D&D 5E Least Favorite WotC 5E Book?

[Reynard]

NOTE: This thread is for discussing books by WotC we don't like, for whatever reason, but that doesn't require bashing WotC or other people's preferences. Please try and discuss these things with civility.

That said: While I did not like Dragon heist as a module, it turned out to form the basis of a really fun and memorable campaign, so I can't call it my least favorite book, or even adventure (I guess that goes to Storm King's Thunder since I couldn't even salvage anything worthwhile out of that one). No, my least favorite WotC book -- and the one that is still my final purchase from them, I was so disappointed -- was Monstrs of the Multiverse.

It is, to some degree, my fault. I was expecting something more akin to MCDM's Flee, Mortals or the LevelUp Monstrous Menagerie. I was expecting to see WotC make major monster design improvements. That is not what we got and, frankly, i felt ripped off by the purchase (since I already owned both Volos and Mords).

What is your least favorite WotC book? And has it had a lasting impact on your view of WotC 5E?

 

[Parmandur]

Acquisitions Incorporated. Only hardcover for 5E I haven't bought, but I guess I have it on Beyond because they gave it away for free at some point, and I have the free Beyond account largely to get free stuff.

Just not my cup of tea: art style doesn't do it for me, the "office comedy" just isn't what I want in D&D.

 

[prabe]

Anything with a story in it.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Adventure books with little in the way of monsters, magic items, or other mechanics. The quest anthology books especially. Journey Through the Radiant Citadel is probably the worse offender in that regard for me personally. There is just nothing in the book that makes it worth having, even the few monsters in the book just aren’t interesting enough to justify me buying this book.

 

[Burnside]

Actively annoyed by how poor the adventures are:
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Storm King's Thunder

Bad adventure plus mechanics I'll probably never use:
Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos

Very little content that I found useful or interesting:
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

I think those would be my biggest regret purchases for 5E books.

If I had to pick my least favorite, it's Waterdeep: Dragonheist, but only because I actually ran it cover to cover and couldn't wait for it to end.

Storm King's Thunder has some fun stuff in it; it's just terrible as an overall adventure but I didn't even bother trying to use it like that.

Strixhaven is quite bad but seems to make more sense than Dragon Heist does; it's just a dull adventure.

Yeah, I'm going with Dragon Heist.

Acquisitions, Inc is actually a good adventure, btw.

 

[Parmandur]

Acquisitions, Inc is actually a good adventure, btw.

I'm sure the book is fine, for anyone who likes that sort of thing. Just not my personal vibe.

 

[Burnside]

I will say the (unused in the adventure) villain lairs in Dragon Heist are all good to great.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Volo's guide.

 

[overgeeked]

Spelljammer. One of my favorite 2E settings and when it's finally updated after 30 years...it gets a racist, incomplete, and incoherent reboot.

 

[Alzrius]

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. It absolutely butchered my favorite setting.