What do you find most useful to your gaming?

[rounser]

Ironically, published adventure modules tend to take more effort to fit into my campaign than adventures I develop completely on my own...

That's most peoples' experience as well, I think. Standard procedure is to let the world define the types of adventures which are possible (and, more importantly, aren't possible) within it's bounds.

If you don't mind some pre-campaign reading of multiple Dungeon magazine adventures and building your world to meet their needs for props, it's possible to reverse the situation, and have your worldbuilding become thrall to the needs of your adventures, rather than your choice of adventures become thrall to the needs of your worldbuilding.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Certainly adventures. I kind of like writing my own adventures but in 3ed there is so much detail that needs to be juggled in order to make a "correct" adventure. If I make it myself chances are I will miss important stuff like the proper number of feats an 8HD monsterous humanoid should have and if it qualifies for the ambidexterity feat or the effects of a certain spell I've failed to consider.

I also agree with the previous poster who said that adventures are setting material and flavor too. I remember an old adventure written for the Oriental Adventures book back in 1st edition days that was called Mad Monkey or some such. In that adventure if the characters were successful they were offered training in the fabled Mad Monkey-style of martial arts. I think that is a pretty cool way of introducing new crunch to a campaign. I will have more of that, please.

*** A Lion in the Ropes Spoiler ***

This adventure features stats for a monster that isn't in the adventure. It's only spoken about. How cool is that?!

*** Spoiler End ***

 

[Gospog]

I get the most use out of Dungeon/Polyhedron. It's got it all!

 

[Psion]

Well, added it to the poll to try to be complete. But it could be a stand alone book on say....life in 15th century Transylvania.

Ah... I was thinking you might be talking about "flavor heavy" books like the slayers guide. Historical inspirations? Yeah, I use some. A major plot in my world is based on events of medieval Japan (the information of which I guess came from my East Asian History text and a novel I own called Shimabara). I also have a book called the Atlas of World History that gives me ideas for world events as well as serves as sort of a demographic and climate/terrain reality check.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

"it could be a stand alone book on say....life in 15th century Transylvania"

Yes; this is what I went for. Not transylvania, but anything which sparks of some inspiration for me.

Once I have that I can make the plot around it, and the crunch to back it up, so I don't need those kinds of books so much, but without the spark, I have nothing

I do still buy the modules and rulesy books, but i really only mine them for inspiration. I don't think I've ever run a module unchanged, and most of the rules I see make me think "great idea, but the rules are only close to correct..." and then I tweak away

 

[Aaron L]

I have never played nor run a published adventure, except for getting through few the first 3 or so DL modules. I didn't realize that was so odd.

 

[Drawmack]

I generally play in homebrew worlds, although my current homebrew world includes Bluffside and Freeport as the two hubs of the human empire while I flesh out the Elvin, Dwarven, Halfling, Gnomish, Giant, Ocr & Kobold empires. So I guess that I find setting material at least a little helpful but I don't like complete settings I like city books or maybe a book that defined an elvin empire I could drop into my world but leave the acctual world up to me.

I get more enjoyment from watching the players enjoy something I created so I don't usually run purchased adventures perfering to write my own however if I do run a purchased adventure it is a one shot usually gotten from GF, AEG, Dungeon or something similar.

What I find most useful are books with a specific purpose. Trap books, riddle books, etc. A lot of my gaming books are not even role-playing books. For example Edith Hamilton's Mythology is my gods book that is used at the table. I own numerous books of riddles and logic puzzles which work their way into my games. Heck I don't even use the MM that much and that's a core rulebook. I prefer ''people centric'' adventures where the advesaries are people to the advesaries being monsters. Call me wierd I just enjoy it. I think it's much more suspensful to take on the local thieves guild or to find the killer then it is to go kill a bunch of bug bears.

 

[Tonguez]

Try and Persuade GURPS to convert all its source books to D20 and rerelease them

alternately have some other company start creating quality history and anthroplogy texts which just happene to have D20 content and plot hooks

 

[SableWyvern]

I have to say "people", and I'm not wilfully ignoring the intent of the poll when I say that.

Yeah, we all need people to game with. But I'm talking about people to bounce ideas of - message boards like this, as well as the people I actual game with.

Generally, I'll buy the core book(s) for a system, and maybe a couple very relevant rule-books. I don't generally touch modules or campaign worlds.

Anyway, I voted the "other" option. I could have gone with "other flavour" books, in which case I would have been referring to generic (generally, non-gaming) resources - world building guides, US Navy Sun and Moon Rise/Set time generators on the net, architectural/historical/cultural non-fiction of relevance to a particular world etc...

 

[KnowTheToe]

It is a tie between imagination and people (see above for the many ways).