Café de Nuit

In a recent thread debating the pros and cons of 3.X products, a lot of folks gave their opinions on which of the Arthaus supplements were the best of the lot. This got me wondering how much of those endorsements were based on product-quality, and how much on the usefulness of each book for actual gaming.

So, would anyone care to discuss which products you actually use the most, in your home games? Liking a supplement and using it heavily can be two different issues, after all: a mediocre product that you use all the time can actually be a better investment, for a DM on a budget, than one that's spiffy and well-edited and a joy to read, yet doesn't contribute much that's suitable for an individual campaign.

I'd assume nearly everyone here uses the setting-rulebooks, but beyond that, which supplements do you draw upon the most in play? In character creation (PC or NPC)? In concocting adventures? Conversely, are there any products you've loved to read and don't regret buying for a minute, yet have never (or never yet) used in a game?

Strangely enough, I've used Champions of Darkness more than any other non-core Ravenloft book I own.

I mean, Champions of Darkness.

The thing about CoD, for me at least, is that it has lots of good ideas; it just didn't execute any of them very well. It's also player-oriented, and I'm not DMing Ravenloft right now (except in the "Evening with the Fraternity" thread).

In my most recent too short campaign I relied very, very heavily on GazI (Barovia and Karatakass) and lightly on VanRichten's Arsenal and Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends.
The VRGs and Arsenal plus the Gaz are just scary useful.

I use the gaz's constantly. Player's are headed to town X: look up all the info on town X. Check the fauna section of domain X for any interesting herbs for the herbalist to notice, check the flora and fauna to give hints to the ranger. Look for any npc's and buildings of note. Note the names of the Inns, and I'm ready to go.

Also, I use VRA a lot, for spells, feats, PrC's. (HoL less so, but sometimes.) I use Denizens a lot because I like to highlight the RL-specific monsters, since most of my players are long-time non-RL D&D players and know all the monsters in the MM.

I have plans for LotB and DT&DL, but haven't gotten to them yet.

The Gazetteers and Champions of Darkness. (So shoot me. :p)

But I use Denizens of Darkness at least every session. I need to use it because my players know the DnD Monster Manual by heart

Denizens of Dread and Domains of Dread are two books I haved used in every campaign I have launched since I got them. My biggest gaming inspiration.

Nathan of the FoS wrote:The thing about CoD, for me at least, is that it has lots of good ideas; it just didn't execute any of them very well. It's also player-oriented, and I'm not DMing Ravenloft right now (except in the "Evening with the Fraternity" thread).

If I may sidetrack a bit, which ideas have you found most useful? I've only used the Hunt Club, and the Mechanical Aptitude Feat, and a few of the pictures (for completely different purposes than as published) The brotherhood of assasins isn't bad, aside from the continuity issues. But other than that... even my tendency to dig for gold in the mud hasn't found too much.

gonzoron wrote:

Nathan of the FoS wrote:The thing about CoD, for me at least, is that it has lots of good ideas; it just didn't execute any of them very well. It's also player-oriented, and I'm not DMing Ravenloft right now (except in the "Evening with the Fraternity" thread).

If I may sidetrack a bit, which ideas have you found most useful? I've only used the Hunt Club, and the Mechanical Aptitude Feat, and a few of the pictures (for completely different purposes than as published) The brotherhood of assasins isn't bad, aside from the continuity issues. But other than that... even my tendency to dig for gold in the mud hasn't found too much.

Let's see. Dreamcaster and Scourge are two class ideas that I like very well that turned out passibly. Highway Rider, Mesmerist, and Nightlord are class ideas I liked even better, but that turned out badly. Master of Curses, Moonbane and Solitary Outcast also have some merit to them.

I give it as my humble opinion that the Charlatan, Manipulator, Propagandist, and Worldbreaker classes are four of the worst classes ever put to paper and sold to an unsuspecting public. My personal favorite example of the egregious awfulness of these class is the note on the Propagandist ability "Information Dissemination": "This ability has no roll, but relies on the DM's ability to incorporate the information into her story plot."

Not only is this infinitely vague, it's not something you really need FIVE LEVELS IN A PRESTIGE CLASS TO ACHIEVE, now is it?

But I digress. I like the Brawler, Dispassionate Dread Familiar, Ethereal Touch and Feral Rearing feats, and I really like the Hollow feat--it suggests all kinds of plot hooks to me. As a PC, I would also be awfully fond of the several broken feats--Energy Drain topping the list, but also Extra Domain (which is an epic level feat in the SRD) and Machiavellian.

BTW, if someone is running out of monsters, I can recommend this thread over at the WotC-board:

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=8699514

This will really keep me from spending any more money on Monster books (except that I would find something very special somewhere, of course)...

It's a bit of a mess, but I have archieved most of the monsters in a doc.-data, which I can send anyone who's interested.

(Should be perfectly legal, I think.)

The one I use most is the Gaz I cause most of my gameswere in Barovia and Forlorn. I also use VRA a lot.

Oh and I actually used Sheriff von Dorkovich. But I had to fix him so much that not much of the CoD write-up was recognisable. So I'm not sure if it counts at all!

Desdichado wrote: anyone who's interested.

Hello...

Good topic of discussion I commend you.
However as I don't play the current incarnation of Ravenloft (3E) I am of little help to your inquiry.

I did enjoy reading the Van Richtens guides and Arsenal very much and formulated several ideas from them to use if I ever start another campaign.
The Gazeteers were a pleasure to read both because of the useful information therein and the interesting sub-plot of S.
Those were the books I have read so far that I wouldn't mind reading for enjoyment over and over again and contained many useful concepts for gaming.

In 2E I constantly used the monstrous compendiums (every gaming session) and frequently referred to the VRG's. I used and tried to play every adventure module I own (even those that I thought could have been better, and needed improvements/adjustments before play)

I gleaned some gaming concepts from the Novels but not much, however they were a great source of background.

Many of the accessories such as Carnival, and the Creatures of the night series were fullly implemented in my campaign.

Cold iron & wolfsbane, in homeopathic quantities of course. A dose a day keeps the 'dogs' away here in Skald.

More seriously, I fear the mists are clouding my mind as I cannot find the search feature in the proposed forums:

Desdichado wrote:BTW, if someone is running out of monsters, I can recommend this thread over at the WotC-board:

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=8699514

One at the top of the page is for WotC, not its forums.

Any help would be appreciated.

Sorry, they don't have a search. best way to do it is google with the added term site:boards1.wizards.com

I use the Gaz 3 most, as my party are based in Dementlieu, but Carnival, Darklords and CotN: Werebeasts have had their day.

When we start playing again, I'm going to sew the seeds for a modified Nine of Hearts.