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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JEB" data-source="post: 9475445" data-attributes="member: 10148"><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/50-years-50-publications-the-poll.706975/" target="_blank">The poll is finished!</a> Here are the 50 best first-party RPG publications ever made for D&D, according to voters on ENWorld!<table style='width: 100%'><tr><td>Rank (count)</td><td>Publication</td><td>Votes</td></tr><tr><td>1st (1-2)</td><td>Players Handbook (1e) Dungeon Masters Guide (1e)</td><td>28 (52.8%)</td></tr><tr><td>2nd (3-5)</td><td>Monster Manual (1e) I6: Ravenloft (1e) Player's Handbook (5e, 2014)</td><td>23 (43.4%)</td></tr><tr><td>3rd (6)</td><td>B2: The Keep on the Borderlands (Basic D&D)</td><td>22 (41.5%)</td></tr><tr><td>4th (7-8)</td><td>X1: The Isle of Dread (Basic D&D) Player's Handbook (2e)</td><td>20 (37.7%)</td></tr><tr><td>5th (9)</td><td>D&D Basic Rules (Mentzer, 1983, BECMI)</td><td>19 (35.8%)</td></tr><tr><td>6th (10-11)</td><td>D&D Rules Cyclopedia (Basic D&D) Planescape Campaign Setting (2e)</td><td>17 (32.1%)</td></tr><tr><td>7th (12-14)</td><td>D&D Basic Set (Moldvay, 1981, B/X) Fiend Folio (1e) D&D Starter Set (Lost Mine of Phandelver) (5e)</td><td>16 (30.2%)</td></tr><tr><td>8th (15)</td><td>Monstrous Manual (2e)</td><td>15 (28.30%)</td></tr><tr><td>9th (16-19)</td><td>B4: The Lost City (Basic D&D) Deities & Demigods (1e) Player's Handbook (3e, 3.0) Monster Manual (5e)</td><td>14 (26.4%)</td></tr><tr><td>10th (20-21)</td><td>T1: The Village of Hommlet (1e) Dark Sun Boxed Set (2e)</td><td>13 (24.5%)</td></tr><tr><td>11th (22-26)</td><td>D&D Expert Set (Cook, 1981, B/X) U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (1e) Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (2e) Curse of Strahd (5e) Xanathar's Guide to Everything (5e)</td><td>12 (22.6%)</td></tr><tr><td>12th (27-30)</td><td>D&D Expert Rules (Mentzer, 1983, BECMI) S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e) Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1e) Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (5e)</td><td>11 (20.8%)</td></tr><tr><td>13th (31-38)</td><td>Dungeons & Dragons (original boxed set, 1974) G1-2-3: Against the Giants (1e) Oriental Adventures (1e) World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1e, 1983) Dragonlance: Dragons of Despair (1e, DL1) Dungeon Master Guide (2e) Eberron Campaign Setting (3e) Player's Handbook (5e, Revised, 2024)</td><td>10 (18.9%)</td></tr><tr><td>14th (39-48)</td><td>D1-2: Descent Into the Depths of the Earth (1e) N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God (1e) S1: Tomb of Horrors (1e) S2: White Plume Mountain (1e) S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1e) Manual of the Planes (1e) Encyclopedia Magica, Volumes 1-4 (2e) Dungeon Master's Guide (5e) Ghosts of Saltmarsh (5e) Eberron: Rising from the Last War (5e)</td><td>9 (17.0%)</td></tr><tr><td>15th (49-59)</td><td>X2: Castle Amber (Basic D&D) D&D Gazetteer: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos (Basic D&D) WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1e) Tome of Magic (2e) Ravenloft: Domains of Dread (2e, 1997) Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space (2e) Dungeon Master's Guide (3e, 3.0) The Forge of Fury (3e) The Sunless Citadel (3e) Monster Vault (4e, Essentials) Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (4e)</td><td>8 (15.1%)</td></tr></table>As you may have noticed, there are 59 publications in the table above, not 50 - that's because of all the ties. You can freely assume the two publications at the 15th rank you like best were #49 and #50...Some general observations:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A majority of voters apparently considered the 1e core rulebooks the best ones produced for the game. (The 2014 5e core rulebook did make it into the top five, though!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A plurality also consider the original I6 Ravenloft the best adventure produced for the game. (Although B2 Keep on the Borderlands was close behind.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The "red box" is the highest-ranked introductory product, and the highest-ranked version of the Basic rules. Though I didn't expect Moldvay and especially the Rules Cyclopedia to get so close to beating it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Planescape was the highest-ranked campaign setting, in its 2e incarnation. And it beat Dark Sun, the Realms, and even Greyhawk!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The original boxed set scored surprisingly low (though it did get a lot of late votes!).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Domains of Dread is apparently considered the best of the three Ravenloft setting books.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">4e only maybe made it into the top 50. I was hoping for a more secure foothold.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Going to be honest, I did not expect any version of Oriental Adventures to make it into the top 50.</li> </ul>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...)</blockquote>

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