What should a DM buy?

[Rechan]

A recent thread asked what monster books a new DM should prioritize in purchasing. I would like to expand that discussion to all things on the DM side of the screen.

Being a DM is often a real money investment. When you're just starting out as a 4e DM, you don't want to dump hundreds of dollars on a game that might not work out. Even if you know you want to DM and know you want to use the system, there is so many products out there, you could easily buy something you won't get a lot of use out of, or get a poorer product.

What do you think a DM should prioritize and buy? This ranges from Books to Online products, adventures, and tools/props (Dungeon tiles, DM screen).

I'd like to break it down into a few categories.

Musts: You really can't do without these. Or, you can, but you'll be at a real disadvantage without it.
Highly Recommended: Once you have the musts, these will greatly see use. This category you'll get a lot of utility out of, or has the best non-must quality and enjoyment for your purchase. Few flaws.
Good Idea: You can easily do without these, but if you have some disposable cash, it would improve your options. Good quality books, or ones with decent potential mileage.
Maybe: These can't hurt, but the quality is questionable. You likely will find a few good gems here, or it won't see a lot of use but when it does you might like to have it.
Not worth it: These are poor quality. You might find something here worth using, but it's not worth the entry fee.
Avoid: Don't get this, period. It's a trap.

Please give at least a sentence explanation of why a product fits into one of these categories.

My plan is to build a master-thread of resources for newbie DMs.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, I find this hard to answer as my list is vastly different for a previous-edition DM switching over to a total newbie DM

 

[Rechan]

Suggested purchases for Previous-Edition to 4e DMs is also fine. You still have to deal with "What products should I get?"

 

[Shadus]

Must: Monster Manual 1 and a Dungeon Masters Guide. If your players don't have one, Then Players Handbook 1. These are the core books and I can't see a game getting far without these.
Highly Recommended: Monster Manual 2-3, Player Handbooks 2-3, and Dungeon Masters Guide 2. Follow ups to the other materials. Very handy in broadening both what players and the DM can work with. I'd also suggest Heroes of Forgotten Lands and one of the Adventurers Vaults.
Good Idea: Depends. If you want some heavy Demon or Dragon influence in your games, then the Dragonomicons and Demonomicon are very good book. Also campaign setting books are a good idea when ever you get tired of the homebrewed worlds. I personally love the Dark Sun Creature Catalog, which features plenty of awesome monsters that can be used outside the Dark Sun setting. It might also be a good idea to pick up the Powers books (Arcane Power, Divine Power) to open up options for your PCs.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

Must:
A gaming mat (especially for 4E) and markers for the mat. This is by far the most effective way to map combat. It's cheap, you can draw whatever, and you don't have to manage a bunch of knick-knacks
The monster manual/DMG/PHB or essentials versions.
Something to represent players and monsters. Could be chess pieces or old toys.
You really don't need much.

Highly Recommended
Both Dark Sun books. This setting is full of awesome ideas. I tend to incorporate the ideas into my Gamma World/space sci-fi campaign. Not a must since the apocalyptic desert may not be for you but easily some of the best books in my huge collection of roleplaying books.

Avoid
The original series of modules (H1-E3). They're slogs - endless boring combat. They require a lot of work to make fun and are really slow to read. Do research before you buy any 4E module, as most are terrible.
Maps/tiles - these are cool for limited uses but become clutter. Tiles take a long time to set up and slow down the game. If you don't have many tiles you can't depict much and if you have a lot you need to start thinking about a way to organize your maps and tiles. Drawing on a grid is much better


Honestly I wouldn't try to buy too many knick-knacks for the table. They're just expensive clutter after a while.

Without starting an edition war - most 4E mechanics and monsters are based on the same mechanics with a different layer of paint. Now if the flavor is good enough it shouldn't matter. I used to collect 4E books but spent so much time flipping between them for stats of the three different monster types from three different books. I started tagging pages but man, that's just more work. I'd recommend ad-hocing the monsters - just imagine in your head what you think their HP and armor class should be and make up attacks. This requires a little knowledge of the system - but you can just reskin existing monsters if you're not comfortable winging it. That way you can pull monsters from anywhere - novels, movies, ideas. If you go with this method, rules system be damned, I'd suggest the Pathfinder Bestiary 2 (it's a big book with awesome ideas) and the Planescape Monster Appendices (most creative monsters ever - a race that speaks pictures).

In my mind settings are edition neutral as well. Planescape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft are just full of awesome ideas. I wouldn't apply this to old adventure modules because they tend to be more combat-focused and 4E doesn't really shine if you have a bunch of unimportant combats and random encounters.

 

[OnlineDM]

For a new-to-D&D 4e DM, here's my list:

Musts: Dungeon Master's Kit, Heroes of the Fallen Lands. With these products, you can run a bunch of games and you also get a great adventure, Reavers of Harkenwold.
Highly Recommended: Monster Vault, Rules Compendium, DDI subscription, Vinyl mat. I'll assume that you'll soon want to move beyond the monsters in the DM Kit material. And the Rules Compendium is just so freaking convenient. Of course, if you're willing to go the DDI route, do it. If you're comfortable with electronic resources, you can even skip the Monster Vault (though getting all of the flavor for the monsters would be nice, and that's only in the book - and you get more tokens, maps, and another decent adventure in the Monster Vault). The vinyl mat is your key to unlimited maps.
Good Idea: Lots of stuff here. The second Monster Vault, Monster Manual 3, Dark Sun Creature Catalog, various setting books, various adventures.
Maybe: The rest of the player books (Players Handbook 1-2-3, Heroes of Forgotten Kingdoms, Heroes of Shadow). More adventures and setting books (but I don't have enough personal experience to know which belong here and which belong in Good Idea). Dungeon Master Screen (I don't personally use one, but most people do). If you want to be like me, a projector! Dungeon Master Guide 2.
Not worth it: The player splat books (Martial Power, Arcane Power, etc.), assuming you have a DDI subscription. The Red Box. Monster Manual 1 and 2.

 

[Rechan]

Musts

The Dungeon Master's kit. It has all the info in the DMG but updated, tokens, a good 2 level adventure, a DM screen, two poster maps, and it all comes in a box for only $4 more than the normal DMG on Amazon, or $10 more at your gaming store. Here's a video of the contents of the box.

A player's book - PHB1 or Heroes of the Fallen Lands. These books have all the system rules. More classes and such are presented in other PHBs, but once people have explored those initial classes, you should encourage your players to spend some cash to explore other classes.

A Monster book - which is best or which you should go for is discussed here.

A Grid or battlemat of some kind. What you get differs. One way to go is [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-Role-Playing-Play-Mat/dp/B0015IQO2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316493969&sr=8-1"]a dry erase grid[/ame] from Chessex or [ame="http://gamingpaper.com/"]Gaming Paper[/ame] (the one I recommend). Also you'll need something to mark PCs and monsters on the grid - tokens, old chess pieces, pennies, etc work if you don't want to spend money on actual minis.

Dice. Lots and lots of dice.

Highly Recommended

A D&D Inisder (DDi) account. You get access to all rules content. Any monster, PC power, or magic item that has appeared in a book, you can search for it. All the player rules are updated into the Character Builder (a program letting you build PCs). Custom monster-creation tools. In addition, all Dungeon and Dragon content that has come before you. After the Musts, this is the first thing I would want. It's $71 a year, or cheaper based on monthly plans. Much less expensive than buying books.

The DMG2. It has a lot more DM advice, as well as extra helpful rules. More importantly, the quality of the information and the writing is fabulous.

Any two more monster books.

Good

Madness in Gardmoor Abby, a bos set of adventures, has received a lot of good reviews.

Any of the Setting books. The quality is really nice in all of them, so you can't go wrong.

Open Grave. This I mention only because adventures use undead so much that more undead are great; otherwise the book would go in the Maybe category. This book uses The Old Math, so you'll have to fiddle with the numbers a little, but it's nice.

PHBII and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom.

Maybe

A Magic Item book - likely the first Adventure Vault. You'll at one point need more magical items to give your players. But this is one of those books that the money is likely better spent by the player.

The Draconomicons and Demonomicon. It's not that these are bad[/b] books - they have pretty nice quality. They are, however, very specific. You may use one or two newer dragons from the Draconomicons. You might use 3 demosn from the Demonomicon. That may not be worth the cover price.

Some adventures, while not great, are decent. Others, while not good adventures themselves, have interesting parts you can pull out and use elsewhere. King of the Trollhaunt is a decent adventure - but you have to do a little work on it. Thunderspire Labyrinth and Pyramid of Shadows are meh adventures, but they have encounters/set pieces that are fairly interesting and you could cannibalize for another adventure. I've also heard good things about The Slaying Stone.

Any of the Specified Default books (Plane Above, Plane Below, Shadowfell boxed set, Manual of the Planes). These are just about broad areas of the game that your PCs likely won't be going until mid-Paragon at the least, how much utility you get out of it may not be that wide, and their quality ranges from good to just OK. Vor Rukoth and Hammerfast are more about a local adventuring site/city, so their scope is pretty specific,

Dragon Magazine Annual. This one has a few interesting pieces but it is not worth the cover price.

Dungeon Tiles. Some people swear by these, but they take time to set up, they take up space, they can get lost, and they are a little specific. So, your mileage may vary.

Avoid:

Many 4e adventures. The first line of adventures: Keep on the Shadowfell, Demon Queen's Enclave, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, Death's Reach, Kingdom of the Ghouls, Prince of Undeath, and Scepter Tower of Spellguard. These adventures are very very poor, combat slog schlock, with little redeeming value. Keep on the Shadowfell has a framework that works, but in order to make it a good adventure you have to change it significantly to make it worthwhile.

This also goes for Dungeon Delve - it's just a string of 3 encounters per level that you MAY use once. Also the Dungeon Magazine Annual - the adventures in there may be reasonable but honestly it's not worth the price. If you're going to get a 4e adventure, look for reviews.

 

[Quickleaf]

The off-line monster builder is IMO on the cusp between highly recommended and must have. I use that more than I ever used DDI and I still use it now that my subscription has lapsed; the last update gave it MM3 style statblocks and math so you're good to go designing your own monsters. And you can export to rtf or png. Saves lots of time if you design/edit your own monsters, but even if you don't you can still copy existing monsters into your adventure word document (or whatever) and print it out. Nothing in DDI yet matches that functionality.

Technically it's no longer available, but clever folks have their ways.

 

[S'mon]

IME most of your players are going to ruck up with a Player's Handbook 1, and possibly nothing else, so you need one of those, even if you think it's been superseded by Essentials. Plus it has Rituals and all the basic rules in one place, admittedly pre-errata. I find that travelling to the D&D Meetup, if I leave it behind it's the one book I always regret not bringing.

You may want to get Heroes of the Fallen Lands/Forgotten Kingdoms, alternately wait and see if a player is wanting to use them for their PC. If not (and IME nearly all players still start with the PHB) you don't really need them. If your players are complete newbies though then I'd recommend you get a Fallen Lands to take them through chargen.

You need a monster book - Monster Vault has better designed monsters than Monster Manual, plus loads of pretty tokens and a decent adventure. So get that. Later on you'll likely want to get Monster Manual III in order to have lots of high-level creatures; for Epic level play it's a godsend.
There are some classic monsters in Monster Manual I & II that don't appear in MV, but unless you're converting a pre-4e adventure and don't have a DDI subscription, I don't think those books are vital.

At that point there is surprisingly little you need from other books; you'll almost never use the DM's Guide or DM's Kit at table. Both are very useful for advice on encounter building and the reward system, though. The DM's Kit has far more additional useful bits with the counters and a very well received adventure, so I'd say probably get that, even though I don't own it. DMG is fine though.

So my core recommendation would be:

Player's Handbook, + maybe Heroes of the Fallen Lands
Monster Vault, + probably get Monster Manual III later
DM's Kit, ahead of DMG

 

[delericho]

Must: The minimum set of physical books required to run the game. That is, one of the original two "Heroes of..." books and the "Rules Compendium". (Is there anything in "DM's Kit" or "Monster Vault" that is required to run the game?)

Also, a DDI subscription. At this point, it's a no-brainer.

Recommended: The setting books for your preferred setting, if any.

Maybe: Some of the 'fluff' books, such as "Open Grave".

Avoid: Any WotC adventures (quality is far too patchy to recommend any of them), and crunch-heavy books such as "X Power" (DDI has rendered these obselete). Oh, and the Red Box.