What Are the 5 or 10 Best DM Resources ---USABLE REGARDLESS OF EDITION?

[RodneyThompson]

My top 3:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Websters-World-Thesaurus-Charlton-Laird/dp/0028631226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226200517&sr=1-1"]Webster's New World Thesaurus[/ame]

Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Bulfinchs-Mythology-Laurel-Classic-Bulfinch/dp/0440308453/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226200562&sr=1-2"]Bulfinch's Mythology[/ame]

 

[El Mahdi]

I'll second Bullfinch's Mythology. My copy has been heavily used and is starting to get a little worn.

I'd add to the list The Silmarillion. Even if one isn't running an LOTR campaign, it's chock full of useable stories, myths, names and words for non-human races (especially Elves but also for Dwarves and Orcs).

 

[barrowwight]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but National Geographic is a great source of ideas and locations for me.

 

[jdrakeh]

In no particular order:

Orbus Mundi. Although it glosses over some points that I consider important, it makes an excellent companion to other books about Medieval life.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Wargaming-Bruce-Galloway/dp/0812828623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226220606&sr=1-1"]Fantasy Wargaming[/ame]. The first 2/3 of the book are a surprisingly in depth analysis of Medieval Europe in the context of fantasy games (possibly the most in depth such analysis ever published in a game book).

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Imaginary-Places-Updated-Expanded/dp/0156008726"]The Dictionary of Imaginary Places[/ame]. This is, for all intents and purposes, a book of story/adventure seeds and setting ideas. A great resource for all games, from fantasy to modern horror.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Robins-Laws-Good-Game-Mastering/dp/1556346298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226220188&sr=1-1"]Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering[/ame]. While not to everybody's taste, it does introduce some new ways of thinking about and examining games that some people find handy.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Master-Game-Gary-Gygax/dp/039951533X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226220416&sr=1-2"]Master of the Game[/ame]. In many ways a counterpoint to Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering, Master of the Game illuminates the key principles of Game Mastering as espoused by Gary Gygax.

 

[Gilladian]

On a slightly different note, I find a world weather almanac and a good atlas of the world to be very handy. Especially an atlas that has crops and resources for areas as well as just terrain and geography.

I have several books of ancient world archaeology that I find useful (Valley of the Kings makes one heck of an adventure site).

I also have a couple of books on the history of the medieval castle. In the same vein, any of David Macaulay's books (castle, pyramid, city, cathedral) are all very helpful and interesting.

 

[Betote]

My take:

"Big List of RPG Plots", by S. John Ross. This and Risus have been all I've needed for years. I still use it and sometimes give away "The Pack" (Risus and the list) as a prize gift to my students.

"CHILL Companion", for running horror games. It's an exhaustive treatment of the genre, and full of good ideas.

"Mutants and Masterminds". The GM chapter is a must-have for superhero games, and it's also applicable to high-level fantasy.

"Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master Guide" (4th Ed) Regardless of the rules content, the advice part is quite good for beginner DMs. Same with the PHB for players.

 

[Mark]

How do I get me one of those?

Well, when two people named Perkins love DMing very, very much . . .

 

[Prisoner6]

Don't forget to read the news - it's like history, but more modern.

There's always plenty of ideas that the real world provides that no fictional world can compare to. Imagine a PC (or NPC) suddenly seeing his deity's image on a burnt piece of toast. What about a nation torn to pieces because it some of it's citizens don't want certain people to get married, while others seek to make it acceptable (use D&D races ... sorry, Gnomes can't marry Halflings)? Maybe the leader of a neighboring nation has not been seen recently: rumors of his illness or death are everywhere. What happens when one nation controls a stragic natural resource that everybody wants?

And that's without even getting to the crime reports...

 

[Emirikol]

Steve Jackson Games: Cardboard Heroes pack
Pegasus Games: barrels and crates
D&D: Cities: cardboard houses
D&D: Castles: cardboard castles (with doors, etc.)
Armoury: Extra Large battlemat
Dungeons & Dragons: prepainted miniatures
Dwarven Forge: Tables, chairs, etc.
Easy Reader: Easy Reader
Enworld Forums: Print your own Power Cards
Paizo: DUNGEON MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION


I think that about sums up what I still feel is timeless in my games.

jh


..

 

[brunswick]

Hmm..interesting question.

1. Dungeon Masters Design Kit (1988) (TSR adventure generator, by Aaron Allston and Harold Johnson)
2. Central Casting, Heroes of Legend (1988, 1995) by Paul Jaquays - brilliant character background generator, allows me to create in depth NPC backgrounds or to help me and my players design original back-stories)
3. My vinyl battle-mat
4. Dictionary of Imaginary Places (from wikipedia: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (1980, 1987, 1999) is a book written by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi. It takes the form of a catalogue of fantasy lands, islands, cities, and other locations from world literature—"a Baedecker or traveller's guide...a nineteenth-century gazetteer" for mental travelling.
Originally published in 1980 and expanded in 1987 and 1999, the Dictionary covers the terrains that readers of literature would expect—Ruritania and Shangri-La, Xanadu and Atlantis, L. Frank Baum's Oz,[1] Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, Thomas More's Utopia, Edwin Abbott's Flatland, C. S. Lewis' Narnia, and the realms of Jonathan Swift and J. R. R. Tolkien; and also a vast host of other venues, created by authors ranging from Dylan Thomas to Cervantes to Edgar Rice Burroughs, from Carl Sandburg to Rabelais to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (Plus the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup, among other non-orthodox texts.)
5. Dwarven Forge Scenery.

Thats all that springs to mind (honourable mention goes to the Grimtooths Traps series, although I havent used them for a while).