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This is strictly a conversation piece. So, feel free to derail this thread all you want!
Now that PF2 has gone its complete own direction, and PF1 & 3.5 stats don't work at all. What books do you still use concepts, backgrounds, descriptions, fluff, and whatever else from?
Personally (and I'm not an evil GM, I swear) I will never not use 3E's Book of Vile Darkness by Monte Cook. Just the ideas in there of horror and truly scary villains for the PCs to square off against are still great.
Of course, any adventures from any system are converted with little effort (see Ediwir's conversion guide in the section below). Like AD&D 1E's Egg of the Phoenix even!
What about you guys?
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I've been fiddling with an Occultist homebrew and generally just really like the Occult Adventures book. So maybe not "old," but it's one I still look at a lot.
Book of Vile Darkness is another good one. I think my copy still has the "WARNING! Adult content!" sticker on it...
I also reference Eberron stuff constantly. I love that setting and have made use of some conversions to P1e here and there along with my own stuff, and intend to do the same for P2e as well. It just really jives with me.
Old "5-Room Dungeons" are also things I go back to frequently, especially for new players. There are some fun ones out there. I think my favorite is one where the players are hired to go into this tomb to fetch a chariot for this eccentric dude, so they have to figure out how to get this massive thing out of the dungeon, intact, over pits and monsters. When they get the thing out of the tomb the guy just fiddles with the chariot for a minute, opens a hidden compartment, and takes what's in there, leaving the players with a nice chariot for their troubles.
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Book of Vile Darkness is awesome. I used a lot of inspiration from that to up the creep factor for a necromancer in Age of Ashes.
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Book of Vile Darkness is awesome. I used a lot of inspiration from that to up the creep factor for a necromancer in Age of Ashes.
Yea! Even if you don't try to recreate any stats from it, just giving him some of the creepy appearances and personality traits is shivering. I think a villain could definitely make use of some of the spells updated to PF2 sensibilities. Stuff that is Rare and Evil and your players definitely wouldn't be using themselves. But would make a creepy encounter even worse.
I also reference Eberron stuff constantly... It just really jives with me.
For real, for real. Eberron remains my other favorite setting of all time (besides Golarion). The arcane tattoos in Lost Omens Character Guide would work perfectly reskinned as Dragonmarks.
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I'm using the Book of Eldritch Might III by Monte Cook in the game I'm running and am thinking of using something from the Mercenaries book by AEG from 2002
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Eldritch Might was a good series of books.
I'm wondering if I dig thru my old Complete Scoundrel from v3.5, if the Skill Tricks in that chapter would spark any ideas for Skill Feats in PF2.
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BoVD is an amazing book!
I just bought the last 2 humble bundles of Pathfinder stuff, and I've yet to crack the digital cover of those 60 some books for reference or stat blocks.
I am a Forgotten Realms junkie and continually cross reference items from the original grey box through the 3.5 campaign guide, and I love the flair of Magic of Faerun for spells and items specific to the setting with a story for each!
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All of the Monsters Revisited books from the Chronicles line have a permanent place on my shelf, whether the game is 2nd edition, Starfinder, D&D, FATE, or any other brand of fantasy.
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All of the Monsters Revisited books from the Chronicles line have a permanent place on my shelf, whether the game is 2nd edition, Starfinder, D&D, FATE, or any other brand of fantasy.
Classic Horrors Revisited is so good.
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Misfit Monsters Redeemed.
Everything from Monte Cook’s Ptolus.
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Everything from Monte Cook’s Ptolus.
Did you hear he's updating it for both 5E and Cypher System?
For PF2 purposes, 5E and CS versions don't do me any more good to have than a 3.5 version.But I love Cypher System. And I'd actually play that.
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I've reread Distant Shores and Distant Worlds an embarrassing number of times.
I also do want to second the recommendation for the old 3.5 Eberron stuff - and toss out that the 4e and 5e material for it from Keith is all also killer. He put out a DM's Guild release that detailed several parts of the setting for the first time and it was giddy to get "new" Eberron.
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I'm going to toss in for Eberron as well. Hands down my favorite setting, which is still astounding given that it's relatively small, but everything just works together so well. Everything I write for home games ends up looking a bit Eberron-y if you squint.
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TFW when a spambot revives a neat thread and good posts follow.
Pretty much anything Eberron for me as well, it was my first setting more or less with actually playing tabletop (I had played the Neverwinter Nights computergames but I wasn't that up on the lore).
This was also my entry into the hobby! Played Neverwinter on PC, but didn't latch on to the setting, got 3.5e after finding a Dungeon magazine in a tiny magazine shop, then started getting really into Eberron.
Lots of lore books in this thread. But I'd bet some hacks and subsystems are not hard to update either.
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Eberron babies UNITE!!!
For me it was HS and I saw someone reading a VtM rulebook and I had played the game, I asked and it ended up with us playing through that a lot before the GM suggested DnD, which I was also only familiar with through the game. Her preferred setting was Eberron so that's what we used :3
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My old gaming buddy from the 90s recently got back into gaming and was running a Forgotten Realms campaign using PF2 rules. Disappointingly (for me) he eventually decided he wanted to move over to 5E. So we had to redo our characters into that system.
Even tho I know the market is flooded with podcasts, we've decided we're actually going to start one soon for PF2. But most likely going to be using a PF1 AP. Not 100% sure yet, but probably Second Darkness. I don't know of any podcasters doing that one.
I know we'll definitely be busting out some older sourcebooks like Into the Darklands for that one.
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This is my obligatory "my first published work was a guide to transgender characters and culture in Eberron" plug, though I'm worried a direct link will violate some forum rule.
I love that world... and the 4e Realms, and the broad ideas of Dark Sun.
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I love that world... and the 4e Realms, and the broad ideas of Dark Sun.
Dark Sun is where I first gained my love for psionics. We played that back in AD&D 2nd edition. I loved that Eberron embraced psionics as well. As well as some Dark Sun stuff like half-giants.
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Linking to something to sell in good faith isn't against the rules.
It's quoting or creating quotes and inserting links sinisterly advertising licenses or writing term papers for you that gets ya hit with the spam hammer.
That and black magic to get your husband back.
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Linking to something to sell in good faith isn't against the rules.
It's quoting or creating quotes and inserting links sinisterly advertising licenses or writing term papers for you that gets ya hit with the spam hammer.
That and black magic to get your husband back.
I genuinely love the “the doctor-sorcerer made my husband get back with me” spambot. I’m convinced it really happened.
The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.
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Linking to something to sell in good faith isn't against the rules.
It's quoting or creating quotes and inserting links sinisterly advertising licenses or writing term papers for you that gets ya hit with the spam hammer.
That and black magic to get your husband back.
I genuinely love the “the doctor-sorcerer made my husband get back with me” spambot. I’m convinced it really happened.
The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.
Hehe ye. And linkified!
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The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.
This is genuinely interesting. The thought that popped into my head first was, "Huh, what makes Eberron a better place for a guide like this?" Which - after a second of thinking - was immediately followed by, "My god, oh man, Eberron is so perfect for this why isn't this sort of a mandatory inclusion in every game?"
Very cool.
EDIT: Also, I hadn't even seen the spam bot that got this all started, but hats off to it.
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Eberron has changelings that can morph forms at will. Different ancestries, male to female. Sharn is a megalopolis with every kind of person imaginable. I don't think a transgender character would be a stretch, by any measure.
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Planescape
Numenara/Arcana of Ancients
Occult Mysteries
Planar Adventures
Distant Realms
Distant Shores
Distant Worlds
All old Forgotten Realms locations. Wiped out the FR lore and just use the maps and locations for homebrew and Golarion lore
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Pre-covid I was running a horror campaign that drew extensively from Ravenloft & Planescape adventures, w/ many HERO System NPCs and scenarios from their magazine thrown in. Many of those 2.0 modules let PCs have a lot of agency in how to pursue their objective and how the story unfolds, at least for those two settings. And while Ravenloft's a natural for horror, Planescape's "weak PCs being able to have a relevant effect on their surroundings despite being surrounded by archvillains" aspect fit the horror genre too. Yes, fighting the main villains would get you killed and you'd better run! BUT...there is a way to thwart them if you're lucky. And swift. And remain sane.
Oh, and Planescape had to address PCs from such varied factions that they had to include lots of plot hooks and account for different alignments playing through. And its set pieces were fantastic.
Speaking of which, the original Dungeon Master's Guide has those excellent dungeon dressing lists in the back that IMO current writers should review to spruce up descriptions. Gygax's Nation Builder (although written by somebody else) has tons of similar lists for world-building, and fleshed out extrapolations which include how fantasy & magic might lead to variants, i.e. a magocracy.
Some of those X-scape, i.e. Dungeonscape, 3.X books have evergreen ideas too. Lots of variant monsters, experienced advice, and rich flavor.
And maps from every era, most often fortresses.
Why does this look familiar?
Well...you may have fought Hill Giants here decades ago. :-)
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I really like the Book of the Damned trilogy which covers Devils, Demons, and Daemons. Still reference it from time to time - most recently on a daemon subplot. The trilogy has a gritty, pulpy-ness to it that I just love.
Obviously some parts are out of date (notably Nocticula having ascended), but by and large most of the info and hooks are still viable.
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The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.This is genuinely interesting. The thought that popped into my head first was, "Huh, what makes Eberron a better place for a guide like this?" Which - after a second of thinking - was immediately followed by, "My god, oh man, Eberron is so perfect for this why isn't this sort of a mandatory inclusion in every game?"
Very cool.
EDIT: Also, I hadn't even seen the spam bot that got this all started, but hats off to it.
If you want an honest answer to the first question, it’s a mix of “the first trans character I ever played was an Eberron NPC” and “Eberron has a pretty heavy emphasis on identity as a theme, which meant that I actually had very little work at all to do.” I also chatted with Keith about it the topic once, and he gave me a surprising amount to use - and his blessing. He’s a cool dude.
The book’s PWYW, so curious minds can snag it for free.
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We're an Eberron household. The original Eberron book is the only relic left of my 3e library, and my partner fell in love with the setting flipping through it and the Sharn city book; he's picked up Baker's latest 5e stuff and I have enjoyed seeing it anew (Baker's domain of dread is grim, wow!). We keep talking about a PF2 Eberron game, and one of these days it will happen.
I never even got a chance to run or even play a 3e game with Eberron--it was always Faerun, which I hardly even think about these days.
(It has been a while since I read Blesses of the Traveler, but fwiw I recall it was a nice little contribution to Eberron lore; surely worth a click if that's your thing. I should go dig it back up...)
Honorable mentions go to both 4e Dark Sun and 2e Planescape, for similar reasons. I never got to run or play in either, but they both still hold inspiration for me.
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Hehe ye. And linkified!Linking to something to sell in good faith isn't against the rules.
It's quoting or creating quotes and inserting links sinisterly advertising licenses or writing term papers for you that gets ya hit with the spam hammer.
That and black magic to get your husband back.
I genuinely love the “the doctor-sorcerer made my husband get back with me” spambot. I’m convinced it really happened.
The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.
The book is ‘Blessed of The Traveler,” if folks want it.This is genuinely interesting. The thought that popped into my head first was, "Huh, what makes Eberron a better place for a guide like this?" Which - after a second of thinking - was immediately followed by, "My god, oh man, Eberron is so perfect for this why isn't this sort of a mandatory inclusion in every game?"
Very cool.
EDIT: Also, I hadn't even seen the spam bot that got this all started, but hats off to it.
If you want an honest answer to the first question, it’s a mix of “the first trans character I ever played was an Eberron NPC” and “Eberron has a pretty heavy emphasis on identity as a theme, which meant that I actually had very little work at all to do.” I also chatted with Keith about it the topic once, and he gave me a surprising amount to use - and his blessing. He’s a cool dude.
The book’s PWYW, so curious minds can snag it for free.
Good to have some potentially free Eberron stuff out there for 5e, keftiu. ;)
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It's funny because I had forgotten I started this thread. Then, the other day, I saw it on here and thought.. that looks like a neat thread. Then I clicked on it and realized it was mine. Haha