Oh, I forgot, 3E isn't a D&D product. Sorry.
I would say Dragonlance. Completely useless. Just read the books.

Zippanthropus wrote:I didn't like the DL books either. The only reason I read the first three was due to the fact that I was stuck in bed in Belize for a week or so.

Worst Product: Player's Screen. Told a player to take a walk when he insisted that he roll his dice behind his screen. Also, many of those "Complete X" books. How many times did I hear, "But on page X it says that I have the ability to Y!"?

The complete books really sucked.  As a DM I was unable to keep up with everything in them so the players which specialized in classes always had the upper hand.  I ended up banning all but the core books for 2nd ed!  A few players were really chocked and quit the game, no matter people were lining up to play in my campaign at the time.

Even worse than those books were the Players option Books; really they started the end of 2nd ed being playable for me!!

J

TigerKing wrote:Yes, the "Complete (insert random)" books. That's what I was referring to earlier. Major suckage.

I remember way back when I bought the Dark Sun box set at the local gaming store.  The clerk told me that the Complete Psionics Handbook was required for play.  So I bought it.  Ended up never playing Dark Sun anyway.    Never opened the Complete Psionics Handbook again either.  To this date the only other one I've bought was the Complete Necromancer.

So yeah, I dont really like them either.  

dcas wrote:I think that The Complete Necromancer's Handbook is actually worth money.

Your right that was a good one!!

Don't suit up too quick.....I might not TOTALLY agree with you but you do have a good point. OB3 is not that great! I think it is in the middle of the pack, personally, but what hurts is that when you pay the big bucks for an item you hope it will be merited in terms of quality as well as rarity...not always the case. ST1 is a REAL stinker as far as I am concerned. Don't expect me to shell out for that one. But if you guys have a spare that just happens to be taking up space and you are thinking about dropping it in the recycling, let me know- heh heh....

Blackmoor wrote:

Zippanthropus wrote:I didn't like the DL books either. The only reason I read the first three was due to the fact that I was stuck in bed in Belize for a week or so.

Worst Product: Player's Screen. Told a player to take a walk when he insisted that he roll his dice behind his screen. Also, many of those "Complete X" books. How many times did I hear, "But on page X it says that I have the ability to Y!"?

The complete books really sucked.  As a DM I was unable to keep up with everything in them so the players which specialized in classes always had the upper hand.  I ended up banning all but the core books for 2nd ed!  A few players were really chocked and quit the game, no matter people were lining up to play in my campaign at the time.

Even worse than those books were the Players option Books; really they started the end of 2nd ed being playable for me!!

J

My fellow collectors, players, and dungeon masters,
    You gotta turn the tables on the players.  Sure the Paladin in the game wants to use the new non-weapon proficiencies like "Diagnostics" or "Bureaucracy" for his character.  Yeah the Ranger has a cool kit, which gives him more spells.  (By the way I always though that the Complete Paladin + Ranger Handbooks were among the best supplements ((although the Ranger one had sepia tone spills covering a few pages in my copy.))  But it's not like the NPCs are forbidden from having them.  Remember in the DMG from the original edition how Gygax explained why he didn't include a Critical Hits component to combat.  He wrote that if you include it will be used against the players and they won't like it.  Some complain about Psionics, (since I love that handbook) let me type a Second Edition game scene...
DM:  As you all cross the field you catch the murder approching the river.  He's only two yards from the boat.  Once he's on it the current will take him out of range.  You look at him, he's your age, same experiences, yet he has chosen a strange path of evil.
Group Leader:  I'll have the elf shoot the arrows.
DM:  You used them up, remeber? Gotta keep these things in mind.
Leader:  I tell Delanora to get her Magic Missle spell ready to uncut the boat's tether or blast a hole in the side.  Then I shout, "Surrender! We can dislodge the barque or put a hole in it!"
DM:  The young killer has already stopped.  He stands there looking at his dirk.  He's doing nothing so you wonder is he praying? (Pauses but the group is not with it so they do nothing.)  Suddenly he vanishes.  He's gone.
Leader:  The spellcasters will cast Detect Invisibility.
DM:  (Rolls behind the screen thrice with different dice.)  Delanora's been feeling weak this last round.  (Looks at the player herself.)  You keel over and bite the dust.  Your eyes see the blood pool beneath you and you finally notice the pain in your back.  (Back at whole group.) Whirling 'round you notice the youth with a bloody weapon in hand.  (Rolls one last time behind the screen.)  Surprised, he fades from sight again, only to appear again in the watercraft heading off.
      So as you can read.  A young Psionicist and Thief uses Dimension Door, available to all low level Mind Warriors but only mid-level mages.  he then backstabs (silently) with a poisoned blade.  Then having the initiative he uses Dimension Door again to get away.  And one poor gal has lost a character, for now.  
      Sure your players use new equipment, spells, weapons, and so on, but so can their enemies.  A group of mine once quit (not because of the above scene but) because the villains were just as much power gamers as them.  Another tip is handicap your players with the armor proficiency rules from the Complete Fighter's Handbookand suddenly its harder to use chain mail when your players are used to studded leather.  Knowing about new magic items also comes with other prices.
Verily,
Thomas

One of the worst TSR modules I've ever read is WG9 Gargoyle.  Two gargoyles have lost their wings and need the players to help them... say what?!?!  It's astounding they couldn't come up with a better plot involving gargoyles than that... I know the powers that be said they weren't purposely trying to kill Greyhawk at that time but looking at the modules that were coming out then.... well...

MShipley88 wrote:I never liked the *Complete* books....mostly because they only caused problems.

Have to agree with this 100%. I'm not a edition junkie ( like em all ) and actually enjoy 2nd edition ( I'ts all in the DM anyways ) but these books really caused more BS than anything else. Two words: Breach Gnomes  

On the subject of DL, I enjoyed Chronicles, the Legends and like three other books. Everything else associated with DL was degrees of shabby. The modules outright hugged it, big time, IMO. But I had two players who loved them (as they did everything DL), so I ran them. After the third I suggested they just do it themselves as there really wasn't a need for a DM.