Chapter 1: Running a Game. This chapter provides advice and insight for Dungeon Masters (DMs). This ranges from gauging how the playing styles of different people can mesh, and how the DM can help facilitate this, to steps that can be taken to prepare for a game so as to relieve some of the DM’s burden.

Chapter 2: Adventures. This chapter provides material that can be plugged directly into a DM’s game, such as random encounter tables and traps, as well as the aforementioned pregenerated treasure hoards.

Chapter 3: The Campaign. Advice and tips for designing a campaign world is in this chapter. There is a section on medieval politics (since most D&D games are set in a quasi-Medieval setting) which comes at the subject from a gamer’s standpoint, emphasizing what elements fit best in fantasy campaign. There are sections on law, businesses, and very basic economy. A final section discusses magical events. These include a big, fiery eye that can be focused on various points throughout a land, to a region of supernatural cold, to a region infused with the manifested rage of nature.

Chapter 4: Saltmarsh. The titular town is detailed here for use by the DM as a home base for the characters in his game. The town will be remembered by long-time D&D players as the setting for the “U” series of adventure modules in the early 1980s (the first in the series being named “The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh,” natch). The timeline has been advanced about 20 years, and the town, while a relatively stable area, is rife with adventure hooks.

Chapter 5: Nonplayer Characters. Nonplayer characters, or NPCs, or some of the most important tools for any DM. This chapter provides discussions, tips, and game mechanics designed to help the DM construct NPCs and use them in the right context. Guidelines for fees specialists and hirelings would require for their services are given. There are a number of unique abilities that are useful for making NPCs interesting, and which provide a variety of skills and abilities for otherwise low-level or bland NPCs. There is also a selection of fully statted-out, complex NPCs, from giant slayers to bounty hunters to cultists. These allow a DM to not be left flat-footed if he finds the need for a complex NPC in the middle of a game.

Chapter 6: Characters. This chapter provides material which could help the PCs be more closely tied to their world. There are guidelines for masters and apprentices, running businesses, and the benefits of training and working together as a team. Tied in with this last is the concept such of companion spirits, which are “guardian angels” that provide some measure of help or protection for a party of adventurers. There is an overview of designing prestige classes, a not-insignificant bit of information that has been needed. PC organizations are also discussed, ranging from gangs of thieves to various types of guilds, and include tangible game benefits for belonging to such organizations.

Chapter 7: Magic Items. This substantial chapter includes a number of new magical special abilities for weapons and armor, and a collection of new specific magic items. There are also guidelines for magical items that are bonded to their owners. The newest concept in this chapter (for D&D, at least) is that of magical locations used as treasure. A number of examples are given, and include information such as the powers to be derived from such locations, and how characters can access those powers.

The Good

There is a lot of good stuff in this book. Of special interest to me are the prefab NPC stat blocks, random encounter tables, and the magical locations as treasure.

The NPC stats are handy to have as always, in my opinion. The complexity of high-level NPCs, or those with multiple classes, make having premade stat blocks very nice.

The random encounter tables are nifty, and cover a number of archetypical locations and sylvan forests. These nicely complement those in the first Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Pregenerated treasure hoards are very useful. Couple them with random encounter tables, and they help the DM be ready in a pinch, such as when the PCs wander off-map.

Magical locations as treasure is a nifty concept. It helps the DM make his world even more wondrous, and provides motivation for the PCs to really explore and interact with their world.  

The Bad

The complex NPCs statblocks are useful and cover a number of very familiar villainous (and not-so-villainous) character types. The problem is that there are simply too few of them here. Plus, some of the NPCs have some oddly mediocre stats, especially given how powerful they are. The Antipaladin is a good example. His mount’s ability score stats average within 1 point of his own, which seems (faintly) ridiculous to me.

The Ugly

The Terrible Cyst magical location is pretty icky. This is especially true when the rather gooey illustration is accompanied by flavor text that describes Terrible Cysts as “cancerous” “near-organic lesions in the earth itself.” Ugh.

Why You Will Like It

This is a grab-bag of DM odds and ends, which strongly reminds me of why the 1e AD&D DMG is still one of my all-time favorite RPG books. There are tables of NPC motivations and campaign rumors and hooks. There are guidelines for how much hirelings charge and the services they can render for the money. There are examples of “Archetypal Locations” for combats to take place in, from aerial battles to burning buildings to ice bridges to lava, and the effects these locations have on combat. Details for handling mobs is discussed, so handling riots, zombie hoards, and stampeding herds of animals is made easier for the DM.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, then you’ll like the DMG II.

Why You Won’t Like It

The “Running a Game” chapter might be more useful for beginning DMs. That’s not really bad, but one might assume that beginning DMs wouldn’t really be buying a supplemental volume for the original DMG anytime soon. So this section may be less than useful for experienced DMs.

I Like D&D/d20, Should I Buy This?

If you’re a DM looking for ways to spice up your D&D game, or for bits and pieces that could help you out at the game table, then this book could very well be for you.

I Don’t Like D&D/d20, Should I Buy This?

I’d say no. While the “Running the Game” chapter, the discussions of government types, and Saltmarsh are fairly rules-light (as are other sections), I don’t think there is enough of that here to justify spending $40 on the book if you don’t play D&D/d20.

Where’s The Fun?

The fun is in what I mentioned before – the sheer grab-bag nature of the book. The Dungeon Master’s Guide II covers a lot of ground, and does not dwell long on any given topic (except in a few cases). Every few pages there is something different for the DM to read and try out.

The magical locations are probably the most purely fun things in this book. It’s a neat concept and instantly lends something of a “wahoo” nature to the campaign world.

I bought it because, well, I'm a completist, I guess. I tend to buy first and react later. This was one of the products that helpmed me reverse that trend. I'm always looking to be a better DM, and any tricks or tips that can help out. But there was absolutely nothing here that couldn't have been put in DRAGON magazine (when there was a Dragon Magazine) and Saltmarsh could've been it's own module, but didn't need to be in a DMG. In short, this was the kind of crap they put out because they wanted money more than they wanted to help the game. And the declining number of people who got suckered into buying it helped pave the way for 4E as they realized they needed an entire new generation of suckers to scalp.

Maybe a lot of words to say "I was displeased."