Favourite - Unearth Arcana 1985 AD&D Gary Gygax, Jeff Grudd and Kim Mohan. I can still remember this one. It had a masterfully mix of players and Dungeon master with new races, classes and was the first to come with details on the drow. I liked the drow back then. First mention of the Barbarian class was also in the book but I feel in love with the cavalier class. Tools for the DM included new spells, magic items and a host of other items to help run a game. It was by far the most awesome hard cover book I have gotten. Also as a honorable mention was the Oriental Adventures that came out the same year.
Worst – Dungeon Survival Guide 2007 3.5 edition Chris Perkins and Bill Slavicsek. Worst piece of trash I have ever purchased. This was pure garbage and a long ways from the earlier editions of the same name. It was just a horrible revisit to a few old dungeons and a lot of crap that did nothing to enhance the game or inspire a DM or Player. Ok that was harsh but seriously… this was bad. On my minor list of baneful books are the Adventure’s Vault 1 & 2.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Worst – Dungeon Survival Guide 2007 3.5 edition Chris Perkins and Bill Slavicsek. Worst piece of trash I have ever purchased. This was pure garbage and a long ways from the earlier editions of the same name. It was just a horrible revisit to a few old dungeons and a lot of crap that did nothing to enhance the game or inspire a DM or Player. Ok that was harsh but seriously… this was bad. On my minor list of baneful books are the Adventure’s Vault 1 & 2.
Out of curiosity what do you think of Tales from the Yawning Portal? Sounds similar, granted I'm enjoying TftYP! If I guessed at a difference it seems like TftYP really reveres the stories it pulls from
My favorite was probably Frostburn for 3.5. I lived in Alaska for some time and was running an Artic campaign after I moved down south and it really helped flesh out the game we were playing. I am also really keen to Storm King's Thunder. It's one of the most fun adventure paths I have run. And my players are all in too. (We have like 2-3 sessions left and we're all on the edges of our seats each game session.)
My least favorite was probably The Book of Nine Swords. I feel like it was unbalanced and weird. It was a great concept but I really feel like Wizards made it as a precursor to 4E. Like, trying to get the hardcore gamers on board before the released the next edition.
That being said, I hate ALL 4th Ed books because I hate 4th Ed. But if it's a book I actually purchased AND used, it will have to be The Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
Worst – Dungeon Survival Guide 2007 3.5 edition Chris Perkins and Bill Slavicsek. Worst piece of trash I have ever purchased. This was pure garbage and a long ways from the earlier editions of the same name. It was just a horrible revisit to a few old dungeons and a lot of crap that did nothing to enhance the game or inspire a DM or Player. Ok that was harsh but seriously… this was bad. On my minor list of baneful books are the Adventure’s Vault 1 & 2.
Out of curiosity what do you think of Tales from the Yawning Portal? Sounds similar, granted I'm enjoying TftYP! If I guessed at a difference it seems like TftYP really reveres the stories it pulls from
My thoughts... hhmmm... I think they did pull from the best of the best. There were a few I thought could have been included but these were some truly well done adventures. Having them brought back to life is more of a nostalgic moment for me. I've run so many players through these adventures and some of them numerous times and each one was a successful time by all.
I did think some more art could have been included. I compared some the originals and even in the older style of black and white you could see rooms and it really helped to create a vision of the area/room.
Over all it's a well done job by the team.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Encyclopedia Magica - AD&D - Best set of books ever.
This encyclopedia had so many magic items it was mind blowing. I spent a huge amount of time just thumbing through these books and reading up on some of the most original and bizarre magic items I had ever seen.
Least Favorite - Player's Option: Skills and Powers
This book added a lot of unnecessary rules to AD&D that basically changed the game and made PCs superhuman. The game was perfectly fine without it.
My favorite was probably Frostburn for 3.5. I lived in Alaska for some time and was running an Artic campaign after I moved down south and it really helped flesh out the game we were playing. I am also really keen to Storm King's Thunder. It's one of the most fun adventure paths I have run. And my players are all in too. (We have like 2-3 sessions left and we're all on the edges of our seats each game session.)
My least favorite was probably The Book of Nine Swords. I feel like it was unbalanced and weird. It was a great concept but I really feel like Wizards made it as a precursor to 4E. Like, trying to get the hardcore gamers on board before the released the next edition.
That being said, I hate ALL 4th Ed books because I hate 4th Ed. But if it's a book I actually purchased AND used, it will have to be The Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.
Agreed and great choices.
My blood boils over when I think about 4th edition LOL! But they did have a few source book for FR that I still use today. There was some great material in those and a ton of adventure hooks and paths to create a lot of adventures ourselves. The undead book which I can't seemed to remember was also ok when you discarded the rules and used older versions.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Worst – Dungeon Survival Guide 2007 3.5 edition Chris Perkins and Bill Slavicsek. Worst piece of trash I have ever purchased. This was pure garbage and a long ways from the earlier editions of the same name. It was just a horrible revisit to a few old dungeons and a lot of crap that did nothing to enhance the game or inspire a DM or Player. Ok that was harsh but seriously… this was bad. On my minor list of baneful books are the Adventure’s Vault 1 & 2.
Out of curiosity what do you think of Tales from the Yawning Portal? Sounds similar, granted I'm enjoying TftYP! If I guessed at a difference it seems like TftYP really reveres the stories it pulls from
My thoughts... hhmmm... I think they did pull from the best of the best. There were a few I thought could have been included but these were some truly well done adventures. Having them brought back to life is more of a nostalgic moment for me. I've run so many players through these adventures and some of them numerous times and each one was a successful time by all.
I did think some more art could have been included. I compared some the originals and even in the older style of black and white you could see rooms and it really helped to create a vision of the area/room.
Over all it's a well done job by the team.
My guess the lack of pictures is because of the way books are made. You basically have a hard page count, adding one additional page means you have to add a whole page block (I want to say like 32 pages?) So some of the pictures were probably kept to a min. to not increase the page count. Whether or not the page count should have been increased is a different matter.
4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide 2, it had amazing advice for how to take your DMing as a skill to the next level with more interactive techniques, guidelines on good adventure design- it and it's predecessor were the very best books on DMing ever written- DM's have, from my observations gotten worse since those books stopped being the DM standard.
My least favorite? Hard to say but it was probably Heroes of Shadow, I liked some of the things in it (like vryloka, and Blackguards) but many of the player options in that book were gigantic traps (like the vampire class) that were even worse for having been printed so late in the edition. Also the 3.5 Player's Handbook, Monte Cook's "Make some Classes deliberately bad to reward system mastery" thing was stupid and the caster/martial disparity didn't even really need splat to be apparent. I know 3rd edition had a lot of fans, but it really wasn't very good.
If you need to explain what a dungeon is, at least have a complete one inside, rather than 40 pages of adverts.
That's 2 votes for the Dungeon Survival Guide!! Yup! It was trash. The fiend folio was a good pick. It had a lot of the more interesting foes to use and the Gitjyanki were done really well. Nice choice!
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Being this is 5e, I don't have a least favorite, every book released for this edition is pure win. Favorite would be at present Volo's Guide to Monsters; can't wait for the next one, hopefully detailing the ecologies of Dragons, lycanthropes and demons.
This was my jam, back in the day, such a great book! Oriental Adventures!
Both OA and Unearthed Arcana were a step above all of the other books of the era, including some amazingly well thought through lore and ideas, as well as new classes, equipment and rules for running campaigns. I loved both my Kensai and Ninja - this book allowed our group to play what was essentially D&D version of cheap 80s martial arts movies!
I know that this thread is explicitly for hardcover, but I just need to mention the D&D Gazeteers for the Mystara campaign setting - OMG those were amazing and it makes me a little sad that the campaign setting is mostly forgotten these days, other than reprints of the B, X, CM, M & IM series of adventures that were set there!
Worst, I am not so sure on - I always made a point of having a skim read through any books before I read them.
So far my favorite is a simple one, Volos Guide to Monsters. I love how it went deeper into each monster than a typical Monster Manual, and I hope Wizards keeps this format instead of the Monster Manual 2, 3, etc.
As far as least favorite, my first playgroup was a pretty rough environment, including a DM that had the Book of Erotic Fantasy. Not an official Wizards book, but it was a nicely printed hardcover, but made playing the game awkward to say the least. Glad I stuck with the game but did my own playgroup and we now play for fun, not to make awkward situations or to see how fast players can be killed.
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I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
I really enjoy the trinity core books this go around. This DMG is my favorite per layout and use. Those aside....
I think Curse of Strahd is a phenomenal book. Good adventure, god-tier maps and art, fun extra monsters. Least favorite.... I could nit pick that Prices of the Apocalypse could've had a friendlier layout, but I still like the adventure.
I really enjoy the trinity core books this go around. This DMG is my favorite per layout and use. Those aside....
I think Curse of Strahd is a phenomenal book. Good adventure, god-tier maps and art, fun extra monsters. Least favorite.... I could nit pick that Prices of the Apocalypse could've had a friendlier layout, but I still like the adventure.
Prices of the Apocalypse needed a lot of extra work to try to keep the players from entering areas that would kill them all. I didn't run this one but helped another DM with the leg work and prep work. I sat in on a few sessions as certain NPC's for fun. There have been more than a few deaths in that group. I liked the sandbox idea in this but it was like putting a bunch of deadly traps out there disguised as a lollipop.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
I really enjoy the adventure and the exploration feel of it. I just know I couldn't run it without knowing a bit more about the Forgotten Realms Underdark and I felt like that needed some more DM homework than I was willing to do. Where as SKT has a bit looser / loaftier end game goal in my opinion (I'm still not 100% sure if we fix the Ordening or not and I've been running it for 6 months now) I still feel like I know the surface of the Sword Coast, from video games and what not, more than I did the setting for PotA. I played in it as a player until the DM had to bail a good number of sessions in and it was fun, but the post was about the book. I have to admit being a bit intimidated by it.
I can only really base this on the 1980's selection of books and the 5e as a recent return to the world of D&D. I love the logic that was given for the Fiend Folio by a few earlier posters but I recall having a dislike of this book in the 80's and I loved the Oriental Adventures book. My logic for this, is that I felt the Acrobat and sometimes even the Rogue character were pretty lame. When the Oriental Adventures came out I would read and re-read every last page, but never had a chance to play a character from it...The contrast to my all time most played class of Cleric drew me to wanting to naturally play a Ninja class.
Back to my dislike of Fiend Folio. Red_King convinced me from his post to do a little more research. In my research I learned a lot more about the Fiend Folio and in particular the Githyanki. If I am reading correctly about this "creature" it makes even more sense why I was resistant to this book. I can see why many would love it. If you enjoy adventures that take you to otherworld and those that lead to fights with the rarest of creatures, that book is a gem. I never liked the idea of traveling to Astral Planes, using Psionics and fighting Demi-Gods. I am in a minority here but I still enjoy the simple dungeon delving. Strange I know but, I am old school. Dungeon delving and fighting Goblins, Orcs and occasional stranger Monster Manual 1 monsters is enough for me. If it is true that Gary Gygax criticized the Fiend Folio I know I am not too far off in my dislike.
I have to admit that in my search I found the Fiend Folio to be reviewed in a forums page called: "Something Awful." Reviewing some of the worst monsters in the book was hilarious and a reminder of why I so infrequently looked in that book: About the Crabmen
"Zack: This is an illustration from the page facing the entry for these guys. They're called Crabmen and there really isn't anything to them. They're just another stupid bipedal thug for you to hit with a sword.
Steve: Yeah, not really worth including. On the other hand, this illustration is maybe the best thing I have seen in three weeks.
Zack: This is the sort of scene I imagine at the farm where they harvest the meat for chicken nuggets. A cave that looks like something out of Kurosawa's Dreams hosting a bunch of wizards and farmers with swords battling it out with the nuggions.
Steve: Nuggets are chicken dude. It's in the name.
Zack: My theory is just as likely to be true. Have you ever seen a nugget actually coming out of a chicken?
Steve: No.
Zack: That's right, and I have never seen one coming out of a Crabman. Equal evidence.
Steve: I don't feel so good.
Zack: Damn, look at that, Crabman is hard on the ladies. I wonder if he's taking that one off to another part of their nightmare cave to make some lady nuggets.
They still give me inspiration, and I still pull from them (and my 2e books) sometimes in my 5e game ;)
PS: I also pull from the Feind Folio. Because your dungeon cavern complex will be way more fun if you throw in a Blindheim. It's got headlights for eyes, for Pete's sake! Want to throw off your party? BLINDHEIM! It's ridiculous, and amazing!
Title says it all! I wanna know why people love their favorite hardcover and why people hate their least favorite! :)
Going to take you back a few decades............
Favourite - Unearth Arcana 1985 AD&D Gary Gygax, Jeff Grudd and Kim Mohan. I can still remember this one. It had a masterfully mix of players and Dungeon master with new races, classes and was the first to come with details on the drow. I liked the drow back then. First mention of the Barbarian class was also in the book but I feel in love with the cavalier class. Tools for the DM included new spells, magic items and a host of other items to help run a game. It was by far the most awesome hard cover book I have gotten. Also as a honorable mention was the Oriental Adventures that came out the same year.
Worst – Dungeon Survival Guide 2007 3.5 edition Chris Perkins and Bill Slavicsek. Worst piece of trash I have ever purchased. This was pure garbage and a long ways from the earlier editions of the same name. It was just a horrible revisit to a few old dungeons and a lot of crap that did nothing to enhance the game or inspire a DM or Player. Ok that was harsh but seriously… this was bad. On my minor list of baneful books are the Adventure’s Vault 1 & 2.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
My favorite was probably Frostburn for 3.5. I lived in Alaska for some time and was running an Artic campaign after I moved down south and it really helped flesh out the game we were playing. I am also really keen to Storm King's Thunder. It's one of the most fun adventure paths I have run. And my players are all in too. (We have like 2-3 sessions left and we're all on the edges of our seats each game session.)
My least favorite was probably The Book of Nine Swords. I feel like it was unbalanced and weird. It was a great concept but I really feel like Wizards made it as a precursor to 4E. Like, trying to get the hardcore gamers on board before the released the next edition.
That being said, I hate ALL 4th Ed books because I hate 4th Ed. But if it's a book I actually purchased AND used, it will have to be The Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Favorite:
Encyclopedia Magica - AD&D - Best set of books ever.
This encyclopedia had so many magic items it was mind blowing. I spent a huge amount of time just thumbing through these books and reading up on some of the most original and bizarre magic items I had ever seen.
Least Favorite - Player's Option: Skills and Powers
This book added a lot of unnecessary rules to AD&D that basically changed the game and made PCs superhuman. The game was perfectly fine without it.
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JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Favourite:
Because Githyanki.
Least Favourite:
If you need to explain what a dungeon is, at least have a complete one inside, rather than 40 pages of adverts.
4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide 2, it had amazing advice for how to take your DMing as a skill to the next level with more interactive techniques, guidelines on good adventure design- it and it's predecessor were the very best books on DMing ever written- DM's have, from my observations gotten worse since those books stopped being the DM standard.
My least favorite? Hard to say but it was probably Heroes of Shadow, I liked some of the things in it (like vryloka, and Blackguards) but many of the player options in that book were gigantic traps (like the vampire class) that were even worse for having been printed so late in the edition. Also the 3.5 Player's Handbook, Monte Cook's "Make some Classes deliberately bad to reward system mastery" thing was stupid and the caster/martial disparity didn't even really need splat to be apparent. I know 3rd edition had a lot of fans, but it really wasn't very good.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Being this is 5e, I don't have a least favorite, every book released for this edition is pure win. Favorite would be at present Volo's Guide to Monsters; can't wait for the next one, hopefully detailing the ecologies of Dragons, lycanthropes and demons.
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D&D Beyond FoundersThis was my jam, back in the day, such a great book! Oriental Adventures!
Both OA and Unearthed Arcana were a step above all of the other books of the era, including some amazingly well thought through lore and ideas, as well as new classes, equipment and rules for running campaigns. I loved both my Kensai and Ninja - this book allowed our group to play what was essentially D&D version of cheap 80s martial arts movies!
I know that this thread is explicitly for hardcover, but I just need to mention the D&D Gazeteers for the Mystara campaign setting - OMG those were amazing and it makes me a little sad that the campaign setting is mostly forgotten these days, other than reprints of the B, X, CM, M & IM series of adventures that were set there!
Worst, I am not so sure on - I always made a point of having a skim read through any books before I read them.
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If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
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So far my favorite is a simple one, Volos Guide to Monsters. I love how it went deeper into each monster than a typical Monster Manual, and I hope Wizards keeps this format instead of the Monster Manual 2, 3, etc.
As far as least favorite, my first playgroup was a pretty rough environment, including a DM that had the Book of Erotic Fantasy. Not an official Wizards book, but it was a nicely printed hardcover, but made playing the game awkward to say the least. Glad I stuck with the game but did my own playgroup and we now play for fun, not to make awkward situations or to see how fast players can be killed.
I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
I really enjoy the trinity core books this go around. This DMG is my favorite per layout and use. Those aside....
I think Curse of Strahd is a phenomenal book. Good adventure, god-tier maps and art, fun extra monsters. Least favorite.... I could nit pick that Prices of the Apocalypse could've had a friendlier layout, but I still like the adventure.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
I really enjoy the adventure and the exploration feel of it. I just know I couldn't run it without knowing a bit more about the Forgotten Realms Underdark and I felt like that needed some more DM homework than I was willing to do. Where as SKT has a bit looser / loaftier end game goal in my opinion (I'm still not 100% sure if we fix the Ordening or not and I've been running it for 6 months now) I still feel like I know the surface of the Sword Coast, from video games and what not, more than I did the setting for PotA. I played in it as a player until the DM had to bail a good number of sessions in and it was fun, but the post was about the book. I have to admit being a bit intimidated by it.
I can only really base this on the 1980's selection of books and the 5e as a recent return to the world of D&D. I love the logic that was given for the Fiend Folio by a few earlier posters but I recall having a dislike of this book in the 80's and I loved the Oriental Adventures book. My logic for this, is that I felt the Acrobat and sometimes even the Rogue character were pretty lame. When the Oriental Adventures came out I would read and re-read every last page, but never had a chance to play a character from it...The contrast to my all time most played class of Cleric drew me to wanting to naturally play a Ninja class.
Back to my dislike of Fiend Folio. Red_King convinced me from his post to do a little more research. In my research I learned a lot more about the Fiend Folio and in particular the Githyanki. If I am reading correctly about this "creature" it makes even more sense why I was resistant to this book. I can see why many would love it. If you enjoy adventures that take you to otherworld and those that lead to fights with the rarest of creatures, that book is a gem. I never liked the idea of traveling to Astral Planes, using Psionics and fighting Demi-Gods. I am in a minority here but I still enjoy the simple dungeon delving. Strange I know but, I am old school. Dungeon delving and fighting Goblins, Orcs and occasional stranger Monster Manual 1 monsters is enough for me. If it is true that Gary Gygax criticized the Fiend Folio I know I am not too far off in my dislike.
I have to admit that in my search I found the Fiend Folio to be reviewed in a forums page called: "Something Awful." Reviewing some of the worst monsters in the book was hilarious and a reminder of why I so infrequently looked in that book: About the Crabmen
"Zack: This is an illustration from the page facing the entry for these guys. They're called Crabmen and there really isn't anything to them. They're just another stupid bipedal thug for you to hit with a sword.
Steve: Yeah, not really worth including. On the other hand, this illustration is maybe the best thing I have seen in three weeks.
Zack: This is the sort of scene I imagine at the farm where they harvest the meat for chicken nuggets. A cave that looks like something out of Kurosawa's Dreams hosting a bunch of wizards and farmers with swords battling it out with the nuggions.
Steve: Nuggets are chicken dude. It's in the name.
Zack: My theory is just as likely to be true. Have you ever seen a nugget actually coming out of a chicken?
Steve: No.
Zack: That's right, and I have never seen one coming out of a Crabman. Equal evidence.
Steve: I don't feel so good.
Zack: Damn, look at that, Crabman is hard on the ladies. I wonder if he's taking that one off to another part of their nightmare cave to make some lady nuggets.
Steve: Ahhh! Shut up!"
My favorite is a toss up between these two:
http://imgur.com/f0ccnRI
They still give me inspiration, and I still pull from them (and my 2e books) sometimes in my 5e game ;)
PS: I also pull from the Feind Folio. Because your dungeon cavern complex will be way more fun if you throw in a Blindheim. It's got headlights for eyes, for Pete's sake! Want to throw off your party? BLINDHEIM! It's ridiculous, and amazing!
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
My favorite is probably the Forgotten Realms 3.0 setting book. It has so much information. I could read it on and on.
Least favorite is Monster Manual V (3.5). So much of it seemed phoned in.