Favorite RPG products of 2015!

[Jason Nelson]

As the year draws to a close, Wormy wants to know some of your favorite RPG products of the past year.

1. Favorite 2015 product from a major publisher.
2. Favorite 2015 product from a smaller company.
3. Favorite artwork/maps in a 2015 product.
4. Name a product you bought and enjoyed in 2015 because a friend recommended it that you probably wouldn't have bought otherwise.

and because he's a fan...

5. Favorite product you bought in 2015 from Legendary Games

If you haven't ever checked out Legendary Games before (or if you have - as a thank you), stop by www.makeyourgamelegendary.com on New Year's Day and enter the coupon code NEWYEAR40 to take 40% off any product in the store. Make your 2016 Legendary!

[Lord Mhoram]

Going by copyright Dates - as my 5 most used are all 2014 (though a number of them I didn't buy until 2015)

1) - Mythic Hero's Handbook (Legendary, Dreamscarred, RGG)- I love mythic stuff. Mythic Adventures is still my favorite Paizo book after the CRB. MHH was amazing in content and advice for balance. I came up with my own balancing mechanism, but seeing other ideas was good.

Honorable Mention to RGG - Feat Compilation.

2) - Compendium Arcana 7 - 6th level spells (d20 Publishing) I love the variable level spells, which first concept came out of Arcana Unearthed from Monte Cook. I've adapted a number myself from third party companies too.

3) - This one I have a hard time with, I don't tend to use maps, and I almost never look at artwork, unless it is below a certain level. My favorite game illustrator is Storn Cook - so I love those pieces of his that show up in many of the smaller press books.

4) - none - I am the only in my group of friends who plays Pathfinder.

5) - Discounting MHH, Cyborgs.

note - I don't buy published adventures, I have a huge backlog of those that I haven't played, and we tend to use more homemade ones - so no adventures/setting on the list. Tastewise, I'm a rules guy.

[JGray]

Can I suggest a change, considering this part of the forums is for 3pp publishers (and the definition of major and minor can be murky)?

Maybe just a list of the 5 3pp books you found most interesting, fun, or useful this year?

[Jason Nelson]

JGray wrote:

Can I suggest a change, considering this part of the forums is for 3pp publishers (and the definition of major and minor can be murky)?

Maybe just a list of the 5 3pp books you found most interesting, fun, or useful this year?

Sure, that makes sense. I had originally thought of a 1PP product (like Hasbro or Paizo) as being "major" and a 3PP as being "minor," but just listing 5 favorite 3PP products you bought in 2015 is legit too.

[Chemlak]

1) Pathfinder Unchained. Some of the options have made the game so much better.

2) Ultimate Charisma by Everyman Gaming. No contest. This book is soooo awesome (and I was able to buy it here even before Alex knew it had been made available, which makes me chuckle). Should be in every GM's toolbox.

3) I don't really have a favourite piece of art. I'd have to trawl through and find something that stands out for me.

4) I don't buy books on recommendation, really. I'm the primary buyer for my gaming group, so I just grab things that interest me.

5) Umm... All of them? The Mythic Hero's Handbook and Mythic Monster Manual stand out, but so do all of the Mythic Monster books I've bought (still need to review the 13 I grabbed last week). Then there's the Legendary Planet stuff (okay, the map and art folio for The Assimilation Strain is PHENOMENAL, there's my answer to 3). Then there's Mythic Skills, which is brilliant.

[Qu0zl]

I'll go with the five 3rd party products option :)

1/ (The Slumbering Tsar Saga ) by Frog God Games. As well as being an amazing work of evil genius, it was my gateway into 3PP and specifically Frog God Games. I owe every purchase below to this book leading me into a world much more like the way I want to play games.

2/ Swords and Wizardry Complete. A retro clone of the original version of D&D plus the first few expansions. I bought the hardback but you can get the PDF free from Frog God Games. I love it so much! I'm 5 games into running a campaign, there have been 5 PC deaths and the players are loving it.

3/ Cyclopean Deeps. by Matt Finch of Frog God Games It's a bizarre subterranean sandbox. It's not Drow or the other typical stuff - it's where the Drow fear to tread and it is awesome. Pathfinder or Swords and Wizardry. The only problem is that it's for level 12s, which is high level in Swords and WIzardry so I don't know if I'll have a campaign make it that far. If you're playing Pathfinder then I'd strongly recommend checking it out. The world is really interesting.

4/ Shadowbrook Manor by Goblinoid Games . Such a fun, creepy mansion module. I'm running two groups through it currently and it has given some beautiful moments. Such as 3 of the party of 7 being temporarily magically psychotic, the remaining 4 players having to drag the three tied up PCs along the marble floors to the Mansions doors, opening the doors and being greeted by bow-shot from the darkness. The fear in the players was fantastic but it's not a mean module - if the players are sensible (and not unlucky) they'll survive. To my shock nobody actually died in that nightmare situation I described above, but they certainly had a tense half an hour (real time) hiding and waiting for their comrades to snap out of it.

5/ The Lost City of Barakas by Frog God Games. A sandbox campaign setting for levels 2 to 6 (or higher). Pathfinder or Swords and Wizardry. There's a good town setting, and a nice deep and nasty dungeon, plus surrounding wilderness encounters. This is where I intend to continue my current S&W campaign - the players have of course got side-tracked by various other stuff first.

My major publisher purchase of the year is D&D 5e. The three core books. I think I've burnt out a bit on Pathfinder's crunchiness after playing through the entire Rise of the Runelords AP this year (which was very fun, to be clear!). 5e is a nice middle ground which I'm really enjoying.

I know the above is a ridiculously Frog God Games-centric. They really make the kind of material that I love and they were my intro to 3PP via Slumbering Tsar. That said, I've got some Lamentation of the Flame Princess modules en-route, the Carcosa campaign setting (dark! maybe I'll only read it, but if I really like it then maybe my S&W campaign may find a portal to go to a place even more dark and dangerous than the Lost Lands). I've also bought quite a few modules from other companies too, many of which were good, but apart from Shadowbrook Manor none of them make my top 5 for the year.

And one final great (free) product for 2015! The webpage that I made to make it much easier for Pathfinder monster summoners to get creature statistics, with or without augment summon or the summoning templates - http://gregfarrell.org/pfs/ . Monitoring the thread I posted about that earlier this year in this forum is what led me to learning about Slumbering Tsar and the wonderful world of 3PP :)

I'll go check out Legendary Games now too :)

[Jason Nelson]

That monster summoning website sounds very handy!

[The Ragi]

1) Ultimate Antipodism: Drawn from Light and Darkness. Three new classes, built on a system that balances light and shadow magic, using opposite pool points.

2) Ultimate Battle Lord. One new class with an impressive selection of area buffs and options to carry a party on.

3) Path of Iron. Three new classes, new magic system, a new take on traps and a pet metal golem-ish.

4) Psionics Augmented: Seventh Path. Connecting psionics with the dead/undead, brand new powers for all psionic classes, and also archetypes.

5) The Animist: Nature Incarnate. One new class, use different pieces of nature to transmutate your body and also daily powers.

I almost put pieces of Akashic Mysteries and Path of War Expanded in there, but I'd rather keep them for the best of 2016, when they come out complete.

Looks like I bought a lot of older stuff this year also, specially modules.

[Jason Nelson]

I think I can speak for all 3PPs when we say we are more than happy for you to buy older stuff!

[Rusty Ironpants]

Jason Nelson wrote:

I think I can speak for all 3PPs when we say we are more than happy for you to buy older stuff!

Absolutely. Although my "older stuff" only goes back to April 2015. :D

[WormysQueue]

Jason Nelson wrote:

As the year draws to a close, Wormy wants to know some of your favorite RPG products of the past year.

What? I'd never had the idea to ask this by my own. :P

But as far as my answers go:

1. Das Schwarze Auge 5. Ed. (the Dark Eye in english) (okay, major publisher may be a bit of a stretch, but at least here in germany, it's true)

2. Kobold Press: Southlands Campaign Setting

3. -

4. Playground Adventures' Pixies on Parade is surely something I wouldn't have bought if not for Endzeitgeist's review. As that's the only thing I bought due to a recommendation, I'll go with that.

5. Mythic Monsters #33: Norse

[Voadam]

Hmm, I mostly buy older books but there were some 2015's in there.

From Fat Goblin Games I recently got their Tomes of Power Revised, Shadows Over Vathak Ina'oth Player's Guide and Fantastic Technology.

From Rogue Genius Games I purchased the Veranthea Codex, Fall of Man and Genius Guide to Simple Class Templates.

From Wayward Rogues Publishing I picked up most of their race, and culture, and cults, and adventure PDFs.

Purple Duck Games I grabbed the Protean Lords of Porphyra and the Lands of Porphyra Campaign Setting.

As for Legendary Games I have to go back to 2014 for Mythic Monsters 13 and the Gothic Compendium, though I got the Compendium in 2015.

[Crai]

This will not be an easy task as I own dozens & dozens of Pathfinder 3PP products published in 2015. And to note, some of my favorite 3PP publishers will not be on this Top 5 list ... but by virtue of being one of my faves, they still wow me with the way they consistently issue title-after-title of very good-to-excellent products.

***

In no particular order:

1. 101 Shadow & Darkness Spells (Rite Publishing)

2. Path of Shadows (Ascension Games)

3. Mythic Monsters #32: Shadow (Legendary Games)

4. The Reign of Terror (Four Dollar Dungeons)

5. Letters of the Flaming Crab: Wheel of the Year (Flaming Crab Games)

6. Lovecraft Fantasy Gaming Toolkit (Purple Duck Games)

*****

Yes, there is a connected theme here with the first 3 titles. That's because of the aggregate playing styles/preferences of my 2 gaming groups and I for the majority of 2015.

As for why I chose a Top 6 over a Top 5 ... well, let's just chalk that up to me being a contrarian. :-)

[ferrinwulf]

1. Star Wars Rpg by FFG
2. Northlands Saga Frog God kickstarter Pdf (awesome Btw)
3. Sword of Air frog god glorious colour maps and artwork.
4 See 1 above and very glad I did.it's awesome
5 Ultimate Battle..a really good companion and as it happens I can use it with 2 above.

[Crai]

Crai wrote:

This will not be an easy task as I own dozens & dozens of Pathfinder 3PP products published in 2015. And to note, some of my favorite 3PP publishers will not be on this Top 5 list ... but by virtue of being one of my faves, they still wow me with the way they consistently issue title-after-title of very good-to-excellent products.

Just to clarify my above quote .... I *bought* dozens & dozens of PF 3PP stuff in 2015. They weren't all necessarily published in 2015.

Everything else I wrote is accurate. :-)