What third-party products have you used for your favorite RPGs?

[Wolfpack48]

Hit location dice for RQ -- makes hit locations a breeze:
RuneQuest Beige & burgundy Expansion Dice

Also, though out of print, Jennell Jacquays' Central Casting series is gold.

Central Casting: Heroes of Legend - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Theory of Games]

Dreamscarred Press' contributions to Pathfinder 1e: Akashic magic, Path of War and Psionics Unleashed were just a few. I only spent a few years playing and running PF1 but they were good times.

 

[Voadam]

A large number.

I used the AD&D Grenadier module Cloudland.

I used the AD&D Mayfair Games Demons sourcebook and their Dwarves one (used the undermountain Kingdom of Ostohar).

3e I ran the Malhavoc Press module Demon God's Fane, Green Ronin's Freeport Trilogy, AEG's The Crypt of St. Bethesda, Goodman Games' DCC Dungeon Interludes, Paizo's Crucible of Chaos, and Sinister Adventures Mysteries of the Razor Sea.

3e I used a number of monster sourcebooks, Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Creature Collection II, Creature Collection III, Strange Lands Lost Tribes of the Scarred Lands, Advanced Bestiary, Book of Templates, Complete Minions, Denizens of Avadnu, Denizens of Darkness, Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils, Kaiser's Garden, Manual of Monsters, Monsters Geographica Forests, Monsters of Norrath, Tome of Horrors Revised, Complete Guide to Drow, Complete Guide to Wererats, Slayer's Guide to Demons, and Book of Fiends.

3e I used setting material from Oathbound Wildwood, Golarion, Ptolus, SpirosBlaak, Freeport, and Nymabe.

Also a bunch of 3e sourcebooks for classes and spells and such.

5e I ran the Legendary Games modules The Murmuring Fountain and The Fiddler's Lament.

5e I used Kobold Press's Creature Codex and Tome of Beasts, and Frog God's Fifth Edition Foes.

 

[rgard]

For 1E we mined Bard Games' Compleat series & Atlantis, Mayfair Games' Role-Aids, Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire series, the wolf people from Palladium and the Specialty Mages from the first 3 issues of Different Worlds. Adapted some spells from Chivalry and Sorcery.

For 3E, we use a lot from everybody who was/is publishing under the OGL. Favorites are Green Ronin's products and Monty Cook's non-WotC work. Another favorite is the Adventurer Class from Bards and Sages written by Julie Ann Dawson. Best 'Jack of All Trades class' out there.

BTW, Green Ronin's bundle is still selling for $30 at drive thru.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ummm…LOTS! Some that I can recall:

Task Force Games’ Central Casting books
Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous
Compendium of Weapons, Armor & Castles by Palladium
A bunch of the AEG D&D 3.X books
Rokugan from L5R.
Sword & Sorcery’s Hyperconscious
GURPS 2Ed Martial Arts sourcebook
Etc.

TBH, I mined a lot of D&D variants for classes, spells, mechanics, etc. in my 3.X homebrews. So you could include Midnight 2Ed, Pathfinder, Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, True20, Northern Crown & Nyambe, and so forth on that list.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Hmm...

As I've gotten more and more experienced, I've moved away from adventure products and paths - especially the longer ones. Primarily because I have an extensive backlog, and also because I feel more than competent to roll my own.

I find most maps actually too constraining, but that's because I tend to go "Adventure First" rather than "Map First", or put another way, I always end up trying to find a map that matches my mental vision, and invariably end up with "Eh. Good Enough." when I try to use pre-made maps.

So basically, these days, for both adventures and maps, smaller is better.

Spells, gear, and monsters are always fun. Though I've learned to be careful about the first two. A special call out to the Rogue Gallery style products. Those are ALWAYS useful. The best product I've ever seen in that category was Expedited Press' (?) "Warriors" book for 3e. Brief stats and gear load outs for all the different forms of Warriors in your 3e game, for literally every level. I wish there were more like it. Giving me the stats for a CR 5 Dark Wizard, or a CR 7 Slaver Knight doesn't help me when I need a throw-away for my level 12 party, ya'know? But a product that gives me an Apprentice Smith (CR 0), Journeyman Smith (CR 2), Master Smith (CR 4), etc. is really useful.

I really miss 3.x's Monster Templates.

And I'm almost always a sucker for expanding my GM toolset. "A variant system for handling backstabbery intrigue? [Snag] A domain-handling subsytem? [YOINK]..." (Like Book of the Righteous.) Admittedly, less so for the GM self-help books, but I have a few of those too. As for the tools, admittedly I very frequently end up not using them, but they're often really good for insights.

 

[Lanefan]

For me, running 1e-adjacent D&D:

--- all sorts of adventure modules from Judges Guild. Back in the day they were pretty much the number one 3PP going.
--- various other adventure modules from wherever (and whatever system) I can find them: DCC, Goodman, various d20-era sources, etc.
--- Grimtooth's Traps and similar.
--- Arms and Equipment guides from Palladium and others.
--- lots and lots of Ral Partha and Reaper metal minis.
--- a stupid number of dice from various sources.

 

[rgard]

"--- all sorts of adventure modules from Judges Guild. Back in the day they were pretty much the number one 3PP going."

Yep, I failed to mention above the City State of the Invicible Overlord. Played in one long running campaign that was centered on the City State.

 

[kronovan]

Since I'm a big fan of the Midgard World setting, I've used many of Kobold Presses' 3rd party publications. I've used there Midgard content for Pathfinder 1e, Dragon/Fantasy AGE, D&D 5e and 13th Age. I began with a print copy of their Northlands settings (a realm in Midgard) and many of the early Open Design splat books and companions in PDF format which were written for PF1e - 1st TTRPG for the setting. I bought the original Midgard Campaign Setting book for the excellent AGE appendix as much as I did for the setting content. To date, I've run 4 campaigns for that setting, each using different TTRPG rules

Recently I've been buying their campaigns (Streets of Zobeck, Wrath of the Rive King, Tales of the Old Margreave) content for the Fantasy Grounds VTT. It's written for D&D 5e, but using the Universal Module loader I've been able to easily convert it to the PF1e and 13A rulesets. I've also been importing the monsters from KP's 13A Midgard Bestiary, which thanks to that ruleset's excellent parse feature, has been a real breeze.

 

[SlyFlourish]

So many!

• Empire of the Ghouls from Kobold Press's Midgard setting can be found at the Kobold Press Store and DriveThruRPG.
• Scarlet Citadel, also by Kobold Press, is available on DTRPG.
• I've stopped using the 2014 Monster Manual and DMG and replaced them with the A5e's Monstrous Menagerie and Trials and Treasure. You can find them at Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.
• Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands by Raging Swan can be purchased at DriveThruRPG.
• I've used a Paizo Pathfinder flip mats for decades now and love them. They're one of my favorite RPG tools.

I don't know if it counts as third party (since it's its own RPG) but I've run a lot of Shadowdark RPG and love it too.

Lots of other stuff I'm forgetting.