WHat are the best books/items ever for D&D? :)

[Starfox]

1 ed Player's Handbook: This book was groundbreaking, not only in rules but also in presentation, clarity, and layout. Many, many of the changes made to it actually made the game play less well.

3.5 Player's Handbook: Not everything in this book worked, but it was still a beautiful revision and included so many options.

3.0 Monster Manual: Beautiful, vibrant, alive. A good selection of monsters. A lovely book, even if advancing monsters in power took too much work.

World of Greyhawk (1981?) - the one with the Darlene maps. Absolutely beautiful, and the pattern of migrations makes its history feel very much alive.

Savage Tide adventure path (Dungeon 139-150) - perhaps the best campaign arc ever written for any system.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

- 2e Player's Handbook
The book that fired up my imagination and hooked me on roleplaying.

- 1e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
My first campaign setting. A huge sandbox with lots of lost empires.

- The Forgotten Realms Atlas
Beautiful maps. <3

- 2e Time of the Dragon Campaign Setting (Dragonlance)
Awesome post-apocalyptic setting. Don't tick off the gnomes.

- 2e The Complete Fighter's Handbook
Flavorful kits, expanded combat rules, more equipment, rules for crafting arms & armor. And I love fighters.

- 2e Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide
Everything that should have been in the 2e DMG. Great advice.

- 2e Dark Sun Campaign Setting (original)
Dark and deadly. Evocative artwork.

- 2e Birthright Campaign Setting
Rich history and cultural diversity. Rule a domain, establish your own, or adventure to your heart's content. Magic is rare but powerful, iconic villains (the Awnsheghlien), the Shadow World (think Feywild-turned-Shadowfell). Great artwork.

- 4e Dungeon Master's Guide
Don't DM without this.

- AEG's Ultimate Toolbox (2009)
Wow. Just wow.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set
By Tom Moldvay. Imo, B/X D&D is one of the better versions of D&D. Clearly presented, keeps what's good, discards the useless cruft.

It is, I believe, the first major product from TSR to encourage roleplaying, in the sense of the character having a different personality from the player. This stems in large part from a somewhat different concept of alignment. In 1e it is seen as an abstract principle, whereas in BD&D alignment is more a descriptor of personality and behaviour. In the famous play example, Sister Rebecca's virtuousness appears to be alignment-based. There is also a passage about the separation of player knowledge from character knowledge. Again the approach is different from 1e - “Your character doesn't know that” rather than 'blue bolts'.


Eberron Campaign Setting
There's a spark of genius in Eberron, it manages to do something never before achieved in the history of D&D – find a new twist on its traditional kitchen sink setting. The answer is to combine it with one of the other great kitchen sinks of adventure fiction – the pulps of the 20s and 30s. Other good settings – Al Qadim, Dark Sun – are parsimonious, they pare the sink away. This is quite reasonable but it's an obvious solution, done many times before. Eberron takes a completely different, and imo cleverer, approach.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Aside from the 3.5 core rules, I have to say the minis are my favorite D&D branded products ever. (Speaking generally. The line had ups and downs, but IMO spent (spends, I guess; I like the Orcus piece) the majority of the time in the "up" cycle.)

 

[DMH]

I wanted to think about this before answering and I am happy I did so. I looked through my shelves and, though I wanted to answer The World Builder's Guidebook, Sea Devils and some 3rd party material for 3.X (esp From Second World and Distant Horizon), my real answer took up the majority of my shelf and box space-

Dragon, Polyhedron and Dungeon. The magazines had so much useful information and almost every issue had something I would find useful even if I had to dig through the comics or ads to do so.

 

[billd91]

In no particular order:

1e DMG
A series of modules
GDQ series of modules
I6 - Ravenloft
Greyhawk folio
1e Oriental Adventures (honorable mention to 3e Oriental Adventures)
2e PH
2e Monstrous Compendiums
Complete Fighter's Handbook
Al-Qadim
Cleric and Wizard Spell Compendiums
Magic Item Compendium
Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog
Mad Monkey vs Dragon's Claw OA adventure
Historical green campaign books
3e PH
Paizo adventure paths
Pathfinder core rules
Pathfinder Bestiary

 

[rogueattorney]

I'm going to limit myself to 10-ish items, otherwise, I'd be here all day:

1981 Moldvay/Cook w/ Marsh edited Basic and Expert sets. To me these are the most concise and perfect expressions of the D&D rules.

1e DMG. A treasure trove of everything one might need to run a campaign.

City State of the Invincible Overlord. The ultimate fantasy city.

Judge's Guild Ready Ref Sheets. Random lists of cool stuff.

B2 Keep on the Borderland. Instant low-level campaign in 24 pages.

Dragon CD Rom Archive. Perhaps the most useful and informative single D&D product ever created.

Caverns of Thracia (original JG version). Simply the best dungeon module of all time.

Kellri's CDD #4 Encounters Reference Guide. More great random lists of stuff.

1e Monster Manual, PHB, and Deities & Demi-Gods. Just because.

It occurs to me that I don't yet have a campaign setting. I'm currently using the Borderlands region from the first Points of Light book. I'd also gladly use the folio version of Greyhawk from 1980, or the Known World as originally described in X1 Isle of Dread.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Oh, I thought I'd mention the one product I ever actually went out of my way to email someone over:

Green Ronin's Book of Fiends, by Erik Mona.

I sent GR a note of appreciation, specifically as a guy who doesn't do extra-planar stuff often but found the product to be exceptional, and got a really nice personal reply from Erik.

 

[crazy_cat]

Personal favourites, in no particular order:

1e DMG
Pathfinder
Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2
Neverwinter Nights (online multiplayer with a live GM reintroduced me to RPGs )
I6 Ravenloft
Ptolus
The Illithiad

 

[haakon1]

I'll skip the rules books, since that's the stuff of edition wars . . .

AD&D/Basic era:
1) Keep on the Borderlands - most iconic adventure/setting of D&D, to me

2) Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - lots of interesting stuff for the DM, and a fun, complex adventure for the players

3) Against the Giants/Descent into the Depths/Queen of the Demon Web pits series -- best adventure path of the era

4) Greyhawk boxed set - To me Greyhawk & D&D are conjoined twins -- the game was built in this setting.

5) Village of Hommlett - fun adventure, good setting

6) Oriental Adventurers - excellent alternative to the usual

7) Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh series -- a UK AD&D adventure path. Really creative stuff!

3e era:

1) Sunless Citadel -- fun little adventure, excellent intro to the new edition

2) Living Greyhawk -- excellent revival of the dead setting, trying to pull back together a shattered canon

3) Temple of Elemental Evil computer game -- finally, true turn-based party-strength D&D, with true D&D rules. If only it were not so buggy, and would actually run at all for me anymore.

4) Red Hand of Doom -- a war in an adventure, which means a successful genre expansion, like Ravenloft or Oriental Adventures in the AD&D era.

5) Shackled City -- As I recall (which may be incorrect), the first adventure path. Awesome that it's published as one book.

6) Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe -- not necessarily useful, but a fun intellectual romp