Books you get a suprising amount of use from

[Phoenix_Knightwind]

Okay, the opposite of this thread has been going for 5 pages now. So how about some praise for a change.

Which books (besides the obvious 3) do you get a suprising amount of use from?

Mine include:
R&R 1
CC Revised
Spells and Magic
Book of All Spells and The Ultimate Arcane Spellbook
Mercenaries from AEG
BOEM

 

[diaglo]

The obvious 3 being: Booklet I Men & Magic, Booklet II Monsters & Treasure, and Booklet III Underworld & Wilderness Adventures


besides them. i get a ton of use out of the Chainmail by Gygax and Perren, Reference Sheets, Supplement I Greyhawk, Supplement II Blackmoor, Supplement III Eldritch Wizardry, and Supplement IV Gods, Demigods, and Heroes

with the occassional Spells & Swords thrown in

 

[Desdichado]

Hmmm, I don't know that I'm surprised to get use out of a book; after all, that's what I buy it for. Typically I buy books that I want for a specific reason.

That said, I guess I'd nominate Draconomicon. I expected to just have it as a "coffee table book" so to speak, and instead have found that I really like it and can see myself using material from it in the future. Not that I'm running any campaigns that feature dragons at the moment, though...

 

[shadowlight]

I'd definitely say the Star Wars: Galactic Campaign Guide. This is just a great tool for DMs to have next to them at the table for any RPG they happen to be running. I've used this a ton for D&D (and I actually haven't had a chance to use it with SW yet... weird).

 

[Arnwyn]

Hmmm, I don't know that I'm surprised to get use out of a book; after all, that's what I buy it for. Typically I buy books that I want for a specific reason.

Bingo. The first thing I though was "a surprising amount of use from?" Uh, none.

Thinking about it, though, I guess it's probably the Psionics Handbook. Since I've converted all the Dark Sun monsters to 3e and the PCs are in the desert now, I've pulled this book out a lot more than I thought I would...

 

[BiggusGeekus]

BOEM

For one brief, glistening moment, I thought you meant BoEF

 

[Mach2.5]

Cry Havok. Planned out a good sized war for Dark Sun and figured that would be the end of it . . . dang PCs now have a mercenary style company going and we're doing skirmish battles every few sessions.

Encyclopaedia Arcane: Elementalism. Figured I could snag an idea or two for Dark Sun. Ended up snagging most of the whole book.

Pale Designs: A Poisoner's Handbook. Used poisons once or twice before I got this one. Now . . . well, there's been many a character sheet turned in since I got this.

I'm sure there's a few others I'm neglecting. I buy far more books than I'll ever use so some purchases I thoroughly expect to collect dust so it does surprise me when I'm pulling a book of the shelves more often than I planned.

 

[dagger]

Books I dont DM without are:

WOTC:
FRCS
Faiths and Pantheons
Lords of Darkness - I love this book
Monsters of Faerun

d20:
Hammer and Helm
Bad Axe Games race books


I also use a lot of old TSR source material, especially FR products.

 

[tetsujin28]

The Penguin Atlas of Medieval Europe

 

[AlphaOmega]

Which books (besides the obvious 3) do you get a suprising amount of use from?

Let's see... The herobuild... no that's not it... I've used Savage Species alot more than I initally thought. You can also add a number of PDFs that I've gone back and got use outta after thinking, "I'll never get to use these; why did I buy them again."