It’s here!
For those braving their first dungeon, it’s a step-by-step guide. As one delves deeper into mysteries, raids, heists, wilderness exploration, and urbancrawls, So You Want to Be a Game Master transforms into the ultimate GM’s survival guide.
If you still need to snag your copy, it’s available in both physical and e-book formats from these fine purveyors of the written word, plus other bookstores and game stores worldwide:
Hard to believe this is really happening!
If you’re a fan of the Alexandrian and would like to support the book, the next couple of weeks are a really critical juncture. Some things you can do:
Buy the book. See above!
Buy the book for other people. I know it’s crass commercialism, but this book is the perfect gift for your GM. Or, if you’re already a GM, for players you think would be interested in running a game for the first time.
After direct support, the biggest thing is letting people know about the book. This could include:
- Taking a picture of the book when you get it and posting it to social media.
- Retweeting/reposting my social media posts when you see them (on BlueSky, Mastodon, or Twitter).
- Link to the reviews, interviews, and other media appearances I’ve done for the book. You can find links here.
- Link to my Youtube videos talking about the book.
- Mention the book on reddit, social media, Discord, etc. when it’s legitimately relevant to a conversation. (Don’t spam, please!)
Make a library request and ask your local library to carry a copy of the book!
It also makes a big difference if, after reading the book, you write a review. This only needs to be a few sentences, but it can be posted sites like:
And did you know that you could post the same review on multiple sites? Cool fact.
Looking forward to receive my copy! But probably still have to wait a few days before it arrives from Blackwell’s.
You have been quite an inspiration for my early GM career
That’s a really neat point about posting reviews.
Looks like I have some writing to do… well, right after I get a little reading in, of course.
Really looking forward to reading through this when it arrives tomorrow.
I just bought the book. It will arrive in a couple of weeks to Chile, but in the meantime I’m reading the preview in Amazon. It looks promising in the sense that breaks down every little step that we experienced GMs take for granted.
One thing that I don’t really get is the intended audience. For one side, there are explanations of things basic like dice nomenclature (“3d4 means three four sided dice”) but, on the other hand it asumes that the reader understands how to play or run D&D 5e.
I can be wrong, but I guess it’s written that way just in case a person picks this book before reading any RPG, which I consider a good thing in itself. I’ll definitely update the way that I explain RPGs to newcomers based on the few paragraphs that I’ve read so far.
Sufice to say that I’m a big fan of your work and I truly hope that the hobby will benefit of the mindset presented here.
Just got my (first) copy! The local independent bookseller pre-order beat the Amazon pre-order to the door 🙂 (I took care of the buy-the-book and the buy-the-book-for-other-people steps already – not a big social media presence but that’s next on the list)
Thanks for all the advice you’ve offered through the years. I’m delighted to see it in this new form!
Impatiently waiting for amazon to ship my paperback copy. Do you know when the ebook version will release in Canada?
I also got the free sample for Amazon Kindle, and weirdly, there is not a table of contents! I’d really like to know what to expect in the rest of the book! But I’m loving it so far, while my copy does not arrive.
Will definitely check it out! I have just had the head of another department talk me into running 5E, which I’m not particularly looking forward to but am increasingly desperate for help, so…
My preorder seems to take a while, but what i heard/saw about this book is amazing.
Do you intend to also release it on DriveThruRPG?
Justin had said many times that the D&D DMGs from 1989 to date are anemic in teaching game structures. In that sense, what I have read so far feels like what the 5e DMG must have been from the beginning.
I got it today, and it looks great! I’m way older than Justin (started Traveller in 1977), so I know most of his advice, but it needs to be disseminated far and wide. His point about not knowing how to key a map is spot on. Spread this wisdom to all who need it!
Got the Kindle version yesterday, about a quarter of the way through it, very good so far…physical version in UK in December apparently.
So only Kindle for digital format, no option to buy the PDF?
Looks great! If there’s anything you can do on your end (for minimal effort and no cost) to get it on amazon.com.au I’d be eternally grateful
Same as Eugene from above, I am not a eBook user, was wishing for some PDF or print by demand sell. I understand that this type of business is not only defined by you.
Just to add context, I am from Brazil. The only site who mention shipping the physical copy here is Amazon and the cost is almost the same as the book and both converted for our local currency are a considerable investment.
Either way, hope your book get the praise it deserve, either on the review and sales. But that Monte Coock reference would already made me proud if I were you XD
Greetings from Brazil, from a fan of your work.
I’m also from Brazil, same as Gubert above.
I had your book on preorder since day 1, here on Amazon BR; the price for the physical copy was about the same as Amazon US. But without any warning or explanation, about a month ago Amazon BR cancelled the preorder and listed the book as unavailable. Currently, the only option is to get the book via 3rd party sellers, who are charging almost triple the price.
Differently from Gubert though, I do eBooks, so ended up getting the Kindle version. It’s just a downer that I won’t be able to gift more copies to friends.
I just realized that the Kindle sample (which I read before buying the full version) includes the first chapters of the book until the end of the Mephits & Magmin dungeon adventure, but leaves out the information of the very last room of the adventure with the boss fight. Oooooh, that’s just evil Justin! /joking
Kindle version purchased. Hardcopy when it’s available.
I just say thank in a tangible way for all the creativity you freely share on this blog.
Just unboxed my copy—it arrived, of course, the day after I left for Thanksgiving travels so it’s been sitting unloved until now!—and holy hell, this thing is chonkin’! I was not expecting 544 pages of distilled Alexandrian. Cannot wait to dig in.
Blackwell’s initially said they would ship pre-orders on the 21st, and so far no news, though they did change it from ‘Pre-order Dispatch 21st Nov’ to “Published 11th Dec”. Hopefully I will receive my copy for the Christmas holidays that comes with decent amount of reading and game time.
DISTRIBUTION QUESTIONS
The book is published by Page Street Publishing and distributed by Macmillan.
This is great because it means the book is getting global distribution and can be found in local bookstores. But it does mean that I’m at least three steps removed from actual distribution.
Here’s what I know:
DriveThruRPG. I talked to Macmillan about creating a DTRPG account and selling the book there. There seemed to be some interest, but they haven’t done it, so I suspect this isn’t going to happen.
International Sales. All I know is that the books were shipped from the USA to international distributors in late-October/early-November. When the arrive is more about the vicissitudes of international shipping at the moment and your local distributors. What I’ve been told is that sites tend to be very conservative in their promised shipping dates, and it’s not unusual for books to arrive earlier than their estimates.
Amazon is Being Weird. I’m afraid that if I’m three steps removed from distribution in general, I’m infinitely removed from Amazon on this title and can’t explain anything that’s going on with their promised dates, etc.
I do, however, have a query in with my publisher about e-book sales in Canada and will report back when I hear something. (Although it’ll probably be next week, since everyone is home for the holidays here in the USA.)
Got my copy on release day and tore through it. I love the dungeon and wilderness running sheets, but they don’t copy well from the softbound book. Are they available as printable anywhere?
Preordered mine through Amazon months ago, and got it on Friday. I’ve read a lot of it through your essays already, but it is so nice to have it gathered together. And now my son can read it since he’s starting to DM for his friends. Thanks!!
I’m enjoying the book. Are there pdfs of the worksheets available (e.g., the Dungeon Running Sheet) online? I could mock my own up, but was curious if these were downloadable anywhere.
Definitely also on the “interested in a digital copy in Canada” bandwagon. Hope you can get that part sorted out without too much trouble. Book looks excellent. Would prefer pdf if it ends up working out but I use the Kindle phone app and it works well enough (though good table of contents and linking is key for those).
I feel like I could run a two or three semester course based solely on this book. Amazing work
CANADA E-BOOK UPDATE
It remains unclear WHY the e-book wasn’t available in Canada on Amazon, but we’ve rattled cages and it looks like the e-book should now be live tomorrow.
Writing here just to expose the situation, if anyone (or Justin) wants to know. Also to help Volanin if he reads this sometime (abraço pra ti meu colega!)
I’m from Brazil and I pre-ordered a physical copy. Amazon Brazil did the same thing that they did to Volanin to me – automatically cancelled the pre-order with no explanation. No book for me =/
After a lot of stress and the use of some “consumer-friendly tools”, Amazon Brazil contacted me today and here’s what they told me:
1. They didn’t receive the physical copies of the book
2. They don’t know about the physical copies of the book (if they’re even going to be available and such). So I guess this is a distribution problem (?). I’ll try to e-mail Macmillan for more info, to see if they are going to distribute the physical copies to Amazon Brazil
3. The best thing: Amazon offered me an “equivalence” – if the physical book becomes available, I can ask for this “equivalence” and pay exactly what I’ve previously payed on the pre-order – and the surplus Amazon pays
Tl;DR: for me it’s kinda solved… It depends now on Amazon Brazil receiving the physical copies. And they have no info on that, they’re kinda lost
Loving the book so far! One question though, the map on pg. 47 has what look like “bridges” over certain parts of the tunnels and they call out a measurement in feet (i.e., 140 ft, 150 ft, 80 ft) – what does that mean/represent and what are the “bridges”? Thanks!
@Jason: Those are very long tunnels and their full length is not shown on the map. The listed distance is the amount of “missing” tunnel length on the map.
Blackwell’s just cancelled mine for “unable to supply” even though their own website has alternated several times the last couple of weeks between not in stock and 10+ available. German Amazon can’t deliver the book to me, and UK Amazon now has a date pushed back to 21st just for sending which basically due to holidays would imply not even being sent until next year.
Has anyone in Europe received their copy, and where did they buy from?
@Justin Alexander – thanks! That makes sense now, the map wouldn’t fit on the page otherwise. 😉 Really love the book and all that you’ve done to contribute to the community!
GREAT Book so far. As someone who started with Basic D&D, and have been playing and running RPGs ever since, it is still filled with a wealth of info, and I haven’t even got past the first homework yet! Thank you for distilling all of this wisdom into one place!
One question though. I notice on one of your pages you have what appears to be a placeholder for a link to an electronic version of the map for Mephits and Magmin. Is that coming any time soon? I am traveling over the holidays, and would love to have an electronic version to print up, especially one that did not include the GM eyes only info on it.
Not sure about a player map for the dungeon, but hopefully a high-res digital version will be available within the next few days. (I am looking into getting VTT-appropriate battlemaps set up, but haven’t found a battlemap cartographer yet.)
I’m really enjoying the audiobook. I’ve come back to this site time and again, and having all that knowledge and more in such a repository is invaluable.
I have a request for myself and perhaps fellow audiobook users: Is there a chance that components that are not audio friendly (the things referenced in the note at the beginning of the audiobook–such as maps) could be published by themselves as an accompanying PDF linked to the audiobook, as audible sometimes does?
@Chris:
(a) I recommend people contact Tantor Audio. This should be a feature of the book, but they’re the only ones who can fix it.
(b) I’m posting resources on the book’s page here at the Alexandrian. (Link to the book page currently in the left sidebar. Look under the Resources section.)
Hello,
I pre-ordered the paperback version on Amazon (amazon.it, since I’m from Italy) on October 23, but as of today (December 29) the book has not been mailed yet and the paperback seems out of stock…
What is going on?
Thanks
@Fra: The book has gone to a second printing and Amazon is likely out of stock. Amazon not fulfilling your preorder, however, is very frustrating, but I’m afraid all I can recommend is contacting them directly.