Weiley31
Legend
In my defense, I was dead tired when I did my 3pp suggestion posts
You, however, are absolutely right.
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D&D General Help Me with My Pathological Aversion to Third Party D&D Products
- Thread starter MGibster
- Start date
You, however, are absolutely right.
Zardnaar
Legend
Given that there are so many 5e variants out now – three big ones from three different publishers – I don't think there really is a "third party" anymore. Instead, there are many publishers publishing 5e compatible material.
When it comes to favoring products from WOTC, I think WOTC's art direction and physical product design are at the top of the heap, although other publishers like Monte Cook Games, Cubicle 7, and others give them a big run for their money.
But from a game design perspective, I think WOTC is in many ways at the same level as many other 5e publishers like Kobold Press, EN World publishing, and others. WOTC's made some great book and some not-so-great books. They've done some great 5e design and some not-so-great 5e design.
There are also many publishers willing to try things that WOTC won't try. WOTC isn't going to put out a 600 page city sourcebook like Ptolus. They're not going to put out a 1,000 page campaign adventure like Crown of the Oathbreaker or an equally-huge high-level adventure like Torrents of the Spellhoarder. They're not going to put out the tons of awesome small black-and-white products like Raging Swan put out or the totally different slices of exploration, travel, and character origins that Cubicle 7 did with A Life Well Lived and Uncharted Journeys.
I think it's an interesting sign too when people hear me say that WOTC is about on par with other publishers as an insult to WOTC even though many of the designers at WOTC worked for other publishers and end up working for other publishers after their employment at Hasbro ends.
To get started with the work of other 5e publishers – there are types of products that slot-in more easily into our 5e games than others. This is mostly on the GM side like monster books, adventure and campaign books, campaign world sourcebooks, and books to help GMs build out their game.
I have a couple of articles on Sly Flourish with some of my favorite 5e books from several publishers:
Notable 5e Products
While we tend to focus on the new D&D material coming out of Wizards of the Coast, many 5e publishers put out tremendous products to expand our games. We're going to take a look at some of my favorite...slyflourish.com
Top Ten Notable 5e Products for 2022
Over on the Lazy D&D Talk Show I spotlight 5e products — primarily third party products but also those published by Wizards of the Coast. Looking back, here are the top ten 5e products that caught my ...
My Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
Over 2023 I've been lucky to look at a lot of various tabletop roleplaying game products and I wanted to give you a list of my favorite five for 2023. First, I have some disclaimers. I didn't see ever...
I think it's great that you at least see the problem – that you're only looking to WOTC for your happiness with 5e and recognizing that there's more out there.
WotC the best at designing systems. Others are better at tweaking those systems or building on them.
At least they have more freedom indirectly having another 5 -7 year playtest.
Paizos the only D&D type who's done their own. Everyone else is tweaking 5E or OSR for the most part.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Ninety percent of everything is crap, whether it says WotC on the label or not. 
As has been said, look for stuff that's appealing to you, check reviews -- or ask around if you can't find reviews -- and you should be able to find good stuff.
At the moment, more than half of my 5E stuff isn't produced by WotC. I am aggressively picky and don't want most WotC adventures any more than I want most third party stuff, either.
But I've been able to curate a good list of stuff for me, although it's definitely not the same list of stuff anyone else would come up with.
This is a very expensive entry point, but I've been running a campaign (under three different systems at this point) set in and around Ptolus since 2006. Zero regrets.
As has been said, look for stuff that's appealing to you, check reviews -- or ask around if you can't find reviews -- and you should be able to find good stuff.
At the moment, more than half of my 5E stuff isn't produced by WotC. I am aggressively picky and don't want most WotC adventures any more than I want most third party stuff, either.
But I've been able to curate a good list of stuff for me, although it's definitely not the same list of stuff anyone else would come up with.
This is a very expensive entry point, but I've been running a campaign (under three different systems at this point) set in and around Ptolus since 2006. Zero regrets.
Xenolith234
Explorer
Alright, so I’ve been noodling around running Ptolus as a new 5e game (it’s been a few years since I ran it), or running Dungeons of Drakkenheim. I own both books, but Ptolus is a hefty chonker and I’ve barely gotten through the first chapter. What makes it so compelling?Ninety percent of everything is crap, whether it says WotC on the label or not.
As has been said, look for stuff that's appealing to you, check reviews -- or ask around if you can't find reviews -- and you should be able to find good stuff.
At the moment, more than half of my 5E stuff isn't produced by WotC. I am aggressively picky and don't want most WotC adventures any more than I want most third party stuff, either.
But I've been able to curate a good list of stuff for me, although it's definitely not the same list of stuff anyone else would come up with.
This is a very expensive entry point, but I've been running a campaign (under three different systems at this point) set in and around Ptolus since 2006. Zero regrets.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
For me, it's got everything I wanted in a campaign setting (you probably have your own checklist):
- Everything in (3E-at-release) D&D has a place in the world
- Technology exists but is increasingly uncommon, allowing the DM to include as much or as little as desired
- An extensive faux Catholic church, which I like for its storytelling possibilities
- An empire on the verge of a three-way civil war, for the politics and intrigue possibilities
- A reason and support system for dungeon crawling, if that's all one wants to do, including a megadungeon as big as any in fantasy RPGs
- A lightly sketched world that combines intriguing details with plenty of blank space to make it my own (my campaign has visited the two other rival imperial capitals and it was easy to turn them into end-stage Rome and Savonarola-era Florence very easily)
- Campaign frameworks for at least three full campaigns set in Ptolus alone, while again leaving plenty undetailed if I want to drop in NPCs, shops or whole neighborhoods of my own invention. I'm currently running Empire of the Ghouls' first section in Ptolus, and it fits in well with only minor work (the kobold slums become the lizardfolk underclass mentioned in the core book)
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Lalato
Adventurer
One of my many minor gripes about DriveThruRPG is that the reviews system really sucks. I wish there was a way for them to incentivize leaving reviews. It would be an amazing resource for folks who are on the fence about a book.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The RPG space definitely needs some sort of central location for reviews and a lot more of them. It definitely can make things chancy, even for seemingly popular works.
Lalato
Adventurer
RPG.Net sorta kinda tried to be that. There are at least some decent(ish) long form reviews there.
Demetrios1453
Hero
I have to second the Monster Manual Expanded series. They're the only third party items that I've actually gone out and purchased in print form instead of just PDF. And since he was so successful with them, he was able to afford some really splendid art for the revised versions. If you need variants of official 5e monsters, plus some other monsters both original or not updated to 5e yet, these books are a must have.
Lakesidefantasy
Hero
The Game Master's Book of NPCs. This book by Jeff Ashworth is not very well organized but it is chocked full of really creative stuff, including 3 mini adventures.
