
Of course I'm convinced some people these days have quite a science to character generation.
Makes we wish for the days when character creation was neither art nor sciene, but a series of superstitions on what to do before you rolled your attributes.

Now creating games does call for a good deal of logic, science in some cases, and perhaps there is art to be found in some designs. All of it is minor in regards humanity im general

Cheers,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Numion
Didn't you write in an old Dragon article that if you modified AD&D rules at all, you were no longer playing AD&D?

Could be. Who remembers after a couple of decades

It is a matter of fact, though, that I was then propmoting the RPGA and its tournaments...where the rules, as written apply. I wanted the association to grow and prosper, promote RPGing, and sponsor deserving gamers' college touition.

That said, the matter has nothing to do with rule-playing.

Gary