Preface

If you haven't read Gary Gygax's Preface for the original DMG, you can read it here.  I'm not going to comment on it, except to say that it's ... inflated.

Using the same general theme, I'll take my own swing at it:

The content in this book is for everyone, DMs and players alike.  The game's rules should always be transparent to all, with an understanding that any rules that work only when held in secret must be flawed in their design.  It should not matter that the players know what the tables contain or what special details are attributed to magic items, monsters or any other game element — players have a right to exploit the rules of D&D to their own ends, just as they can in any other game.  In any case, we should expect that ambitious players will simply buy their own copies of this book, so we might just as well give our permission.

The rules and substance of this book is a work in progress.  They say that a written novel is never finished, only abandoned.  What you have here is the design content we've been able to compose and bring together prior to this book's publication — given another year or two, rest assured this book would be much larger.  However, what's presented here can be looked at as a starting point for any diligent dungeon master ready to either use material as is or build upon it to add more grit or nuance to their campaign.

One caveat, however: be careful.  No game world needs to adhere to the standards of any other; D&D should be as personalized a creation for the DM as any work of art.  But the dungeon master should nevertheless be cautious in changing rules that would grant the players more power for their characters, while minimizing the character's risk.  It is in the DM's power to do anything, literally granting wishes like a genie, since there are no systemic limitations on the DM in the rules.  However, things that are gotten too easy are also unappreciated; and players who become used to getting something for nothing will only want more, once they know they must only wheedle the DM.

Therefore, the DM must always be a gatekeeper.  Play must be challenging, if we hope the players will be innovative and imaginative in their strategies and ambitions.  At the same time, play must be rewarding, or else the players will find something else to do.  This is a fine and difficult line, for too much of one or the other will cripple or end the DM's aspirations to present a good game.  Yet, without a great deal of experience, what might be said at this time, in this preface, to educate the reader sufficiently to prepare his or her self, would hardly be of much use.  Instead, we will simply say that a great deal of thought and effort has gone into the creation of this book, by people who have spent much time playing the game and trying new ideas.  It is better, then, to try the rules as written first; and then, once those rules are understood fully, to take the next step into experimentation, adjustment and bold new designs, expanding the possibilities of the game just as we have tried to expand them.

As a teacher, it is my goal to bring you to the same level of education and understanding that I have, so that we can work together in advancing the game's design.  Until you're ready, however, I ask only that you understand what you're changing, before you set out to change it.  It will be up to you to decide when you're "ready," of course.  You will learn from your own mistakes, in any case.  That is how learning works.

The content herein has been aimed at producing a "game-world," or setting that the players can run around in.  The complexity and depth of this game-world is limited only by your imagination, and readiness to work at its design.  A truly complicated design, with millions of details, may take years to realize.  In that time, don't be afraid to present your world as a work in progress, just as I've described this book.  As artists, we are never really finished anything!  Even if the boundaries of your game world are fuzzy and indistinct as a blank sheet of paper, because you haven't designed those parts yet, your players will understand!  They will learn to play inside the boundaries of what you have created; and will eagerly wait for the day when the boundaries expand, and new realms and places come into existence, as the Artist's finger moves before them.

Do what you can, with what you have, and rest assured that with time you will learn to be a better dungeon master than you can possibly imagine today.