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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 1391472" data-attributes="member: 172">I wasn't going to reply as my typical position is to judge the books individually. However, there have been some claims here that I feel are a little unfair, so I guess I'll deposit my two coppers.AFAIAC, Green Ronin and Malhavoc are the two top tier companies. Not all of their products will appeal to all people naturally, so I don't think that's a fair cop. However, they seem to have the most consistently high quality standards and most rigorous handle on the rules.If published adventures are your thing, Necromancer should be near the top of your list. Now that they don't have Kuntz in their stable anymore and have hired some very good cartographers, I think it's fair to say that their quality is as consistently high as Green Ronin or Malhavoc. They are also branching out from adventures into more general use products.I think of AEG, FFG, and Mongoose as the "mixed companies". It seems like if you hit the right author, you have great stuff, otherwise, buyer beware. Unfortunately, one of the strongest freelancers who worked for all three of these companies is now exclusive with Malhavoc, but some new talent like Hanrahan and Ibach is helping keep these guys shored up.AEG's products vary widely in quality and presentation. For the Spycraft and Stargate lines, they pull out all the stops and give you some pretty books with some great authors, though I am worried a little bit after they retired their very supportive mechanics lead. The line has innovative and functional mechanics, but I must admit SFA waxes a little fluffy for me at points (I guess that's sort of the point behind a setting, but still.) The L5R/Rokugan line had a strong start into the d20 arena, but I tend to think of their secrets series as optional and also dwells a bit too much on minutia for my taste. Their "one word topic" books had a pretty rough start with some pretty uneven material, but their quality seems to be stabilizing and there are some real gems being put out in the series. "Toolbox" is famous for its utility, but has some stat block problems; "Good" and "Magic" are very innovative and did many of the things you see in 3.5 products like UA and BoED much earlier (and still has some things that WotC has not matched); "Relics" is "FFE's magic item's book line done right" -- more compact with more adaptable stories and correct game statistics.Mongoose varies widely also, but at least with any book, the quality is even as they tend to use one author per product. With the Quintessential Books, I think Wizard, Rogue, Monk, and Sorcerer are worth having. Psion and Psychic Warrior have some interesting ideas, but are a bit rough around the edges. They have been getting a bit better reputation with their stand-alone games, some of which are simply gorgeous. The Encyclopaedia line has some interesting topics with some great entries (Chaos Mage, Constructs, Necromancy, and Shamans), but some not so great entries. Their classic play line is also all over the map; frex, I like the book of Dragons but found Strongholds & Dynasties relatively worthless. The Slayers Guide line isn't too useful, but some people I know like them. The newer, bigger ones are better, but the production values are pretty low. In short, I think Mongoose products are best purchased at the FLGS, where you can thumb through them first.FFG has pretty good production value and has tapped some great artists like Brase and Hian for most of their products. They seem to suffer a mixture of the AEG one word problem (books with a mixture of good and poor material, in particular the "Path" books) and the Mongoose problem (value varies by author.) Generally, I find the books headed up by Wilson (monster books and school books) and Mearls to be the best; theres some gems in the Path books as well, but you have to sift through some junk to get to it. Dragonstar had a strong start, but the follow on books are weaker. Midnight is a good but very exclusive setting (i.e., great if you are going to play it, not so good for idea mining.) I haven't purchased any of their mini games so can't comment on them.Sword and Sorcery Studios is White Wolf's main d20 publishing house, and concerns itself mainly with the Scarred Lands setting. There core books have a tendency to be useful in any fantasy game. Their earliest books had some balance and rules issues (and one, CCI, was very early and very rough indeed, but there is a revised version), but nonetheless I consider Relics and Rituals a flavorful and innovative addition to any fantasy game. Scarred Lands is possibly one of the best supported d20 fantasy settings, with a great many setting books along with the optional rulebooks. However, it is this that has caused me to shy away from it; there's too much out there for me.Atlas is an established company with some nice products that often get overlooked. Their presentation values are consistently high. Atlas has two lines: Penumbra and Coriolis. Coriolis is their "mixed" line that has adventures for both d20 fantasy and one of Atlas' house games (like Ars Magica or Unknown Armies). I think Coriolis is the weaker of the two lines, as I have yet to be impressed by the value of one of their adventures. As for Penumbra, many of their books are map and setting, and "fragment" books that have bits you can drop right into a campaign. I don't see most of their products as must haves, but see most of their products as useful.Bastion had a rough start as well. Their main artist was not widely appreciated (though two ennies judges last year saw some appeal), and they only reluctantly let go of the expensive color format (which IMO was not serving them well.) The do have some very good supplements worth hunting down: Spells & Magic, Airships, and (to a lesser extent) Alchemy & Herbalists. Other books I am more dubious about. Their Oathbound setting is nice, but aggravating. I like the setting ideas and many of the mechanics, but I think they focused too much on Pennance out of the starting gate and started introducing some VERY sketchy mechanics.ENPublishing is a nice company with some good stuff. Most of their stuff is available on PDF, but some can be had through Mystic Eye games in print, or as print-on-demand. Some stuff I am honestly not that impressed with, but some I think is bar setting (like Necromancer's Legacy), but a lot of it is the type of stuff you browse though if you are looking for specific elements to add to your campaign, like Wild Spellcraft or Tournaments, Friars, and Taverns. (Disclaimer, ENPublishing is a publishing arm of ENworld.)Mystic Eye is a somewhat smaller company. It seems like some of their best material is not their best selling material, because you won't find some of their best titles in print anymore. I find Bluffside to be the most compelling drop-in city on the market. Foul Locales is a series of interesting drop in locales in the same vein as you will find by Atlas. I gotta admit, though, their flagship setting, Hunt: Rise of Evil didn't do it for me. But Hunt: The Fall of Mall, considering the bad vibes coming from d20 Gamma World, might position itself as the premeir d20 post holocaust product.There are some "up and comers" that I think are worth keeping your eye on.RPGobjects started out as a primarily PDF company, but are bringing some of their best stuff to print. The blood series is really a great "killer app" for d20 modern if you like that engine. I think if they branch out a bit, they could be a bigger contender.Bad Axe games is in a similar boat. They started off with a line of balance-conservative race books that should keep those who see power escalation everywhere they look happy, and Mr. Durbin also brings some great new mechanics like ley line magic to the game. Bad Axe is expanding their line by bringing you print versions of RoninArts popular PDFs and the new Grim Tales low fantasy d20 variant.Human Head studios only has one book to their record, but it's a doozy: the very pretty and innovative harry-potteresque Redhurst. It should be interesting to see if they have anything else is up their sleeves.Goodman Games is probably more established than any of the aforementioned, but much of their earlier products were not well appreciated by the market. They are branching out a little and are involved in some interesting products. Some of their complete creature books are very well written, and I certainly think their creature specific lines are more innovative that most comparable books by competitors like the slayers guides (the exception being the complete book of Drow, which pales before Green Ronin's Plot & Poison, but still has a few good ideas.) Their beholder book was fantastic. Their underdark guide and creature books are good as well (reviews forthcoming!)</blockquote>

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