Olaf the Stout
Hero
I was looking at my bookshelf of D&D books (2E, 3.xE and Pathfinder) and thinking about how "good" or "bad" some of the books I owned were. Heck, several of them I'm not sure I've even done more than flicked through the pages once.
So I'm interested in seeing what everyone regards as their "best" and "worst" D&D book in their collection. The book(s) can be made by TSR, WotC or Paizo or they can be a 3rd-party product. It can also be from any edition. It just has to be one you own.
Best and worst are entirely subjective. You may decide your best book is the one that you got the most value for money from (i.e. your PHB that you've used to get over 1000 hours of gaming out of) or it may be the book you enjoy looking at the most, even if you don't use it much.
Similarly, your worst book may be one that you found all the rules within it to be horribly broken, a book that you horribly overpaid for, or a book that had fluff that ruined for a particular setting or character for you.
For me, the best D&D book I own is the Shackled City Adventure Path by Paizo (3.5E). It's my best D&D book because with it I ran a campaign for over 3 years and about 100 sessions, starting at 1st level and ending at about 18th-19th level. It was the longest campaign I've ever DM'd and the only one that reached the end point I'd hoped for at the start of the campaign. Yeah, I changed and added many things in the adventure (including a full re-write of the final adventure), but I definitely couldn't have come up with a campaign half as cool by myself.
Normally I'm complete bibliophile with my books. I hate to write in them at all or get them damaged. Almost all my RPG books are in pristine condition. By the end of the campaign, my SCAP hardcover was completely trashed. The front and back covers the book spine were all damaged. That wasn't because the book was poorly made. It was simply due to how much time the book spent in my bag as I took it to and from work to read on the train or on my lunch break. The book earned it's keep and then some.
The worst D&D book I own would be the Epic Level Handbook by WotC (3.0E). This is because of a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I paid around $80-$90 AUD (about $75-$80 USD on current exchange rates) for the book. A combination of no knowing about buying books online and a very low AUD exchange rate meant I paid a lot more for the book than I should have.
Secondly, I've never had a PC reach 20th level, or ran a campaign where the PC's have. So I've never used anything from the book in-game. I read through the book a little when I bought it, but haven't cracked the cover in 5+ years.
Thirdly, having now run quite a bit of D&D 3.5E at Level 15+, I've discovered that it's not anywhere near as fun to run as it seems. There are that many spells, magic items, abilities and effects in play that it's not much fun to keep track of as a DM. So I don't think I'd enjoy running an epic level campaign. So the book just won't be of any use to me in the future.
So that's my best and worst D&D book that I own. What's yours?
So I'm interested in seeing what everyone regards as their "best" and "worst" D&D book in their collection. The book(s) can be made by TSR, WotC or Paizo or they can be a 3rd-party product. It can also be from any edition. It just has to be one you own.
Best and worst are entirely subjective. You may decide your best book is the one that you got the most value for money from (i.e. your PHB that you've used to get over 1000 hours of gaming out of) or it may be the book you enjoy looking at the most, even if you don't use it much.
Similarly, your worst book may be one that you found all the rules within it to be horribly broken, a book that you horribly overpaid for, or a book that had fluff that ruined for a particular setting or character for you.
For me, the best D&D book I own is the Shackled City Adventure Path by Paizo (3.5E). It's my best D&D book because with it I ran a campaign for over 3 years and about 100 sessions, starting at 1st level and ending at about 18th-19th level. It was the longest campaign I've ever DM'd and the only one that reached the end point I'd hoped for at the start of the campaign. Yeah, I changed and added many things in the adventure (including a full re-write of the final adventure), but I definitely couldn't have come up with a campaign half as cool by myself.
Normally I'm complete bibliophile with my books. I hate to write in them at all or get them damaged. Almost all my RPG books are in pristine condition. By the end of the campaign, my SCAP hardcover was completely trashed. The front and back covers the book spine were all damaged. That wasn't because the book was poorly made. It was simply due to how much time the book spent in my bag as I took it to and from work to read on the train or on my lunch break. The book earned it's keep and then some.
The worst D&D book I own would be the Epic Level Handbook by WotC (3.0E). This is because of a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I paid around $80-$90 AUD (about $75-$80 USD on current exchange rates) for the book. A combination of no knowing about buying books online and a very low AUD exchange rate meant I paid a lot more for the book than I should have.
Secondly, I've never had a PC reach 20th level, or ran a campaign where the PC's have. So I've never used anything from the book in-game. I read through the book a little when I bought it, but haven't cracked the cover in 5+ years.
Thirdly, having now run quite a bit of D&D 3.5E at Level 15+, I've discovered that it's not anywhere near as fun to run as it seems. There are that many spells, magic items, abilities and effects in play that it's not much fun to keep track of as a DM. So I don't think I'd enjoy running an epic level campaign. So the book just won't be of any use to me in the future.
So that's my best and worst D&D book that I own. What's yours?