D&D 4E 4E: Recommended Books

[bert1001 fka bert1000]

Have you been directed to the 4e discord server for utility wear? like Character Builders and VTT support tools?

Agree here as 4e player option books are not good reads per se. They are reference manuals and you don't really need them if you have access to the character builder and other tools.

So physical copy wise I would start with:

PH, PH2 just so you get how classes are laid out. You can get the other class features and class powers from the characer builder/databases

Neverwinter Campaign -- so you can see how themes can be incorporated and the flexibility of 4e to squeeze a full campiagn into 1-10 levels

MV, Threats of Nentir, and Dark Sun Creature Catalouge to inspire good monster building (the rest can be gotten from the database)

If you want more:

DMG, DMG 2 - two of the best DMGs

especially the later lore books were a huge strength of 4e -- planes above, planes below, underdark were particularly good

 

[Garthanos]

especially the later lore books were a huge strength of 4e -- planes above, planes below, underdark were particularly good

The Heroes of the Fae Wild which is post essentials, is also very readable and a beautiful book for ones collection
but yes the two DMGs are great material for Learning to DM with (or game master other games as well)

 

[MoutonRustique(Real)]

I think the 4e version goes from 1st-30th...

But it is by far the best adventure for 4e. It is the only adventure that leaned heavily into the structure that 4e works best with -- single story relavent dynamic set piece combats on large maps in between lots of role playing, investigation, moving locations, etc.

In Zeigeist there is rarely more than one combat in a row without some plot movement. Even the good 4e adventuers by WoTc that people mention jam way too many combat enounters together for 4e IMO.

That said, 4e is very very condusive to homebrew given its encounter building tools.

Even if you don't like the adventure itself (which you could for 'choice of theme'-reasons), I would still recommend them - they are a masterclass into creating 4e adventures.

If you contrast and compare them to something along the lines of H1 (or even one of the good 4e adventures), you can glean what makes for awesome 4e adventure/campaign design.

Without hesitation, I state that it is an excellent guide/example of awesome 4e adventure/campaign design.

Chose a 'story'/situation, apply the principals/methods used in Zeitgeist and your whole gaming group will be well served indeed.

 

[jeffh]

I'd say the most important things to get in book form are any lore-heavy ones you want to use. Most of the key mechanical resources are electronic.

You want the Character Builder with the latest CBLoader patch; links can be found on the 4E subreddit, though Discord is where the real 4E action mostly is these days. You want the offline version of the Compendium, and Masterplan sure as heck doesn't hurt either.

That said, I'd get the Rules Compendium for sure, and at least one of the player option heavy books just to get a feel for what they're like. (ETA: Bear in mind that most player-oriented books have been errata-ed half to death, though! This is one reason to get the electronic tools.) Even running an online game, it's handy to have the Rules Compendium in easy reach at all times. Both DMGs and, as mentioned, any lore-heavy books you might want to use would be the next most useful things to have in print form.

Adventure-wise, most of the good things said about both Zeitgeist and Gardmore Abbey so far are true. I'm running both with different but overlapping groups. They're vastly different, with Zeitgeist being much more story-oriented (in the 4E version, nearly every combat is a custom-built set piece and most are tied into the story in some way), while Gardmore has the feel of playing a computer game in the Baldur's Gate or Pillars of Eternity mold with its focus on traditional-ish D&D action and its large number of interlocking quests that can mostly be done in nearly any order.

 

[Tallifer]

As I say regarding Doctor Who (all the television episodes, comics, novels, web thingies, gum wrappers and radio plays), everythijg is canon. If you have the money, buy it all. Or check out the <ahem> available web resources which package it all: the roll20/discord 4E community has done an amazing job collating and rationalizing all the bits and bobs and powercreep.