d20 Sleeper Hits

[jaerdaph]

Okay, this is inspired by the top 10/worst 10 threads:

What d20 products do you think are "sleeper" hits - top notch d20 products that you don't see a lot of reviews or message board "buzz" about? Everyone knows about the big hitters like d20 Call of Cthulhu and Spycraft, but what products do you think aren't getting the attention they deserve?

I'll start by offering these two:

1. Sidewinder - Wild West d20 by Citizen Games - roleplaying in the wild west might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this book is extremely well done and well researched.

2. Occult Lore - by Atlas Games. I really like the Sympathetic Magic chapter with the alternate magic system rules using ritual points. Sympathetic Magic also lends itself to horror roleplaying quite nicely.

Any others?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Wonders Out of Time by Eden Studios

If you are making your own world, then this can plug this in and you will have part of your world's history written.

There are some great and fun ideas in this book.

Edit- I thought of another product I don't think gets enough credit:

Broadsides by Living Imagination.

They were the first d20 naval product that had a naval combat system that was playable in a similar manner to the melee standard.

The book has a lot of good content as well.

FD

 

[bwgwl]

i think Mongoose's Seas of Blood is pretty cool.

although some might dispute it being a "sleeper," i think Dragon Magazine always has a wealth of information and cool bits for your D&D game, and it doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves.

 

[Psion]

Well, I make a lot of my own buzz, but here are some nice ones I feel get ignored.

• Necromancer's Legacy / Garudok's Libram ov Necromantic Artes - there are many necromancy books, but this one packs it with some intruiging history and cross polenates it with some other exotic concepts. PDF, but soon to be in print.
• AEG's Undead - Has some of the coolest prestige classes for villains and other interesting campaign concepts.
• The Quintessential Wizard - A lot of third party books have tidbits that may be too odd or abusive to add, or you may just get fed up by prestige classes. But this is one of the best, and really helps make wizards more three dimentional.
• EA: Constructs - A really cool little book that let's you bring construct to glorious life in your game. Make an army of tin soldiers, diamond golems, or lifelike homonculi... cool stuff, especially if you are a Vance fan or an MTG "Brother's War" fan.
• Beyond Monks: Art of the Fight - A really excellent supplement with probably the best feat selection I have seen in a d20 system product. Skipped over a lot due to PDF status.
• White Robes/Black Hearts: Enigma of the Arcanexus - A nice adventure, probably skipped over due to PDF status.
• Beyond All Reason - A very good adventure by FDP that got lost in the cracks between "Of Sound Mind" and "Queen of Lies."
• To Stand on Hallowed Ground - Another really good and seldom mentioned (double) adventure with some really great ideas.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Book of Challenges (WotC) - generally a very useful book.

Occult Lore - scads of useful material. There is something to please just about anyone.

Last Dance - a module by Atlas. A nice little adventure, with some really fine artwork. I wish there was more of it, both adventure-wise and art-wise.

Alchemy & Herbalists - this covers ground not covered very often in D&D.

Horrors o' the Weird West - for Deadlands. A great monster book; the Hangin' Judges alone are almost worth the price, to me.

Bluffside - it gets some attention, but I feel it deserves even more. A classic in the mold of City State of the Invincible Overlord.

Hollowfaust - again, it's gotten some attention, but deserves so much more. One of the few books to ever make me think about redoing an entire section of my campaign world.

Now, there are two companies that I feel are overlooked, at least in regards to their actual game material:

Avalanche - their books get a lot of criticism for the covers, but the actual content is usually very good. I wish they'd expand the "historical resource" sections of their books. Vlad the Impaler is the best I've seen from them.

Bastion - what a quirky company! I love the art, but I know that many don't. Their prices are too high, though - $25 US for rather thin books. Still, I love Minions and Alchemy & Herbalists (which I mentioned above).

 

[ColonelHardisson]

[*]To Stand on Hallowed Ground - Another really good and seldom mentioned (double) adventure with some really great ideas.
[/list]

D'oh! You are so right! Fiery Dragon continued putting out high-quality modules after Nemoren's Vault, and this was one of the very best. The Silver Summoning is also good.

I can't believe I forget to mention those two...

 

[Tsyr]

Considering the number of people who had Occult Lore on their "favorite d20 book" list, I'm not sure I'd consider it a sleeper hit.

My vote would be for the Fading Suns D20 book and Jade Dragons & Hungry Ghosts.

 

[jaerdaph]

I'm glad I asked this - I've seen a few things mentioned that I hadn't given a second thought to that I definitely will have to look out for now (Alchemy & Herbalists, Horrors o' the Weird West in particular).

As for Fiery Dragon's To Stand On Hallowed Ground, that was definitely a good call for this list as well.

 

[Leopold]

portable hole full of beer!

 

[jaerdaph]

Considering the number of people who had Occult Lore on their "favorite d20 book" list, I'm not sure I'd consider it a sleeper hit.

I think that makes it the quintessential (ahem, sorry Mongoose ) sleeper hit - everybody has it, but I don't hear that much about it