View source for Publication:Dungeon Masters Guide (1e)

{{Publication Infobox
|system=Dungeons and Dragons 1e
|url=
|image=DungeonMasterGuide4Cover.jpg
|publisher=TSR
|abbreviation=&nbsp;
|author=Gary Gygax
|itemcode=2011
|date=1979
|format=Hardcover
|pgcount=232
|isbn10=
|isbn13=
|price=
|productblurb=[[Dungeon Master|DUNGEON MASTERS]] EVERYWHERE, REJOICE! TOO LONG HAVE YOU HAD TO SUFFER ALONG WITH CRUCIAL CHARTS AND TABLES SPREAD THROUGH MANY WORKS. TOO LONG HAVE YOU HAD TO USE MAKESHIFT REFERENCES TRYING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. YOU NOW HAVE A COMPLETE COMPILATION OF THE MOST VALUABLE MATERIAL FOR YOUR REFEREEING, THE DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE. HEREIN YOU WILL FIND:

COMBAT MATRICES

ENCOUNTER TABLES

MONSTER ATTACKS ALPHABETICALLY LISTED

TREASURE AND MAGIC TABLES AND DESCRIPTIONS

GEM VALUES BY TYPE

RANDOM WILDERNESS TERRAIN GENERATION

RANDOM DUNGEON GENERATION

SUGGESTIONS ON GAMEMASTERING

...AND A WHOLE LOT MORE. IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR EVERY DUNGEON MASTER!
}}
The original ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' (sic) was written by [[Gary Gygax]], and published by TSR in 1979 as a 232-page hardcover with a cover by [[David C. Sutherland III]].<ref name="HW">{{cite book|last=Schick |first=Lawrence|title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games|publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1991|isbn=0-87975-653-5 |page=85}}</ref> The 1983 printing featured a new cover by [[Jeff Easley]].<ref name="HW"/>

Like other volumes of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' handbooks, the ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' has gone through several versions through the years. The original edition was written by [[Gary Gygax]] and edited by [[Mike Carr]], who also wrote the foreword. The original cover art was by [[David A. Trampier|D. A. Trampier]], and interior illustrations were provided by [[David C. Sutherland III]], Trampier, [[Darlene Pekul]], Will McLean, [[David S. LaForce]], and [[Erol Otus]].

The first edition ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' covered all the essential rules for the [[Dungeon Master]]: creating and maintaining [[player character]]s and managing [[non-player character]]s, handling combat, and running adventures and multi-session campaigns.<ref name="HW"/> The book also included descriptions of [[magic item]]s and treasure, random monster encounters, and statistics for the basic monsters and creatures of the game.<ref name="HW"/>

The ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' contains scores of tables and charts for figuring damage and resolving encounters in a typical adventure, tables and rules for creating characters, and lists of the various abilities of the different classes of characters.

One supplement to the ''Guide'' was the ''[[Dungeon Master's Screen]]'': two heavy-duty tri-fold boards with the most frequently used tables printed on them for easy reference. The 1979 second edition of the screen describes its purpose as "useful for shielding maps and other game materials from the players when placed upright, and also provide[s] instant reference to the charts and tables most commonly used during play." The ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' Second Edition screen came packaged with a brief [[adventure (role-playing games)|adventure]]; later editions of that screen, and screens produced for later editions, have instead included [[character sheet]]s and general reference [[book]]lets.

A feature of the first edition ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' was the random dungeon generator. The generator allowed the Dungeon Master, by the rolling of [[dice]], to generate a dungeon adventure "on the fly". A dungeon complete with passageways, rooms, treasure, monsters, and other [[Random encounter|encounters]] could easily and randomly be constructed as the player progressed. It could be used with several people or a single player. The generator was not included in the subsequent editions of the ''Dungeon Master's Guide''.

The original ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' was reviewed by [[Don Turnbull]] in issue #16 of the magazine ''[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]'' (December 1979/January 1980). Turnbull commented mostly on the size of the book, "I would say that only the most severe critic could point at a minor omission, let alone a serious one."<ref name="WD16">{{cite journal  | last =Turnbull  | first =Don  | authorlink =  | coauthors =  | title =Open Box  | format = review  | journal =[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]  | volume =  | issue = 16  | pages =15  | publisher =[[Games Workshop]]  | year = 1979/1980  | month = Dec/January  | url =  | accessdate =  }}</ref>


==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*The [http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/dd1/dmg.htm 1st Edition ''Dungeon Masters Guide''] at the [http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/ TSR Archive]


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{{Publication Breadcrumb/1e}}

{{Wikipedia|Dungeon Master's Guide#Advanced Dungeons & Dragons}}

[[Category:1e]]
[[Category:Publication]]
Abbreviation	+
Author	Gary Gygax +
Identifier	1e +
Item Code	2011 +
Media Type	Hardcover +
Page Count	232 +
Publication Date	1979 +
Publisher	TSR +
System	Dungeons and Dragons 1e +
Title	Dungeon Masters Guide +