Best d20 Gifts for Christmas! (:

I helped write a "best gifts" column for a site, but we didnt' have a category for RPGs. Add your recommended games!

* The Banewarrens: $18. Sword and Sorcery / Malhavoc Press. By Monte Cook. For 4th-10th levels. Return to Temple of Elemental Evil, move over. Monte Cook (do we really need to tell you who he is? has written one of the best dungeons ever. Not only is it packed with creative monsters, magical devices, and delver's challenges, but no less than (well that would be telling how many!) organizations are interested in The Banewarrens. And your PCs are right in the middle of it. GMs will need to hone their NPC skills, but even new GMs will enjoy running the dungeon.

* Tomb of Abysthor: $12. Sword and Sorcery / Necromancer Games. By Clark Peterson and Bill Webb. For 2nd to 8th level. Necromancer's slogan is "3rd Edition Rules, 1st Edition Feel". I'll say this further -- Tomb of Abysthor is 1st edition done **right**. ToA combines the variety of dungeon-stronghold delving players enjoy, with an adventure design that makes sense.

* NPC Essentials: Less than $10. 80-page PDF. RPG Objects. By Johnn Four. GM advice products are slowly appearing in the market, and NPC Essentials provides some of the best "from scratch" game design advice for NPCs I've seen. Not does it help you create NPCs, it provides advice in maintaining them, turning stat blocks and plot devices into living breathing characters. NPC Essentials also includes a mini-adventure and is usable in **any** RPG system.

* Everyone Else: Less than $10. 70-page PDF. Ambient Press. By Richard Ruthford and Michael S. Thibault. Need a bartender? Need a town guard? Need a seneschal? What's a seneschal? Everyone Else provides all the important -- yet nameless -- extras you need in an adventure. About 90 different profession's worth of NPCs are here, each with for different CL's of stat-blocks. The variety of professions alone will help the GM add color to a hamlet, town, or city. Works very well with NPC Essentials.

* Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering. $10. 33-pages. Steve Jackson Games. By Robin D. Laws. Robin D. Laws is one of the best known rpg (though not d20) game designers, and Robin's Laws was written for any rpg system. It helps GMs understand his gaming group, create adventures best suited for them, and provides advice on GM play. Very good for new GMs.

Merry Christmas and Happy Gaming!


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

Totally agree about The Banewarrens. My group is running through it right now, and they just love it. Although there is a large dungeon component to it, the intrigue, double-dealing, and NPC interactions are what's really great about this module. Pick it up.

d20 Modern! My most worthwhile RPG purchase of `02!

Raw Recruits $25 Mystic Eye Games official Dragonstar adventure supplement. It is a 160 page, 16 color, a mega adventure with a lot of source material. A beautiful book, Greg Benage of FFG, creator of Dragonstar stated it was a must have for any Dragonstar fan.

I am biased though, other cool ideas:

Foul Locales: Beyond the Walls $20, Mystic Eye Games, will be out right at X-Mas

Mutants and Masterminds Green Ronin, nice supers OGL book.

d20 Modern WoTC a great source of modern material

I agree on the Malhavoc material, I enjoy Monte's writing.

Arms and Armor Bastion Press--not new but a must have for new and exciting weapons/armor

There is more I am having blanks at the moment.

Happy Holidays!

I usually try to avoid buying RPG books as gifts, since it's hard to gauge what someone has in their collection and what they need. I always try to buy cool stuff that's fun and useful Here's some gifts I've given in the past:

For a DM:

A shiny new battlemat and the following from Staples: a poster tube to store it, a set of overhead projection pens, and a small spray bottle to clean it. If you have a few extra bucks to spend, a few Fiery Dragon counter packs make a good gift, especially if he doesn't own many miniatures.

For a minis painter:

A Vatican Enterprises paint rack would make a perfect gift. I've seen two versions, one that holds 40 paints and one that holds 80. It's always hard to figure out which minis a collector owns, so buying figures might be a bit risky. OTOH a minis fanatic can never have too many paints or brushes.

For a player:

A nice set of dice, a dice bag, and maybe a few minis if his DM uses them. If you paint figures, a painted character mini is always a good gift.

For anyone who wants to run a slightly "primal" fantasy game, but not stoneage, or is just sick of traditional high-fantasy and wants a change, or for anyone who is a fan of things Celtic, get them the Slaine D20 corebook.

Hell, get anyone the Slaine D20 corebook who doesn't already have it... I just finished reading through the Fir Domain book again this morning and am once again struck by how much Mongoose is rocking with this series... and I've never read a page of the Slaine comic in my life!*

*Well, I've read the handfull of panels strewn throughout the various Slaine D20 books, but that's it

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For anyone who loves all things Magical, get them "Occult Lore", from Atlas.

buy and print all their favorite pdf's. nothing says love like spent ink cartridges

If this category includes non-sourcebook items, I'd also recommend Chessex's battlemat... It's totally changed the way I play RPGs (for the better)

Exalted.

Darkness said:

Exalted.

Click to expand...

Exalted rocks, and I agree you should get it, but I don't see how it qualifies as a D20 gift