How many supplements do you use?

[Heretic Apostate]

In looking over the list of my collection, I keep thinking, "Gosh, I only had about half the stuff I wanted." This amazes me, because I seriously can't imagine someone getting in depth into a campaign world without all this stuff. How do people who are new to the hobby manage with JUST the stuff that's come out in the last two years?

Seriously. Look at Forgotten Realms, for instance. People who have only purchased stuff in the last two years, since the introduction of 3E/d20, have missed a lot. The Faith & Avatars/Power & Pantheons/Demihuman Deities series, for instance. Ignore the uber-powerful specialty priests for the moment, and look just at the enormous amount of background material. Or what about the outlying areas. Does the FRCS cover the Moonshaes, Evermeet, the Shining South, or even the core areas, as well as the supplements from 1E and 2E did? Sure, there's been a lot of change due to the timeline progressing, but the ideas that you could mine from them.... Then there's things like the Wyrms of the North, or Pages from the Mages, or Prayers of the Faithful. No run-of-the-mill dragons, spellbooks, or prayerbooks here--sure, the stuff may need to be converted, but the background material....

So, that's the question. How much source material do you need to run your campaign?

 

[barsoomcore]

As much as I can create...

Since I don't run an FR campaign, I don't have any real interest in acquiring THOSE sourcebooks. But I make use of a whole variety of stuff (there was a kitbashing thread somewhere that described this really well).

Relics and Rituals
Maztica
Lankhmar
Broncosaurus Rex
Iron Kingdoms
Call of Cthulhu
Dragon Fist
Rokugan

Then of course there's the material I've actually written myself.

So lots, I guess.

 

[arwink]

Heh. I can remember when 3e first came out. I got my shiny new books, I looked at the shelves of 2e and 1e stuff, and I said to myself "This time, I'm not using anything other than the core rules."

Then mosters of Faerun came out. I'm a sucker for monster books. Rarely use anything out of them, but I love em. Ended up with so many of the 2e monster folder inserts they were spread between four or five folders.

It was a small book. It had monsters in it that I liked from previous editions. Carting around just one more book wouldn't really kill me...

The Sword and Fist (Fighter player, it seemed like an idea). Tome and Blood (Player baught it, and the Prestige classes looked pretty cool), then etc and so forth.

Now, I'm carting around fourteen or fifteen books and three CD's worth of e-stuff every time I run a game. And I'm looking forward to the time when I can run games from home again, cause then I'll be able to use more. I'm a compulsive cut and paster - if I don't have to make it myself, you can rest assured I wont.

I don't need anything other than the core books. I just want a stack more cause it saves time and makes things easier.

 

[Olidammara]

One daily multi-vitamin is usually sufficient with a well balanced diet.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Buy? Lots.

Use? Almost None.

That will change soon, now that I'm actually running a campaign. But, still, I will use only a small fraction of what I buy. I have recently begun to buy much less, just because I know I'll (probably) never use it. Besides, my campaign is all children players, so they're still threatened by goblins and orcs. No need for bigger/badder monsters....yet!

Still, it's fun to shop! I spent waaaaaaay too much at GenCon, but less than $100 was supplements for D&D. Now that I think of it, I think I bought nothing for D&D. It was all for other game systems (Call of Cthulhu, Weird Wars, Dead Lands, The End, Small Fears), and was less than $200 total.

I was going to buy Gygax's Necropolis, but our DM is going to use part of it, so I didn't. I was going to buy Nyambe, but decided not to spend money on another supplement I'll probably never use. But both of those looked really cool, so I may just pick them up from my FLGS later this year....

 

[Hammerhead]

I've bought, and used, many supplements:

Sword and Fist
Song and Silence
Tome and Blood
Masters of the Wild
Forgotten Realm's Campaign Setting
Magic of Faerun
Relics and Rituals
Book of Eldritch Might
Book of Eldritch Might II ( Can you tell that I like new spells?)
Psionics Handbook
If Thoughts Could Kill

Also, people in my gaming group own other books, such as Defenders of Faith and Manual of the Planes. We also regularly use stuff from the WotC sites, Dragon magazine, etc.

The only two supplements I don't like that much are Sword and Fist and Song and Silence.

 

[DynaMup]

I often use a variety of supplements for information, but I don't like using too many special rules from them, because it can slow down the pace of the game - having to explain new rules once a game is underway can really slow things down.

I generally write my own stuff, and use the core books, but I do enjoy buying and reading supplements - nothing like food for the imagination!

 

[ForceUser@Home]

So, that's the question. How much source material do you need to run your campaign?

"Need?" Just the core rules and my Oriental Adventures. I use these four books more than anything else. Now, if you're asking what else do I currently draw material from, the answer is

Relics & Rituals
Creature Collection
Creature Collection II
Seafarer's Handbook
splatbooks
Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun
Traps & Treachery
Traps & Treachery II
Jade and Steel
Seas of Blood

 

[Crothian]

I use a lot of stuff as a DM, I even use quit a bit when I PC. For one character I'm playing I'm using the PHB, MotW, Spell and Spellcraft, R&R, Quint Cleric, Players Guide to Kalamar, and MaoF. That's all for one character, when I DM I use a whole lot more.

 

[Psion]

I have way more material that I am likely to use. Yet there are enough good ideas burried in scattered modules that I go out of my way to use them if possible. I sort of have a "core group" of books that I use at least every 2 or 3 adventures. Then other books on my shelf I will cycle through at a rate of 1-2 books per session, using classes, spells, feats, items or ideas from.

My "core group" as DM is:

The core books
Psionics Handbook
Relics & Rituals
Creature Catalog II
Book of Eldritch Might
If Thoughts Could Kill
Wild Spellcraft
The WotC classbooks (sorry guys, despite all the grousing, these remain the best character resource out there. Except for the S&S, which isn't a great character resource, but is instead a great trap resource.)

ELH will probably be on this list soon for my high level game.

When I run my OA setting, I use:

OA (obviously)
The Rokugan books (mostly to steal classes, feats, monsters, and spells from)
EA: Shamans (like it better than the OA shaman for Chinese animists or Japanese shinsoku.)
Jade & Steel
Jade Dragons & Hungry Ghosts
Beyond Monks

Some recent & common "cameos" include:
Manual of the Planes
CC I & Warrens of the Ratmen (for Ratmen, natch!)
EA: Contructs
EA: Necromancy
MinionsThe Shaman's Handbook
Arms & Armor
LEI
BOEM II (for soul magic and some spells. I really dislike the new core classes and many of the spells.)

I plan on these "cameos" soon:
Spells & Spellcraft
Path of the Sword
Alchemy & Herbalists
The Quintessential Wizard
Necromancer's Legacy
LE II
Undead