D&D 5E What books are aimed at veteran GMs?

[Reynard]

The Basic/Advanced thread got me wondering:

What books -- WotC or 3rd Party -- do you feel are aimed primarily at experienced, veteran GMs rather than newcomers. D&D 5E has seen an unprecedented number of new players and GMs (unprecedented at least since the early 80s, anyway) and I feel like a lot of WotC releases are aimed at those new players and GMs. Are there books, in your opinion, aimed at veteran GMs/players? How do you make the determination?

One thing I want to nip in the bud right away: let's leave the issue of nostalgia out of it. That isn't what I mean when I say "aimed at veteran GMs/players." There are arguments to be made on the subject, but this thread isn't the place to do it.

I don't know if it was intentional or not (I feel it wasn't) but I think Dragon heist is a "veteran GM adventure." Most because it is not a very well designed adventure out of the box. The GM has to do a lot of work to turn it into something fun, but if they do it can be the basis for a really great adventure or even campaign.

 

[Mannahnin]

Five Torches Deep is definitely aimed at experienced GMs. It's got a bunch of cool tools and ideas, but it expects you to have or adapt or create monsters and magic items, and to be able to interpret the very terse spell and special ability descriptions, which requires some confidence and practice at adjudication.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The Basic/Advanced thread got me wondering:

What books -- WotC or 3rd Party -- do you feel are aimed primarily at experienced, veteran GMs rather than newcomers. D&D 5E has seen an unprecedented number of new players and GMs (unprecedented at least since the early 80s, anyway) and I feel like a lot of WotC releases are aimed at those new players and GMs. Are there books, in your opinion, aimed at veteran GMs/players? How do you make the determination?

One thing I want to nip in the bud right away: let's leave the issue of nostalgia out of it. That isn't what I mean when I say "aimed at veteran GMs/players." There are arguments to be made on the subject, but this thread isn't the place to do it.

I don't know if it was intentional or not (I feel it wasn't) but I think Dragon heist is a "veteran GM adventure." Most because it is not a very well designed adventure out of the box. The GM has to do a lot of work to turn it into something fun, but if they do it can be the basis for a really great adventure or even campaign.

Unless you count something poorly written as designed for veteran DMs in which case I'd like to add at 5e's first pair of adventures to your list), I dont think anything was written for veteran GMs. WotC only chases new blood, and is far too conservative to put something out that would require a veteran's eye to fully appreciate.