Xenolith234
Adventurer
I’m stunned no one has mentioned Matt Colville and MCDM’s Flee, Mortals! yet.
D&D General Help Me with My Pathological Aversion to Third Party D&D Products
- Thread starter MGibster
- Start date
Not a Decepticon
Hero
I forgot but I did wnat to write a certain more concrete list of books I recommend, those will be included.
Lalato
Adventurer
Seems like a good time to plug my two lists...
5e Compatible Campaign Settings (over 400): Campaign Settings – 5e D&D – Lalato.com
5e Compatible Adventure Paths (over 180): Adventure Paths – 5e D&D – Lalato.com
Although these may have subclasses, spells, and monsters of varying quality. It's hard to go wrong with these two categories because they both can be inspiring whether you use all the crunch material or not. The plots and the settings themselves can be kind of evergreen.
I've been thinking of creating a list of monster books, but I can't seem to find the time. Also trying to create a comprehensive list of Adventurer's League stuff... but again... time.
5e Compatible Campaign Settings (over 400): Campaign Settings – 5e D&D – Lalato.com
5e Compatible Adventure Paths (over 180): Adventure Paths – 5e D&D – Lalato.com
Although these may have subclasses, spells, and monsters of varying quality. It's hard to go wrong with these two categories because they both can be inspiring whether you use all the crunch material or not. The plots and the settings themselves can be kind of evergreen.
I've been thinking of creating a list of monster books, but I can't seem to find the time. Also trying to create a comprehensive list of Adventurer's League stuff... but again... time.
Given that there are so many 5e variants out now – three big ones from three different publishers – I don't think there really is a "third party" anymore. Instead, there are many publishers publishing 5e compatible material.
When it comes to favoring products from WOTC, I think WOTC's art direction and physical product design are at the top of the heap, although other publishers like Monte Cook Games, Cubicle 7, and others give them a big run for their money.
But from a game design perspective, I think WOTC is in many ways at the same level as many other 5e publishers like Kobold Press, EN World publishing, and others. WOTC's made some great book and some not-so-great books. They've done some great 5e design and some not-so-great 5e design.
There are also many publishers willing to try things that WOTC won't try. WOTC isn't going to put out a 600 page city sourcebook like Ptolus. They're not going to put out a 1,000 page campaign adventure like Crown of the Oathbreaker or an equally-huge high-level adventure like Torrents of the Spellhoarder. They're not going to put out the tons of awesome small black-and-white products like Raging Swan put out or the totally different slices of exploration, travel, and character origins that Cubicle 7 did with A Life Well Lived and Uncharted Journeys.
I think it's an interesting sign too when people hear me say that WOTC is about on par with other publishers as an insult to WOTC even though many of the designers at WOTC worked for other publishers and end up working for other publishers after their employment at Hasbro ends.
To get started with the work of other 5e publishers – there are types of products that slot-in more easily into our 5e games than others. This is mostly on the GM side like monster books, adventure and campaign books, campaign world sourcebooks, and books to help GMs build out their game.
I have a couple of articles on Sly Flourish with some of my favorite 5e books from several publishers:
slyflourish.com
slyflourish.com
slyflourish.com
I think it's great that you at least see the problem – that you're only looking to WOTC for your happiness with 5e and recognizing that there's more out there.
When it comes to favoring products from WOTC, I think WOTC's art direction and physical product design are at the top of the heap, although other publishers like Monte Cook Games, Cubicle 7, and others give them a big run for their money.
But from a game design perspective, I think WOTC is in many ways at the same level as many other 5e publishers like Kobold Press, EN World publishing, and others. WOTC's made some great book and some not-so-great books. They've done some great 5e design and some not-so-great 5e design.
There are also many publishers willing to try things that WOTC won't try. WOTC isn't going to put out a 600 page city sourcebook like Ptolus. They're not going to put out a 1,000 page campaign adventure like Crown of the Oathbreaker or an equally-huge high-level adventure like Torrents of the Spellhoarder. They're not going to put out the tons of awesome small black-and-white products like Raging Swan put out or the totally different slices of exploration, travel, and character origins that Cubicle 7 did with A Life Well Lived and Uncharted Journeys.
I think it's an interesting sign too when people hear me say that WOTC is about on par with other publishers as an insult to WOTC even though many of the designers at WOTC worked for other publishers and end up working for other publishers after their employment at Hasbro ends.
To get started with the work of other 5e publishers – there are types of products that slot-in more easily into our 5e games than others. This is mostly on the GM side like monster books, adventure and campaign books, campaign world sourcebooks, and books to help GMs build out their game.
I have a couple of articles on Sly Flourish with some of my favorite 5e books from several publishers:
Notable 5e Products
While we tend to focus on the new D&D material coming out of Wizards of the Coast, many 5e publishers put out tremendous products to expand our games. We're going to take a look at some of my favorite...
slyflourish.com
Top Ten Notable 5e Products for 2022
Over on the Lazy D&D Talk Show I spotlight 5e products — primarily third party products but also those published by Wizards of the Coast. Looking back, here are the top ten 5e products that caught my ...
slyflourish.com
My Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
Over 2023 I've been lucky to look at a lot of various tabletop roleplaying game products and I wanted to give you a list of my favorite five for 2023. First, I have some disclaimers. I didn't see ever...
slyflourish.com
I think it's great that you at least see the problem – that you're only looking to WOTC for your happiness with 5e and recognizing that there's more out there.
DavyGreenwind
Just some guy
I was also averse to 3rd party content, but then someone showed me Valda's Spire of Secrets from Mage Hand Press.
It's basically my 5E PHB2 now.
It's basically my 5E PHB2 now.
I was not involved in A5E in any way. I followed none of the threads on it, did no testing, gave no feedback. I did order it as soon as it was available as a purely blind purchase to support this website.
I was incredibly impressed. It added options and complexity (which can be good or bad, depending on the people you play with) but the options aren't really about power but about making a PC that you've imagined in your head. For that, I love it.
It separated species, background, and culture in a logical way. I think this is a far superior way to make a PC and something I had done almost instantly with 5e, but without the thoroughness of A5E.
A5E is also the first book that ever made humans interesting, too. Every species gets two things that makes them different (player chooses one) and humans are treated no different than any other species.
But the thing I like the best is that there is a structured method of making Exploration (and some Social) encounters actually interesting. Much of the Trials and Treasures book, where these encounters are listed, could be imported directly into any 5E game.
I've also been generally impressed with Kobold Press books and the Ptolus 5e book from Monte Cook Games.
I was incredibly impressed. It added options and complexity (which can be good or bad, depending on the people you play with) but the options aren't really about power but about making a PC that you've imagined in your head. For that, I love it.
It separated species, background, and culture in a logical way. I think this is a far superior way to make a PC and something I had done almost instantly with 5e, but without the thoroughness of A5E.
A5E is also the first book that ever made humans interesting, too. Every species gets two things that makes them different (player chooses one) and humans are treated no different than any other species.
But the thing I like the best is that there is a structured method of making Exploration (and some Social) encounters actually interesting. Much of the Trials and Treasures book, where these encounters are listed, could be imported directly into any 5E game.
I've also been generally impressed with Kobold Press books and the Ptolus 5e book from Monte Cook Games.
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Dire Bare
Legend
To be fair to WotC, this was part of the point of the OGL from the beginning. To have other publishers put out products that WotC could not or would not do, in order to grow support for the core game. It seems to be working, despite the folks within Hasbro's corporate hierarchy that are not fans of "open gaming".
The dynamics of a smaller publisher can lead them to produce products that, yes, WotC would not. Well . . . yeah. And?
I'm pretty happy with the way things are going now. WotC puts out great D&D content and so do many other publishers, more so than at any time before . . . even than during the "d20 glut" of the early 2000s. Would I be happier if WotC took more risks on the types of products they put out? Eh, sure, I guess. But I've been pretty happy with the products they have published, and I've been pretty happy with some of the more ambitious projects from smaller publishers.
And, I wouldn't even agree that WotC doesn't take a few risks with some of their products. I think Wild Beyond the Witchlight and Journeys through the Radiant Citadel are good examples of WotC pushing boundaries.
Heh, WotC certainly wouldn't put out a 600+ page city source book, but . . . I'm not sure anyone other than Monte Cook could pull that one off. I'm glad he did, that one is a classic for both 3E and 5E.
Corinnguard
Hero
I went in the opposite direction with regards to A5e. It was the first RPG that I had ever backed on Kickstarter.
I've since backed several more of its' books and bought several 3pp-related books over the years. I've also mentioned a lot about this RPG on EN World's forums over the last 3 years.So, I am a bit of an avid fan of this RPG.
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Libertad
Legend
Allow me to add some semi-hidden gems. I should note that I wrote reviews for all of these save the Eberron books, so these are some of my top choices.
Beowulf: Age of Heroes is both an innovative historical fantasy setting and an intricate sub-system for 1 on 1 play. Publisher page.
Adventurer's Guide to the Bible is a well-thought-out open world sandbox set during Jesus' ministry, where the PCs are foiling a demonic conspiracy to sabotage the Messiah. Publisher page.
The Delver's Guide to Beast World is a setting where the primary races are anthropomorphic animals, and adventurers are a recent nomadic subculture that travels the land in magitech wagons (with an entire subsystem for wagon customization) on the lookout for dimensional incursions from the Dungeon. Publisher page.
Dr. Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs is an entertaining and educational bestiary of real-world dinosaurs written by paleontologists, with an eye for how they'd plausibly live in a fantasy world but with some optional magical rules in granting them supernatural capabilities. Publisher page.
Planegea: the Star-Shaman's Song is a really cool campaign setting imagining what a typical D&D fantasy world would look like in the prehistoric era. Publisher page.
If you're an Eberron fan, Keith Baker has made some great products on the Dungeon Master's Guild. Exploring Eberron and Chronicles of Eberron are full of material expanding the setting not available in the official 5e sourcebook, and Frontiers of Eberron focuses on a Fantasy Wild West style region along the Brelish-Droaam border.
Edit: Almost forgot, I did a brief first impressions read of Frontiers of Eberron in someone else's thread. I covered everything but the adventure, so it's only mostly complete.
Beowulf: Age of Heroes is both an innovative historical fantasy setting and an intricate sub-system for 1 on 1 play. Publisher page.
Adventurer's Guide to the Bible is a well-thought-out open world sandbox set during Jesus' ministry, where the PCs are foiling a demonic conspiracy to sabotage the Messiah. Publisher page.
The Delver's Guide to Beast World is a setting where the primary races are anthropomorphic animals, and adventurers are a recent nomadic subculture that travels the land in magitech wagons (with an entire subsystem for wagon customization) on the lookout for dimensional incursions from the Dungeon. Publisher page.
Dr. Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs is an entertaining and educational bestiary of real-world dinosaurs written by paleontologists, with an eye for how they'd plausibly live in a fantasy world but with some optional magical rules in granting them supernatural capabilities. Publisher page.
Planegea: the Star-Shaman's Song is a really cool campaign setting imagining what a typical D&D fantasy world would look like in the prehistoric era. Publisher page.
If you're an Eberron fan, Keith Baker has made some great products on the Dungeon Master's Guild. Exploring Eberron and Chronicles of Eberron are full of material expanding the setting not available in the official 5e sourcebook, and Frontiers of Eberron focuses on a Fantasy Wild West style region along the Brelish-Droaam border.
Edit: Almost forgot, I did a brief first impressions read of Frontiers of Eberron in someone else's thread. I covered everything but the adventure, so it's only mostly complete.
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