My personal Favorites include EVERYTHING that Crafty Games is doing. They are the guys who put out Spycraft. They rock hard, and I'm actually running a campaign in the Forgotten Realms using Crafty's fantasy toolkit. The campaign: The Shackled City Adventure Path. Thus, by portability alone: Spycraft wins. On top of that, they're putting out classic fantasy races soon!
Other than that:
When the Sky Falls, Requiem For a God, and Beyond Countless Doorways by Malhavoc Press, Hammer & Helm, the old 3.0 class splatbooks by Green Ronin (Witch's, Shamans, and Psionics Hanbook were my favorites), the ENTIRE Scarred Lands from Sword & Sorcery, and the Iron Kingdoms.
When I get the money put aside, I'm going to be subscribing to Pathfinder. I want to see what they do with, as I actually trust Paizo to do a great job. Will I use normal D&D rules? Prolly not, but Crafty + Paizo means that I'm gonna have a lot of fun :)
/d
I didn't really get into Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, but I loved most of the other Malhavoc books, especially the Eldritch Might books, Requium for a God, Anger of Angels and most of the "general" products they put out.
Green Ronin's stuff has been pretty good as well, especially the Advanced line (the Bestiary was brilliant), Plot and Poison, and the Book of Fiends.
Arcana Unearthed by Malhavoc and Iron Kingdoms by Privateer Press
Fizz
Arcana Unearthed by Malhavoc and Iron Kingdoms by Privateer Press
Fizz
Agree. Malhavoc rocks and Privateer Press is cool!
Then again, I have stuff from companies everywhere, though I don't always separate the wheat from the chaff.
And Goodman Games is great because they publish me!
Fantasy Flight Games does a lot of good things, especially the Midnight Campaign Setting and some of the supplements made it for me.
The Freeport stuff. Definately.
I liked the idea behind the "mini adventures" from Fantasy Flight and AEG, even if they didn't do that well.
Swashbuckling Adventures.
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Freeport, very few if any duds in the Green Ronin catalogue.
I'm grocking to their Book of Fiends. Erik Mona wrote some of it, so can it suck? Doubtful.
I also agree that Privateer Press is some of the best stuff out there.
I'm looking forward to the Monsternomicon II and drooling buckets.
Some of Monkeygod's stuff is also top notch. I think they might be out of business; I'm not sure.
"Maze of Screaming Silence" was funny as all getout.
Kenzer's Villain Design Handbook. Best friend a DM ever had.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Another vote here for Privateer Press. Their work is, quite simply, incredible. Iron Kingdoms is the best 'alternative' fantasy setting I have ever laid eyes on to date.
Sword & Sorcery is also pretty good most of the time. I have their 3e Ravenloft stuff as well as a Creature Compendium (#2 I think) but that's about it. Still, Sword & Sorcery is White Wolf's "d20 department" and I'm a huge WW fan. They've got some pretty talented writers over there.
My favorite non WotC stuff is:
Cricible of Freya- Necromancer games
Arcana Evolved- Monte Cook
The early fantasy flight mini modules like the Tuggarth Gauntlet and The Last Hunt.
My 2 cents.
Also, someone mentioned Privateer press, Thier Lock and Load was awesome, however it is since out of print. The campaign books are nice but the original had some chutzpah that has faded withthier later releases.
Eyebite- That WAS cool, and a good lead in to Crucible of Freya. They did a lot to update it for 3.5, and it is still free! Yippee!
Kinda dorky, but I really liked Necromancer Games' Wizard's Amulet adventure. Nice little nostalgic, simplistic adventure.
I think that's the first adventure I ever ran by myself!
I like the Quintessential series a lot, but I think those are mostly 3.0. There's a lot of neat feats, items, PrC, races, etc that can be implemented with ease.
The initial tidal wave of bad d20 books left its mark, and I only have faith in a few publishers, Paizo, Green Ronin, Fantasy Flight, Malhavoc and AEG being some of them. Out of those, the following books have impressed me.
Cityworks, Fantasy Flight Games. Absolutely fantastic for urban campaigns. If you thought druids can't hack it in a city, think again!
Secrets, Toolbox, AEG. Both very very good. Secrets gives you a few ways to shake up your campaign, and Toolbox is just damn handy for coming up with things on the fly.
Malhavoc Press. Ptolus, Arcana Evolved, the Event Books, the Books of Eldritch Might. These books speak for themselves.
Green Ronin. The Races of Reknown series, their d20 Modern support, their Advanced books, Freeport, Mutants and Masterminds, True20. Much goodness to be had from this company.
I've spent the last 4 nights glued to my Arcana Evolved. I knew I'd like it, but jeez, it's awesome! I'm expecting to love every other AE & Ptolus product I now own.
I had the 3.0 books behind the current 3.5 Book of Fiends, and will no doubt pick up BoF real soon.
I'm really hoping Necromancer Games puts out a 3.5 Tome of Horrors (did I get that title right?). In color!
Kenzer's Villain Design Handbook. Best friend a DM ever had.
I wonder how WotC's own villain book is going to stack up against it?
Well, Robert Schwalb has proved himself to be a capable designer, and from the description, the book sounds like it is geared toward utility. So, it appears it will be good book to have a DM's shelf. However, it sounds like it is geared only toward providing BBEV, or masterminds.
But two in the hand is worth one in the bush. Why wait? Kenzer's book is already out, and is solid, including a host of prestatted npc villains, feat trees for various villainous types, and new spells and other goodies. Plus, the first section is devoted to descriptions of the TYPES of villains, their motivations and their potential as adversaries.
The book is steeped in some Kalamar lore, but really, that stuff can be ignored/incorporated into your game as you see fit.
The Kenzer book also makes this distinction: it presents villain archetypes that aren't necessarily evil, but instead of simply opposed to the PCs on some level. (Imagine, there are some lawful types who think some adventuring delvers who raid temples for gold and treasure might be worth opposing, and have some legitimate reasons for doing so.)
That is really useful if you use a lot of interaction, villainous plots, or something other than the usual hack'n'slash.
Re: WoTC villain book
If they dust off and expand/re-write some of the material in 2nd Ed's The Complete Book of Villains it could work well. Asoozel the "genie" is a great villain archetype that I still use.
I found that some of the Sword & Sorcery stuff was great, especially the two books of Relics and Rituals (still want to try a Summoner). The Witch's Handbook previously mentioned is a good read. Alchemists and Herbalists by Bastion Press as well as Guildcraft by the same are interesting reads. From Legends and Lairs I like Spells and Spellcraft, Path of Faith, and Path of Magic. Then again, I like arcane spellcasters and magic in general (who doesn't?).
My TOP TEN, er . . . or whatever, is:
1) IRON HEROES (by Malhavoc Press) is the manliest RPG ever made. Who needs magic & special powers when you have skill and large pair of balls. I've incorporated the material from the great iron heroes hack (http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/ih/).
2) SCAP hardcover. Best "module" ever. 'Nuff said.
3) ARCANA EVOLVED (also by Malhavoc Press) great races (except the Sibeccai), feats and classes. The Champion is what the paladin *should* have been. The monk is *nothing* compared to an Oathsworn.
4) MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS (by Green Ronin). If you enjoy Champions, but you're sick of spending all that time on character generation, then this is the game for you. Most of the Hero System's versatility in less than a 1/4 the time.
5) STAR WARS D20 . . . although I *do* miss the "infinite sixes" ;^(
6) CONAN RPG (by Mongoose Publishing) . . . alrighty, it's not the greatest all on it's own, but it's *awesome* source material if you're a Robert E. Howard fan, and the magic system is great. I've embedded the Conan Sorcery rules into Iron Heroes & deleted the Arcanist.
7) Uhm . . . crap! That's all I can think of now! Well . . . that's my top 7, er . . . 6! ;^)
Monsternomicon v3.5 by Privateer Press.
Radical.
Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms and Malhavoc Press' Iron Heroes. No published setting is without flaws but these two seemed a cut above the dross turned out by the seemingly endless OGL-producing companies which have flooded our hobby.
I am also a long-time devotee of the earlier Spycraft stuff but haven't made up my mind about the revision yet. Sure the new stuff is presented attractively but it seems something was lost along the way . . .
Green Ronin's Freeport books are entertaining but there seems to be a change in the tone throughout the series. All in all, this to me is something of a mixed bag.
Finally, Mongoose's "Complete xxx" series is great. I enjoyed the original books immensely and have never found cause for disappointment with the "Advanced Tactics" sub-series.
Does Paizo's Dragon Compendium count?
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It depends on which kind of book you prefer:
1) Campaign Settings
2) Alternative/ Extension Rules
3) Supplements
4) Adventures
Ad 1) From Midnight (-> Evil won the fight for world dominance), over Ptolus (one city source book, but one that puts any WotC book to shame! 700+ full colour pages authoured by Monte Cook), to "steampunk" settings like Iron Kingdoms there are quite some high quality d20 settings (see postings above).
Then there are those settings adapted from novel lines: "Thieves World", "Wheel of Time", "Black Company", "A Game of Thrones", and of course "Dragonlance".
Not speaking about non fantasy settings like "Mutants and Masterminds", "Star Wars Saga Edition", and many more.
Fortunately you will already have in mind which kind of setting you prefer. This should make it easier to choose the right setting. ;-)
Ad 2) "Arcana Unearthed"/ "Arcana Evolved" and even more so "Iron Heroes" offer alternative rules for your D&D game. You will like much of it depending on your personal taste. On the other hand these books offer unique approaches to d20 and therefore make much of your other books obsolete/ hard to keep them using without forcing you to adapt rules.
Ad 3) The biggest chunk:
a) monster books
aa) critters:
- Tome of Horror I - III (especially tome I is recommendable: It contains many D&D old edition conversions to 3.5, and costs less than 10$$ as a 450 page fully searchable .pdf file),
- Book of Fiends (demons, daemons, and devils, well known authours),
- Creature Collection I - III (CC I was published even before MM I came out and therefore found quite some use in the first days of 3rd edition),
- Fantasy Bestiary,
- Monsternomicon (the "MM" of the steam punk setting "Iron Kingdoms");
- and many more,
ab) books on modifying and creating your own monsters:
- "A Magical Society: Beast Builder" (monster building in every detail you could imagine, therefore heavy on stats, though),
- "Monster's Handbook" by Fantasy Flight Games (3rd edition, but easier to apply when just wanting to modify existing monsters),
- Revised "Book of Templates" (as the title implies: quickly appliable templates which multiply the monsters available to you),
- "Advanced Bestiary" (even more templates).
b) other rules supplements:
ba) "Races Books" from various companies:
- "Races of Reknown" from Green Ronin Publishing,
- "Complete Guide to ..." Series from Goodman Games,
- "Slayers Guide" Series from Mongoose Publishing,
Quality of individual books in these series vary strongly due to different authours. Some of them really add depth to known races/ critters and are worth a purchase.
bb) "Class Books" both for old and new classes from various companies.
It's even more true for these books: First have a look at them, there are some real gems, but also quite some rubbish.
bc) Variant Rules/ Magic etc.
Another long list.
Some of the most popular books are from Malhavoc:
- "The Complete Book of Eldritch Might" offers new magic items, spells, and scenarios ready to be used in play.
- "Books of Hallowed Might" offers new input for your divine characters.
- If the "Spell Compendium" is too expensive for you, or if you look for even more spells, you might be interested in the "Renegade Wizard's Spellbook" and the "Renegade Cleric's Tome", both by Mongoose Publishing. Both books are about 250 pages hardcover, collect most of the OGL spells available on the market and just cost 19.95$$ each.
The only downside (apart from the fact that the book is b/w) is that the quality of the spells varies of course (due to the many sources being used).
Ad 4) Also a long list. Very popular are e.g.
- Goodman Games' "Dungeon Crawl Classics" (classical old edition style adventures, quite inexpensive, more than 40 modules availabe by now),
- Necromancer Games' adventures ("first edition feel, third edtion rules", different moods, difficulties, and size: from short adventures to full campaigns)
Ok. I am sure that I forgot a lot of books, but the list is already long enough.
A final tip:
If you are looking for reviews/ opinions on d20 books, have a look at the product discussion thread on these boards or go to www.enworld.org (reviews section).
Greetings,
Günther
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Hmm in no particular order...
1) Dreamscarred Press. I'd honestly say Untapped potential is the new 'must have' psionics book, kicking hyperconscous to 2nd place.
2) Arcana Evolved stuff. If I'd gotten into Arcana Evolved before 3.5 WotC would be missing lots of money.
3) Green Ronin, I've Freeport, Testiment, Mindshadows, and Hamanuptra. Very pleased with all of them.
4)Scarred Lands, while balance is an issue *cough* they have some of the best ideas in that campaign settings. I've already swiped the Dragoneets and Terali for my own use. They gave us ECL 0 catfolk, how cool is that?
5) Necromancer games. Tome of Horrors, Tome of Artifacts, and Wizards Amulet? Yes please.
6)MWP. I love their dragonlance stuff, but looks like this will be the last year I spend money there. I *HATE* their own game system in Firefly and soon to be in BSG. *sigh*
7) Goodman Games. I love their plug and play modules.
8) Pathfinder. I'm basing this on the feedback here and H0