I've got the core rules. What to buy next?

[Cithindril]

I would agree that you need to decide whether you want to run a home-brew or established setting. I also like Eberron a lot and it's nice getting acquainted right at the start of a new product line. Forgotten Realms is a great world also, but with over 12 years of baggage it's a daunting task for a new group to get their arms around it.

Having said all of that, my favorite world remains the Scarred Lands by Sword and Sorcery Studios (White Wolf). This world has been out for 4-6 years and there's a fair amount of material but you can explore the setting by picking up a single $8 book on Ebay (The Scarred Lands Gazetter: Ghelspad) which details the primary continent. If it tickles your fancy you can then invest in more material. For more information go to:

http://scarn.mortality.net

 

[DragonLancer]

Manual of the Planes (WotC).
Draconomicon (WotC).
Tome of Horrors 1 & 2 (Necromancer Games).
Expanded Psionics Handbook (WotC).

and look for all of Necromancer Game's modules.

 

[d12]

I have to chime in to agree with Steel Wind - if you only buy one thing, buy a subscription to Dungeon. It has all sort of goodies in it. My group has 2 DMs and when we game we run a Dungeon adventure about half the time and we use something from Dungeon (a critical threat, a map, an NPC, etc) about another 25% of the time.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'd recommend
Tome of Horrors 1 and 2 from Necromancer Games as monster books

depending on your interests the following products are all good settings/products:
Freeport series Green Ronin
Blackmoor Goodman Games
Necromancer Games adventures

 

[DaveMage]

If you're going to play with a battlemat, I can't recommend strongly enough the Fiery Dragon Counters. You are pretty much guaranteed to get use from these in every session.

Especially Counter Collection Gold and
CC V: Summoned Creatures

For product info on CC Gold:

http://www.fierydragon.com/Products/prod-ccgold.htm

The WotC miniatures are great, but the randomness is a bad thing for new DMs. Stick with counters if you're just getting started.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone, especially mhacdebhandia for his extremely well thought out and detailed post. (I was expecting stuff more along the lines of 'Iron Kingdoms roxx!')

 

[scourger]

Here's a third recommendation for a subscription to Dungeon Magazine. I consider it the single best product on the market. I've got issues going back about 10 years. It is consistently good. I've run many campaigns using Dungeon Adventures. With the new format, it should be particularly helpful to a new DM.

 

[Akrasia]

First some flame-guard: these are merely my opinions, based on my experiences, having DM-ed two 3.x campaigns now.

If you're just starting out as a DM, I would strongly advise you to stay AWAY from all the new "Complete Splatbooks", "Books of Exalted Vileness", "Races of Stuff", and so forth.

You just don't need all that additional crap ...er ... feats, prestige classes, racial variants, templates, etc. at this stage.

You also probably don't need loads of new spells, classes, rules variants, etc. right away. (E.g. *The Complete Book of Eldritch Might* is a decent book later on, but hardly essential for beginning a campaign.)

If you need a setting, choose one that appeals to you. If I were a beginning DM and absolutely *had* to use a premade campaign setting, I would probably choose Greyhawk because it does not use any new rules, and leaves the DM a lot of latitude to shape the world as s/he sees fit.

And buying Dungeon is a good idea (or a subscription, if you can be confident that your friendly local postperson will not sadistically mangle it en route to your mailbox).

Overall: the 3.5 rules might not seem too difficult if you view them as a player. But that is because you do not need to "master" the rules as a player (you only need to know what is relevant for your character, plus the basics). As a DM you do need to have a very good grasp of all the rules. And 3.5 includes A LOT of variables (feats and skills that interact with each other in various wasy; spells that interact with feats, skills, and combat in various ways; monsters that can take class levels; etc). Master the basics first. There's plenty in the core rules alone -- all that bloat out there is not at all necessary for running a great campaign.

 

[Akrasia]

...
If you are a more traditional High Fantasy fan, I would avoid Eberron. I despise it. Others like it. I think it comes down to traditional feel vs. "out there". Eberron is "out there". Not my cuppa.
...

Someone on ENworld said this? Wow -- I am not alone.

 

[jester47]

The most practical advice - and I am surprised no one had mentioned it - is a subscription to Dungeon Magazine.

Don't worry, I mentioned it.

A.