D&D General 50 years, 50 products (closed, see new thread)

[JEB]

This has been replaced with a new thread:

D&D General - 50 years, 50 products - candidates

Across the 50 years and many editions of D&D, there have been numerous products for the game. The purpose of this thread is to figure out the 50 RPG products that you, fellow forum members, see as the best and greatest ever made for D&D! I tried this before as a ranked poll, but it didn't work...

www.enworld.org

Below is historical:

Across the 50 years and many editions of D&D, there have been numerous products for the game. The purpose of this thread is to figure out the 50 products that you, fellow forum members, see as the best and greatest ever made for D&D!

Let's keep this focused on first-party (TSR or WotC) game products designed to support an edition of D&D (OD&D, Basic, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th). If you badly want to add something else I can't stop you, but that's against the spirit of the poll as far as I'm concerned.

I've set this to run for 2 weeks, then disable further replies, and we'll see where we wind up at that point. I set this for 10 competition winners (highest I could go) but I'm hoping it'll display the full 50 after it finishes (never tried this before).

You can vote or downvote as many times as you want, on as many products as you want. I'll add some products to start, but please add your own! If you do, you're encouraged to say why you think your addition is one of the greatest D&D products!

Note, while liking a post is fine, to raise it up or down the ranks you need to click the up or down arrow to the right of the product's post.

For discussion of the thread, go here.

EDIT: Also discovered, you can use the forum's search function to search this specific thread and see if a particular product has already been added.

 

[Stormonu]

Kara-Tur Campaign Setting (1E)

 

[Stormonu]

Lankhmar Campaign Boxed Set - The New Adventures of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser (2E)

 

[Stormonu]

Battlesystem (1E)

 

[Stormonu]

Battlesystem (2E)

 

[Stormonu]

Domains of Dread (2E) - This was a hardcover book of the Ravenloft Campaign setting, put out after the completion of the Grim Harvest adventure series.

 

[JEB]

Sorry, had to close the poll early due to unforeseen issues. More details here. But I will make another attempt!

 

[JEB]

Here's the new thread, with the new plan! D&D General - 50 years, 50 products - candidates

 

[AnotherGuy]

I'd love to hear the reasoning on why this particular Gazeteer over the others. Is it considered the best of the line?

Yes and I'd say by far.

• The setting alone is comprised of a large variety of cultural people each with vastly different histories and political allegiances with one another.
• There is a dark history where magical experimentation was done on specific races.
• Forbidden races, forbidden classes with different punishments for each.
• Notable NPC Undead, Lupins, Dragons and an Immortal exist within the setting.
• The capital features an immensely detailed writeup of a Venice-like setting with canals + gondolas with magic on full display in the day to day lives of the common folk
• It's a magocracy with a caste system for those with lesser skills in the art.
• Highly political setting with all the pros and cons
• Pages and pages of guilds and societies to explore and utilise
• 7 Secret Crafts of Magic that overlay the Wizard class or Elf (BECM)
• A detailed magical test in order to graduate (reminiscent of Raistlin in the Tower of High Sorcery)
• Surrounded by foreign enemy nations
• The setting boasts the Nucleus of Spheres, the Radiance etc which storyline has the ability to wipe out ALL magic in the world (i.e. affecting all gazetteers, all magical creatures etc)
• It possesses an active Immortal NPC
• It introduces a philosophy rather than a religion

...etc

There is just so much more to explore here than any of the other Gazetteers (except perhaps Alphatia/Thyatis but those boast immense land masses and people).
It's written well, fleshing out a lot of detail, dripping with love from its creator. It shows.

Honestly if you're a fan of Mystara this is a MUST get.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes and I'd say by far.

• The setting alone is comprised of a large variety of cultural people each with vastly different histories and political allegiances with one another.
• There is a dark history where magical experimentation was done on specific races.
• Forbidden races, forbidden classes with different punishments for each.
• Notable NPC Undead, Lupins, Dragons and an Immortal exist within the setting.
• The capital features an immensely detailed writeup of a Venice-like setting with canals + gondolas with magic on full display in the day to day lives of the common folk
• It's a magocracy with a caste system for those with lesser skills in the art.
• Highly political setting with all the pros and cons
• Pages and pages of guilds and societies to explore and utilise
• 7 Secret Crafts of Magic that overlay the Wizard class or Elf (BECM)
• A detailed magical test in order to graduate (reminiscent of Raistlin in the High Tower of Sorcery)
• Surrounded by foreign enemy nations
• The setting boasts the Nucleus of Spheres, the Radiance etc which storyline has the ability to wipe out ALL magic in the world (i.e. affecting all gazetteers, all magical creatures etc)
• It possesses an active Immortal NPC
• It introduces a philosophy rather than a religion

...etc

There is just so much more to explore here than any of the other Gazetteers (except perhaps Alphatia/Thyatis but those boast immense land masses and people).
It's written well, fleshing out a lot of detail, dripping with love from its creator. It shows.

Honestly if you're a fan of Mystara this is a MUST get.

If WotC ever does anything with Mystara, all of the above are why I think Glantri City (in particular) is a really good candidate. There's nothing else quite like it in their stable.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Yes and I'd say by far.

• The setting alone is comprised of a large variety of cultural people each with vastly different histories and political allegiances with one another.
• There is a dark history where magical experimentation was done on specific races.
• Forbidden races, forbidden classes with different punishments for each.
• Notable NPC Undead, Lupins, Dragons and an Immortal exist within the setting.
• The capital features an immensely detailed writeup of a Venice-like setting with canals + gondolas with magic on full display in the day to day lives of the common folk
• It's a magocracy with a caste system for those with lesser skills in the art.
• Highly political setting with all the pros and cons
• Pages and pages of guilds and societies to explore and utilise
• 7 Secret Crafts of Magic that overlay the Wizard class or Elf (BECM)
• A detailed magical test in order to graduate (reminiscent of Raistlin in the Tower of High Sorcery)
• Surrounded by foreign enemy nations
• The setting boasts the Nucleus of Spheres, the Radiance etc which storyline has the ability to wipe out ALL magic in the world (i.e. affecting all gazetteers, all magical creatures etc)
• It possesses an active Immortal NPC
• It introduces a philosophy rather than a religion

...etc

There is just so much more to explore here than any of the other Gazetteers (except perhaps Alphatia/Thyatis but those boast immense land masses and people).
It's written well, fleshing out a lot of detail, dripping with love from its creator. It shows.

Honestly if you're a fan of Mystara this is a MUST get.

Awesome, thank you for all the details! I've always had a soft spot for Mystara and have hand me down versions of some of the Gazeteers but not this one, I will definitely add it to my list! Thank you and @Whizbang Dustyboots for the recommendation!