Worst D&D products ever.

[Dark Jezter]

The opposite of the Best D&D Products thread. The title should make this one self-explainatory.

Here are my picks, in no particular order...

Maztica
Wilderness Survival Guide
Complete Book of Elves
Complate Ninja's Handbook (I'm not joking: this book really exists)
Complete Cleric's Handbook
Die, Vecna, Die!
Hero Builder's Guidebook
Living Greyhawk Gazeteer

EDIT: Added a couple more that I forgot to mention the first time.

 

[Napftor]

FR 15: The Great Glacier. Brrr...it gives me chills.

 

[Crothian]

I thought the Complete book of Elves was actually really good. I will agree that Cleric and Ninja were probably the 2 worst in that series.

The worst would be that module for second edition where you are getting compmnents for the 13th level spell. It was set in the Frogotten Relams and it was horrid.

 

[jeffh]

Lessee, the weakest products I've ever owned? Probably:

Journey to the Rock
Cleric's Handbook
Thoughts of Darkness (BIG disappointment)
The first printing of Skills & Powers
The first printing of S&S' Creature Catalog (not D&D technically, but compatible D20)

I own very few products I didn't have some reason to expect to like, and while I've been disapointed more times than just the above, those are the ones that stand out.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I thought the Complete book of Elves was actually really good.

Apparantly, not even the author of the book himself agrees with you; Colin McComb actually ended up apologizing for the CBoE.

 

[MerricB]

I'd probably go for the Hero Builder's Guidebook and the Wilderness Survival Guide. (and possibly the 2nd edition DMG).

(OTOH, The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is one the best D&D products I own! )

Cheers!

 

[wingsandsword]

Hero Builder's Guidebook (3e) (You could get all that is in that book just by talking with a D&D fan for an hour. It isn't crunch, it isn't fluff, it's gunk)

World Builder's Guidebook (2e) (IIRC, this was the book with nothing but forms to fill out to detail a campaign setting)

Complete Priest's Handbook. The aforementioned "Cleric" book. It's not a PC book, unlike the other "Complete" books which were full of kits, proficiencies, spells and other "crunch" this had neither that nor "fluff", it was a book for DM's to design faiths with, and had horribly generic and cliche faith templates you, and some horribly generic kits which didn't change anything about a character other than to say "buy these items with your starting equipment and roleplay this way". The most interesting thing it had in it was a breakdown of societal and organizational requirements for Clerics based on level, although it was definitely for lower-level games since it presumes by 13th or 14th level a Cleric is one of, if not the highest ranking member of his faith.

(Oh, and the FR module Crothian is talking about is How the Mighty are Fallen, where the PC's are working for Karsus to gather components for the infamous Karsus's Avatar spell. It's actually one of the things WotC has for free download on their site (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/2/fr_downloads/tsr9541.zip) if anyone wants to see. I never had a problem with it personally, it was more about letting the PC's be firsthand at a key event in Realms history, really more for enthusiasts of the setting instead of a typical D&D adventure.)

 

[Crothian]

Apparantly, not even the author of the book himself agrees with you; Colin McComb actually ended up apologizing for the CBoE.

Wasn't that becasue it was a powerful book, not becasue it was bad? It had great elven ideas in it. THey did some great cities. But people only saw the powerful kits and seemingly ignored the good stuff in the book. And the only reason the kits turned out to be powerful is becasue no one seemed to enforce the negatives, so is it a wonder the kits kicked butt?

 

[Dark Jezter]

Wasn't that becasue it was a powerful book, not becasue it was bad? It had great elven ideas in it. THey did some great cities. But people only saw the powerful kits and seemingly ignored the good stuff in the book. And the only reason the kits turned out to be powerful is becasue no one seemed to enforce the negatives, so is it a wonder the kits kicked butt?

Pardon me for asking, but what good stuff? The descriptions of elven society and culture were horrid (making the elves out to be perfect in every way), and each page seemed to contain at least one statement that boiled down to "elves are better at this than any of the other races." The book basically stated that elf cities are utopian paradises, elven-made items are always higher-quality than items made by other races, elf music is so beautiful that anyone who hears it will forever be obsessed with it, elf spellcasters are the most powerful in the world, elf warriors are the most skilled to be found anywhere, and elves on a whole are more enlightened and wise than any other race could possibly aspire to be. It was tedious, to say the least.

And then you got into the crunch parts of the book: We had the widely-loathed bladesinger class kit, elven platemail, bladesinging combat style, the double-arrow shot, and my personal favorite: elf-only mithril artificial limbs. The book showers elf players with items, classes, and abilites that range from mildly to severely overpowered and are unavailable to any other race.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Well, I mentioned this one in the "best" thread already, as an aside.

But still....


Without question it's the Ravenloft Module Thoughts of Darkness.

A "gothic horror" adventure which broke every DM rule the Ravenloft guide was so adamant about reinforcing.

There were random encounters against bands of 15th level drow rogues, fighters and wizards. Enormously overpowered hordes of mind flayers, and so on and so forth. It was for, I believe, 18th level characters - and it is an absolutely ABYSSMAL book.

It would have been rated "Poor" if it were a generic module, as a Ravenloft module... there was NO excuse for releasing it.

What my youngest son leaves in his diaper has more in common with gothic horror than Thoughts of Darkness does.