Books you DO like.

[d12]

With all this talk about liking/not liking the ELH I thought I'd ask everyone which books they like most and why. My answers:

Forgotten Realm Campaign Setting - its so chock full of goody goodness that I couldn't NOT set my campaign there in spite of myself. Pretty map. When PC's decide to go "that way" you have details of what city x is like and some idea for an adventure. Lots of gods. Cool domains. If your party advances to 15th level they are no where near the most powerful people around. My player love playing deep gnomes, wood elves andwild elves.

Masters of the Wild - got more mileage out of this than any other PHB supplement COMBINED.

chime in. please name non-wotc books too.

 

[alsih2o]

stronghold builders guidebook...now i can make sense of how much to build what and what good is an epic level character without a cool treehouse/pit/castle/fort/swimming bachelor pad?

 

[Psion]

ELH -- didn't say I didn't like it (despite some protestations). Just think it could use more sparkle.

Tome & Blood
Masters of the Wild

arguably the best classbooks.

Manual of the Planes -- I get tons of ideas from this one!

Non-WotC books:

Wild Spellcraft -- I have always been partial to wild magic, and his version plays right in to my "ley line" magic (in fact, I have wondered if the "opening the floodgates" paragraph sprang from a conversation I had with Ryan.)

Relics & Rituals -- Lots of great spells with great campaign ideas embedded in them, Rituals that likewise just ask to have adventures built around them.

Legions of Hell -- Also loaded with campaign ideas.

Book of Eldritch Might -- Cool classes, cool magic stuff

 

[Quickbeam]

KoK Player's Guide
Masters of the Wild
Relics & Rituals

to name just a few...

Note -- will have to check out Wild Spellcraft as referenced by Psion. Sounds like it's right up my alley .

 

[Samurai]

Recent books I liked:

Silver Age Sentinels: Combines the versatility of Hero5th with the ease of play of BESM2. The characters and background are above par, and the book is full of great full-color art, especially the fake covers of comics staring the pregen characters. Easily the best superhero game in a while (ok, since Godlike...)

Children of the Sun: An interesting world and system with a great magic system and pulp-era technology. The rules are a mix of Eartdawn, Deadlands, and more, and the whole thing is incredibly flexible. You create your own unique magic items, spirits, undead, etc using the extensive guidelines and examples. Lots of unique possibilities!

 

[CRG]

Core books get alot of use.

Even though I didn't like the King/Queen of the wild and similar prestige classes, I agree with Masters of the Wild. That one gets ALOT of use.

The other aids get spotty use, mostly just for prestige classes, feats and spells.

I WILL check out Wild Spellcraft. AND the Sovreign Stone magic codex book thingy.

 

[Crothian]

The whole Quintessential series: These books offer new rules and new insights into the classes and races they cover. You can truely go into great amount of depth and detail into any character.

Spells and Spellcraft/ Occult Lore: I group these two together because they offer great ideas and options for magic. I was very impressed with both books.

 

[RangerWickett]

• T&B - Compared to what I made up about it, it was really good.
• MotW - Nifty prestige classes here and there (the blighter is great), a few cool spells. Overall, nice, despite the dumbed-down pandering to D&D cliches.
• MotP - If nothing else, it made me consider how the standard D&D cosmology affects the spells you can make and use. I've subconsciously devised my own cosmology, and am working toward making magic fit properly.
• Oriental Adventures - This is pretty much what I think a setting sourcebook should be like, though I would've preferred if they had included a little more on traditional Oriental myths and legends, to better render the world. They could've easily taken out the re-printing of the PHB classes and used the 2 or 3 pages to better detail traditions in Asia. Still, a very flavorful book, and flavor is what I love.
• Wild Spellcraft - Well, let's say I have a soft spot in my heart for this one.

I'm still waiting for a book on Gnomes. I won't buy Dwarves or Elves or Orcs, but Gnomes might pique my interest.

 

[Desdichado]

So far I think my favorite non-core supplements have been Manual of the Planes just because it inspired me with so many ideas that I can't possibly contain them all in even half a dozen campaign settings and Oriental Adventures because I like to mix up some of that stuff with PHB material to make a different feeling campaign setting every so often.

 

[Balsamic Dragon]

Core PH, DMG and MM: These are the best and get more use than anything else.

Other stuff:

FRCS, Faiths and Pantheons, Lords of Darkness: These are awesome and I am a new FR convert

The Sunless Citidel: I hooked more people on 3E with this module than I can count! I've run it about 5 times now, that's unprecedented use out of a module. The new Keep on the Borderlands

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil: Nearly at 30 sessions, this is my current campaign. Lengthy and deadly but a great dungeon crawl, this will become the new Classic Adventure for 3E.

Those are my favorite purchases so far.

New product that I expect will join the list: E-Tools.

Balsamic Dragon