[C&C, AD&D, oD&D] The best of the old stuff...

[Ron]

I[...]
But, hmm, let's try some specific questions, get the ball rolling:

1. How good were the "Van Richten" Guides for Ravenloft?
2. When did Dark Sun jump the shark?
3. If one only purchased three products for Planescape, what would they be?
4. Any good books on Hell?
5. Monster Manuals! What's in which books? Which ones were good?
[...]

I used to like sourcebooks and despise adventures. As it usually happens, my tastes have reversed with time. I have little time to read sourcebooks and adventures became handy. I still like to create my own stuff and thus I continually expand published adventures. As such, I am not really the right person to answer your questions, but I will try.

4. I found Van Ritchen's guides to be of little use (nothing you couldn't create for yourself if watched enough Hammer's movies), which is better than most sourcebooks, which I usually found to be useless.

5. Chris Pramas' Guide to Hell, to 2nd edition AD&D is pretty good.

6. The only ones I actually liked were the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manuals I & II and Fiend Folio. The latter 2nd edition monster books to Planescape weren't too bad.

 

[RFisher]

I should clarify- I don't need help running games, or creating adventures. What I'm more interested in is monsters, classes, settings, magic items, etc. Stuff, rather than guidelines.

The AD&D monster books (either edition) will give you lots of monsters. The 2e monster products go into a lot of depth. (At least one page per monster, right.) The 1e books tend to be much briefer, but still usually give you a bit of fluff for inspiration.

While the Fiend Folio has some rather useless bits, that's balanced by some classics & general weirdness (both good & bad).

The MM2 is a bit more pedestrian, but I still find it useful. It has a combined index for the 1e MM, FF, & itself. It also has some build-your-own-encounter table stuff that I've found useful.

I can't talk as much about the 2e monster books. I only had the original, & I didn't use it that much. It sounds like it could be right up your alley, though.

The classic D&D Rules Cyclopedia can be good for some different monsters & some variations on AD&D monsters.

Also, check out Dragonsfoot's monster books. & the Osric looks tempting as well.

Settings for any edition I can't really give much advice on. I've seldom used them.

For magic items, I really enjoy Mayfair's Fantastic Treasures I. I may never use anything out of it directly, but it is quite inspirational. I need to get ahold of a copy of volume II, & it's gotten me interested in their monster books. Other than that, I can't think of much else on the magic-item front.

Actually, the best thing for magic-items is to come to a forum like this & ask for ideas in a certain theme.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Well, let's see.

Here's one that's free: new classes, races, spells, etc. for C&C:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php/archive.php3?sectioninit=CC&fileid=169

2E Tome of Magic is useful for additional spells.
1E Unearthed Arcana has additional races, spells and classes you might be interested in.
2E Monstrous Compendium can be useful.
So can the 1E monster books (esp. FF and MMII -- most of the MM monsters are in C&C's Monsters & Treasure, already)
I'm partial to the 2E HR series (historical reference?) -- green books on Vikings, Celts, etc.
The 1E Lankhmar book is pretty cool, if you're into Lankhmar.
The Wilderlands setting books from Judges Guild rocks (the d20 boxed set is excellent, too)

Also, check out:
http://www.cncplayer.net/
and the list of C&C-related links found here

 

[RFisher]

DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE

Ah, yes! The 1e DMG. I should've mentioned that.

I'll take another controversial stance and say that DEITIES AND DEMIGODS is another "must have".

No controversy with me on that front. Another one I should've mentioned!

The stats for deities & heroes aren't too useful IME. The somewhat crunchy additions to the 1e system were never too useful to me either. But you get some monsters, some magic items, & some brief cultural fluff. & you can use it as a guide to deities or to inspire creating your own pantheons.

 

[DungeonMaester]

I have not played [C&C] Yet, but I am looking forward to playing 1st Ed once I get the books through snail mail from DUngeonDuelver. However, if I find my self with a shortage of players for 1st ED, then I am going to look at other options.

I also recomend Palladium Fantasy. Dispite Huming and hawing from other members about Palladium, it is AD&D with out all the matrics that seem silly and more or less arbitrary.

I think the best sellingpouint for PF is the fact that it combined all sorts of varient ideas from D&D that appread in PF ooks before they where penned into 3.5 These are things like Armor as DR, spell points, ect.

Also, it is slightly cheaper then C&C.

---Rusty

 

[Set]

For absolutely butt-kicking settings I think that the original Oriental Adventures and the Kara-Tur boxed set, and the Al-Qadim main book and Land of Fate boxed set, were the two most evocative and compelling worlds that TSR ever came out with.

Both settings were laid out in a bare bones fashion, leaving tons of wiggle room for a creative DM, and had enough regional variability throughout the settings to make room for a ton of different game-types.

A couple of the 'Complete' Handbooks also did amazing work bringing cultures to life. The Complete Viking's Handbook was quite good, and I would recommend it for a Viking / Norse style campaign. The Complete Dwarf's Handbook was just crazy good, IMO, and the other 'race' Handbooks just fell down, unable to come within a mile of that standard. (Ironic, since I never liked Dwarves, and I loved Elves. The Dwarf Handbook made Dwarves fascinating, and the Elf Handbook was cringe-inducing, and seemed written towards the twelve-year old girls at anime conventions who dress up as cats.)

 

[thedungeondelver]

I also recomend Palladium Fantasy. Dispite Huming and hawing from other members about Palladium, it is AD&D with out all the matrics that seem silly and more or less arbitrary.

You take that back right now or you're not getting a thing from me!





(Kidding! Sending it out shortly!)

 

[grodog]

I recommend picking up the Dragon Archive on CD: the first 250 issues of the magazine appear there, and it's full of more good info than you could possibly ever use, across the full spectrum of the game elements (classes, spells, magic items, monsters, settings, etc.).

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Monster book: Monsters of Myth

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

I've also found, for some reason, that I have the inexplicable urge to purchase books with nothing but magic items and/or spells in them, and the various compendiums of AD&D seem like they would scratch that itch.

Do you already have AD&D Encyclopedia Magica Vol 1? I have a pristine extra copy I'd be willing to part with for $11 (incl shipping). It is the second printing (has neither faux leather cover nor bookmark) and hence doesn't match my other copies, but is in remarkably good condition.

If you want it drop me an email at dragonlordofpoondaria (at) gmail (dot) com. Notice there is an extra letter in my email username as opposed to my enworld username.