What are the 10 best d20/D&D companies out there?
- Thread starter Tuzenbach
- Start date
scadgrad
First Post
In no particular order...
Privateer Press is very solid and IMO, would make the Top 5 ahead of Mongoose and even Malhavoc (but just barely). Their biggest drawback is their release schedule.
Troll Lord Games gets a nod from me just because of the upcomming C&C and their close working relationship w/ EGG. I can't wait to get my hands on C&C.
White Wolf has a vast selection of quality product and is an easy pick for a Top 10.
Goodman Games makes my Top 10 on the strength of their Dungeon Crawl series (other than #9 which has only nostalgiac value).
AEG and FFG make it in as a tie due to their incredible settings. Midnight and Rokugan are easily my favorite d20 settings (though L5R is a legacy setting). AEG produces some wonderful (though poorly edited) books. FFG's Crown of Shadows (for Midnight) is one of the most entertaining modules I've used in over 26 years of gaming; great story arc and a very immersive introduction to the setting.
Finally, I'd add Paizo to the list, especially in light of the new direction that Dungeon seems to be going. Goodman games & Necromancer games will still be my favorites for mods, but it looks like Paizo is comming on strong w/ more material and a new adventure path in the works.
Privateer Press is very solid and IMO, would make the Top 5 ahead of Mongoose and even Malhavoc (but just barely). Their biggest drawback is their release schedule.
Troll Lord Games gets a nod from me just because of the upcomming C&C and their close working relationship w/ EGG. I can't wait to get my hands on C&C.
White Wolf has a vast selection of quality product and is an easy pick for a Top 10.
Goodman Games makes my Top 10 on the strength of their Dungeon Crawl series (other than #9 which has only nostalgiac value).
AEG and FFG make it in as a tie due to their incredible settings. Midnight and Rokugan are easily my favorite d20 settings (though L5R is a legacy setting). AEG produces some wonderful (though poorly edited) books. FFG's Crown of Shadows (for Midnight) is one of the most entertaining modules I've used in over 26 years of gaming; great story arc and a very immersive introduction to the setting.
Finally, I'd add Paizo to the list, especially in light of the new direction that Dungeon seems to be going. Goodman games & Necromancer games will still be my favorites for mods, but it looks like Paizo is comming on strong w/ more material and a new adventure path in the works.
Desdichado
Hero
It depends on what you want. Green Ronin is definately good, I've like a lot of Malhavoc stuff (although there's other Malhavoc stuff I'm not interested in) Privateer rocks, AEG has some good stuff, FFG has some good stuff but also some pretty mediocre stuff, Mongoose is particularly good when they're using the OGL to make a non-d20 game it seems like.
First I'd say Paradigm Concepts. It's not big yet, but they're visionary. The stories, the political interplay, the chances for honest-to-gosh heroism, that's all I got into RPGs for in the first place. They're my number one, because every product they put out gives me an idea for fifty different characters and twenty different campaigns. On second thought, I hate them. I'll never in a lifetime be able to explore all the ideas and hooks in their products. Hate hate hate.
White Wolf definitely. Yeah, their Sword and Sorcery stuff is broken as heck, but it's fun. And they're bringing back Ravenloft, and so I've heard new Masque of the Red Death rules. Victorian horror is just fun.
AEG, just because they're AEG. Rokugan has an incredibly hard-core following, and Spycraft fills a niche in gaming that even traditional gunrunner games, like Shadowrun and such, doesn't fill. They do great stuff.
Fantasy Flight Games might belong here. Their stuff is eclectic, I only really got into one of their campaign settings and they're no longer supporting it (I wish they'd reworked Dragonstar instead of dropping it, it was a great idea, just needed some mechanics tweaking.) But their splat books and suppliments are great stuff, and a boon to any DM.
And that one company . . . I think Avalanche? I think? Just because you have to admire a company who goes straight to the lowest common denominator of our beloved hobby and puts a ridiculously and anatomically impossibly well-endowed woman on the cover of every single product they make. I admire someone who makes no pretense of being civilized like that. They made a decent book on Dracula too. And strangely enough, most of the cover of that one, if I recall, was taken up by a very busty rendition of one of Dracula's vampiric ladies . . . ah well.
White Wolf definitely. Yeah, their Sword and Sorcery stuff is broken as heck, but it's fun. And they're bringing back Ravenloft, and so I've heard new Masque of the Red Death rules. Victorian horror is just fun.
AEG, just because they're AEG. Rokugan has an incredibly hard-core following, and Spycraft fills a niche in gaming that even traditional gunrunner games, like Shadowrun and such, doesn't fill. They do great stuff.
Fantasy Flight Games might belong here. Their stuff is eclectic, I only really got into one of their campaign settings and they're no longer supporting it (I wish they'd reworked Dragonstar instead of dropping it, it was a great idea, just needed some mechanics tweaking.) But their splat books and suppliments are great stuff, and a boon to any DM.
And that one company . . . I think Avalanche? I think? Just because you have to admire a company who goes straight to the lowest common denominator of our beloved hobby and puts a ridiculously and anatomically impossibly well-endowed woman on the cover of every single product they make. I admire someone who makes no pretense of being civilized like that. They made a decent book on Dracula too. And strangely enough, most of the cover of that one, if I recall, was taken up by a very busty rendition of one of Dracula's vampiric ladies . . . ah well.
10 best
I can't see this list without Paradigm Concepts. They interface with Green Ronin's Freeport supplement, Atlas Games' Nyambe and Living Imaginations' Broadsides. It is a richly developed world with a lot of resources and the commitment to add quite a bit more. In addition, their support of the the RPGA Living Arcanis is nothing short of amazing. Paradigm Concepts sponsored Living Arcanis events were the largest single role-playing events at both Origins 2004 and GenCon Indy 2004.
I can't see this list without Paradigm Concepts. They interface with Green Ronin's Freeport supplement, Atlas Games' Nyambe and Living Imaginations' Broadsides. It is a richly developed world with a lot of resources and the commitment to add quite a bit more. In addition, their support of the the RPGA Living Arcanis is nothing short of amazing. Paradigm Concepts sponsored Living Arcanis events were the largest single role-playing events at both Origins 2004 and GenCon Indy 2004.
Voadam
Legend
From stuff I have 10 I like a lot.
Green Ronin
Atlas-Games
FFG
Malhavok
Chainmail bikini (do more guys, please)
Bastion (I really like complete minions and their pdf support).
Goodman games
Mongoose publishing (hit and miss)
Ambient inc. (Now folded into EN Publishing)
Sword and Sorcery Studios
Green Ronin
Atlas-Games
FFG
Malhavok
Chainmail bikini (do more guys, please)
Bastion (I really like complete minions and their pdf support).
Goodman games
Mongoose publishing (hit and miss)
Ambient inc. (Now folded into EN Publishing)
Sword and Sorcery Studios
