freyar said:
Are there any musts in this list, or do you have other recommendations? Or should I look for more older edition PDFs? Thanks!
I have several thoughts.
Most important though, I would lean toward books that are going to help do something you're interested in doing right now, that's been on your mind as a "this would be fun" scenario or theme. And if there aren't any, I'd pick up ones that make you think "cool!" when you read a few pages, because then you're likely to use it.
Since you're not likely to use any new mechanics, I think the best approach is to look for books that give you good ideas for scenarios to run, that discuss the nuts and bolts of running a game (prep time, encouraging player feedback, and guidance for structuring your home brew adventures), and if they interest you, really good adventures to run.
You also mentioned being relatively new, and I think that books that help create the styles you run and play by are useful when first getting exposed to the game. I agree you're on target to skip additional rules complexity at this point.
You also mentioned being interested in FR and Greyhawk.
Given all of that, My list would go something like this:
For plots and schemes/adventure ideas in the settings you prefer
*Power of Faerun - Excellent source of ideas for plots and schemes in the Realms. Don't overlook the Border Kingdoms web series on the wotc web site for added value. A similar book, recently release is Renegade Crowns for Warhammer. It seems to focus more on being a step by step to building a home brew barony where politics can be a central theme to the adventures you run there. Power of Faerun will give you the Border Kingdoms, whereas Renegade Crowns will help you design your own barony there or elsewhere. I find the books to be very complementary.
*Greayhawk From the Ashes, The Marklands, and Iuz the evil TSR PDF (Paizo or RPGNow)
*The FR deity book PDFs that someone mentioned earlier in the thread.
*I found Silver Marches to be worthwhile if you want to keep your FR game set in the North. I'd definitely buy the other two first though. The same goes for any FR region book, really. I'd probably only pick up ones that I intended the campaign (in real world time) to stay around in for a good while.
Running a game, approach, style, etc
*Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering
*DMG II has a section that's similar to, and updates some information from Robin's Laws of good gamemastering. I certainly think you'd get good use out of that section, but the other sections are rules widgets that you may not need right now. I'm reluctant to recommend it only because it's a pricey buy if you just plan to use the gamemastering section.
Building your own adventures
*Dungeon Master Design Kit (another AD&D PDF buy). I can't recommend this enough for it's framework that helps put the adventure idea in your head into notes you can use to run it.
*I'd also consider the Fantasy Flight Games Legends and Lairs PDFs: Cityworks, Dungeon Craft, Wildscape, and maybe the Monster one if you want to build your own monsters. They're not strictly necessary, but I think for $5 each, they'll give you ideas for building adventures around the different themes.
*NPC Essentials PDF
*Draconomicon is great, and I recommend it. The only consideration here is that the adventures you make out of it will be centered around dragons. If you only want to do one or two dragon adventures, then it might be pricey for the value you get out of it. Like I said though, I like it. I'd recommend it over Dragons of Faerun, though if you'd rather have info on specific dragons of the Realms, and their plots and schemes, then Dragons of Faerun might be a better buy for you (the free Wyrms of the North on wotc's site might give you all you need on that front though. Check it out before deciding you want more FR dragon inspiration).
*I'd also recommend Heroes of Battle if you think you want to run grand battles and use war as a campaign backdrop, and Heroes of Horror, Nightmares of Mine, or GURPS Horror if you want to inject the occasional spooky mood into an adventure. They're fun, and educational for helping to illustrate certain styles of play, but ultimately make for merely fun reading if you're not interested in running the types of adventures or campaigns they put forth.
*Look into A Magical Medieval Society Western Europe if you're interested in fleshing out some of the setting, even if its just for your own benefit behind the scenes.
Out of the box (or book, as it were,) adventures
*Red Hand of Doom - starts at 5th level, and really cool. Had I seen an adventure like this when I first started playing, it probably would have changed the way I played (for the better) during those younger years. It's basically set in a FR region with the serial numbers filed off, and is easy to port over.
*The Forge of Fury - 3rd level, but you could beef it up, and again, a really cool scenario.
There are other good adventures as well. Your preference will depend on what theme you want to run. Dungeon crawl? I'd look into Expedition to Castle Greyhawk when it comes out. Scary/Gothic, consider Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Not all good adventures come from wotc, of course. I'm not personally familiar with many other published adventures to be able to recommend them though. There's a free one that Mike Mearl's wrote for 4th level I think, available on drivethrurpg.com. It was fun when I ran it, and won't eat into your budget. In general, I'd look over all the ones out there and pick a few that sound like fun, again, only if you like published adventures. I'd look at Green Ronin, and Goodman Games. I liked some of the Atlas Games ones, but they were generally for low level - the exception being Beyond the Veil. Consider that for down the road. Don't forget to check out Paizo's site to see if they have any old Dungeon magazines that have one or more adventures you like. The more you want to run from any single issue, obviously the value proposition goes up, and some might even be in PDF now.
If you're interested in experimenting with a cool, immersive setting, and can stretch your budget a little, then I'd consider spending it all on Ptolus, available for $90 over at frpgames.
Also, Treasure Tables and roleplayingtips.com are great reads, and free. Definitely take a look at those resources.
My overall recommendation in trying to spend the money would be to buy things you're going to use again and again, not just for this campaign, but for many. Buy things that generate ideas for you - more ideas than you can use in your current game. Buy things that help you think about approaches to and styles of playing, or formalize your ideas into a workable adventure. Consider published adventures that sound fun. For $10 you can get a night or two of play. For $30+ you can get months of gaming mileage. Avoid things that complicate play.
