Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 has "less stuff you don't need," according to the D&D team

An open Player's Handbook on a wooden table with dice to one side, showing two Paladin subclasses — (Image credit: Benjamin Abbott)

The team behind the new D&D Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 knows that the last version… well, it left something to be desired despite being a supposed entry point to running games for one of the best tabletop RPGs. This time, they came in with a long hit list and one hell of a can-do attitude.

"The biggest problem with the 2014 DMG was the organization, the fact that the rules you needed were scattered all over the book," explains senior D&D game designer James Wyatt when we catch up about the new rulebook. "It launched you right into the deep end of creating a world and not 'here's the basics of how to be a Dungeon Master.' So I think there was a presumption in 2014 that people don't learn to DM by reading the DMG – they learn by buying a starter set. But this really is a Dungeon Master's guide that will guide you on how to be a Dungeon Master. Surprise, surprise. So that, I think, is the biggest solve here."

"We know that there are players out there who are thinking about potentially crossing over to become a Dungeon Master," adds creative director Chris Perkins. He notes that a goal of the DMG 2024 was to give them a book "that has stuff in it that they can tinker with and play with… and sort of help push them over the other side of the fence."

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This is part of what led to adventures you can run within the DMG itself – a first for D&D Dungeon Master's Guides.

Three villainous figures prepare themselves for combat in artwork from the new D&amp;D Dungeon Master's Guide — (Image credit: Wizards of the Coast / Tyler Jacobson)

"We had a constant goal in mind of making sure that everything in the book is useful, that all the advice is tested, tried and true, approved by local DMs," Wyatt continues. "I'm always saddened to hear people talking about not having read the DMG or not really knowing what's in it, and hopefully just the organization will make that problem go away to some extent – it's easier to find what you're looking for. It's easier to understand what's in here and where, and there's less stuff you don't need."

"This is a very different situation than we were in 2014 where we were essentially building a new edition of the game," says Perkins. "We haven't blown up the system, we haven't blown up the edition. We are just applying all the things on our checklist that we have been keeping since the first DMG came out for Fifth Edition… We had the advantage of sort of upping our art budget. We had more things that we could do this time around. And so part of the excitement for me was just making it a prettier book, a handier book, a more accessible book, and picking up all the lessons from the past 10 years and applying them here."

The new DMG will arrive on November 12, and it's currently $39.99 at Miniature Market instead of $50. Meanwhile, those in the UK can pick it up for £28.99 via Magic Madhouse rather than the usual £40.

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I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, but these days you'll find me managing GamesRadar+'s tabletop gaming and toy coverage (I spend my time here handling everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news). I've also been obsessed with Warhammer since the 1990s, and love nothing more than running tabletop RPGs like D&D as a Dungeon Master.