D&D General Most helpful/useful product to help run sessions for a DM ?

[Scott Christian]

I was just wondering, but: what would be (to you) the quote/unquote 'best' product you came across from a DM perspective ? In the sense of making it easier or more helpful to you as a DM to run sessions.

Honestly, most of the DM Guides are great for giving ideas. I would add The Gamemaster's Books (NPC's, Encounters, etc.) I found the NPC book really fun and useful when prepping or exploring ideas. Lastly, I am going to give a special mention to maps... just plain old maps. A good map is highly entertaining and can trigger creativity as well as any book.

For the specific product, perhaps it was the level of detail so you don't have to come up with as much for yourself, or perhaps it was light on details so you could fill things in on your own ? Was it the way the material was presented ? Was it an adventure or perhaps a source-book ? Was it the details and amount of maps or perhaps the vagueness of them so you could fill them in for yourself ? Was it a 'generic' DM guide like the D&D DMG or something similar ? Something else entirely ?

I prefer detail, but if we're being honest, my own detail. That is what helps me run sessions and keep things cohesive. I may pull from other source books when playing D&D, but it is because they fit. That table in the DM's Guide for art objects? That comes in handy when building a museum. That list of NPCs in the Gamemaster's Book? It bloomed so many other NPCs that became major figures in one outpost and frontier town I built. And that map of the snowy canyon? That became an area encounter that, like Goldilocks, fit "just right."

 

[Lanefan]

Beer.

 

[abazaba]

Although I don't own and haven't read WotC's "Eberron: Rising from the Last War" book, I think I have seen @SlyFlourish (aka 'The Lazy DM') recommended it for the fact that it contains enough content to be helpful enough to run quite a lot of sessions ? Which may also be relevant to this thread. But maybe I am mistaken.

 

[Zaukrie]

Initiative tracker.

A willingness to admit you can't build balanced encounters, and stopping worrying about it is number one, which I get isn't the question.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Although I don't own and haven't read WotC's "Eberron: Rising from the Last War" book, I think I have seen @SlyFlourish (aka 'The Lazy DM') recommended it for the fact that it contains enough content to be helpful enough to run quite a lot of sessions ? Which may also be relevant to this thread. But maybe I am mistaken.

Yep. I love it.