Ok, enough of the "favorite first module" and "best adventure of all time".  I am struggling with two different Monstrous Compendiums right now and almost all of the additional MC supplements which have been somehow shoved into  the Volume I & II binders (though the Volume II binder is actually for the Volume IV Dragonlance compendium. . .)



Even though this owner kept his items in fairly nice shape,  I now have 4 of these binders lying about.  They are - in every possible way - a complete pain in the ass.



My impressions on this crappy product:



- Binders, in general, are a completely lame and inept design for a product.  They don't last, the pages become easily damaged, misplaced and lost.  The binder "rings" damage the cover, the "holes" tear, the tabs bend - they just generally suck. . .



- They are awkward sized, a pain to store, transport or use.  They don't even freakin' lie flat!!!



- They have no "aesthetic" appeal.  I can really appreciate a nice, new hardcover book.  There is something in it that reminds me of ancient books and the power of creativity and imagination. . . Binders remind me of boring high school classes and homework.



- And they are a pain in the ass to resell, to photograph and to grade accurately.



In sum, they completely suck and they get my vote as the worst product (product line) ever produced for Dungeons & Dragons (hell, I would say "ever produced by TSR!  I liked the Indiana Jones RPG more than the Compendiums).



Is there any competition out there for the Compendiums?  Feel free to sound off if you have anything that stokes your inner ire the way these do mine!



     

mordrin wrote:The compendiums do indeed suck.  I was actively playing for a bit of the 2nd edition era, and I flat-out refused to purchase any of the 2nd ed MMs.  What a bunch of crap.



You might want to amend your question to be print products only, otherwise, your answer is "the movie", and the thread is over.  

The sequal to D&D (no joke) ... I never saw the first.. will supposedly co - star Paris Hilton (no joke again).



So I think the first D&D movie will lose its first place position on the charts very soon.

The worst waste of cash was the 2 volume set of magic item lists revealed to the gaming world with the name of Enclyclopedia Magica.  What a waste of money, a list of items and a reference to where to find them.  ARGHH!!  I actually spent money on that crap.



Also, how about the hip and trendy player packs.  These geek ridden devices help to label our fine players.  Imagine actually using one of these and carrying it around in public; and they cost around $18.00 each at the time.  What is inside you ask, well how about a random miniature pack, a couple of character sheets, some crappy dice, a very crappy pencil, and a stupid looking palstic carry case.  THank god these were terrible sellers and never re-printed.  Yes a have a complete set of these as well.



Good Hunting!!

The worse idea TSR ever had to was to allow the Forgotten Realms to become the default setting for the AD&D universe. What did we get with the proliferation of Realms products: source-books/coffee table books disquised as modules; rule books written at the 6th grade reading level; splat books (read: class books) that were 90% fluff, 10% useable content; etcetera, etecetera, etcetera. I could go on, but I must flee posthaste to the bathroom, for all this talk of the Realms is forcing bile up my throat.

That's a great list by DS... just not quite sure why the Green Slime made number nine.  It's better than the Grenadier AD&D gold line ochre jelly which was a lump of lead with an eye...  

Misfire, er... Spellfire, deserves high placement.  Indeed, the beginning of the end for TSR.  

And I'd actually pay a lot of money for a Lord Soth tablecloth, it's uber kitsch.  And I'm ashamed to admit it but I'm such a completist I actually have the set of Heartquest books.  You never know, they might come in handy for kindling one day.

Dragonlance.  Signifying the beginning of the end as far as I'm concerned.



All the other wind and piss was a direct descendant of this abomination.

Dragonlance. Signifying the beginning of the end as far as I'm concerned.



All the other wind and piss was a direct descendant of this abomination.

I didn't care for DL, but come on...there were a lot worse things out there.  "Hollow World" & "Spelljammer" come to mind immediately.  Besides, that's an entire campaign world, unless *shudder* they actually came out with a Dragon Lance.



My vote has to go to pretty much anything with "Complete" in the title, but then I'm a little bit old-school.  I know I'll get crucified for this one, but I think S1 was a horrible module, too, unless you were the DM.

Forgotten Realms was never the "default" campaign, it was always Greyhawk.  FR was merely the most prolific (which makes sense, at it sold best).  And Ruins of Undermountain wasn't THAT bad.

I'm still rather amazed that they sell character sheets.  And I'm totally amazed they tried to sell the 3e Map Folio which is (drumroll please) a compendium of maps...  which were released via the WotC site...  for free... (HOW did marketing okay this?).  I'm also amazed that post-1998 or so they kept selling character sheets...  I mean, every group I've ever seen just downloads them and prints some off.

I'd have to say Mystara was by far the worst of the campaign worlds.  Stupid attempt to hash out the default later D&D world (which itself was built piecemeal).

Everyone's been talking about how bad the Monstrous Compendium was... I thought I'd add how bad its replacement was: The Monstrous Manual! While returning back to the hardback format was nice...



The art in there is gawdawful! What TSR hack approved those sketches?! Were they paying a nickel a monster?



As mediocre as the art was in the various Monstrous Compendium  publications, it was leagues ahead of that crapola. And the MC was noble at least in the concept: With new monsters being added to the game almost daily, it was nice to keep them together in one place. Pages could easily be photocopied, without distressing your hardback copy. Unfortunately, the execution was poor. I still believe that -- with money spent on better materials (quality binder, reinforced sheets) -- the MC products could have been a winner.



Ah, well...