Are Any Pre-4e Books Essential Reading?

[Greg K]

1e
- DMG
- Unearthed Arcana (just the little bit of the Barbarian that gives you the info about the various barbarian tribes and clans of Greyhawk)
- T1: Village of Hommlet
- I6: Ravenloft
- Witches (Mayfair Games)
- various issues of Dragon
- Dark Sun


2e
- Complete Thief's Handbook
- the Forgotten Realms deity books (there is one to avoid, but I don't recall which)
- Al Quadim: Land of Fate
- Darksun
- Kara Tur
- Ravenloft: Realm of Terror
- World Builder's Guide

3e (Lots of good stuff. Just a few).
- Shaman's Handbook (Green Ronin)
- Witch's Handbook (Green Ronin)
- Book of the Righteous (Green Ronin)
- Experts 3.5 (Skirmisher Publishing)
- Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (Expeditious Retreat)
- Medieval Player's Manual (Green Ronin)
- Noble Steeds (Avalanche)

 

[Greg K]

Here is my list of Dragon magazine articles
67 Greyhawk Deities
68 Greyhawk Deites (Celestian, Farlanghn,Ehlonna, Pholzus, Tritheron)
69 Greyhawk Deities (Istus, Obad-hai)
70 Greyhawk Deities (Boccob, zagyg, Oldimarra)
71 Greyhawks World (Heward, Keoghtom,Murlyand, Kelanen)
--- Greyhawk Deities (Erythnul, Incubalos, Nerull, Ralishaz, Wastri)

58 Dwarves
59 Halflings Point of View;
60 Elves Point of View;
61 Gnomes Point of View;
62 Half-orcs/orcs Point of View;
63 Humanoids
--- "Plan before you Play" by Ed Greenwood
65 "Law of the Land" by Ed Greenwood
66 Thieve's Cant
68 Weather in Greyhawk
---Thrills and Chills
72 The Real Barbarians by Katherine Kerr
73 Non Violent Magic Itemsby Lewis Pulsipher and Roland Getliffe
75 Beyond the Rule Book by Lew Pulsipher
---- Nine Hells Part 1 by Ed Greenwood
---- All games Need Names by Katherine Kerr
76 Nine Hells Part 2 by Ed Greenwood
79 The Fights of Fantasy Lew Pulsipher
80 Who Lives in that Castle Katherine Kerr
84 Never the same thing Twice: Scott Bennie
-A cast of strange Familiars by Stephen Inniss
85 Clerics must be deity-bound Frazer Sherman
87 Beyond the Dungeon by Katherine Kerr
88 Beyond the Dungeon part 2 by Katherine Kerr
91 Eight Devilish Questions by Ed Greenwood
91 Nine Hells Revisited by Ed Greenwood
93 The Making of a Milieu by Arthur Collins
94 An army travels on its stomach by Katherine Kerr
96 What good PCs are made of by Katherine Kerr
97 Blueprints for a Big Game by Jim Dutton
98 Detailing a Fanasty World by Jim Dutton
----Creative Magic Items
99 That's Life in the Big city by Kevin Anderson and Kristine Thompson
102 Creating a Cast of NPCs by Jim Dutton
104 The Well Rounded Thief by John C. Bunnel
-Race is ahead of Class by John C. Bunnel
-Was it Worth the Risk by Bruce Barber
105 The Well Equipped Victim by Ed Greenwood
-Travel works Both Ways by Paul Vernon
108 The role of Nature by Bruce Humphrey
109 Locals aren't all Yokels by Ralph Sizer
111 Welcom to Malachi by Becky Helfenstein
112 Armor Piece by Piece by Matt Bandy
115 Lords of the Night by Eric Oppen
A Den of Thieves by Vince Garcia
The Art of Climbing Walls by Vince Garcia
Honor Among Thieves by Eric Oppen and Robin Jenkins
117 Fun without Fighting by Scott Bennie
118 Surely, You Joust! by Leonard Carpenter
-On Target by Leonard Carpenter
119 Underestimating the Druid by Carl Sargent
122 Marshalling the Martial Arts by Wayne Goldsmith and Dan Salas
123 Just Making Time by Roger Moore
133 Notice Anything Different by Thomas Ruddick
148 Tracking down the Barbarian by David Howery
---- Corrected Cavalier by David Howery
164
167 Curses are Divine
171 Completing the Complete fighter by David Howery
175 Creative Campaigns: A New Recipe by Tim Schroeder
-Inventing the "Instant Adventure" by Arthur Collins
176 Servants of the Seldarine
177 Defenders of the Hearth
178 What not to Include by Arthur Collins
184 The 7-Sentence NPC by C.M. Cline
189 The Dark Continent by David Howery
- Arms and Armor of Africa by Michael J. Varhola
-The other Orientals by Tom Griffith
-Completing the Complete Bard by Jon Winter
191 Open your MInd by Michael John Wybo II
-The Elven Pantheoen Completed by Carl Sargent
-An African Genesis by Brady English
196 Magic From the Gods: Wizard kits for an African Campaign by Michael John Wybo II
200 Familiar Faces by David Howery
-The Even More Complete Psionicist by Jon Winter
202: Mythic Races of Africa by Michael John Wybo II
205 The People by David Howery
208 Right from the Start by Eric Noah
209 The Priests of Africa by Michael John Wybo II
210 Primitive Weaponry
214 The Complete Half Elf
-Lost Empires: Add and Atlantis to your Campaign's Background by David Howery
215 The Deities of Africa by Michael John Wybo II
216 The Auld Alliance by Arthur Collins


Demonomicon of Iggwilv
329 Pazuzu
333 Fraz Urbluu
337 Zuggtomy
341 Baphomet
345 Kostctchie
349 Dagon
353 Malcanthet
357 Demogorgon
359 Apocrypha
360* Graz’zt

Core Beliefs
338 Boccob
342 Oldimarra
346 Pelor
348 Vecna
350 Wee Jas
354 Heironeous
356 Hextor
358 St. Cuthbert

Edit: Any dungeoncraft articles by Ray Winninger in Dragon

 

[Shemeska]

Well, I'm not an old-timer by any means. I'm younger than any member of WotC's 4e team. But here's my advice nonetheless.

If you play any 4e setting that existed prior to 4e, then absolutely yes, you would be well served to read the background material from previous editions, because it's often more in depth and gives you a richer view of the world. The 3e Ebberon material, some of the 3e FR material and absolutely the 2e FR material, the 2e Dark Sun material, the 2e Ravenloft material, and the 2e Planescape material.

Also, in many cases 4e gives little depth and description to various things, often monsters, but benefits by the fact that they've appeared in prior editions, so many players will already know a lot of background even if those details are absent in 4e. 4e benefits from its predecessors in a truly massive way, and so if you aren't personally familiar with a lot of monster ecology details and history from prior editions, you will seriously appreciate those books. A lot of 2e books, "Faces of Evil: The Fiends", "I, Tyrant", "The Sea Devils" and "The Illithiad", plus the 3.5 Fiendish Codex I are amazingly well done.

 

[Greg K]

plus the 3.5 Fiendish Codex .

can't believe I left this off my list

 

[Gilladian]

I do recommend the first edition DMG; it has sooo many neat little tidbits of DMing advice, tables, random ideas, etc....

Some of the old monster manuals are fun to browse through. Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and Wilderness Survival Guide were also books I really USED a lot in 2nd ed days. They gave me tons of world-building and adventure-building cues.

Some of my favorite modules were the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (U series) adventures. The first and second were the best.

Finally, the two campaign mastery article series in Dragon. I remember them as being very creative and inspiring.

Finally, just read a lot of fantasy. Early fantasy, such as the list of authors/titles from the 1e DMG will all inspire you.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Fourth edition is the only edition I've ever played, and I'm having a blast. Reading these forums however really brings home the fact that DnD has had a long history of publications. Are any of these books so good that they are essential reading even today? Hey old-timers, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Essential for you to have fun playing? No. Essential for you to understand more about the evolution of the hobby, where it all started and how the game has been presented and played over the years? Yes.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Fourth edition is the only edition I've ever played, and I'm having a blast. Reading these forums however really brings home the fact that DnD has had a long history of publications. Are any of these books so good that they are essential reading even today? Hey old-timers, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I've a lot of fun with D&D 3E and 4E. I didn't need to read any older books for that. So I don't think you'll need anything of that, either, if it's just for your game experience.

IF you want to engage in some discussions, it can be helpful. But I still haven't read any D&D book that appeared before D&D 3E, and I don't seem to miss anything for my own games. Reading EN World or similar forums can get you most of the information anyway, and you get also the results of the actual experience of using the information, instead of merely reading it. You'll see a lot of diversity resulting in this experience and "interpretation" of it only by engaging or at least following such discussions. A lot of it can give you good pointers for your own game. But I remain unconvinced that the books itself will do the job.

 

[bagger245]

Monstrous Manual, the 2nd ed bestiary. It's a good read.

Also, Basic D&D. Careful, you might drop 4e for it

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

2e
...
- the Forgotten Realms deity books (there is one to avoid, but I don't recall which)

IIRC Faiths & Avatars was good. Can't remember the other one, though.

 

[meomwt]

If you can, get hold of a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia.

That's a compilation rule-set for the Basic D&D Game. There's some stuff there which might work well in 4e (Mass Combat and Weapon Mastery, for example) which haven't really been moved out into the 3.xe or 4e rules.

Just ignore the "Dwarves as Character Class" bit, that's so Basic Edition