D&D General Great and not so great setting specific sourebooks/modules

[Ralif Redhammer]

To this day, I still reference my copy. When I need food and drink details in the Realms, or when I just need to know the price of something completely random, that book rarely lets me down.

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms. The best dang equipment book ever made for any edition of D&D, it was just so immersive. It was literally the first D&D book I ever bought, I picked it up on a bookstore shelf and thought "this is awesome!" and started to look for other D&D books just based on finding this book alone.

 

[Stormonu]

Great
Aurora's Whole Realms Guide - feels like looking at a Sears & Roebuck catalog for FR, lots of nice little worldbuilding tidbits (though the Whole Realms "company" itself is silly)

Elminster's Ecologies - lots of in-depth detail on monsters to make them living, breathing creatures that is inspiring in making you want to incorporate them.

B4 - Lost City - very evocative and different from your typical dungeon crawl. Could be used as an entire campaign unto itself. All Hail Zargon!

Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (Grey box) - A nice, in-depth tour of the Realms that is a goldmine for worldbuilding.

World of Greyhawk Set ('83) - A wonderful campaign set that isn't heavy on details, letting you flesh it out as you choose with several interesting world building opportunities.

S2 - White Plume Mountain - A good mix of combat, tricks and traps. Though it's got powerful prizes, Stormbringer - I mean, er, Black Razor is always fun.

Bad
B8 - Journey to the Rock. A confused mess of a module, though not as bad as Forest Oracle. Three railroad paths to choose from and the plot is exceptionally weak.

Roots of Evil - Unfortunately, a lot of 2E adventures were railroads, and most of the Ravenloft adventures started you out by killing everyone in the party. This one is probably the most egragrious*, and though it gets better after the opening, it's still a railroad and (bad) rehash of elements of the original Ravenloft I6.

The Horde/Maztica/Kara-Tur - While I like campaign worlds set in other cultures, these made the mistake of trying to hew too closely to historical counterparts and the text for these sets is just drab and boring. If the fantastic elements of these cultures - and more engaging writing - had been used, they wouldn't have fallen here. Contrast this to Al-Qadim, which I think was done better as it embraced the sword & sandal genre instead of trying to be a dry copy of Arabia.

* Though in truth, Vecna Lives probably has the title for doing this, though it's use is probably the most original and actually works because they aren't your own characters...

 

[Shiroiken]

I have to say one book that is both great and terrible is the 3E Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It has a plethora of information that makes the setting ready to run. However, it's also about as interesting as an encyclopedia (assuming people even remember those).

 

[Eltab]

However, it's also about as interesting as an encyclopedia (assuming people even remember those).

I remember the shelf-full-of-books-in-alphabetical-order kind. My parents bought a complete Encyclopedia Britannica set, just after I was born.

 

[Mort]

I have to say one book that is both great and terrible is the 3E Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It has a plethora of information that makes the setting ready to run. However, it's also about as interesting as an encyclopedia (assuming people even remember those).

I quite like it. While it's technically 3e it reads basically edition neutral. It also does a good job of summarizing a great deal of information - perfect for when you have a group that likes long journeys, like mine, as opposed to staying in one place. Even has plot hooks.

But yes, as far as reading, it's quite dry.

 

[Ancalagon]

The great:
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition. The best single-book campaign setting work ever done for D&D.

You only say that because you haven't tried Yoon Suin

(At this point, I would usually say "seriously speaking" or "jokes aside" - buuuut in this case I'm not joking. It's that good)

Even almost 20 years later it's THE seminal work on the Realms. It's the standard I hold every other setting book to in terms of introducing and explaining a setting, fleshing it out, and integrating the setting with the game system. Others have pointed this book out too, for good reason, it's stood the test of time and I think it's really become a classic D&D book.

It is an excellent book, no doubt about it. If I was to run a 5e game in the Realms, that is what I would run.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If you want Forgotten Realms but something a little more condensed, higher detailed and tied to one specific area... get the 3rd edition Silver Marches softcover sourcebook. It takes one area of the Realms and really delves into it with much more detail than you'd get from the full 3E Campaign Setting book.

 

[Ancalagon]

Now... can we talk about non-D&D sourcebook?

Because, my god, the Dark Matter setting for Alternity was amaaaazing.

Dark•Matter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Azzy]

I haven't seen a related thread (if there is one - please point me to it!)

Just want some examples of setting specific sourcebooks or modules that you think fit the thread title.

Sourcebooks/modules that do a great job of representing the setting - making you immediately want to play in that world.

Sourcebooks/modules that do a great job making the gameworld seem like something you could really get your players into - etc.

For both of these, I'd have to say that Eberron: Rision from the Last War is it for me.

Conversely - what are some sourcebooks/modules that fall short - they don't do a good job of conveying the setting, have serious problems with execution etc?

Castle Greyhawk. That module needs to die in a fire.

 

[Azzy]

I have to say one book that is both great and terrible is the 3E Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It has a plethora of information that makes the setting ready to run. However, it's also about as interesting as an encyclopedia (assuming people even remember those).

I agree with your assessment on this. A great and informative sourcebook. But it's a slog to read.

However, it's also about as interesting as an encyclopedia (assuming people even remember those).

As a kid, I'd get lost reading an encyclopedia (ah, Funk & Wagnalls, I remember you fondly). I would get stuck in hyperlink hell (or rather, the analog version thereof). That and the dictionary. I've always been thirty for knowledge.