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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 1686318" data-attributes="member: 2205">Well, I guess that really depends on your taste, but I can tell you what I like a lot.  I don't expect that necessarily anyone else would agree with me, though:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Unearthed Arcana:  Tons of optional rules, many of them quite clever.  As it turns out, a lot of the ones I am using were already in print somewhere else first, but it's still been a great purchase.  When I first got it, I can remember flipping through it thinking of how the various options could impact my campaign(s).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Book of Fiends:  I really like the themed aspect of this book, and despite it's narrow focus (as a monster book of fiends) I can think of a fairly wide variety of campaigns in which this book would get a lot of use.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Monsternomicon:  My favorite monster book.  Great art, great ideas, great text and great story hooks.  Between this and the Book of Fiends mentioned above, I get 90% of my encounters these days.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Iron Kingdoms Character Guide: Full Metal Fantasy Volume I:  The first massive half of the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting; the second is due in a few months (it was originally intended to be one book, but when it approached 800 pages they decided to split it!)  It's relatively new, but the campaign has been around in the form of some modules and a few other publications for a few years now, and it's been hotly anticipated.  I've been reading it all weekend, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it; it's one of the best put-together campaign settings I've seen.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting:  If you're taste is more towards very traditional D&D, then you really can't beat this campaign setting.  It's been very well put together this time around, and the book is crawling with potential play hooks.  Although it's not really my taste, I don't hesitate to recommend it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Manual of the Planes:  For someone looking to play a really wild and woolly game with out there locations and stuff like that, you really can't beat this book.  I really like the a la carte approach it takes; it's a very modular "do it yourself, but we'll show you how" approach.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Oriental Adventures:  This book is also quite modular and is brimming with cool ideas.  It doesn't stray too far from standard D&D, but it does add some neat options.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Call of Cthulhu:  Although it wasn't necessarily the intention, this game was the "make or break" game for d20; if it worked well, then I was going to be convinced that d20 was the last roleplaying system I'd ever need.  Somewhat to my surprise, and certainly to my delight, the book is absolutely freakin' brilliant.  For those of you who claim it's not D&D, that is true.  However, I've used this book plenty in my D&D games, for that matter, especially the creature section.  And the feel and tone of the game makes for a very nice break from D&D from time to time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fiend Folio:  Probably the best monster book from Wizards of the Coast themselves.  Especially used in conjunction with the Manual of the Planes, I can see how this might be an essential book to some campaigns.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed:  This one's also technically not D&D, or even d20, but plenty of D&D players (myself included, at one point) have testified about how this book reinvigorated their interest in fantasy campaigns and fantasy gaming.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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