What RPG books/manuals do you really regret buying?

[Henry]

I've given away more than I've kept.

My more recent regret, sad to say is Green Ronin's Testament - not because it's a bad book, but because my group nor I will doubtfully EVER get use out of it, so I got rid of it to make room.

 

[Ghostwind]

Most of the ones I regret buying I have gotten rid of in the last few months. However, I keep hanging on to my Star Trek RPG books in the hopes that I actually will get around to running a campaign and that Decipher will actually start supporting it again. The other one that I kinda regret buying is Crimson Empire.

 

[VirgilCaine]

GURPS High Tech- I wanted technology, not guns and bombs.

Low Tech, High Tech, Ultra Tech. Simple.

I wish I hadn't downloaded some free .pdfs.
Lets see. The Qalashar device preview. Guess I was hoping for a clue as to what the "device" was? I dislike current military material in general.

There was a post-apoc pdf sample adventure that I regret downloading. When the enemy "sniper" had a Barret Light Fifty with three rounds of ammo, that clinched it.

Fortunately, I don't buy a lot of stuff. I bought Crystalmancy: The Power of Gems from EN Publishing, and I like it.

 

[der_kluge]

Campaign Cartographer. I paid $100 for it at Gen Con several years ago. I never figured out how to use it. I let my friend borrow it, and he lost the disks. And I'm not even saddened by that. I hated that program.

Book-wise, I can't really think of anything. I've gotten a lot of free books over the years (being a writer has its advantages), and I own things I'd never pay money for (TLG's "The Hermit" comes to mind), but I can't say I really regret buying anything.

There are books I own that I'll probably never really use, but I don't regret buying them, since they're generally really good products. Grim Tales, FRCS, MoTP...

 

[lior_shapira]

Oathbound. Looked promising but I didn't connect to it and the artwork annoys me to no end... it just sits there on the shelf, glaring at me.

 

[Desdichado]

Not many. But here's a few:

Epic Level Handbook. And I only got it for $14 too, due to a pricing error at buy.com. Still, it wasn't even worth that.

Deities & Demigods. Utterly disappointing. I had high expectations, though, so maybe that's the problem.

Sorcery & Steam. Another one for which I had very high expectations, and somehow it just didn't click for me.

Everquest: Monsters of Norrath. I expected it to be compatible with D&D; after all, it says so right on the back. It's pretty useless without the EQ guide, though. Utter waste of $30.

I notably do not regret buying Creature Collection... but I certainly prefer Creature Collection II.

 

[loki44]

D&D 3.0 core rulebooks. Only used 'em a handful of times before 3.5 came out.

 

[sjmiller]

Let's see, if I go with just the stuff I have purchased since starting D&D3e, the list is surprisingly short. If I include stuff from before that, well, 25 years as a collector has meant quite a few stinkers.

For d20 books, I would have to agree with a number of people and say that the Creature Collection I was the biggest disappointment. The production value seems rushed and things were missing from it or were grossly inaccurate (hit dice type comes to mind). Plus, the art in the book, and I use that in the broadest sense imaginable, leaves a great deal to be desired. I do not think I have used a single thing from that book.

I have a minor level of disappointment with Relics and Rituals, but that is mostly from my not looking through it the way I normally would. I was hoping for more things to inspire my creation of cleric sub-classes and divine magic items. While I have used or modified some things from this, I would say it is the least referenced book I have used.

Another book I completely regret getting was, I am happy to say, only $5.00(US). That was the cover price! It is by a fairly major publisher (the name escapes me), and it is a sampler of several of the books they publish. All I know is that the material presented was so uninspiring that I came away feeling like I should ask for my time and money back. I am thinking of giving this one away to someone outside my gaming group. I don't want any of them to know I bought this swill!

Unlike others in this thread, I did find some good use out of Dieties & Demigods. The temple maps have seen use, and the drawings of the holy symbols have proved handy. The use of an avatar for the dieties was a nice mechanic, and I plan to use that soon. I would have liked more descriptive text on the D&D Pantheon, explaining the relationship of the dieties to each other and to the mythos of the pantheon. I would have also liked more information on different types of religions and creating your own, but I have GURPS Religion for that. So, I do not regret getting it. I do sort of wish I had paid less, but then I am cheap.

Otherwise, I think that is all. I do not own many 3e books, and I don't own any 3.5 (I don't think). I am been selective on my purchases, so I have missed a bunch of the real stinkers.

 

[Voadam]

Demonology from Mongoose, I got it on sale and thought it was OK for the price I paid but wish I had waited for it to come out in pdf as I would prefer to have it in that format and I don't like it enough to buy it twice.

 

[Voadam]

Deities and demigods 3e, great art (and some terrible art) but not nearly the inspiring god info that was in previous edition god books. A step down in content quality that seriously disappointed me.

Ravenloft DMG, not anything in there that inspired me or added to my ravenloft enjoyment. Much prefer the DM advice from the original boxed set.