Must have books

[Arthur Tealeaf]

There is only one book that I think every GM should have at his/her table besides the core books for his/her game: a thesaurus.

Great!

 

[diaglo]

the Core 3 booklets are all you ever need.

and yes, i would be disappointed if you didn't have them.


Booklet I: Men & Magic
Booklet II: Monsters & Treasure
Booklet III: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

 

[Tsyr]

the Core 3 booklets are all you ever need.

and yes, i would be disappointed if you didn't have them.


Booklet I: Men & Magic
Booklet II: Monsters & Treasure
Booklet III: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

All I would ever need...

... As long as I wasn't interested in, you know, a deep, truely involved game system, and all that stuff.

As for what I would consider "must have"... It's hard, with so many different styles of play out there. Low Magic vs High Magic, humanocentric vs many races, "european" flavor vs "other" flavor... But a few that I would suggest would be:

Tome of Horrors... Regardless of your setting, you could probably find SOMETHING of use in here.

Occult Lore... Same as Tome of Horrors. I'm sure you can find something in here for your game world. The apendix on herbs, for example.

In the Saddle... Unless, for some strange reason, you have no horses or other riding beasts in your game.

One of the assorted books on sea-life... No, never mind... that wouldn't be a "must have" for a desert world...

Hmmm... That's about all I can think of.

*edit*

Ooo. Taverns, Fairs, and Tournaments would be another one. Unless you were doing 100% dungeon hack, maybe.

 

[jasper]

Dm if new D&D as of 3rd edition. Is the Slayers Guide to Dragons.

Also any one of judges guild city state books. Yes I know they have not been rerelease for 3rd but that will be fixed soon.

 

[francisca]

As a DM, I'd say Everyone Else by Ambient is a must have.

I've not found much use for Malhavoc's stuff, despite it being original and well executed. Just a matter of taste, I suppose.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Above and beyond the core books...

Bluffside - wonderful campaign area
Manual of the Planes
AEG's Toolbox - too much info to pass up

 

[Arnwyn]

"Must have" outside of the core 3 books? None.

(Though based on usage, Tome of Horrors, Monsters of Faerun, and Monster Manual II are my top three used outside of the core 3. Not one other book has proven to be essential - or even used semi-regularly.)

 

[bwgwl]

What?!! What about Books of Eldritch Might? Book of the Righteous? Hell even Relics and Rituals 1! Book of Hallow might man. All these books I think should be in people's collection in some fashion.

well, i've been DMing and playing 3e since it came out, over the course of 5 different campaigns, and neither i nor anyone i've gamed with have ever owned or used one of those books.

so no, i don't see them as "must haves."

supplements are nice, don't get me wrong, but they are, well, supplemental. the only essential books are the core rules.

 

[Henry]

About the only things that remotely qualify as "must haves" would be the five WotC splatbooks, just because I have seen so many DM's that allow them, ours included. But the books Nightfall mentioned have received too many complaints from various gamers on these boards as "too powerful" or too "out there" to be considered universally important. I own the first two of Monte's BoEM's and the BoHM, and NOT ONE PLAYER has expressed an interest in my games to play them.

 

[Psion]

Permanent members of my tableside crate:

The three core books*
Psi Handbook*
Manual of the Planes

Relics & Rituals
Creature Collection II
Legions of Hell

Toolbox*

Pocket grimoires (quicker reference for spells)

Not in my crate, but often used for prepwork:
Monsters Handbook*

Most ofter referred to PDFs:

Mindscapes
BoEM I
Beyond Monks

* = Most essential

Edit: Monsters Handbook, not Monsternomicon. I find Monsternomicon to be not all it's cracked up to be.