What 1e/2e books are still useful to a 3rd edition DM?

[Ycore Rixle]

Can't is different from don't. Go ahead and call yourself a lamia, but at 3e advancement rates you will only have the title for a few weeks if you stick to the 1e chart.

There's no reason you can't add level titles yourself if you need them so badly. Why not just make a chart for each class and make up titles, or use those from 1e? I figure it would take about 20 mins with a decent thesaurus.

Thanks, but I'm pretty clear on the fact that you can add your own stuff to your game. Just like in 2e or whenever it was, I could have added my own assassins and barbarians, and I could have changed the names of the baat-heads and tannarascals back to devils and demons. But for me, it's just nice to see it in the official book. YMMV, of course.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, the best equipment book ever made for any version of D&D, by far.

The setting materials themselves are still useful. For my FR game I still use the Faith & Avatars/Powers & Pantheons/Demihuman Deities trilogy of deity sourcebooks for actual setting information about the gods of Faerun because the level of detail and completeness is much greater than the short blurbs that was found in the 3e material.

I agree. The 3.0 reference book isn't as detailed nor does it give the church-related info "crunch" to expand your roleplaying needs for any character, especially clerics who can see "where they stand in the order of things".

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I'm putting in a vote for the Complete Villains Handbook. Some of the material is pretty obvious to us old-timers, but it's still a useful resource, even if it just ends up reminding you of something you probably should have considered anyway.

There are some forms and checklists in the CVH that could be pretty darn useful. And the great thing is that there aren't that many 2e stat blocks - it's mostly text and advice. I recommend it to any new and/or prospective DMs.

Great book albiet hard to find.... I've got the Heroes Lorebook which could work just as well for decent level NPCs...

 

[Zappo]

Planesc... oh wait, no campaign settings. None of the books that I have are useful in 3e, but to be honest, I never had a big 2e collection.

 

[Nifelhein]

Ravenloft's guides are always useuful, specially if you take out some of the too deep in the setting information. Anyway, a good ghost hunt is a step further with the right book.

 

[Mark Hope]

Another plug for the 1e DMG - great source of all kinds of inspiration. The 2e Campaign Sourcebook & Catacomb Guide also gets my vote for being the best guide on DMing better games. Excellent reading and pretty much edition-neutral.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I'm putting in a vote for the Complete Villains Handbook. Some of the material is pretty obvious to us old-timers, but it's still a useful resource, even if it just ends up reminding you of something you probably should have considered anyway.

There are some forms and checklists in the CVH that could be pretty darn useful. And the great thing is that there aren't that many 2e stat blocks - it's mostly text and advice. I recommend it to any new and/or prospective DMs.

The Villains Lorebook (FR) (available for free from the WotC website) seems very different and not very useful for the NPCs (male elf wizard, level 15+ more than I care to count), though the supplemental spells and monsters seem VERY nasty from the pictures.

 

[caudor]

I can't help but mention Thunder Rift and adventures from the Challenger Series (Quest for the Silver Sword, Assault on Raven's Ruin, etc.) Even if you don't play/convert the adventures, the sweet battle-mats in full color are great for designing your own adventures.

The map of Thunder Rift is terrific and easy to wrap your mind around since 1 inch = 1 mile. The terrain is interesting and the area is rather self-contained.

 

[RobJN]

I'm going to chime in on the 2ed DMGR series, also. Particularly, the (as was mentioned earlier) Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide, and also,Creative Campaigning. While the 3rd Ed. DMGs had that nifty NPC trait generator, one of the tables in Creative Campaigning has a quickie list of why that (34) fidgety (93)long-winded (63) pessimistic NPC is even interacting with the PCs. Not everybody they talk to is there to send them off to save the mayor's daughter from the dragon. Or even to save the dragon from the mayor's daughter... Maybe that NPC is simply seeking an opinon on something (29-30 on the CC "Motivations" chart);or he could run by, being chased by dogs (61-62). Or the guards (67-68). What the opinion may be about, or why the man is running.. ah, now those are adventures waiting to happen....

And yes, the Book of Villains is a great resource. Of the 127 pages in the book, about nine have statted villains, which are easy enough to cross over to 3rd edition. The real meat lies in the discussion of bad guys, bad guy organizations... and not-so-ordinary bad guys: cookie-cutter one-dimensional villains(hey, they have their place!), nature, public opinion.... Lawful Good villains....

Other resources from past editions that I plunder regularly: My BD&D Gazetteers. And if I could only find time to see if there's a way to work with the Ravenloft Nightmare Lands boxed set...

Good gaming!
Rob

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, the best equipment book ever made for any version of D&D, by far.

Amen to that.