I've got nothing to put here, I want to know out of curiosity.
What's a "faction book"?
Quote from: GiantToenail on June 17, 2023, 02:28:00 AM
I've got nothing to put here, I want to know out of curiosity.
Shadowrun's Paranormal Animals of North America was incredibly entertaining when the "fluff" would be presented in the format of a bunch of Shadowrunners discussing the creatures on a bulletin board.
Fiend FKN Folio! Home of the Shadow Demon, Flumph, Nilbog, Skeleton Warrior and Githyanki!
(https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780935696219-us.jpg)
Monster Vault: Threats of the Nentir Vale.
An entire book filled with thematic, often unique (as in a specific individual specimen) monsters tied to the history and lore of the Nentir Vale region.
Quote from: Chris24601 on June 17, 2023, 09:26:22 AM
Monster Vault: Threats of the Nentir Vale.
An entire book filled with thematic, often unique (as in a specific individual specimen) monsters tied to the history and lore of the Nentir Vale region.
If it had had some good guy factions like Fallcrest it would have been great. I guess that stuff would have gone in the setting book.
The 2e monstrous Manual is hard to beat IMO. The 1 MM and FF are also great.
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 02:38:43 AM
What's a "faction book"?
A VtG splatbook, I believe.
I know it was hated, but I quite like the 2E Complete Book of Elves
Quote from: Mishihari on June 17, 2023, 11:58:29 AM
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 02:38:43 AM
What's a "faction book"?
A VtG splatbook, I believe.
I know it was hated, but I quite like the 2E Complete Book of Elves
Ah! A splatbook. Like "Runner's Companion" for SR4!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51lVren4nUL._SX381_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
If you're running any kind of S&S game and you're not using Pathfinder's "Ultimate Equipment", shame. on. you.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/6-MAAOSwfWtf~f4A/s-l500.jpg)
If you're running a superhero game and don't have Marvel Super Heroes' "Ultimate Powers Book", you're missing the most exhaustive list of powers ever!
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gGcAAOSwC9tjTdPH/s-l1600.jpg)
While it was for Bard Games' Arcanum rpg (Top-5 All-time Fantasy RPG), "The Bestiary" had great art and one of the best collections of monsters ever assembled. I 'ported them over to AD&D due to their awesomeness.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/RocAAOSwcEtkE6Ev/s-l1600.jpg)
An unforgettable classic and must-have material for the true TTRPG enthusiast, TSR's "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" is arguably the greatest Sword & Sorcery setting ever!
(https://image.nobleknight.com/l/webp900/llankhmar2.webp)
Imagine, if you will, that Marvel or DC compressed 80 YEARS of comic book history into one volume and gave it to you so that you might run the greatest superhero campaign in human history. This is what Green Ronin did with "The Atlas of Earth-Prime": golden age, silver age, iron age, modern age, extraterrestrials, demons, ninjas, giant killer robots, mad scientists, numerous supervillain teams, various secret government agencies, lost civilizations, alternate dimensions .......... it's ALL there. And more.
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0235/5929/products/GRR5514_450_2ded8052-3081-4857-9e70-6cccf8f36d1b_1024x1024.jpg?v=1484191846)
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 04:02:44 PM
An unforgettable classic and must-have material for the true TTRPG enthusiast, TSR's "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" is arguably the greatest Sword & Sorcery setting ever!
Ahh, so that's where the Lankhmar setting for
Savage Worlds comes from. I'll definitely read both of them, once I find the time.
Mere words seem an insult in describing this monumental masterpiece of a setting. "City State of the Invincible Overlord" is .... what every setting should aspire to.
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_DSs2bX13hVc/SckpI_oIeLI/AAAAAAAAA2g/mcKs9HDl41w/s280/CSIO.jpg)
WEG gave us the Star Wars rpg - then the Star Wars Sourcebook gave us all the droids, aliens, the Empire and spaceships so cool you could hear them in space!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1wECYTMJsL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)
Quote from: Isomer on June 17, 2023, 04:19:56 PM
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 04:02:44 PM
An unforgettable classic and must-have material for the true TTRPG enthusiast, TSR's "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" is arguably the greatest Sword & Sorcery setting ever!
Ahh, so that's where the Lankhmar setting for Savage Worlds comes from. I'll definitely read both of them, once I find the time.
Both of them are based on a series of novellas and short stories by Fritz Leiber, semi-officially referred to as the "Swords" series, but better known as the "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" series.
I haven't read the TSR book, but I have a hard time imagining someone getting much out of the Savage Worlds book without having read any of the original stories (other than having some of those stories spoiled for them). Anyway, everyone who's interested in fantasy should read at least a few of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. They're absolute classics, and hugely important to the development of the genre.
Quote from: ForgottenF on June 17, 2023, 10:20:31 PM
Quote from: Isomer on June 17, 2023, 04:19:56 PM
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 04:02:44 PM
An unforgettable classic and must-have material for the true TTRPG enthusiast, TSR's "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" is arguably the greatest Sword & Sorcery setting ever!
Ahh, so that's where the Lankhmar setting for Savage Worlds comes from. I'll definitely read both of them, once I find the time.
Both of them are based on a series of novellas and short stories by Fritz Leiber, semi-officially referred to as the "Swords" series, but better known as the "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" series.
I haven't read the TSR book, but I have a hard time imagining someone getting much out of the Savage Worlds book without having read any of the original stories (other than having some of those stories spoiled for them). Anyway, everyone who's interested in fantasy should read at least a few of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. They're absolute classics, and hugely important to the development of the genre.
And heinously overrated IMO. I've read (or tried to read) several of the collections, but I just can't get into them. I find Fafhrd & the Mouser utterly dull as characters and Leiber's writing ponderous. The setting is okay, I guess, and it's interesting to read as a D&D player because you can clearly see the influences. The most recent adaptation by Goodman for DCC is good for what it is, but just not my cup of tea.
And it was actually Deities & Demigods that first introduced me to Lankhmar and a friend of mine bought the "City of Adventure" supplement. So we played a few sessions there with our own PCs but moved on fairly quickly.
As for the O.P., I rather like
Monstrosities &
Tome of Horrors by Frog God for Swords & Wizardry. You get a shit ton of classic and new monsters, but what's best is that each comes with an adventure seed or short encounter. These are fantastic for random encounters or interesting little episodes between larger events in a game or campaign. A few of them even link together. A lot of times in my own game notes I'll just write "Run the encounter from p. xxx of ToH."
Quote from: Persimmon on June 17, 2023, 10:32:06 PM
Quote from: ForgottenF on June 17, 2023, 10:20:31 PM
Quote from: Isomer on June 17, 2023, 04:19:56 PM
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 04:02:44 PM
An unforgettable classic and must-have material for the true TTRPG enthusiast, TSR's "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" is arguably the greatest Sword & Sorcery setting ever!
Ahh, so that's where the Lankhmar setting for Savage Worlds comes from. I'll definitely read both of them, once I find the time.
Both of them are based on a series of novellas and short stories by Fritz Leiber, semi-officially referred to as the "Swords" series, but better known as the "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" series.
I haven't read the TSR book, but I have a hard time imagining someone getting much out of the Savage Worlds book without having read any of the original stories (other than having some of those stories spoiled for them). Anyway, everyone who's interested in fantasy should read at least a few of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. They're absolute classics, and hugely important to the development of the genre.
And heinously overrated IMO. I've read (or tried to read) several of the collections, but I just can't get into them. I find Fafhrd & the Mouser utterly dull as characters and Leiber's writing ponderous. The setting is okay, I guess, and it's interesting to read as a D&D player because you can clearly see the influences. The most recent adaptation by Goodman for DCC is good for what it is, but just not my cup of tea.
And it was actually Deities & Demigods that first introduced me to Lankhmar and a friend of mine bought the "City of Adventure" supplement. So we played a few sessions there with our own PCs but moved on fairly quickly.
As for the O.P., I rather like Monstrosities & Tome of Horrors by Frog God for Swords & Wizardry. You get a shit ton of classic and new monsters, but what's best is that each comes with an adventure seed or short encounter. These are fantastic for random encounters or interesting little episodes between larger events in a game or campaign. A few of them even link together. A lot of times in my own game notes I'll just write "Run the encounter from p. xxx of ToH."
Meh. Most of the monsters in M&ToH are rehashed AD&D monsters. Nothing worth spending money on.
Now, another old-school classic bestiary was Palladium's
Monsters & Animals, just jam-packed with everything you need to make a dinner of the PCs!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81AuNqPw88L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)
Trollpak for RQ2. Just great, loads of background, cults, stuff to run them as PCs, scenarios with trolls as the enemies, friends or just NPCS. Sets the benchmark for a great RPG accessory.
A modern supplement for the Call of Cthulhu RPG, Delta Green is unmatched in its level of intrigue and mind-bending horror!
(https://www.hplhs.org/images/reviews/DeltaGreenCover.png)
An AD&D classic, Drow of the Underdark revealed the innermost secrets of Drow culture like no other supplement!
(https://image.nobleknight.com/t/jpg900/tsr9326p2a.jpg)
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 18, 2023, 07:42:04 AM
An AD&D classic, Drow of the Underdark revealed the innermost secrets of Drow culture like no other supplement!
(https://image.nobleknight.com/t/jpg900/tsr9326p2a.jpg)
Seriously? Ed Greenwood's knock-off treatment of the drow? Ahhh, not so much.
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 18, 2023, 07:18:26 AM
Meh. Most of the monsters in M&ToH are rehashed AD&D monsters. Nothing worth spending money on.
Now, another old-school classic bestiary was Palladium's Monsters & Animals, just jam-packed with everything you need to make a dinner of the PCs!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81AuNqPw88L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)
The fact that you put both of those lines in the same post without any self-awareness is hysterical. I've got
Monsters and Animals (3rd printing from '89) sitting here right in front of me. It's jam packed... with monsters found in D&D that are renamed or named monsters in D&D that have been "reimagined" enough to dodge copyright. Sure, it's got lots more animals than the AD&D MM or FF (if you really need the stat differences between the Red Howler Monkey and the Black Spider Monkey... both are AR 5 and 4d8 HP), but I'm not playing a fantasy game to fight a Sea Otter or Racoon or Great Egret (yep, all included). This book is so derivative you'll get 2 semesters of credit in Calculus just for buying it...
Quote from: Persimmon on June 18, 2023, 11:08:43 AM
Seriously? Ed Greenwood's knock-off treatment of the drow? Ahhh, not so much.
Yeah, I'm beginning to get a "feel" for this guy's tastes...
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 18, 2023, 07:42:04 AM
An AD&D classic, Drow of the Underdark revealed the innermost secrets of Drow culture like no other supplement!
(https://image.nobleknight.com/t/jpg900/tsr9326p2a.jpg)
I remember it opens with Elminster & a drow babe in the bath. I later satirised it in my 4e campaign.
Quote from: Persimmon on June 18, 2023, 11:08:43 AM
Quote from: Theory of Games on June 18, 2023, 07:42:04 AM
An AD&D classic, Drow of the Underdark revealed the innermost secrets of Drow culture like no other supplement!
(https://image.nobleknight.com/t/jpg900/tsr9326p2a.jpg)
Seriously? Ed Greenwood's knock-off treatment of the drow? Ahhh, not so much.
These are MY favs so you nerds don't have to like 'em ;D
The other supplement in the Arcanum RPG trilogy was Atlantis: The Lost World. This setting truly brings to life the ancient fantasy kingdoms and races of Atlantis, Lemuria, Hyperborea and more!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51sBpXFFaOL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)