The best of....?

[Mark]

Some ideas on that over here -

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110281

Including some in what I used for these at CMG or at RPGNow.com

 

[Arnwyn]

Not to be confused with the Monte Cook product, I was wondering what you all thought were the best things to happen to RPGs in 2004 were.

1) That we finally see undetailed regions in a FR product after a long while. Very little regurgitation this year.

Serpent Kingdoms and Shining South in the same year? WTF? Did somebody at WotC fall on his/her head? Whatever the case, I hope that person falls on it again... this was a great year for FR (the PGtF notwithstanding), IMO.

2) Paizo makes Dungeon even more awesome. Consistently 3 adventures every month, with a guaranteed high level one in the bunch. Fricken' fantastic.

 

[philreed]

Most consistent product lines: "101" and "A Dozen" lines. Inexpensive books that are just full of great ideas I can't wait to use. These lines made me want to DM a new campaign more than any other.

Thank you! That's exactly what I want to hear. When we write these it's with the idea that they'll inspire DMs.

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Forgotten Realms "The Shining South", best damn RPG supplement to get published this year.


Scott

 

[Ghostwind]

What was the most underrated product? The most surprising? The best writing in an RPG book? The best artwork? What product inspired you or sparked your imagination the most? How about some gems in what was otherwise a mediocre book? To be d20-specific, for example, what was the best prestige class? The best new rule(s)? The best new monster or race? What was the best book for players? The best for game masters?

Please feel free to add any other categories I haven't mentioned.

Most Underrated: (tie) Denizens of Avadnu (Inner Circle), Dark Legacies Player's Guide (Red Spire Press) and Deluxe Book of Templates (Silverthorne Games)
- I wish Silverthorne would offer it as a POD product.

Most Surprising: Frost & Fur (MonkeyGod Enterprises)

Best Writing: (hmmm tough one) Warcraft: Lands of Conflict (Sword & Sorcery)
- I really enjoyed reading it as it was primarily fluffy stuff.

Best Artwork: Warcraft: Lands of Conflict and Iron Kingdoms Character Guide (Privateer Press).

Most Inspirational: Conan: Atlantean Edition (Mongoose) and Iron Kingdoms Character Guide.

Best Prestige Class: (this one's a can of worms) I favor the Warden PrC (from Warcraft: Magic & Mayhem) currently.

Best New Rule(s): Divine, Legendary, and Outsider Weapons from Arms & Armor v3.5 (Bastion Press), but I'm very biased there.

Best New Monster or Race: Ramzadi (first introduced in Torn Asunder) in the very hard to find Oathbound: Mysteries of Arena (Bastion Press), but again I'm highly biased.

Best Player's Book: (tie) Arms & Armor v3.5, Iron Kingdoms Character Guide (Privateer Press), and Grim Tales.

Best GM's Book: (tie) Portals & Planes, Wildscape (both from Fantasy Flight Games), and Arms & Armor v3.5.

 

[Man-thing]

Best Simplication of d20 Lonewolf (no more feats) yet lots of potential for individuality
Favourite New Mechanic DM Pipeline - Speciaty Priests that are variant classes and not PRC's
Best Return of a Setting Blackmoor
Best Thing to happen to Bards Quintessential Bard II - spellsongs (ways to make spells into bardic music), scores (bardic music into scrolls) and power performances (alternate bardic music, personal I like Staged Magic)
Things that reminded me most of DND Basic Book of the Immortals
Favourite Module Line Dungeon Crawl Classics

 

[francisca]

Well, I've gotten more use out of Unearthed Arcana than anything else, surprisingly, so that's on my list simply for utility.

I really like the Atlantean edition of Conan d20. It's much better than the first print, and grabs the feel of the Hyborian Age buy the privates.

Those two have distinguished themselves to me over the last year.

 

[DaveMage]

For a DM, World's Largest Dungeon ranks as the #1 d20 product of all time with me, so it's an easy choice for 2004.

For both players and DMs to buy, Arms & Armor 3.5 is my favorite for 2004.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Like the Frank Sinatra song, "It was a very good year." This was a year I wasn't too sure that we'd see more great stuff but there it was. Hard to believe that I was in the Ennies this year, my first (and hopefully not my last) and that I got to be a part of the judging process.

There was a massive slow down of product and the product that did come out, for the most part, was better than average. Some of my favorite bits for role playing include Seven Civilizations. Hate that artists but enjoyed the 'fluff' of the book. Really enjoyed the support of M&M, especailly Ronin Arts book. I love V. Shane's art.

Too many products to list, but I think that despite some clunkiness from the giant, WoTC, that there were some great books.

 

[philreed]

Amen to that! This is an area that is still so wide open. I hope a few more people take on this subject in the future.

Well, Ronin Arts released another planar product earlier this week. While sales aren't all that great on planar products, they sure are fun to write.