What tools have you as DMs or aspiring DMs found useful out there? You know, books that offered meaningful advice and suggestions for DMs.
I fully realize that I may be forgetting many other texts that have provided many a DM with great material, but I was curious to know which ones other fans felt were among the best out there.
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Personally, it's a toss-up for me between WotC's Book of Challenges and L&L's Traps and Treachery II. I like BoC because it offers great little bits of advice that are related to each little encounter but not necessarily part of the encounter. For example, in one of the last encounters (against a Red Dragon and a Pit Fiend, no less!), BoC offers some great ideas with how one can deal with "ruleslaywers" and now to take advantage of role-playing fanatics.
T&TII just has a wealth of great traps. While I loved the first T&T, this one isn't cluttered with any arguably worthless PrCs or Feats (although I still like their Improved Sneak Attack. d8s! Ouch!). The stuff in T&TII is obscene!
Special mention for Cook's "DM's Only" located at his website, www.montecook.com. Cook routinely offers some very interesting, and very innovative considerations for DMs and he seems to accomplish this effortlessly. I especially loved the material he offers for Storytellers in d20 Call of Cthulu and his recent little exercise on cave formations. Even though I don't care for his position on Arch-fiends, and even though there are others out there like him, he's managed to stand out for some reason. (Did I just sound like a pathetic fanboy?
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While I liked the other books mentioned above just fine, I don't get as much neutral advice as I would like. I think Villains is a fine book, but I have so many of my own villains that I bought that book because I admire the stuff Bastion Press has put out. Still, these villains have too much personality to make use of them. Enemies and Allies isn't bad either, but I use it largely to compare my NPCs with their iconic characters. It's for comparison only...
Well?
I fully realize that I may be forgetting many other texts that have provided many a DM with great material, but I was curious to know which ones other fans felt were among the best out there.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Personally, it's a toss-up for me between WotC's Book of Challenges and L&L's Traps and Treachery II. I like BoC because it offers great little bits of advice that are related to each little encounter but not necessarily part of the encounter. For example, in one of the last encounters (against a Red Dragon and a Pit Fiend, no less!), BoC offers some great ideas with how one can deal with "ruleslaywers" and now to take advantage of role-playing fanatics.
T&TII just has a wealth of great traps. While I loved the first T&T, this one isn't cluttered with any arguably worthless PrCs or Feats (although I still like their Improved Sneak Attack. d8s! Ouch!). The stuff in T&TII is obscene!
Special mention for Cook's "DM's Only" located at his website, www.montecook.com. Cook routinely offers some very interesting, and very innovative considerations for DMs and he seems to accomplish this effortlessly. I especially loved the material he offers for Storytellers in d20 Call of Cthulu and his recent little exercise on cave formations. Even though I don't care for his position on Arch-fiends, and even though there are others out there like him, he's managed to stand out for some reason. (Did I just sound like a pathetic fanboy?
)While I liked the other books mentioned above just fine, I don't get as much neutral advice as I would like. I think Villains is a fine book, but I have so many of my own villains that I bought that book because I admire the stuff Bastion Press has put out. Still, these villains have too much personality to make use of them. Enemies and Allies isn't bad either, but I use it largely to compare my NPCs with their iconic characters. It's for comparison only...
Well?
