Good Fluff Books?

[DMZ2112]

I am an old Planescape buff; I still have my complete collection and actually just started running a Pathfinder/Lorefinder campaign through the material. I think those guys really hit the nail on the head in terms of setting flavor vs. setting content, not to mention dollar value.

I loved the D&D4 Demonomicon, by the way. It very successfully adds to the living canon.

 

[Drammattex]

I'm trying to remember whether I ever actually owned Planescape. I don't think I did, or if I did it was only briefly. High school and early college, I had to buy books used and sell/trade for stuff that contributed immediately to my campaign. That said, Torment is one of my favorite electronic games of all time and though I don't think I owned the boxed set, I've read lots of it on pdfs over the past several years. It was beauty. One of the best ideas TSR ever published, imo. I did sell Dark Sun and Birthright in college when I was hard up for cash and storage space. I probably shouldn't have sold Dark Sun.

Thanks for the good words on Demonomicon! It stands as the most harmonious design team experience I've had. Mike (Mearls), Brian (James), and I just riffed off of each other's ideas day after day via e-mail. Rarely have I seen that kind of creative, coordinated focus on a product. Brian James gets full credit for preserving the living canon. He's an encyclopedia of D&D lore and consistency was extremely important to him. Mike was a great leader for that project. There was a lot of invention and a lot of preservation. And a lot of me saying, "Can we simplify this lore so a half-orc could understand it?"

 

[DMZ2112]

I know it's been a couple of months since I posted here, but I wanted to jump back in to say I finally got around to picking up Threats of the Nentir Vale and it is /exactly/ the sort of thing I am looking for. So thank you Steve and everyone else who recommended it -- I'd never have given it a second look otherwise.

 

[Drammattex]

No problem! I'm so glad you checked it out. I think it might have been more attractive as a hardcover, and gets dismissed as a paperback in shrinkwrap... however, I truly love the design idea behind that one. It's like a sandbox campaign in a monster book, with suggestive descriptions to get your imagination going (as opposed to manufactured plot hooks). That book's spoiled me a little on monster books.

 

[Weather Report]

I am an old Planescape buff; I still have my complete collection and actually just started running a Pathfinder/Lorefinder campaign through the material. I think those guys really hit the nail on the head in terms of setting flavor vs. setting content, not to mention dollar value.

I loved the D&D4 Demonomicon, by the way. It very successfully adds to the living canon.

Yes, that is the best 4th Ed fluff book (alongside Plane Below and Above).

 

[MadApeGames]

I'd recommend just picking some D&D novels up from Barnes a Noble. I like Greenwood and Salvatore personally.

 

[Klaus]

This would be my ideal Feywild boxed set:
- Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
- The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
- The Book of Invasions
- Selected fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lord Dunsany
- Steeleye Span's recording of Thomas the Rhymer, Fairport Convention's recording of Tam Lin, Stan Rogers's recording of The Witch of the Westmoreland

I'd add in a few movies, such as Excalibur, In the Company of Wolves and Legend.

I liked the Feywild map, but one must remember that in the Feywild, maps are kind of useless, since the same trip may take a day, and the return trip may take a month. For Planescape buffs, I'd describe the Feywild as a merging of the Outlands, Elysium, Arvandor, with Pandemonium underneath. Arvandor is shining realm of the fey lords, Elysium has that "travel by making good deeds" angle, the Outlands provide the more dangerous wilderness and Pandemonium serves as the fomorian-ruled Feydark.