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Athaniar
2008-08-15, 05:53 PM
Any of you have any, well, obscure third party books (especially for Dungeons & Dragons) you like? Please do share it here.

I bought a book called Secret Societies, and it was a good read. It was about (surprise, surprise!) secret societies. It included, among others, the Assassins, the Knights Templar, the Thule Society, Mossad, and provided both good campaign hooks and crunch for both modern, futuristic, and fantasy settings.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-15, 05:57 PM
I really like Requiem for a God by Monte Cook. Things that happen when a God dies. Edit: (Not necessarily the PCs killing the God:smallcool:). Second for Hyperconscious which I liked for Sleep and Mindvault and Teleport Auxilliary (Now you can use that Lantern Archon to the fullest without needing to Reduce everyone :smallwink:)

The Demented One
2008-08-15, 06:12 PM
Untapped Potential is everything that Complete Psionic should have been, while Hyperconscious is an excellent adventure with a boatload of psionic material.

AstralFire
2008-08-15, 06:20 PM
Beyond Monks was a great book for unarmed before ToB came out. (3.5 version vastly superior to the 3.0 version, but nearly impossible to find...)

TheThan
2008-08-15, 06:53 PM
The Book of Erotic Fantasy...

Lyndworm
2008-08-15, 08:29 PM
A lot of people laugh at the BoEF, but it's actually very good. If you're mature enough to imagine frisky gnomes and stuck-up elves gettin' busy than I highly recomend it. It contains such things as gestation periods for various races, STDs, and spells that affect fertillity and whatnot. Although some of the pictures are beyond laughable (rather than highering artists they just got a bunch of topless women and photoshopped them to look vaguley gnome-ish or orc-ish), it really does contain a lot of useful information.

Zack

Thurbane
2008-08-15, 08:37 PM
Three I really like are:

Relics & Rituals: Excalibur by White Wolf Publishing (http://secure1.white-wolf.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=441)

Legends of Excalibur by RPG Objects (http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=product&o[p_id]=41)

Love and War by Atlas Games (http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG3226.php)

Glyphic
2008-08-15, 08:38 PM
The Book of Erotic Fantasy...

It a shame that PbP game went under, Eh Than?

Waspinator
2008-08-15, 08:55 PM
The Warcraft d20 books. Not the later "World-of-Warcraft-as-a-tabletop-game" ones, the first set of ones that were more "Warcraft III as D&D campaign world". Even if you don't use everything from them, there's some things like I like the Warcraft versions of more than I like the standard D&D ones (like Kobolds). Also, Murlocs are an awesome low-level "fodder" enemy to use when you're bored of goblins, orcs, and kobolds for everything. Finally, Pandarens as a PC race is hilarious.

Meat Shield
2008-08-15, 09:47 PM
I'm a big fan of the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting from Kenzer. More detail, fluff, and new crunch than you could ever possibly use in a campaign in the campaign setting, players guide, and various regional books.

Swok
2008-08-15, 10:23 PM
Iron Kingdoms from Privateer Press. Steam powered Golems are a level of win D&D can barely contain. Also, less of an emphasis on magic items, and less revolving door afterlife.

RTGoodman
2008-08-15, 11:34 PM
Sovereign Press did a great job with all the 3.x Dragonlance books that I've read, though I guess it's only sorta third party.

I also really like the Necromancer Games (3.5) Tome of Horrors - it's got a bunch of great creatures AND a lot of the super-silly OD&D/AD&D monsters that everyone loves!

Neither is particularly "obscure," but they are at least balanced and well-written - I can't say that for a lot of third-party books I've got...

arguskos
2008-08-15, 11:37 PM
The Warcraft d20 books. Not the later "World-of-Warcraft-as-a-tabletop-game" ones, the first set of ones that were more "Warcraft III as D&D campaign world". Even if you don't use everything from them, there's some things like I like the Warcraft versions of more than I like the standard D&D ones (like Kobolds). Also, Murlocs are an awesome low-level "fodder" enemy to use when you're bored of goblins, orcs, and kobolds for everything. Finally, Pandarens as a PC race is hilarious.
I'd second this. The Warcraft d20 stuff was pretty fun, though it's nearly impossible to frikkin' find in this day and age. >_<

-argus

Waspinator
2008-08-16, 12:05 AM
RPG Now has PDFs of the Warcraft d20 stuff, if that helps.

But yeah, it's hard to find. I never did get a bound copy of the Alliance and Horde Compendium.

arguskos
2008-08-16, 12:10 AM
Ah, yes, RPG Now. Great place, thanks for reminding me of it.

On topic, the best book ever: Toolbox. It's by Alderac Entertainment Group, and it is just a compilation of random tables and charts that are hyper-useful to DM's on the fly. My favorite book in the universe, even if getting a hardcopy is tough.

-argus

ghost_warlock
2008-08-16, 01:54 AM
Untapped Potential is everything that Complete Psionic should have been, while Hyperconscious is an excellent adventure with a boatload of psionic material.

This +1. I love these books.