What are your top 5 D20 Companies
- Thread starter Razuur
- Start date
I'll chime in here. I will just leave WoTC off as an assumed favorite, else this whole list blows away. This is in no particular order, and may grow longer than 5. I really like to have people know I appreciate their work and maybe I can get a lot of folks in with this one.
1. Green Ronin - (chant) free-port, free-port. When BotR came out to complete the set with LoH, and AotA, I had to really fight to keep from ripping out my cosmos and installing that one! Those books are great, and did I mention Freeport. Oh they also get a nod for a 'best tabletop timesaver' award with the Pocket Grimoires.
2. Kenzer - Kingdoms of Kalamar just rocks! Great setting, great adventures, wonderful presentation. I can't wait for the Atlas. I also am giving a premature kudo for best gaming shield. I do not have my grubby little hands on a Kalamar shield yet... yet.
3. Sword and Sorcery/Necromancer - I am putting these two together. I own several Scarred Lands titles, but don't use the setting. In it's whole it is not my cup of tea, but man do I get ideas from these things. I have never gotten this much 'idea bang for the buck' out of any products that I don't really play from. What I would give for a book of nothing but ideas and crib notes from these guys. Necromancer- what needs to be said? I have played DnD for over 20 years. These guys bring back a lot of memories and just plain cools stuff.
4. FFG - A recent addition to my book shelf. I am getting a lot from the Path books, and I am getting the Seafarer's Handbook soon. These folks also hold a place for the effect they had on my nongaming wife. I recently bought Traps and Treachery I at DragonCon. When I got back to our room, she wanted to see what I had bought. She thumbed through the books casually until she got to TaT. She smiled at the title and the next thing I know she is pointing to a page and saying "This is just nasty. Use this on your players.! Ohh... This one is neat too, use it too!" A great moment!
5. Malhavoc Press - The BoEM books are great, the alt Ranger is great, and Monte gets the nod for best "something for everybody" cool module for 3E- The Banewarrens. I can't wait to run this with my mixed hack-and-slash, role-playing problem solving group.
6. MEG/ Ambient - Just added these guys recently. Just plain good stuff. FL:Urban Blight I have already raved about. The Librum Equitis books are the best prestige class books I have found. They also support Campaign Suite (see below).
7. AEG - Their Adventure Keep modules have saved me more than once, but their 'single word' books keep on giving. I have five of these things and they never let me down. Great books for providing in-depth looks at topics for inclusion in my game.
8. Twin Rose Software - I gotta go a different direction here. Their Campaign Suite software saves me more time and redundant effor than I care to imagine. A great product with helpful polite support.
So, there you have it. My d20 life in a nutshell.
1. Green Ronin - (chant) free-port, free-port. When BotR came out to complete the set with LoH, and AotA, I had to really fight to keep from ripping out my cosmos and installing that one! Those books are great, and did I mention Freeport. Oh they also get a nod for a 'best tabletop timesaver' award with the Pocket Grimoires.
2. Kenzer - Kingdoms of Kalamar just rocks! Great setting, great adventures, wonderful presentation. I can't wait for the Atlas. I also am giving a premature kudo for best gaming shield. I do not have my grubby little hands on a Kalamar shield yet... yet.
3. Sword and Sorcery/Necromancer - I am putting these two together. I own several Scarred Lands titles, but don't use the setting. In it's whole it is not my cup of tea, but man do I get ideas from these things. I have never gotten this much 'idea bang for the buck' out of any products that I don't really play from. What I would give for a book of nothing but ideas and crib notes from these guys. Necromancer- what needs to be said? I have played DnD for over 20 years. These guys bring back a lot of memories and just plain cools stuff.
4. FFG - A recent addition to my book shelf. I am getting a lot from the Path books, and I am getting the Seafarer's Handbook soon. These folks also hold a place for the effect they had on my nongaming wife. I recently bought Traps and Treachery I at DragonCon. When I got back to our room, she wanted to see what I had bought. She thumbed through the books casually until she got to TaT. She smiled at the title and the next thing I know she is pointing to a page and saying "This is just nasty. Use this on your players.! Ohh... This one is neat too, use it too!" A great moment!
5. Malhavoc Press - The BoEM books are great, the alt Ranger is great, and Monte gets the nod for best "something for everybody" cool module for 3E- The Banewarrens. I can't wait to run this with my mixed hack-and-slash, role-playing problem solving group.
6. MEG/ Ambient - Just added these guys recently. Just plain good stuff. FL:Urban Blight I have already raved about. The Librum Equitis books are the best prestige class books I have found. They also support Campaign Suite (see below).
7. AEG - Their Adventure Keep modules have saved me more than once, but their 'single word' books keep on giving. I have five of these things and they never let me down. Great books for providing in-depth looks at topics for inclusion in my game.
8. Twin Rose Software - I gotta go a different direction here. Their Campaign Suite software saves me more time and redundant effor than I care to imagine. A great product with helpful polite support.
So, there you have it. My d20 life in a nutshell.
roytheodd
First Post
It's tough for me to nail down five companies when so many are making products I buy and use. I'll venture to claim these as my top five:
1) Kenzer & Co. makes Kingdoms of Kalamar. I like the setting and the quality of all of their products for it, so they get top of the list for certain.
2) Green Ronin is a solid second. The Freeport modules were good, but the Demon and Devil books are better. On top of this, they've got the Pocket Arcana books which are indispensible.
3) Fantasy Flight Games has been filling niches in good speed. They make quailty products to fill needs and that are fantastic for stealing ideas from. These guys are on the ball and consistent.
4) Malhavoc Press and Monte Cook seem to always know what I want for my game and provide it before I ask. Requiem for a God has me drooling.
5) Avalanche Press for its themed adventures/mini-campaigns. I really like the utility of their adventures as the lend d20 a GURPSish feeling.
Honorable mention goes to the following (in no particular order): Sword & Sorcery, AEG, Necromancer Games, Penumbra (Atlas Games), Privateer Press (makers of the best laid-out monster book EVER), Bard's Productions.
1) Kenzer & Co. makes Kingdoms of Kalamar. I like the setting and the quality of all of their products for it, so they get top of the list for certain.
2) Green Ronin is a solid second. The Freeport modules were good, but the Demon and Devil books are better. On top of this, they've got the Pocket Arcana books which are indispensible.
3) Fantasy Flight Games has been filling niches in good speed. They make quailty products to fill needs and that are fantastic for stealing ideas from. These guys are on the ball and consistent.
4) Malhavoc Press and Monte Cook seem to always know what I want for my game and provide it before I ask. Requiem for a God has me drooling.
5) Avalanche Press for its themed adventures/mini-campaigns. I really like the utility of their adventures as the lend d20 a GURPSish feeling.
Honorable mention goes to the following (in no particular order): Sword & Sorcery, AEG, Necromancer Games, Penumbra (Atlas Games), Privateer Press (makers of the best laid-out monster book EVER), Bard's Productions.
1. WotC - their sales volume allows them to put more expense into production and really outclass other companies - they simply can't be beat in production value. The stuff is often lacking in flavor, in my opinion, but really good for getting the job done.
2. Kenzer - great world, great quality. The upcoming DM shield and atlas sound like they will be really impressive too.
3. AEG - really good ability to create new rulesets within d20. There are editing mistakes but nobody else has covered as much new territory with such quality.
4. Sov. Stone - great feel to fantasy that really re-inspires a sense of awe and wonder that is sadly lacking from most d20 fantasy-overkill stuff, great magic system and core classes
Aside from number 1, which is there just by it's necessity and how it sets the baseline for quality, the fact that all of these companies have products to support low magic probably indicates my bias.
2. Kenzer - great world, great quality. The upcoming DM shield and atlas sound like they will be really impressive too.
3. AEG - really good ability to create new rulesets within d20. There are editing mistakes but nobody else has covered as much new territory with such quality.
4. Sov. Stone - great feel to fantasy that really re-inspires a sense of awe and wonder that is sadly lacking from most d20 fantasy-overkill stuff, great magic system and core classes
Aside from number 1, which is there just by it's necessity and how it sets the baseline for quality, the fact that all of these companies have products to support low magic probably indicates my bias.
hellbender
First Post
Wizards of the Coast: Have all hardbacks except the BoVD [flipped through it, hey, Monte is allowed a bad book], all the class books, and various other sourcebooks.
Green Ronin: Have the Fiend books, the Book of the Righteous, Secret College of Necromancy, the Assassins Handbook, Arcane Societies, Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts among others.
Mongoose Publishing: Have all the Arcane and Divine series, a few Slayer's Guides, the books about sea travel and Judge Dredd and supplements.
Malhavoc: I purchase everything by Monte Cook (except that last hardback, but it wasn't Malhavoc, either)
hellbender
Green Ronin: Have the Fiend books, the Book of the Righteous, Secret College of Necromancy, the Assassins Handbook, Arcane Societies, Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts among others.
Mongoose Publishing: Have all the Arcane and Divine series, a few Slayer's Guides, the books about sea travel and Judge Dredd and supplements.
Malhavoc: I purchase everything by Monte Cook (except that last hardback, but it wasn't Malhavoc, either)
hellbender
Acmite
First Post
1. Green Ronin: Shaman's Handbook is excellent. The Grimoires' are handy. The Witch's Handbook is already pre-ordered. From what I've heard/seen (reviews, etc) some of their other supplements have been hit or miss (Assassins, frex).
2. Fiery Dragon: Great adventures, excellent pimping. I just wished these guys were more prolific. I'll be picking up some counters in the next couple weeks (whenever they come in).
3. Malhavoc: BoEM 1 and 2 are great. Looking forward to BoHM. Didn't pick up the Banewarrens, or Demon's God Fane (or whatever it's called).
4. WotC: I'm not sure why Wizards is 4th on my Top 5. They should probably be near the top, but I see this is as a list of my favorite companies, not the ones I have the most of. Most of the Wizards stuff I have I saw as a pseudo-necessity (Splatbooks in particular). The FRCS and Magic of Faerun are excellent, Song and Silence is crap on a stick. MotW is very good, and so is Tome and Blood, but I think Defenders of the Faith has quite a bit of useless material (a typical LG temple? huh?).
5. Sword and Sorcery (And Necromancer): I like the Scarred Lands (I have the Campaign Setting), and I'm really looking forward to the Tome of Horrors. It's already pre-ordered.
Least favorite:
So far, just Mongoose. I have yet to find a single supplement they have put out that interests me, despite their crazy large amount of releases. Is that their failing? Maybe. It might also just be me.
I'm also not fond of the coincidences in planned supplements between Mongoose and some of their competitors (Witch, Shaman, etc). I'm not trying to cast aspersions here, though, since I'm hardly privy to the whole situation.
Notes: I'm going to pick up Bad Axe's Dwarves book (hopefully today if it's in!) based on recommendations from board members. I'm not normally a dwarf fan, but hopefully this will help me overcome my "limitations".
2. Fiery Dragon: Great adventures, excellent pimping. I just wished these guys were more prolific. I'll be picking up some counters in the next couple weeks (whenever they come in).
3. Malhavoc: BoEM 1 and 2 are great. Looking forward to BoHM. Didn't pick up the Banewarrens, or Demon's God Fane (or whatever it's called).
4. WotC: I'm not sure why Wizards is 4th on my Top 5. They should probably be near the top, but I see this is as a list of my favorite companies, not the ones I have the most of. Most of the Wizards stuff I have I saw as a pseudo-necessity (Splatbooks in particular). The FRCS and Magic of Faerun are excellent, Song and Silence is crap on a stick. MotW is very good, and so is Tome and Blood, but I think Defenders of the Faith has quite a bit of useless material (a typical LG temple? huh?).
5. Sword and Sorcery (And Necromancer): I like the Scarred Lands (I have the Campaign Setting), and I'm really looking forward to the Tome of Horrors. It's already pre-ordered.
Least favorite:
So far, just Mongoose. I have yet to find a single supplement they have put out that interests me, despite their crazy large amount of releases. Is that their failing? Maybe. It might also just be me.
I'm also not fond of the coincidences in planned supplements between Mongoose and some of their competitors (Witch, Shaman, etc). I'm not trying to cast aspersions here, though, since I'm hardly privy to the whole situation.
Notes: I'm going to pick up Bad Axe's Dwarves book (hopefully today if it's in!) based on recommendations from board members. I'm not normally a dwarf fan, but hopefully this will help me overcome my "limitations".
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Acmite said:Notes: I'm going to pick up Bad Axe's Dwarves book (hopefully today if it's in!) based on recommendations from board members. I'm not normally a dwarf fan, but hopefully this will help me overcome my "limitations".
Cool! Please let me know what you think of it (either here or thru email).
I'd love to hear that I'd gained a "convert!"
Wulf
Darrin Drader
Explorer
This is too much like having to pick 5 best friends when you really have 20, so if I leave anyone off this list, and I happen to count you among my friends in the business, please don't take offense. Also, I don't count WotC in this category. I work for them and hey get enough recognition just based on who they are. In nor particular order, my favorites are the following:
1. Bastion Press: Oathbound is briliant. Not only is it an enjoyable read, but its probably one of the most mature books that I've ever come across in the gaming industry, and I don't mean this in a BoVD way. It also doesn't hurt that they agreed to bring me on as a freelancer from early on in development of the setting and they've kept me around to do additional work for them ever since. They're a great bunch of people, and their products are great. Oh, did I mention that in addition to being a great read, Oathbound makes for a fun place to actually set a game?
2. Malhavoc Press: Who better to write books on magic than the author of the DM's guide? Who better to design top notch adventures than the guy who wrote Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil? Monte rocks! He's a one man show, and Malhavoc is the perfect vehicle for his talent for game design.
3. Necromancer Games: No other company brings the gritty first edition feel back better than them. Their dungeon crawls have sent many of my players running back to the city to bury their dead (or what's left of them) and recruit new succers - I mean adventurers. In addition to this, they have contributed greatly to D20 as a whole. From bringing Gygax's Necropolis to 3rd edition to the forthcoming Tome of Horrors, they are here to create stuff that old school gamers can use.
4. Green Ronin: They were among the first to make use of the D20 license, and their products are pretty awesome (plus Chris Pramas is a heck of a nice guy). The four Freeport adventures are brilliant, the hardback is very easy to read, and the book of the Righteous is like a well-made car: expensive but worth it. The art is top notch, and every product offers something new and useful to the game.
5. Sword and Sorcery Studios: Creature Collections I & II, Relics and Rituals I & II, the Scarred lands. What else needs to be said? In the world of D20, they are the Yang to WotC's Yin.
A couple more I wish I could include in the list of 5: Mystic Eye Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and RPG Objects.
1. Bastion Press: Oathbound is briliant. Not only is it an enjoyable read, but its probably one of the most mature books that I've ever come across in the gaming industry, and I don't mean this in a BoVD way. It also doesn't hurt that they agreed to bring me on as a freelancer from early on in development of the setting and they've kept me around to do additional work for them ever since. They're a great bunch of people, and their products are great. Oh, did I mention that in addition to being a great read, Oathbound makes for a fun place to actually set a game?
2. Malhavoc Press: Who better to write books on magic than the author of the DM's guide? Who better to design top notch adventures than the guy who wrote Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil? Monte rocks! He's a one man show, and Malhavoc is the perfect vehicle for his talent for game design.
3. Necromancer Games: No other company brings the gritty first edition feel back better than them. Their dungeon crawls have sent many of my players running back to the city to bury their dead (or what's left of them) and recruit new succers - I mean adventurers. In addition to this, they have contributed greatly to D20 as a whole. From bringing Gygax's Necropolis to 3rd edition to the forthcoming Tome of Horrors, they are here to create stuff that old school gamers can use.
4. Green Ronin: They were among the first to make use of the D20 license, and their products are pretty awesome (plus Chris Pramas is a heck of a nice guy). The four Freeport adventures are brilliant, the hardback is very easy to read, and the book of the Righteous is like a well-made car: expensive but worth it. The art is top notch, and every product offers something new and useful to the game.
5. Sword and Sorcery Studios: Creature Collections I & II, Relics and Rituals I & II, the Scarred lands. What else needs to be said? In the world of D20, they are the Yang to WotC's Yin.
A couple more I wish I could include in the list of 5: Mystic Eye Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and RPG Objects.
Last edited:
hellbender
First Post
Acmite said:
So far, just Mongoose. I have yet to find a single supplement they have put out that interests me, despite their crazy large amount of releases. Is that their failing? Maybe. It might also just be me.
I'm also not fond of the coincidences in planned supplements between Mongoose and some of their competitors (Witch, Shaman, etc). I'm not trying to cast aspersions here, though, since I'm hardly privy to the whole situation.
Notes: I'm going to pick up Bad Axe's Dwarves book (hopefully today if it's in!) based on recommendations from board members. I'm not normally a dwarf fan, but hopefully this will help me overcome my "limitations".
I have to disagree on Mongoose, as I find a lot of great ideas with their products, and I love the Judge Dredd game. However, campaigns and opinions vary.
Personally, I think the similar products are just a coincidence, and I have purchased similar themed books from Mongoose and Green Ronin, and I can find some great material in both.
As for Bad Axe Games' Dwarf book, I have Hammer and Helm (from Green Ronin) but I would also like to purchase the Bad Axe book. However, I have yet to see it in local stores (I like to flip through books before buying them) and am trying to get a local retailer to get the book in for me.
hellbender
Darrin Drader
Explorer
hellbender said:
Well, quite honestly, I have to disagree with disagreeing on Mongoose. I really don't like taking isue with publishers, but I think the quality of their books just isn't there with the others that have been named, and they're thriving off the sheer quantity of their releases rather than the quality.
I could point to so many examples of where their products fall flat, but I'll just take the one that has been the largest let-down for me. When they announced their book on demonology, at first I was happy. I thought that it was about time a publisher did a book on this subject. Then I looked at the book. Yes, there were prestige classes, yes there were feats and spells, and rules for summoning, but then I flipped to the monsters section, which was the section that interested me the most, all that was there were reprints of some of the demons and devils already released to the SRD in the form they were released, with some illustrations to go along. What a waste of space! I already have the Monster Manual, as should anyone buying a D20 supplement. Why would I want to see these again? AEG's Evil, which was released at the same time covered the same ground, and so much more, while focusing on a broader range of topics.
Why do we need a slayer's guide for every monster in the monster manual. I'm sorry but gnolls are not interesting enough to merit an entire book.
The other issue, and I find this to be one of the most serious issues surrounding Mongoose is the sheer number of D20 releases they are releasing each month. Now I'm going to cut them some slack on the Judge Dredd stuff because it is almost a separate game, but it seems that their marketting practice is to have a product that competes with similar products from the other top 5 publishers. In all honesty, if I see a book by Mongoose on the shelf next to a book by Green Ronin dealing with the same subject matter, I'm taking home the Green Ronin book every time. I have much more respect for a company that puts out 1 quality release per month than one that puts our 5 books of questionable quality. This is a bit of a predatory marketting practice, and I'm sure that some of the companies that are competing with them have to be feeling a negative impact. Bottom line, I don't think their strategy is good for the industry in general, though I'm sure its doing wonders for their bank accounts.
However, since I am a nice guy, I will give credit where credit is due. I am very happy that I bought the Slayer's Guide to Dragons by Gary Gygax, and I do think that they have a good series going with Cities of Fantasy. I will be happy if they continue to release more of those, and I would like to see fewer but higher quality releases from them each month in general.
