WOTC books released after BO9S

[delericho]

I only own the core MM. I'm thinking of getting another, which is the best? I was thinking mm5, since its supposed to be an influence on 4E, but I've heard great things about mm4 as well. Which is better?

Of the Monster Manuals, I have had the most use out of MMIV and MMV. MMIV was widely criticised for the pre-statted 'advanced' monsters, but I have found those to be extremely useful. (The book also uses up a lot of page-count on the Spawn of Tiamat, of which I was not fond.) MMV also contains pre-statted 'advanced' monsters, which is good, but I've found those to be slightly less useful overall, probably due to the particular selection of creatures.

One thing to note is that the two most recent MMs seem to contain monsters that are tougher for their CR than monsters in MM1-3. I think the monsters are built to compensate for the greater optimisation of recent PCs and/or the use of supplemental materials. This, in itself, is no bad thing, except that I had been in the habit of boosting the ELs a little to compensate, and doing that with MMIV monsters led to a couple of unexpected TPKs.

If adventures are your thing, go for Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk. It's old-school fun of the first caliber.

Actually, I found both of the "Expedition to" books that I own (the other being "Demonweb Pits") to be disappointing. It's possible that I had excessive expectations based on the authors' names and past record, or it's possible that I just don't get the nostalgia having missed 1st Edition. Or it's possible that they just weren't very good adventures. Whatever the reason, I was unimpressed.

 

[delericho]

My thoughts on the books I own from the list Echohawk provided:

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords

Really nice concept. The implementation is poor, however. The Warblade, in particular, is just too powerful.

Twilight Tomb

An adventure. It read well, but I haven't seen fit to actually run it. Didn't seem particularly FR-specific, so should port to other settings reasonably well.

Cityscape: An Essential Guide to Urban Adventuring

I liked it at the time, but can't remember a single thing about the contents. That suggests it wasn't disastrous, but wasn't exactly inspiring, either.

Scourge of the Howling Horde

Introductory adventure for newbie DMs. Truly, truly woeful product.

Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells

Great book.

Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde

In days past, this would have been a boxed-set adventure, but was packaged as a book for shipping reasons, IIRC. Anyway, it's an adventure kit for PCs of 2nd level, that will take them to 7th level, I think. I liked it.

Barrow of the Forgotten King
Sinister Spire
Fortress of the Yuan-Ti

Trilogy of adventures. I really liked these, especially the 2nd and 3rd parts. Recommended.

Dungeonscape

Muh like Cityscape, I enjoyed reading this book, but don't recall much about it. The discussions on traps, and especially the Encounter Traps, were good, though.

Magic Item Compendium

Extremely useful book, much like the Spell Compendium. Like the Spell Compendium, though, some of the balance is less than perfect.

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk

As I mentioned up-thread, I was disappointed in both of these adventures.

Monster Manual V

Very good Monster Manual.

Rules Compendium

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, it's good to have all the rules gathered in one place and clearly explained. On the other hand, a lot of the designer commentary rubs me the wrong way. Also, some of the rules interpretations are dependent on errata I don't use, which detracts from the utility of this book for me. I don't use this book in my games. Make of that what you will.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Of the Monster Manuals, I have had the most use out of MMIV and MMV. MMIV was widely criticised for the pre-statted 'advanced' monsters, but I have found those to be extremely useful. (The book also uses up a lot of page-count on the Spawn of Tiamat, of which I was not fond.) MMV also contains pre-statted 'advanced' monsters, which is good, but I've found those to be slightly less useful overall, probably due to the particular selection of creatures.

One thing to note is that the two most recent MMs seem to contain monsters that are tougher for their CR than monsters in MM1-3. I think the monsters are built to compensate for the greater optimisation of recent PCs and/or the use of supplemental materials. This, in itself, is no bad thing, except that I had been in the habit of boosting the ELs a little to compensate, and doing that with MMIV monsters led to a couple of unexpected TPKs.

Our group has had the same experience (minus the TPKs*). We generally say that post MMI monsters of a real CR of listed CR + MM number.
(And I'd adjust for +1d4 for custom monsters within a published adventure.)



*)
I think our first TPK was in an Oriental Adventures campaign (3.0). The DM put us up against a Giant - unfortunately, as he noticed a few days later, he made an error and wandered in the wrong row of the Giants table...

 

[delericho]

The DM put us up against a Giant - unfortunately, as he noticed a few days later, he made an error and wandered in the wrong row of the Giants table...

Oh, yeah, I've done that too. One of the few times my group have agreed a 'do-over' of a particular encounter...

 

[Psion]

I'll spin off Echohawk's basic list:

Dragon Magic

Nice if the topic interests you. Not exactly groundbreaking. It basically re-uses existing design doodads (a warlock-like class, class ability substitutions, etc.) a draconic feel.

Complete Mage

Very nice. No new core classes, but Warlock fans will find a lot of support in there. But even this non-Warlock fan found lots to like. Mostly for prestige class fans in the player vein. For DMs, the magical locations are fun to mix into a game, and reserve feats are cool, and each class comes with a complete character writeup.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

Don't own it (yet) but I hear good things about it.

Cityscape: An Essential Guide to Urban Adventuring

Didn't do much for me. Has a few character options, and a lot of material on making a city and a few sample cities. Which might be nice if that is what you are looking for, but I was hoping for a more functional city campaigning resource. As far as I can tell, such a book does not exist. I need less accounting for the population of the city and more actual ideas that translate into gameplay.

Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells

Very interesting. It has the classic rehash of the Nine Hells material that has existed since 1e and before, but also has some interesting new ideas. I don't know how many parties ever make it to the nine hells, but if you game deals with devils and the politics of hell, it's a good buy.

Complete Scoundrel

Much like Complete Mage, I really appreciated having a new Complete Supplement without the (IMO overdone) new base classes. I am a little uncomfortable with the idea of spending skill points for feat like benefits (authors disclaimer of why this is permissible notwithstanding), but I really like the luck feats.

Dungeonscape

Really didn't do much for me, though I must admit I haven't been into dungeon gaming since I got it. I think I need to do a deeper reading of it before I can give a worthwhile review.

Magic Item Compendium

Really nice for making worthwhile flavorful and low cost magic item. A nice break from the "standard load-out" style magic mentality.

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I was enthused by the idea of what amounts to a new Planescape adventure, but I don't think the delve format works well for this type of adventure. It suggests a lot more slog that actually might be necessary. It's also hampered by some pretty annoying design & editorial gaffes (like the retro-mechanical cambion.)

Monster Manual V

Had some really nice concepts in it. Really a step up from the MM IV IMO.

Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes

If you want foes statted up, but are willing create your own adventures around them, this is a nice book. It does tap into a lot of supplementary material, even going back to the Book of Vile Darkness. The mechanics and the backstories are both nicely done, and its a good starting point for dark fantasy games.

Fortress of the Yuan-Ti

Own it; it looks nice from a first read, but I would honestly have to give it a more thorough read for a valid review.

Rules Compendium

Useful. It's nice having a distilled table reference. It is missing some things I consider important. (I recalling needing to have the creature types summarized and not seeing them there), and has a bit too much preaching by the obviously "hyped about 4e" authors and designer munchkin moments. (I wonder if they were going for irony having a woman tell you about her character, or were oblivious to the joke.) Spare me the loathing and marketing and deliver, dagnabbit!

Dungeon Survival Guide

Game shops were giving these away. Steer clear.

 

[buzz]

The Magic Item Compendium and the Rules Compendium are the two must-buys on this list, IMO. I cannot convey how useful the latter has been, especially given that it's essentially replaced the DMG for my needs, and is half the size.

And I love the commentary.

I'm running Eyes of the Lich Queen right now (we'll finish it next session). While it's a flavorful tour of the Eberron setting, I can say that it is a) a total railroad and 2) has really underpowered encounters.