As a DM, how open are you to allowing in or using d20 material?

[Arnwyn]

Moderate - I have an accepted list (which is, admittedly, quite long - it might be better to say that I have a list of books that I *don't* accept) and am willing to consider more. There are, though, books that are right out (eg. Quintessential x).

The other rule is that I *must* own the book before I will even consider allowing it. If I don't own the book, the answer is always "no".

 

[woodelf]

I only use D20 System stuff that is balanced and interesting. So far, that hasn't included anything from WotC. [Yes, i mean what i say: i'm running (or, rather, soon will be) a D20-based D&D game without using any WotC books, not even the PH.]

 

[jrients]

I selected Other. My first campaign used the core rules only. The new campaign I am working on is primarily Arcana Unearthed with some material from Bastion Press (Minions, Torn Asunder, possibly Airships). I may use some stuff from BESM d20 as well.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have a few rules...
1. I have to read the material before I allow it in my games
2. I will allow a good bit if I don't see a conflict with my campaign and story
3. Material can not be added on the fly
4. Material is shared freely when allowed, meaning all players have access and well as myself.

 

[PowerWordDumb]

I am open to just about anything as long as it's thematically appropriate and I like the flavour/crunch/balance aspects of it. While I may raise my eyebrows at content from certain publishers with bad reputations who shall remain nameless *cough*FastForwardGames*cough*, I'll still look at it and try to keep an open mind if it's appealing to a player.

I am not so liberal that I allow anything in unquestioned and wait for it to become a problem - I do what I can to anticipate problems down the road and be clear up front about what I know to be good (and hence allowable) and what I know to be bad (and disallowed).

I am open to adding to either list once I see the content in question and determine its usefulness. I'm also open to argument, since my readings may possibly be flawed, but you'd better make a good case if you want to change my mind.

So I voted Moderate - may consider more, NPCs will use it right back at you.

 

[nopantsyet]

I tell my players they can use anything Wotc or Malhavoc as a baseline. If they have other books they want to use, I'm usually fine with it, I just review it first to make sure it's not insane and so I know what's in my game.

 

[tburdett]

At this point we are pretty much Core Rules Only. Not by DM decree, but by lack of interest on my players part.

I used to have a wide variety of third party supplements that I allowed players to choose from, but quickly realized that none of the players were really interested in using material out of books that they did not personally own. This left me with a bunch of 'for players' material that I rarely used as the DM. That is all sold now and I am only buying d20 material that I will use regularly as the DM.

I would like to add, because it seems to be a fairly common theme, that no Mongoose Quintessential products were on my approved list.

 

[haiiro]

I voted "other."

I have a list of approved sources, which is fairly conservative. My general guideline for everything that's not on the list is "if it looks broken, it probably is." With that in mind, I'm open to anything that adds to the game. As it stands, one player (of seven) has used some d20 spells, and another is working on a custom race.

If I wouldn't allow a PC to use something for mechanical reasons -- i.e., it's just not balanced -- I won't use it for NPCs. There's certainly stuff that PCs don't have access to which I will use for NPCs, but that's done to keep the players on their toes more than anything else.

For the curious, you can see my approved list here: http://3d6.org/sources_allowed.php.