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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelph" data-source="post: 1917991" data-attributes="member: 12212">Yes, and no. That is, some companies have improved drastically. Other companies were always that good. Atlas Games, to take one example, has consistently-awesome products, and that goes for their D20 System stuff. and they were the first publisher of D20 System stuff, after WotC.  So, there've been quality 3rd-party books out there right from the start. And, there are still companies out there producing poor-quality stuff (probably some crap, too, but i won't point fingers).And some of this is a matter of opinion, and depends on what elements you care about. From my POV, the graphic design of the WotC books is middling at best, actively detracting at worst, frex. And, honestly, when i read through a WotC D20 System book, it just leaves me cold--nothing excites me, or makes me think "ooh! i've got to figure out how to fit one of these into the game." I consider WotC's D20 System books to be consistently workmanlike--not bad, but not great, either. So, from that POV, there's plenty of room to better them--i just don't think that WotC is setting the bar all that high, and there're a number of companies that regularly exceed WotC on the quality of their books. And huge numbers that occasionally do so.If people that wrote the games are a safe bet, you've got at least two other companies out there (besides Malhavoc): The Game Mechanics, and Sean Reynolds new company. If people who wrote for WotC are good enough, you've got tons of options--most of WotC's writing is done by people who write other stuff for other people. To take one example that jumped out at me recently: Before Eberron won the setting contest, Keith Baker wrote a number of things for Atlas, such as several of the alternate magic systems in Occult Lore.Now, on to specific recommendations. These are all products that i think are at least as good as, and in most cases noticably better than, anything WotC has produced for D20 System:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">most books by Atlas Games</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">most books by Sword & Sorcery Studios</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">most books by Fantasy Flight Games--especially the New Horizon and Midnight lines</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Testament, Mutants & Masterminds, Psychic's Handbook, and a number of others by Green Ronin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mongoose is hit-or-miss. There good stuff is better than WotC. Their bad stuff is sometimes middling, sometimes pretty bad. In general, their proofreading needs work, but it's usually just typos and stuff that is annoying, not stuff that makes it hard to figure out what the rules are supposed to mean.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The whole Spycraft line is great--despite the nominal genre focus, i think it's better than D20 Modern for a baseline technological RPG. I don't enjoy combat in RPGs, generally, and the action/espionage genre leaves me cold. And i still want to play this game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Malhavoc Press. Specifically the Arcana Unearthed line. I'm not nearly as impressed by the Books of Might as others--but those are generally well-acclaimed, so i'll defer to consensus.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Phil Reed. Sometimes a little *too* light, but generally, great content, and at awesome prices.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goodman Games. As near as i can tell, all there stuff is good, it's just that most of it doesn't interest me for topical reasons.</li> </ul>That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others. Also, keep in mind that i'm pretty fussy about my RPGs. I own a few dozen D20 System books, and not a single thing from WotC (not even the D&D3[.5]E PH) has passed the test. Of course, some of that is taste--the sorts of content included--but some of that is more-universal matters: proofreading, editing, originality, writing.</blockquote>

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