Back in 2015 I wrote a fairly glowing review of the 5e DMG. Since then my opinion has shifted fairly significantly - while it probably does remain the best out of the "main" DMGs of the various editions, I no longer consider it to be particularly good.
There are four major problems, IMO:
- There's too much wasted paper here. Only a couple of sections have ever seen actual use by me in nearly seven years, and I really can't see that changing.
- The section with the treasure tables and the magic items (one of the two I mentioned above) is fine, but really should be at the back of the book, not a random place in the middle.
- The other section to see significant use is that on creating monsters. Unfortunately, while it is useful, the actual method here is backwards - rather than building the monster and then working out CR it's much better to start with the CR and derive the stats from that, so that those stats are actually useable.
- The binding of the book is unacceptably crap.
Given that we're about to see a new edition with, presumably, a new DMG, I'm inclined to suggest a new approach:
Firstly, split the DMG into two separate works, one being an evergreen "how to be a Dungeon Master" title. This has the advantage of being system-agnostic and so doesn't need changed with each new edition - just discuss things like how to manage a table of players, how to run basic things like a turn structure, and so forth. (Of course, there are many places where this can be found online, and some of those resources are miles better than anything WotC is likely to produce. But D&D does need this material somewhere, so it does need to exist.)
Then, for the 'main' DMG, fill it up with loads of useful (and, crucially, gameable) material - in-depth discussions of different adventure types; templated structures for small, medium, and large adventures; campaign structures; worksheets for building monsters, treasure hoards, and the like; lots and lots of sample traps, hazards, and similar; treasures and magic items. Basically, forget most if not all of the wishy-washy "well, you could do this, or that, or the next thing" material that clogs up too many of these books, and pack it instead with material that is going to be used.
And if you can't find 300 pages worth of such material... well, maybe that's something to consider, too?
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