What products should I get?

[Eternalknight]

I am looking at getting some books or pdfs. I am after good, solid sources, and need a little bit of everything. A good sourcebook, some rules Wizards of the Coast haven't bought out, etc. Basically, I want to run a campaign with only the three core rulebooks, plus other d20 publisher's stuff. What recommendations do you give?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Well, if all you have is the three core rulebooks, you may want to look into a campaign setting; or at the very least, some very fluff-heavy resources like Freeport or Bluffside. Unless of course you WANT to add more pure rules structure on top of what is presented in the three core. (I inferred from your post that you were happy with a minimal set of rules, so I didn't recommend anything top-heavy on the crunchy bits.)

I hope you don't have anything against WOTC, however, as they still put out the very highest quality material. The Forgotten Realms book is fantastic, as are Oriental Adventures and Manual of the Planes.


Wulf

 

[Capellan]

Well, a lot of it depends on what kind of campaign you are thinking about running. High fantasy? Low magic? Action or intrigue? Urban or wilderness? Traditional or otherwise?

There are lots of great products out there, but they might not suit all tastes / games. Nyambe and Hollowfaust are both great books, for instance, but they are not only worlds apart from each other, but also from 'mainstream' D&D heroic fantasy.

Give us some more details, and we'll see what we can do

 

[Eternalknight]

Well, if all you have is the three core rulebooks, you may want to look into a campaign setting; or at the very least, some very fluff-heavy resources like Freeport or Bluffside. Unless of course you WANT to add more pure rules structure on top of what is presented in the three core. (I inferred from your post that you were happy with a minimal set of rules, so I didn't recommend anything top-heavy on the crunchy bits.)

I hope you don't have anything against WOTC, however, as they still put out the very highest quality material. The Forgotten Realms book is fantastic, as are Oriental Adventures and Manual of the Planes.


Wulf

Actually I have all of Wizards of the Coasts books, and definately don't have anything against them.

What I was looking at doing was just a 'change of pace' kind of thing. So all I'm wanting to use is WotC's core books, and then use some third-party publishers stuff to shake things up a bit. I don't want to use the rules WotC have done for this campaign; I have used them for 2 and a half years and just want something different. A new campaign setting, some splatbooks, etc.

 

[Eternalknight]

Well, a lot of it depends on what kind of campaign you are thinking about running. High fantasy? Low magic? Action or intrigue? Urban or wilderness? Traditional or otherwise?

There are lots of great products out there, but they might not suit all tastes / games. Nyambe and Hollowfaust are both great books, for instance, but they are not only worlds apart from each other, but also from 'mainstream' D&D heroic fantasy.

Give us some more details, and we'll see what we can do

Non-traditional is what I'm after. For this campaign I want to get away from the tried-and-true D&D fantasy, just for something different. Is Nyambe the African-based setting? I have heard of Hollowfaust, but what type of setting is that?

Jut as a note, I want to stay in fantasy; I don't want D20 modern or sci-fi, for instance.

 

[Capellan]

Non-traditional is what I'm after. For this campaign I want to get away from the tried-and-true D&D fantasy, just for something different. Is Nyambe the African-based setting? I have heard of Hollowfaust, but what type of setting is that?

Nyambe is indeed the African-based setting. It's a very good book. Great flavour, good setting, and basically a complete package "all in one book". A couple of adventures are starting to appear for it as well, I believe.

Hollowfaust is a part of the Scarred Lands setting: essentially it is a city run by Necromancers. I'm no SL Evangelist, but Hollowfaust is excellent, and a good choice for a 'creepy' campaign alternative.

I believe the Iron Kingdoms world book will be out soon - the monster book (Monsternomicon) and some adventures (the Witchfire trilogy) are already available. This is a fantasy setting with a bit more advanced technology than usual: steam power and firearms are available, for instance.

If you want something a bit out of the ordinary that has the added advantage of being a free download, try False World. It looks pretty interesting.

 

[Eternalknight]

Thanks Capellan, I'm downloading the False Worlds stuff now to have a look.

Anything else anyone wants to recommend?

 

[der_kluge]

You might consider Oathbound, by Bastion Press. It's fantasy, but quite different. I admit that I don't know much about it, so I'll stop there.

 

[Crothian]

Non-traditional is what I'm after. For this campaign I want to get away from the tried-and-true D&D fantasy, just for something different.

You can look into Slaine. It's traditional Celtic fantasy. THe true warriors don't wear armor (except for a shield) because it's agansit their armor. The magic system is completely different, few coins everything is barter (how many pigs for that longsword type thing). It's very well done, and very different then any game I've seen.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

A new campaign setting, some splatbooks, etc.

If it's splatbooks yer after, then I don't feel bad recommending my own line of products.

www.badaxegames.com

There are a lot of reviews on them here at ENworld (with links to outside sources).


Wulf