Worst Purchase Ever?

[Leatherhead]

I dunno, maybe this?

I dunno, if I gave a print of that to my DM, he would love it.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If I limit myself to D&D products, then my worst purchase was probably the 3.5E DMG 2.

The one that has the city of saltmarsh in it? Mine has been worth it for that alone...

I have to say I've been pretty lucky. My worst few purchases are probably my limited edition 3.5e books, mainly because we stopped playing 3.5 shortly after I got them, Weapons of Legacy because the legacy system was fundamentally junk, and the 5e DMG, because it's mostly 'stuff I already know', 'rules I could pull out of nowhere' or 'rules that are junk'.

 

[Greg K]

Limiting to just D&D?
I need to look at my list of contenders:

• 1e: Fiend Folio: It had Drow.kuo-toa, and Lolth from other modules. Bullywugs, Kelpie, Death Knights, Oriental Dragons, Elemental Princes of Evil, but the rest I found completely worthless including the Gith race
• S1: Tomb of Horror: I bought the pastel cover version in the store when it was relased and, upon reading it, thought, I am not putting my players through this.
• S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: Spaceships and other hi-tech are not what I want in my D&D. Others mileage may vary.
• 2e Complete Wizard's Handbook: I remember thinking there were a few cool new spells, but the rest of the book was better off as Dragon Magazine articles at best.
• Dark Sun Revised Boxed set: I am hard-pressed to think of anything that I liked better compared to the original (I am sure there was something, but I can't recall what it was).

I think it comes down to Fiend Folio (based on a price to content that I liked ratio) and the Complete Wizard's Handbook. The former had a couple of worthwhile monsters although they were reprinted from elsewhere

My Worst D&D purchase: Complete Wizard's Handbook takes the title...barely

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[The Crimson Binome]

The one that has the city of saltmarsh in it? Mine has been worth it for that alone...

I think so. From what I recall, Saltmarsh was some ridiculously-over-the-top high-fantasy ultra-magic town with wizards and clerics on every corner. It was basically the worst parts of Forgotten Realms, compressed down into one small city. It was completely unusable for any game that I would want to run.

 

[jaelis]

Ooh, I remember my actual biggest disappointment, was the 1e Deities and Demigods. My friend had the one with the Cthulhu and Melnibonéan stuff in it, but when I got my that had been removed. I was really annoyed.

 

[Ristamar]

Worst 5e purchase: The first official DM Screen. Not terribly useful other than as a simple privacy tool.

Worst RPG purchase: Something in the 3e era. I'd be hard pressed to pick just one. In terms of official product, maybe the Hero Builders Guidebook?

 

[Shasarak]

I would say that my worst purchase was the 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.

I guess my comparison would like Castle Greyhawk but without the Gummy Bears.

 

[andyzone]

The tilesets for me. Never used them.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Weapons of Legacy for 3.5 was probably the lamest thing I bought out of the official books. The basic premise was excellent, but the implementation was terrible - not a single one of the weapons in that book made me want to accept the downsides of wielding them, and the system for designing your own just annoyed me.

Out of all the third-party stuff over the years, the Book of Erotic Fantasy might be it. There were two or three good ideas in it, two or three interesting magic items, and maybe one or two of the alternate rules were interesting, but the rest just made me wonder why someone put the effort into publishing it. It just didn't seem like it accomplished any of the stated goals in the introduction to the book.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think so. From what I recall, Saltmarsh was some ridiculously-over-the-top high-fantasy ultra-magic town with wizards and clerics on every corner. It was basically the worst parts of Forgotten Realms, compressed down into one small city. It was completely unusable for any game that I would want to run.

Yeah, 3.5e assumed that adventurer classes were relatively common and magic shops are standard faire. Certainly that town (and everything else in the book that assumes that setting) will be a waste of time if you're trying to run a low magic setting, or you want everyone but the PCs to be cannon fodder.