D&D 5E Classic Products from the Last 17 Years

[Sammael]

Campaign Setting: FRCS - perhaps the best-written and presented campaign setting of all times

System-agnostic: Grand History of the Realms, Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms

Other highly recommended FR books, regardless of your edition of choice: Lords of Darkness, Lost Empires of Faerûn, Power of Faerûn, Magic of Faerûn (to mine for magic concepts, not mechanics)

Other books I'd recommend to people regardless of edition and setting preference: Manual of the Planes, Serpent Kingdoms (can be ported to almost any setting), Lords of Madness, Fiendish Codex I & II, Monsters of Faerûn (wealth of monster lore)

Adventures: Sunless Citadel, Red Hand of Doom

Avoid like the plague: Deities & Demigods, Planar Handbook

 

[Shardstone]

Curse of Strahd.

 

[Stormdale]

Only two adventures really stand out to me in the past 15 or so years which I've run multiple times are both by Necormancer Games:
Tomb of Abysthor
Rappan Athuk

Would back the 3e FRCS as a great resource for those wanting to run the realms but I still use the '87(?) Grey Box.

Stormdale

 

[pkt77242]

I've heard a lot of good things about 4e Reavers of Harkenwold, although I've never played it myself.

I have heard the same thing as well. I wish I could buy it on DTRPG separate from the Essentials DM Kit.

 

[JeffB]

Secrets of Xendrik. Usable for any campaign setting (or system). Big toolkit. Love it.

3.0 Manual of the Planes. I'm not a fan of the post gygax great wheel, but this is the solid no muss no fuss version without all the PS baggage.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set- no explanation needed.

Hammerfast and Vor-Rukoth. I really wish WOTC would produce more adventure material like this instead of the :cough: they are doing now.

Cairn of the Winter King- it may not be all that groundbreaking/creative, but we had so much much much fun with it.

Threats to the Nentir Vale- yes, more of this kind of monster material, please.

Reavers of Harkenwold-very nice departure from typical low level adventures- 4e or otherwise.

Elminster/Greenwood's guide to the FR. Best thing since the OGB.

Lost Mines of Phandelver- some warts but another great approach like Reavers. Best thing yet for 5e, and will have the commonality of play like KotB and TSC. We really enjoyed this.

 

[hawkeyefan]

What are the generic and setting neutral books that a new collector should seek out?

I think from the 3E era, both Savage Species and the Epic Level Handbook were both really good. The two Fiendish Codexes were also excellent and I still reference them at times.

What books would you direct someone who is returning to the hobbey after 20 or 30 years away?

It depends on what I thought they were looking for, but generally I think 5E products are thee way to go for lapsed players. I'd point them at the Starter Set and call it a day.

What are the best campaign setting books?

Ptolus, far and away.

I think the 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is one of the best setting books ever. I still use it frequently for any and all of my Realms needs.

And my favorite book by Paizo for Pathfinder is the Inner Sea World Guide. Another solid example of setting guide.

What are the best adventures?

Many have already been mentioned...Maure Castle is a great old school dungeon. Return to the Twmple of Elwmental Evil is just the right mix of nostalgia and new. Red Hand of Doom is an epic war campaign. I also liked Rise of the Runelords and the Kingmaker adventure path from Paizo, although I did not finish either one.

 

[Prakriti]

City of Splendors -- the Waterdeep source-book from 3rd Edition -- is one of the few books from previous editions that I've used extensively in my campaigns.

Also the Daggerford source-book from The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier (2nd Edition).

Both are excellent resources if you plan to run a campaign in the Sword Coast North.

 

[Ancalagon]

The two books that immediately stand out to me are:

Dark•Matter, an "x-file ish" campaign setting for the Alternity ruleset. This book is *excellent*. I never ran it sadly, but it's so well put together, so full of ideas and *so fun to read* that I still consider it money extremely well spent.

Yoon-Suin, another campaign setting that was so great I had to write a review about it! (see <--- )


I concur that the 3rd ed Forgotten Realm setting book was a very nice product.

It's interesting that Manual of the Planes (3.0) is being considered as a great book (I thought it was) but that the 3.5 version is seen as very poor... I don't have that one... what changed?

 

[ScaleyBob]

4E had some great stuff, some good stuff, and some awful stuff. My picks for best are:

The Monster Vault - far. far better than 4Es Monster Manual, has a lot of the classics and a good lot of background stuff to go with it and tokens for every monster in the book. This is great for starting player's without many figures. The second Monster Vault is also pretty good.
The Essentials DM's Kit. Brilliant Adventure, and brilliant book. 4E had some of the best GMs advice in DMG 1 and 2, and this book condensed a lot of it into one handy wee book.
The Dark Sun Campaign setting. A great mix of background, setting, character options and rules. I'd say it set a gold standard on how to do a Setting supplement. It's a shame WotC never released anything following the same style. I never thought much of Dark Sun back in the AD&D days, but this book made me a convert. The Monster book that goes with it is also very good as well.

The only 3.5 book that I really liked was Savage Species. I like my Monster PCs. It's the only 3.5 rulebook I regret getting rid of.

I think Volo's Guide to Monsters may be destined to become a classic. That book is very good indeed.

 

[Li Shenron]

3e Forgotten Realms and Rokugan campaign settings books are still my favourite. The main sourcebook of each, of course, but also many supplements such as Faith and Pantheons and Monsters of Faerun / Creatures of Rokugan.