D&D General 50 years, 50 publications - results

That's a truly excellent Top Ten.

CleverNickName said:

That's a truly excellent Top Ten.

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Yeah, hard to quibble with the top 10, although it would have been nice if Planescape had gotten one more vote, so that it wouldn't have been a tie for 10th place.

Yet more random comments:

• Just realized that Holmes Basic didn't make it into the top 50. In fact, it's the lowest-scoring initial rulebook, at 6 votes (the 3.5 and 4e PHBs are the next-lowest with 7 each).
• The highest-scoring general sourcebook (as opposed to core rulebook, introductory product, adventure, or setting) was the 1e Fiend Folio. (Which suits me just fine.) Followed by 1e's Deities & Demigods, and 5e's Xanathar's Guide.
• The 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set was the only version of the setting to make it into the top 50, beating the 1980 version (7 votes) and thoroughly trouncing Greyhawk Adventures (2) and Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (0!).
• Considering the strong 1e presence throughout, it's interesting that the top settings originated in 2e (Planescape, Dark Sun, and Al-Qadim) rather than 1e (Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk). Doubly so in the case of the Realms, which has been consistently popular since. A compliment to 2e's focus on settings, perhaps?
• Eberron is the only setting represented twice in the top 50 (both its 3.5 and 5e incarnations made it). Its 5e incarnation is pretty close behind the original, in fact.
• Like the PHB, the 3.5 and 4e DMGs didn't make the top 50. However, the 4e DMG scored better (7 votes vs. 3.5's 5 votes).

JEB said:

Yet more random comments:

• Just realized that Holmes Basic didn't make it into the top 50. In fact, it's the lowest-scoring initial rulebook, at 6 votes (the 3.5 and 4e PHBs are the next-lowest with 7 each).
• The highest-scoring general sourcebook (as opposed to core rulebook, introductory product, adventure, or setting) was the 1e Fiend Folio. (Which suits me just fine.) Followed by 1e's Deities & Demigods, and 5e's Xanathar's Guide.
• The 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set was the only version of the setting to make it into the top 50, beating the 1980 version (7 votes) and thoroughly trouncing Greyhawk Adventures (2) and Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (0!).
• Considering the strong 1e presence throughout, it's interesting that the top settings originated in 2e (Planescape, Dark Sun, and Al-Qadim) rather than 1e (Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk). Doubly so in the case of the Realms, which has been consistently popular since. A compliment to 2e's focus on settings, perhaps?
• Eberron is the only setting represented twice in the top 50 (both its 3.5 and 5e incarnations made it). Its 5e incarnation is pretty close behind the original, in fact.
• Like the PHB, the 3.5 and 4e DMGs didn't make the top 50. However, the 4e DMG scored better (7 votes vs. 3.5's 5 votes).

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yeah I was kinda suprised how badly 3,5e did, it seems the backlash against it is a lot more ingrained than I thought - it least amongst ENWorld voters

and yeah 2e had some great setting development, 1e and Basic claim the Adventure modules

and Holmes not getting in might just be an age thing, a quirk of the voter demographics

Holmes basic was mostly a (lightly) cleaned up OD&D rules. It's nowhere good as any subsequent rulesets. All it really has gone for it, IMO, is that it's some folks' first ruleset. I don't think it had much value beyond that.

Re the S-series modules:

S1 - Tomb of Horror. Reaction: I wanna live! No! Observation: It also has a number of plot-holes and mistakes in the original lay-out. And it isn't even close to be being a fair-but-deadly dungeon. It also isn't all that campaign-play friendly.

S2 - White Plume Mountain. Reaction: Gimme that loot! Observation: This is Three-Modules-In-A-Trenchcoat.

S3 - Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Reaction: Laserguns in D&D! Observation: This is surprisingly easy to incorporate into campaign play. But it lacks a climactic battle. Wandering around spaceship halls is cool though.

S4 - Caverns of Ts.... Reaction: Oh, so THIS is what an actual high-level (for 1e that is) dungeon looks like. Observation: Well-constructed, interesting battles, it still holds up as a very solid module. Maybe not super-fancy. But still a masterpiece.

Quite a varied collection here. I'm going to guess that nostalgia played a role in some of the responses. Surprised the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (3e) didn't make the list.

JEB said:

More thoughts later, but what do you think ? (Curious how folks feel about the ones that didn't make it to the top 50, as well...)

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I think rules books are products of their times. If you want to rank them by PLAYSTYLE then 1e wins for me too. If you want to rank by CLARITY then it doesn't come close.

Modules are another matter. I like Ravenloft but it would never be my #1. It's too alien. For me maybe the D1-2 module is my favorite. If not it is definitely B2 Keep on the Borderland. Ravenloft though makes my top 5 for sure. I will say that the 1e module runs would dominate any list I make.

Seems like there is some serious nostalgia and likely demographic bias in these results.

The 1E core books are iconic, but they are borderline impossible to use solely by themselves and without lots of years of context or prior knowledge of OD&D and or B/X which was the case for a lot of people when they were released.

I also love Planescape, but it likewise was borderline unplayable solely with the campaign setting boxed set. You pretty much have to have the three other boxes and a few splats to really get it to work. It does really establish the flavor and feel extremely well.

The omission of OA is probably also one that is likely due to bias. The setting aspect of it and the problematic nature in a modern sense of it overshadowed what it did as a development of the game which is still in use today, particularly a skills system among other things.

The 2E Monstrous Manual should have been the top monster book.

Notable missing items, the three deities books for the 2E Forgotten Realms.

PHATsakk43 said:

The 1E core books are iconic, but they are borderline impossible to use solely by themselves and without lots of years of context or prior knowledge of OD&D and or B/X which was the case for a lot of people when they were released.

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Maybe I am smarter than the average bear but I pretty much as a teenager started DMing with 1e. I played briefly in a basic set campaign for all of two or three sessions max. Then someone told me about AD&D and I was playing that game.
I remember being out of money and still needing the monster manual. I told my dad I would swim three lengths of our 44 foot long pool underwater without taking a breath. He said I couldn't. I said will you buy me a monster manual if I do it. He said yes. I did it. I nearly drowned too but I did it!