D&D 5E What type of D&D sourcebooks do you miss from older editions?

[S'mon]

I'd like some 32 page adventures, it's a great size for an adventure. Stick them in a 192 page hardback if you must!

I'd like setting guides to 5e Greyhawk, Birthright, Mystara - I'd snap those up.

 

[Samloyal23]

The 1E Dungeoneer's Survival Guide was an excellent book with tons of information you can use in any edition of the game. The 2E Historical Reference Sourcebooks were also just AMAZING, I wish they had covered more periods.

 

[Odysseus]

I like 5E as a system, but I have mixed feelings about the type of books WotC publish for the system.

Would you like to see any of the old type of books be used as formats for future 5e books?

-Havard

Alot of the older setting books I still use .Things like the FR 3E guide and 1E deity and demigods. So I don't need a new 5E version.
A book that was constantly at the table while we played 4E was the essentials rules compendium. That I want to see a 5E version.

 

[aco175]

Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine. Not sure how practical to try another online subscription service, but something with cool articles on how to play better is always good. Dungeon for the smaller adventures and side quests that fit anywhere. I know that there is Kobold and DMsGuild, but I always had a soft spot for the originals.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine. Not sure how practical to try another online subscription service, but something with cool articles on how to play better is always good. Dungeon for the smaller adventures and side quests that fit anywhere. I know that there is Kobold and DMsGuild, but I always had a soft spot for the originals.

I second this. We need them back. They were excellent.

 

[Monayuris]

Judges Guild style gazetteers... like City State of the Invincible Overlord... regional hex map, with a hex key and encounter tables. They can be officially FR, but should be generic enough that they can be dropped into anyone’s home campaign.

Expert set style mass combat and domain management. Like the Expert box and Battlesystem.

Agree with bringing back Dungeon and Dragon magazines. Could be a transport mechanism for UA style articles. Dungeon should have some simple one shot adventures.

Maybe as a part of Dungeon. One page dungeons or a modular mega dungeon one level a month or so.

I don’t want epic world saving pre-plotted storylines, I want small, self contained dungeons and locales I can plug into my own game to make prep easier.

 

[Tony Vargas]

That I want to see a 5E version.

That'd be a business card that says "The DM is Always Right"

… hmm... I should have a few of those printed up... "5e Rules Compendium" with the Big Red & on one side, "The DM is Always Right" on the other.

(Or, more nearly seriously, you could put the "Play Loop" on it.)

 

[Undrave]

I think the best aspect of many 2E books (and a few 3E books) is mechanic neutral fluff. These books are still referenced today by those who have them, making them invaluable assets. IME 4E didn't have much of this, nor 1E (except the DMG, which is amazing), and so far, there hasn't been that much in 5E either, other than some fluff from SCAG and VGtM. While I expect 5E will be around for quite a long time, eventually a new edition will come around, and I'd hope that 5E will have some books still useful.

You should try the 4e planar books (I LOVED 'Plane Above' and its write-ups of the various gods and their domains! They felt properly mythological and rife with potential conflict to mine for adventures) and I hear the books on monster types (Dragonomicon I & II, Demonomicon and the one about undead) were pretty great.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You should try the 4e planar books (I LOVED 'Plane Above' and its write-ups of the various gods and their domains! They felt properly mythological and rife with potential conflict to mine for adventures)

I was a bit taken aback at the way Plane Above extend the PoL concept to the domains of the gods. And the way they did it be adding to, but not quite exactly contradicting, the earlier Manual of the Planes felt a little odd, too.

 

[Gradine]

While they were completely unnecessary, and certainly wouldn't be top of my list of 5e requests, I do admit a certain fondness for the Location Based books late in 3.5's run (Cityscape, Dungeonscape, Stormwrack, Frostburn, Sandstorm) were all extremely excellent, creative, and filled with usable material, when by all rights they could have easily been phoned in.