 He found the chapter rationalizing the existence of dungeons "marginally persuasive and thoroughly entertaining", and felt the book addresses all the questions he had heard from "earnest, troubled young DMs at convention seminars".He described the writing as "simple, lean, and humorous [...] full of veteran wisdom, play experience, and practical insight into gamer behavior".He found it odd there had never been a good book on game mastering before, noting the book reminded him of many principles and tricks he had learned through "hard experience and obsessive study of other DMs' styles and cheap tricks".