What Books Should I Buy?

[Olaf the Stout]

Ok, I have just come into some disposable income and I'm looking to get some D&D books. The question is which ones?

This is my list so far (in order of preference):

A Magical Society: Silk Road
Bard's Gate
DCC #29: The Adventure Begins
Player's Handbook II
Dungeon Tiles (x2)

I am not set on my choices as yet so what else would people recommend? I was thinking of possibly getting some of the Complete series of books. So far I only own Complete Divine (got it really cheap) in that series.

I am open to WotC and 3rd Party books and I am currently DM'ing my group through the Freeport Trilogy.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Crothian]

Silk Road is awesome and I love it, but it is not the mostuseful for the Freeport Trilogy. If you want to start dealing with ship cargos and trade, it would be perfect though.

Bard's Gate is a great city, but you already have a great city. Once again not the most useful given what you are doing.

I don't have DCC 29 so I'm of no help on that one

PHB2 has some good options for players and can be a very useful book.

Dungeon Tiles are great if you really make good use of minis.

There are plenty of good books out there, is matters more though on your current needs. I like the Complete book series, we use those a lot.

 

[Treebore]

Back when I still played 3E I did like the Complete books. All of them. I also liked Libris Mortis, and to a lesser extent Lords of Madness.

Have you gotten the 5 year anniversary edition of the Freeport Trilogy module?

Hmm. Most of my purchases lately have been non-3E, such as HARP and Runequest. The Blackmoor books were surprisingly good reads. Especially the Dungeons of Blackmoor Castle. DCC 33 and 35 are good.

Definitely get Silk Road (don't tell Joe but I think I like Suzi's writing better than his).

Blackmoors Wizards Cabal book was also cool. So if yoiu want a stark northern region well defined just invest in the Blackmoor books.

I also picked up Iron Heroes and several of those books. Good stuff, neat ideas.

I also like Fiery Dragons Battle Boxes and counter collections.

Thats about all I can think of right now.

 

[Treebore]

As far as what is on your list I have all but the PH2, and I am glad I own them. A third set of the tiles might be a good idea, but I am holding off until I see additional sets. Thats because I probably won't need a third one of this set.

you may also want to check out pdf products for tile sets, such as skeletonkey Ed's stuff and FAT Dragon Games. And Oones stuff. (I think that is their name)

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Silk Road is awesome and I love it, but it is not the mostuseful for the Freeport Trilogy. If you want to start dealing with ship cargos and trade, it would be perfect though.

Bard's Gate is a great city, but you already have a great city. Once again not the most useful given what you are doing.

I don't have DCC 29 so I'm of no help on that one

PHB2 has some good options for players and can be a very useful book.

Dungeon Tiles are great if you really make good use of minis.

There are plenty of good books out there, is matters more though on your current needs. I like the Complete book series, we use those a lot.

I'm not necessarily looking for books to use in my Freeport campaign this very moment. I plan on ordering these books from Noble Knight Games. My group is almost finished the 2nd adventure so I imagine by the time the books actually arrived in Australia they would have finished the trilogy and may have decided to move on from Freeport.

Silk Road I am getting just because it looks like a cool book and is something that I'm interested in reading.

Bard's Gate could see use later in the campaign if the PC's move on or it could be part of my next campaign.

DCC# 29: The Adventure Begins is a whole series of 1st and 2nd level adventures that are good for starting off a campaign. I can never have too many of those. The more I have to choose from the better I can suit it to my group.

PHB II just looks like a good book all-round.

We don't use minis but we do use the Fiery Dragon Counter Collection Digital. I figure that they would mix well with those.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Zweihänder]

I would say buy the Book of Nine Swords, or the Complete Adventurer. Both are superlative products, and seem like they would fit with a Freeport campaign.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Back when I still played 3E I did like the Complete books. All of them. I also liked Libris Mortis, and to a lesser extent Lords of Madness.

Have you gotten the 5 year anniversary edition of the Freeport Trilogy module?

Hmm. Most of my purchases lately have been non-3E, such as HARP and Runequest. The Blackmoor books were surprisingly good reads. Especially the Dungeons of Blackmoor Castle. DCC 33 and 35 are good.

Definitely get Silk Road (don't tell Joe but I think I like Suzi's writing better than his).

Blackmoors Wizards Cabal book was also cool. So if yoiu want a stark northern region well defined just invest in the Blackmoor books.

I also picked up Iron Heroes and several of those books. Good stuff, neat ideas.

I also like Fiery Dragons Battle Boxes and counter collections.

Thats about all I can think of right now.

I haven't got the 5th Anniversary edition of the Freeport Trilogy. I bought the 3.5E PDF versions of the adventures only a few months before the revised edition came out so it was a case of bad timing for me.

Already have Libris Mortis, Draconomicon and Lords of Madness but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Silk Road is probably a definite for me, even if all I ever do is read it.

I have heard a lot about Iron Heros but at the moment (and likely for a very long time going forward) I only game once a fortnight. I haven't done all the things that I would like to do with 3.5E yet so I think that I might have to give that one a miss for now.

I own a Fiery Dragon Battle Box, Counter Collection Gold and Counter Collection Digital. All 3 rock on toast. Good choices there.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Olaf the Stout]

As far as what is on your list I have all but the PH2, and I am glad I own them. A third set of the tiles might be a good idea, but I am holding off until I see additional sets. Thats because I probably won't need a third one of this set.

you may also want to check out pdf products for tile sets, such as skeletonkey Ed's stuff and FAT Dragon Games. And Oones stuff. (I think that is their name)

How many sets do you find yourself needing in your game? And what is different about the new sets coming out compared to the current ones? Do they focus on traps or doorways or anything in particular?

Out of all the tiles available in PDF and hardcopy, what ones do you think are the best?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I would say buy the Book of Nine Swords, or the Complete Adventurer. Both are superlative products, and seem like they would fit with a Freeport campaign.

The Book of 9 Swords was also on my radar. What are peoples' thoughts on that book? I had heard that it lenda itself to swashbuckling type adventure (not that that is necessarily what our campaign is like).

Olaf the Stout

 

[Zweihänder]

It CAN lend itself to swashbuckling, but it's more about duplicating the crazy stuff you see in movies such as Hero or House of Flying Daggers.

The book is basically sword magic. That's an odd concept, I know, but bear with me. The book introduces "maneuvers" and "stances", which are basically evocations and enchantments. You can use a certain selection of your maneuvers in a given battle (most of which are just more powerful and neat strikes, though a few are genuinely different), which are replenished at the end of the battle. Maneuvers, like I said, are generally just attacks with bonuses; for example, Sapphire Nightmare Blade adds 1d6 damage and makes the enemy flat-footed, as long as you succeed on a Concentration check. The more interesting maneuvers include effects that are VERY reminiscint of existing spells; notably, Inferno Blast, a 9th-level Desert Wind maneuver which deals 100 points of fire damage to everyone within range (Ref half). In general, I like the book, as I think it presents a new and interesting methodology to combat.