Worst Purchase Ever?

[DRF]

My personal worst purchase was the 4e starter set. I'm honestly not even sure the 4e red box is objectively bad, but I remember opening it with my friend, thinking we'd finally start some real nerd D&D fun, only to be completely overwhelmed by the mechanics and rules. It wasn't what I imagined D&D to be at all and we actually never really got to play.

A year ago, when I decided to get back into D&D, I pulled out my 4e starter set with renewed vigor, eager to learn it this time. I knew 5e had come out but didn't feel like spending money on another starter set, you know? But then I started reading about 5e. And learning. And holy sh*t! I bought the 5e starter set and haven't looked back since.

 

[The Big BZ]

4th edition Starter Set. I absolutely love starter sets and buy them obsessively (I think it dates back to getting the Black Box for my 11th birthday) and after around a 20 year break me and my mates were talking about getting back into D&D. I bought the the 4th Ed Starter Set, opened it, said WTF and put it on my shelf.

That's why I thank Cthulhu for 5th edition every day

 

[amerigoV]

I have three at the top

1. FR 3.x Faiths and Pantheons. Basically reprinted the god's entry from the FRCS, added a couple of sentences, then put in stat block for an Avatar. Ie, a completely misnamed epic level MM. Probably some decent stuff on the minor gods but, meh, by then I did not care. Thankfully, Eberron's version was awesome as I had migrated to that world by the end of the 3.x days.

2. Darksun 4e. The original DS came out when I was a poor college student and I could not afford it. Later, I was away from D&D until 3rd edition. I have always been intrigued by the setting but never got a copy (EBAY was not really a thing back then). Then they announced it for 4e. So although I really did not play 4e, I figure the fluff would be worth the pick up. Huge mistake since they did a combined players guide and setting. The 4e book is 2/3 crunch. Complete waste of money (given I paid full price). The was the last D&D book I bought sight-unseen until I got a few of the 5e adventures.

3. 4e PHB. This is not a crack on the system (I never had the big negative to the design that others did), but the presentation and writing. The most boringest book to try to read. If you just thumb through it you see pages of tables for the classes or magic items - very little evocative art (at least in comparison to the number of tables). Reading it gave no inspiration to play. It is a technical manual. This was critical as my group was also checking out Savage Worlds. Their Explorer's Edition at the time just pulled you in to want to play. D&D lost and has not recovered.

I suspect there are a few late 3.5 books that would rank in here, but by then I would get them at a discount and it would not be as big a deal. The three above irritated me as they both disappoint and cost full price.

 

[jasper]

whimper whine whimper whine. you bring up bad no fun memories. Whimper whine how about the battlesystem for 1E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlesystem
I was overseas at the time and send my brother money to buy it. He kept the money. I bought when I returned. Open box. Read once and put on shelf.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Lylandra]

I have three at the top

1. FR 3.x Faiths and Pantheons. Basically reprinted the god's entry from the FRCS, added a couple of sentences, then put in stat block for an Avatar. Ie, a completely misnamed epic level MM. Probably some decent stuff on the minor gods but, meh, by then I did not care. Thankfully, Eberron's version was awesome as I had migrated to that world by the end of the 3.x days.

It was even worse than that. They reprinted most of the fluff texts in the F&P from 2e Faiths&Avatars, Demihuman Deities and Powers&Pantheons, then cut a good deal of the gods (because page count), cut a good deal of the text on priests and their day to day life (because page count) and finally updated a bit of the info. The stat blocks are actually what made the book "better" and "original".

 

[amerigoV]

It was even worse than that. They reprinted most of the fluff texts in the F&P from 2e Faiths&Avatars, Demihuman Deities and Powers&Pantheons, then cut a good deal of the gods (because page count), cut a good deal of the text on priests and their day to day life (because page count) and finally updated a bit of the info. The stat blocks are actually what made the book "better" and "original".

I was not a 2e guy - so I did not realize that!
<turns and shakes fist at that book>

 

[JacktheRabbit]

This leads me to a question. I purchased and read through the entire original Dragonlance Modules. DL2 was actually the first module anyone ever bought for me and it brought me into DnD.

Did anyone ever run DL10 Dragons of Dreams? This is the module going through the nightmare in Silvanesti when the Elf King attempted to use a Dragon Orb to protect his realm and failed miserably.

I remember reading through the module and they had this incredibly convoluted portion where every party member was in their own dream and you basically ran every encounter like 5 times but damage only really mattered if the particular encounter was your real one, damage when you were in other players dream didnt really matter. It seemed very long slow boring and torturous to both DM and players.

Did anyone run it and how did it turn out?

 

[g4m3kn1ght]

Any 4e book I bought in hardcover after I had the character builder sub. It was a fun system but the number of splat books made character building for most classes super clunky just going full pen and paper.

For 5e specific I go back and forth on the DMG. It was a good read and had a lot of 'best of' from previous editions, but I can't remember the last time I cracked it open. The basic rules are a good enough reference during live play and can be ctrl+F'd. I wish they would convert to a single book for player's and DM's to start and have some specialized material from there.

 

[Gradine]

Almost certainly the 4e Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. I bought it exclusively for the Swordmage class, and while it was a fun class, I never ended up getting to play 4e enough to get really any use out of it. Never been a huge fan of FR for tabletop play anyway.