D20 Collecting • Page 46 • Collecting General

The Acaeum Forums • Collecting General - Non TSR

D20 Collecting
	Page 46 of 54 • 1 2 3 ... 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 ... 52 53 54

Author

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:14 pm

TheHistorian wrote:Okay, but is it really as across the board as that? Are you really recommending ALL Necromancer, AEG, DCCs, etc?

Not impossible, of course, just a little hard to believe.

I am posting during lunch at work, so I got cut off before I could give more detail.

In the case of Necromancer Games, yes, I am recommending the entire catalog. And Frog God Games as well.

AEG: Buy World's Largest Dungeon and shop their brochure-sized adventures.

Goodman: Dungeon Crawl Classics is hard to beat. Also, go on Paizo.com to the Goodman Apocalypse Sale and buy the Judges Guild D20 re-makes there...currently being sold for basically the price of shipping.

Troll Lord Games: Lost City of Gaxmoor and Castle Zagyg, Upper Works Also, buy Hall of Many Panes while it is still cheap.

Paizo: Buy the Pathfinder RPG book. See if you want the modules. I currently play Pathfinder.

Privateer Press: Five Fingers, Port of Deceit is not bad. Also the Witchblade trilogy in hardback currently being sold on their website for $5.

Green Ronin: The Freeport modules and the Mythic Vistas line. I especially like The Black Company hardback.

Atlas Games: You probably won't play it, but the two hardbacks in their North American colonial D20 setting are fair to brilliant...so is their African Nyambe hardback. These are still around for cheap. Check out Paizo.com

Mongoose: The Drow War trilogy. Also, people who did not buy up the D20 Conan RPG books will cry later that they missed it.

There is lots more to list. Those are the stars I can think of right now.

This is the gold rush for D20 bargains.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Gnat the Beggar
Grandstanding Collector
JG Valuation Board
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 5029
Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Last Visit: Jan 16, 2017
Location: Texas

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:14 pm

I agree with all of Form Critics list.
No surprise there...

Nice to see someone else other than me enjoyed the Mongoose Drow Trilogy.
I found that #3 was playing hard to get for me, but well worth the search.
And they came cheap too...

"Guys, I am starting to think Tegel Manor might be haunted..."
Stated by me as a PC during a run of Tegel Manor DMed by killjoy at NTRPGCon 2010

Charter Member of the ATM

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:13 pm

Gnat the Beggar wrote:Nice to see someone else other than me enjoyed the Mongoose Drow Trilogy.

I believe I have written a review about the Mongoose Drow War Trilogy as well.

It should be earlier in this very thread.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Kingofpain89
Long-Winded Collector

Posts: 4753
Joined: Oct 31, 2004
Last Visit: Feb 16, 2024
Location: Caddo Mills, TX

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:25 pm

I have to throw a vote in for the Midnight setting by Fantasy Flight. Seems a few others have already done so here:

viewtopic.php?t=7994&highlight=midnight

The sourcebooks are great reads and the adventures are of the epic variety.

Ptolus is fantastic. Years worth of campaign material in there.

I consider some of the Kingdoms of Kalamar stuff to be pretty good as well. The Lost Tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali was well done IIRC.

I also agree that a lot of the Necromancer stuff is top notch. Particularly The Tomb of Abysthor.

Queen of Lies by Fiery Dragon Press (written by Monte Cook and later adapted for the Ptolus setting) is also a good read.

And as Badmike already mentioned, The Gryphon's Legacy is also very good.

TheHistorian wrote:Mark is a bad influence...

Aren't we all.

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

Invincible Overlord
Verbose Collector
JG Valuation Board
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 1625
Joined: Aug 19, 2008
Last Visit: Aug 21, 2023
Location: Chicago, IL

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:43 pm

Praise is given to the Kalamar Campaign setting.

We've used it for a few years now for our 3.5 setting.

RPGâ€™s, D&D in particular has had a major influence in my life. Itâ€™s bonded me together with life long friends...itâ€™s that bond in life not just as friends, but in our jokes, our mannerisms, and what we find funny. Invincible Overlord

TheHistorian
Sage Collector

Posts: 2589
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Last Visit: Mar 11, 2023
Location: Seattle, WA

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:02 am

Excellent! Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I guess the followup question is how about d20/3.0/3.5 material from WOTC? I don't really see that stuff mentioned... ever.

Areas of interest/knowledge: Harn, WFRP, Ars Magica, anything BRP based such as CoC, Runequest, Pendragon and all their related games

Gnat the Beggar
Grandstanding Collector
JG Valuation Board
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 5029
Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Last Visit: Jan 16, 2017
Location: Texas

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:26 am

TheHistorian wrote:Excellent! Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I guess the followup question is how about d20/3.0/3.5 material from WOTC? I don't really see that stuff mentioned... ever.

The core rules books for 3.5 from WOTC are fine.
A great majority of the rest of the garbage WOTC produced during the 3.x/D20 period are what is sometimes called SPLAT BOOKS.

Not all of it, but most of it.

"Guys, I am starting to think Tegel Manor might be haunted..."
Stated by me as a PC during a run of Tegel Manor DMed by killjoy at NTRPGCon 2010

Charter Member of the ATM

Invincible Overlord
Verbose Collector
JG Valuation Board
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 1625
Joined: Aug 19, 2008
Last Visit: Aug 21, 2023
Location: Chicago, IL

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:57 am

TheHistorian wrote:Excellent! Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I guess the followup question is how about d20/3.0/3.5 material from WOTC? I don't really see that stuff mentioned... ever.

What I like (what I still use):

Spell Compendium
Magic Item Compendium

Complete Warrior / Divine / Arcane / Mage

JasonZavoda
Long-Winded Collector
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 3823
Joined: Jul 12, 2007
Last Visit: Dec 17, 2021

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:24 am

TheHistorian wrote:Excellent! Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I guess the followup question is how about d20/3.0/3.5 material from WOTC? I don't really see that stuff mentioned... ever.

I know some of the later Monster Manuals were sought after. MMIV and MMV if memory serves me.

"You get more with a kind word and an excruciator than with just a kind word."

Kingofpain89
Long-Winded Collector

Posts: 4753
Joined: Oct 31, 2004
Last Visit: Feb 16, 2024
Location: Caddo Mills, TX

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:45 am

The only WotC produced 3rd edition "splatbooks" I bothered to pick up were the two Fiendish Codex books. There is some good stuff there if you wanted to expand on a campaign in the lower outer planes.

I have .pdf's of additional 3rd edition material and I also thought that some of the content of the books Elder Evils and Libris Mortis was useful.

And although I thought most of the 3rd edition adventures produced by WotC were abysmal, there were a few that I enjoyed reading through. Not very original mind you but still good. The ones I recommend are:

Red Hand of Doom
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
City of the Spider Queen
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Demonweb Pits

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

Thunderdave
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1639
Joined: Mar 08, 2008
Last Visit: Apr 19, 2024
Location: Toronto, Canada

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:52 pm

I thought splatbooks referred to 2E books: the Complete Book of X... 3E too?

I draw the line at collecting... D&D beach towels.

Shoulda been: ".. from Pangreenia to Floratopolis, from mystical Treeonia of spectral Forests to Schruborial dimensions." - The Forests of Leng

Kingofpain89
Long-Winded Collector

Posts: 4753
Joined: Oct 31, 2004
Last Visit: Feb 16, 2024
Location: Caddo Mills, TX

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:45 pm

davidc wrote:I thought splatbooks referred to 2E books: the Complete Book of X... 3E too?

Definition of a splatbook per Wikipedia:

Splatbooks are sourcebooks devoted to a particular facet, character class, or fictional faction in a role-playing game, providing additional background details and rules options. For example, a "swords and sorcery" fantasy game might offer splatbooks for each of the races in the setting: humans, dwarves, elves, and others.

From what I have read, the term "splatbook" started with White Wolf and their World of Darkness games (Vampire, Werewolf, etc) with all of the unnecessary clan and tradition books they put out. The 2E Complete books were apparently retroactively assigned the same designation.

Or maybe it's just a bunch of horseshit. :wink:

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

benjoshua
Long-Winded Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 3645
Joined: May 30, 2007
Last Visit: Apr 19, 2024
Location: USA Georgia

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:57 pm

Kingofpain89 wrote:The ones I recommend are:

Red Hand of Doom
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
City of the Spider Queen
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Expedition to the Demonweb Pits

I just finished reading through Expedition to the Demonweb Pits yesterday and enjoyed it. I hated that I didn't really understand what all the stat blocks meant, but I knew enough about most of the monsters that I could figure them out. It was definitely a challenging adventure, and can't imagine how I would fare as an adventurer. There were a few typos here and there, but not enough to overly distract.

I could not find the thread where someone found several of these on eBay at a reasonably good price at something like $8.95 plus shipping. Whoever that was, thank you.

I own Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but I haven't read it yet. I look forward to that, but know it'll take me a while to slog through it. If I remember correctly, it was one of the top, all time adventures as ranked by Dungeon magazine many years back.

I don't know that I'll ever buy another d20 adventure if for no other reason than I can't understand the stat blocks. Maybe one day I'll go to the trouble of getting someone to explain it to me, or I'm sure I could learn all about it somewhere on the web, but my heart isn't in it.

Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:15 pm

benjoshua wrote:
I just finished reading through Expedition to the Demonweb Pits yesterday and enjoyed it. I hated that I didn't really understand what all the stat blocks meant, but I knew enough about most of the monsters that I could figure them out. It was definitely a challenging adventure, and can't imagine how I would fare as an adventurer. There were a few typos here and there, but not enough to overly distract.

I could not find the thread where someone found several of these on eBay at a reasonably good price at something like $8.95 plus shipping. Whoever that was, thank you.

I own Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but I haven't read it yet. I look forward to that, but know it'll take me a while to slog through it. If I remember correctly, it was one of the top, all time adventures as ranked by Dungeon magazine many years back.

I don't know that I'll ever buy another d20 adventure if for no other reason than I can't understand the stat blocks. Maybe one day I'll go to the trouble of getting someone to explain it to me, or I'm sure I could learn all about it somewhere on the web, but my heart isn't in it.

I did a review of Expedition to the Demonweb Pits some time ago. It's probably up higher on this strand, if you look for it.

The quality and production values of Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is just awesome.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:29 pm

These arrived today:

** eBay auction listing blocked. Please enable cookies in your browser for this site and for eBay! **

** eBay auction listing blocked. Please enable cookies in your browser for this site and for eBay! **

I have three thoughts about these World of Whitethorn modules:

1) This is just what was great about the D20 phenomenon. Everyone who had a long-running D&D campaign, a couple of connections or a few bucks was able to get it into print.

2) This is just what I hate about the D20 phenomenon. a 72 page module with 31 pages wasted on new spells, skills, feats and rules.

Criminey! Who cares?

3) This is just the sort of D20 product that will be valuable in the long run. Down the line (and possibly after my time, to be honest) these two modules will be sought-after by collectors for their future obscurity and rarity.

Anyway...hard to beat the price I paid.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:32 pm

** expired/removed eBay auction **

A nice Necromancer lot....

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Tmesis
Active Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 35
Joined: Jun 11, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 09, 2009
Location: Ground Zero, UK

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:02 am

Kingofpain89 wrote:The only WotC produced 3rd edition "splatbooks" I bothered to pick up were the two Fiendish Codex books. There is some good stuff there if you wanted to expand on a campaign in the lower outer planes.

Higher-level versions of those critters were written up over several months in Dragon, prior to the release of the Fiendish Codex volumes. I remember there being some gnashing of fangs over the enormous disparity between the stat blocks. If I recall, the official response was that the Dragon's Demonomicon of Iggwilv series gave the critters the stats they would deserve in a Manual of the Planes-like context, whereas the codices statted them as critters you could aim to kill without having to dip your toe in the waters of insanity that are 3e's epic rules.

I would like to see the environment series from WotC becoming collectible; I really enjoyed Frostburn, Sandstorm, Citycscape and Dungeonscape.

A WotC book most people wouldn't recommend is Savage Species. It's widely dismissed as deeply flawed but I think it was conceptually laudable and there was a lot in it that didn't need much fixing. Doubt it will be considered a must-have for any but the 3.x completist, however. Shame.

FormCritic
Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:24 pm

By and large, I have not collected the WOTC hardbacks for 3.0/3.5.

The prices on those hardbacks were triple or quadruple their actual gaming value, making even a half-price markdown unreasonable.

I suspect they'll be as collectible as any other D20 product...with the caveat that they were probably printed in larger numbers than most third party press items.

In the short term, they'll be available over-priced from wholesalers. In the longer term they'll be available in large lots of books sold as a set by former 3.0/3.5 players.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

The Acaeum Forums • Collecting General - Non TSR

Page 46 of 54 • 1 2 3 ... 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 ... 52 53 54