The Book of Rituals by Goodman Games is, imo, a must-have for anyone who wants to play a ritual caster. So many awesome and quirky rituals in there it is easily my best supplement purchase in the last 10 years.
I also got Death Dealer (the module) also by Goodman Games. Really solid hack n' slay module with a strong theme and story to hold it together. The only complaint I had was the printing of it I got is very, very dark. Some pages suffer to the point of have paragraphs of text be very hard to read. Fortunately Goodman Games provided a pdf of it (freebie code in the module iirc) so i could reprint any problem pages.
Beyond a few other Goodman Games modules I haven't gone into the 3rd party market at all for 4E. After being burned numerous times by the tons of crap produced during the 3E era I promised myself I would limit myself to only a few publishers. Paizo was one of them but they refuse to produce anything for 4E *shrug*
Paizo was one of them but they refuse to produce anything for 4E *shrug*
What a completely unreasonable business decision they made *shrug*
Open Design and Kobold Quarterly.
Anything I've run from there has provided a great time for the table-- at home or at a convention.
Wrath of the River King was a fantastic heroic module. If you were fortunate enough to get a copy, you know this. The reviews back this up again and again. Sandbox-tastic. The Birch Queen's fair has material enough for sessions of play if your players just want to wander.
Halls of the Mountain King is expansive and the accompanying Iron Gazetteer has a lot of meat in it. I am singularly biased on this, though, having completed about 60+% of the conversion from 3.5. There's a PbP of the 4E version going on here in the forums right now...1350+ posts, I believe.
Courts of the Shadow Fey is a rock solid P2 planar romp that pushes the boundaries for 4E adventures with a great focus on the social competition of characters within the fae courts. (A recent review is here)
the Imperial Gazetteer gives you an overview of the Empire of the Ghouls from the guy who created it, showing how to incorporate it into a campaign and what the creepy undead ruled lands might be like. It even includes a PC ghoul race.
Although, all of these are pre-MM3 errata, but Courts does have sidebars on pumping damage appropriately. The others require manual alteration.
Hell, The Lost City is cruising to greenlight now and brainstorming with Logan Bonner at the helm (P1, King of the Trollhaunt Warrens, anyone?) so it's just a matter of time before the previews give us some fun stuff to play with there.
KQ regularly has good stuff for 4E on the site and in its pages. Items, powers, monsters, mechanics.
The real question becomes "are you willing to do prep and design away from the DDI tools?" Because if you are, then I think there's no question about using stuff from KQ and Open Design.
-Ben.
(who is biased, but then the stuff is just *that* good.)
Shadow Fey (or parts of it anyway) are about to be inserted into another of my PbPs.
Just ran my first chase scene with the rules from Tome of Secrets! Went really well & my players really got into it. (Though partly that was from the William Tell Overture soundtrack I played to go with it.) Also plan on using some monsters from "Fey Folio-Clans of the Fey Realm" I just downloaded it.
4 Winds has some great stuff, Luven Lightfinger's Gear & Treasure Shop is pretty much a must have for anyone who enjoys low level equipment and Strategists & Tacticians has some really great stuff too, though it is meant for PF.
Paizo was one of them but they refuse to produce anything for 4E *shrug*What a completely unreasonable business decision they made *shrug*
Hey they could have my business for books (I still get flip mat and map packs - those are universally useful) if they made anything for 4E. They don't. Does my decision upset you or something? Do you have anything useful to contribute here or were you just threadcrapping?
I have only used WoTC products, not for any sense of loyalty or elitism, but I have the plot for my game planned out all the way to 30th level, so I haven't the need for premade adventures. I actually have too many and realized I needed to remove one because it was just too many stories to try to cram into the Paragon levels of my game.
I have been interested in Goodman Games Book of Rituals, but my group who will be 14th at the end of my next session have not had an Arcane Caster or anyone interested in using rituals beyond Enchant Item since 7th level. I even gave them a book full of all the Arcane Rituals from 1st to 6th level way back when they were 5th level and no one ever used it.
I found that working rituals into the game as a backdrop to help characters along is the best way to sell them. For instance, our current campaign includes a vast amount of traveling, and multiple story arcs, where any type of self sufficiency built into the group goes a long way, like shelter, enchanting, alchemy, travel, and even gate rituals (one of the story arcs about old fey points). Information rituals also help.
You also have to work a little more into your stories with random monsters, etc. to keep them on their toes where a little extra help saves the day.
I will have to take a look at the goodman games book of rituals.
I have been interested in Goodman Games Book of Rituals, but my group who will be 14th at the end of my next session have not had an Arcane Caster or anyone interested in using rituals beyond Enchant Item since 7th level. I even gave them a book full of all the Arcane Rituals from 1st to 6th level way back when they were 5th level and no one ever used it.
Really? That's a shame. I love rituals and hand them out as treasure when I DM and actively seek them out when I play. There are so many nifty little tricks you can do with them I'm surprised any group doesn't jump at the chance to use and acquire them.
Thank-you Uchawi. I have tried that to a minor extent, like when an NPC used Speak with Dead to question a skull the players carried, but I should try weaving them more into the plot.
Then again, my players are a bunch of blood-thirsty hack-and-slashers and may just throw poo at a book of rituals ;)