Lanefan
Victoria Rules
The "Known World" from X1 eventually became 2e's Mystara setting. It's all you'll ever need, either version.
Lanefan
WHat are the best books/items ever for D&D? :)
- Thread starter Silverblade The Ench
- Start date
Lanefan
DaveMage
Slumbering in Tsar
Wow...ever, huh?
Hmmm....
I'll just list my top 10, although I could probably list 50 easily....
1. The 3.5 Player's Handbook
2. The 3.5 Monster Manual
3. The 2E Planescape Box Set
4. The 3.5 Rappan Athuk Reloaded Box Set
5. 3.5 Ptolus
6. 1E GDQ1-7
7. The 3.5 Wilderlands of High Fantasy Box Set
8. 2E Return to the Tomb of Horrors Box Set
9. 2E The Ruins of Undermountain Box Set
10. The 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Hmmm....
I'll just list my top 10, although I could probably list 50 easily....
1. The 3.5 Player's Handbook
2. The 3.5 Monster Manual
3. The 2E Planescape Box Set
4. The 3.5 Rappan Athuk Reloaded Box Set
5. 3.5 Ptolus
6. 1E GDQ1-7
7. The 3.5 Wilderlands of High Fantasy Box Set
8. 2E Return to the Tomb of Horrors Box Set
9. 2E The Ruins of Undermountain Box Set
10. The 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Oryan77
Adventurer
My blood red D20 die. I only pull it out when the NPC needs that natural 20. When my players see me pick it up, they know the NPC isn't messing around.
I don't know who made it, but thank you for cursing it with such good luck. I just hope I don't find out that I owe Satan a favor when I retire from DMing.
I'm sure if anyone else used my die, they would agree that it is the best item for D&D.
Desdichado
Hero
The only books that I routinely come back to because they're just that awesome and useful are the 3e Manual of the Planes, Green Ronin's Book of Fiends, The Monsternomicon, and the Pirate's Guide to Freeport.
I've gotten a lot of use out of some of the Pathfinder setting material too, but then again, I'm both playing in a Pathfinder campaign right now and also researching some stuff for my Pathfinder short story competition entry, so I'm not sure if that counts or not.
I've gotten a lot of use out of some of the Pathfinder setting material too, but then again, I'm both playing in a Pathfinder campaign right now and also researching some stuff for my Pathfinder short story competition entry, so I'm not sure if that counts or not.
Yet Another Big List of Candidates (mostly old stuff):
TSR's "Little Brown Books"
Judges Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy and City State of the Invincible Overlord (include "Ready Ref" material)
TSR's Empire of the Petal Throne
JG's Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower
The Dungeoneer Compendium of issues 1-6
the Alarums & Excursions APA
Cities by Midkemia Press
Thieves' World boxed set by Chaosium
The Arduin Grimoire, Welcome to Skull Tower and The Runes of Doom by Dave Hargrave
Chaosium's three volumes of All the Worlds' Monsters
FBI/Blade's Grimtooth's Traps (and some sequels)
FBI/Blade's Citybook series
The Goodman Games edition of The Random Esoteric Creature Generator
The Basic Sets -- Holmes, Moldvay, and Mentzer
TSR's The Keep on the Borderlands
TSR's Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa and Vault of the Drow
(Tsojcanth, which haakon1 nominated, is one of several Gygax modules that rank among my personal favorites, but seem not so highly regarded by most other folks.)
TSR's The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
The (1st ed.) Dungeon Masters Guide (The MM and PHB are excellent, historical landmarks, and perhaps more polished -- but not of such perennial interest. The D&D/L&L tends to get little attention, from what I have seen.)
Kellri's CDD#4: Encounters (fan aid for the 1E AD&D DM)
Darlene's maps of the World of Greyhawk
TSR's original Forgotten Realms Boxed Set
TSR's D&D Gazetteer series
Ral Partha miniatures
Steve Jackson Games' Cardboard Heroes (and Monsters, and Dungeons)
Otherworld Miniatures
Hirst Arts molds
Gamescience High Impact dice
Gamelords' Thieves' Guild series (technically for its own game system, like some Midkemia stuff, but often used with D&D)
TSR's "Little Brown Books"
Judges Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy and City State of the Invincible Overlord (include "Ready Ref" material)
TSR's Empire of the Petal Throne
JG's Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower
The Dungeoneer Compendium of issues 1-6
the Alarums & Excursions APA
Cities by Midkemia Press
Thieves' World boxed set by Chaosium
The Arduin Grimoire, Welcome to Skull Tower and The Runes of Doom by Dave Hargrave
Chaosium's three volumes of All the Worlds' Monsters
Monsters of Myth from The First Edition Society
FBI/Blade's Grimtooth's Traps (and some sequels)
FBI/Blade's Citybook series
The Goodman Games edition of The Random Esoteric Creature Generator
The Basic Sets -- Holmes, Moldvay, and Mentzer
TSR's The Keep on the Borderlands
TSR's Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa and Vault of the Drow
(Tsojcanth, which haakon1 nominated, is one of several Gygax modules that rank among my personal favorites, but seem not so highly regarded by most other folks.)
TSR's The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
The (1st ed.) Dungeon Masters Guide (The MM and PHB are excellent, historical landmarks, and perhaps more polished -- but not of such perennial interest. The D&D/L&L tends to get little attention, from what I have seen.)
Kellri's CDD#4: Encounters (fan aid for the 1E AD&D DM)
Darlene's maps of the World of Greyhawk
TSR's original Forgotten Realms Boxed Set
TSR's D&D Gazetteer series
Ral Partha miniatures
Steve Jackson Games' Cardboard Heroes (and Monsters, and Dungeons)
Otherworld Miniatures
Hirst Arts molds
Gamescience High Impact dice
Gamelords' Thieves' Guild series (technically for its own game system, like some Midkemia stuff, but often used with D&D)
Last edited:
thorian
Explorer
Near the end of 2E, three of the best products ever put out for D&D:
Wizard's Spell Compendium 1-4
Priest's Spell Compendium 1-3
Encyclopedia Magica 1-4
Also:
2E Monstrous Compendium
2E DMG, PHB
Night Below Box Set
Planescape (almost everything)
Illithiad book and adventures
For 3E:
Draconomicon
Fiendish Codex I & II
Wizard's Spell Compendium 1-4
Priest's Spell Compendium 1-3
Encyclopedia Magica 1-4
Also:
2E Monstrous Compendium
2E DMG, PHB
Night Below Box Set
Planescape (almost everything)
Illithiad book and adventures
For 3E:
Draconomicon
Fiendish Codex I & II
Chris Knapp
First Post
My Chessex Megamat (& new Paizo Flipmat)
D&D Minis
GDQ series modules
Original Dragonlance DL1-14 modules
Dundjinni mapping software
Neverwinter Nights
Dwellers of the Forbidden City module
Dragon Magazine CD-ROM archive
That cut-out THACO wheel from Dragon Magazine
4E DMG2
D&D Minis
GDQ series modules
Original Dragonlance DL1-14 modules
Dundjinni mapping software
Neverwinter Nights
Dwellers of the Forbidden City module
Dragon Magazine CD-ROM archive
That cut-out THACO wheel from Dragon Magazine
4E DMG2
rgard
Adventurer
I'm sure I've missed some as I deliberately didn't read the other posts, but here goes:
1. 1E DMG
2. Against the Giants series
3. Lost Caverns of the Unpronounceable Word (Tsojcanth)
4. 1E Citystate of the Invincible Overlord
5. 1E Fiend Folio
6. Dragon Magazine
7. White Dwarf Magazine (prior to being GW's house mag)
8. 1E Oriental Adventures
9. 1E Unearthed Arcana
10. 3.5 PHB
11. D20 CoC
12. D&D plastic minis (ok I cheated and read some other posts in this thread)
13. Advanced Player's Guide (Green Ronin) 3.5
14. Conan the Roleplaying Game (Mongoose's Atlantean edition)
15. D20 Wilderlands of High Fantasy (yes, I posted elsewhere here that I am selling my copy on Ebay, but my son's tuition payment is more important)
16. 3X Unearthed Arcana
And this isn't exactly a product, but...
The OGL.
1. 1E DMG
2. Against the Giants series
3. Lost Caverns of the Unpronounceable Word (Tsojcanth)
4. 1E Citystate of the Invincible Overlord
5. 1E Fiend Folio
6. Dragon Magazine
7. White Dwarf Magazine (prior to being GW's house mag)
8. 1E Oriental Adventures
9. 1E Unearthed Arcana
10. 3.5 PHB
11. D20 CoC
12. D&D plastic minis (ok I cheated and read some other posts in this thread)
13. Advanced Player's Guide (Green Ronin) 3.5
14. Conan the Roleplaying Game (Mongoose's Atlantean edition)
15. D20 Wilderlands of High Fantasy (yes, I posted elsewhere here that I am selling my copy on Ebay, but my son's tuition payment is more important)
16. 3X Unearthed Arcana
And this isn't exactly a product, but...
The OGL.
Particle_Man
Explorer
1e's fab 5 (players handbook, monster manual, fiend folio, monster manual II and definitely the DMG).
The Dragonlance novels. As a kid, I loved these.
Dungeon! the board game. Fun in itself, plus I raided it for its miniatures.
B/X - Moldvay/Cook rules. My favorite.
Rules Cyclopedia - But this is a very complete version, a done in one that can last forever, if you remember to give Thieves and Mystics +30% to everything.
2nd ed. The settings. The beautiful beautiful settings.
3rd ed:
Draconomicon - finally fixes a pain in the butt in 3rd ed -- actually puts together dragon stats (including spell selection) for all age categories for the 10 basic types. A big timesaver.
PHB II - goes a long way to helping the fighter, and has need class options for others like the Hexblade. Also nice quick NPC rules in the back.
Expanded Psionics Handbook - finally gets the balance right.
Complete Arcane for the Warlock. A class that is not only flavourful, but easy to use for players and DMs alike.
Tome of Battle - Like, wow!
Mutants and Masterminds - very well done for comic book supers.
Testament - I actually learned something about the history of the Jewish people from this game. In addition to combat, has nice "here's your community, how do you keep it going in the face of various troubles?" rules.
Iron Heroes - Lets you be METAL without magic items.
Castles and Crusades - A simpler version of the game. Great for new players too, IME.
Book of the Righteous - A very nice pantheon and background. I have a friend that swears by it. Pity it wasn't updated to 3.5.
Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign setting - Personally, I found it very well done and with lots of plot hooks waiting to grab hold. But this one varies from person to person.
Pathfinder Core Rulebook & Bestiary - Keeping the Flame going, and doing a fine job of it. Kudos for putting out a Pathfinder SRD!
4e - DMG - some good advice in this one.
The Dragonlance novels. As a kid, I loved these.
Dungeon! the board game. Fun in itself, plus I raided it for its miniatures.
B/X - Moldvay/Cook rules. My favorite.
Rules Cyclopedia - But this is a very complete version, a done in one that can last forever, if you remember to give Thieves and Mystics +30% to everything.
2nd ed. The settings. The beautiful beautiful settings.
3rd ed:
Draconomicon - finally fixes a pain in the butt in 3rd ed -- actually puts together dragon stats (including spell selection) for all age categories for the 10 basic types. A big timesaver.
PHB II - goes a long way to helping the fighter, and has need class options for others like the Hexblade. Also nice quick NPC rules in the back.
Expanded Psionics Handbook - finally gets the balance right.
Complete Arcane for the Warlock. A class that is not only flavourful, but easy to use for players and DMs alike.
Tome of Battle - Like, wow!
Mutants and Masterminds - very well done for comic book supers.
Testament - I actually learned something about the history of the Jewish people from this game.
In addition to combat, has nice "here's your community, how do you keep it going in the face of various troubles?" rules.Iron Heroes - Lets you be METAL without magic items.
Castles and Crusades - A simpler version of the game. Great for new players too, IME.
Book of the Righteous - A very nice pantheon and background. I have a friend that swears by it. Pity it wasn't updated to 3.5.
Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign setting - Personally, I found it very well done and with lots of plot hooks waiting to grab hold. But this one varies from person to person.
Pathfinder Core Rulebook & Bestiary - Keeping the Flame going, and doing a fine job of it. Kudos for putting out a Pathfinder SRD!
4e - DMG - some good advice in this one.
