Are Any Pre-4e Books Essential Reading?

[Jools]

Fourth edition is the only edition I've ever played, and I'm having a blast. Reading these forums however really brings home the fact that DnD has had a long history of publications. Are any of these books so good that they are essential reading even today? Hey old-timers, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

[Steel_Wind]

Yes. Nightmares of Mine, by Ken Hite. Review is here.

Nightmares of Mine is non-system specific. It says RMSS on the back cover. It's a lie. It is NOT system specific.

It is the best book on GMing ever written, imo. If horror, suspense, creepiness, and just a sense of fantastic mystery is something you want to add to a game session -any game session for any genre - this is the book for you.

 

[2020]

Fourth edition is the only edition I've ever played, and I'm having a blast. Reading these forums however really brings home the fact that DnD has had a long history of publications. Are any of these books so good that they are essential reading even today? Hey old-timers, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

No. Emphatically no.

You are having fun, and that's the only thing that matters.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I think several people would agree, that the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting published for 3.0 is a great collection of evocative area descriotions and plot/campaign hooks.

I still look though it occasionally for ideas, though I have not run FR for a very very long time.

 

[JeffB]

The first edition DMG comes to mind. Still a highly useful book. Poorly organized, but fantastic.

I think the best things to read of the earliest editions are the modules- where the writers really got to flex their creative muscles. In particular- the GDQ series (not the supermodule), T1, A series (again not the super module), S1,S2, & S3, C1 & C2, B1,2,3 & 4, as well as X1 & X2.

Also Supplements 1/2/3 of the original edition (little brown books) have lots of cool nuggets.

Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets.

off the top of my head thats what comes to mind.

 

[bagger245]

If you are into Forgotten Realms, then the older stuff is good to read. Eberron as well. Other than that, nothing much. Others have recommended reading the classic modules just to have a feel of how D&D was back then. I am actually interested to know how a newcomer to D&D through 4e would shape the game without any older edition influences.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

I really like the fact that D&D has an inexhaustible history: playing it is like being a DJ with almost forty years' worth of record crates. I do think that the deeper you delve into the crates, the richer your play becomes because you can sample lots of grooves that are both awesome in themselves and evocative for people who know the source or have heard it echoed elsewhere.

However, even in my campaign of players that have come together to play musty old 1974-era D&D, more than half of them are like "stop telling me about how the displacer beast is taken from Van Vogt's novel Voyage of the Space Beagle that was also ripped off by the movie Alien already, I just want to know whether my roll of 16 hit the thing."

So lest I get all pedantic on you, it'd help to know what kinds of thing you're interested in! Just recommending the books that I think are kick-ass at the moment probably won't help, because they're often books I had around for a dozen years before I was ready to hear any given thing they had to say.

 

[Jools]

I'm not particularly into Forgotten Realms. I'm so new to everything (been playing for nearly a year now) that I'm not particularly into anything. I'm just wondering if there are any books out there that are so freakishly awesome that you'd have to be nuts not to have them on your bookshelf. I know the 4e stuff like that back of my hand, but pretty much nothing about the entire pre-4e history of DnD. Even though its not DnD, that horror book does sounds good Steel Wind. Btw, feel free to reccomend something that others have already mentioned, consensus is a good indicator of quality.

 

[Ourph]

Another vote for the 1e DMG, it's got something for everyone.

I would also second looking at some of the older modules like T1 Village of Hommlet and X1 Isle of Dread. Lots of great inspiration to be had there.

 

[Hussar]

Ooo, speaking of modules - The Lost City (B4) is, IMNSHO, probably the absolute best module ever. Very, very cool.

If you can get one, the Dragon Magazine Compendium CD (is that the right title?) is a great place to go.