Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;1077112

• Manual of the Planes - a rather dry and unexciting treatment of something that should be fantastic and inspiring

The one good bit in that IMO is the appendix on Parallel Primes - I used that a fair bit.

BTW the 3e MoTP is much better, with great stuff on alternate cosmologies.

Quote from: S'mon;1077145Yeah, I like the DSG but not the WSG. The DSG Lands of Deepearth sample setting is very interesting and I'm sure had a lot of influence subsequently.

I like Deities & Demigods and it saw a lot of use as an ultra-level Monster Manual in my OTT late-80s 1e gaming, with PCs fighting Wotan, Druaga, Hel et al. The version with Moorcock & Cthulu mythoi is extra cool.

I think my favourite 1e product was Lankhmar: City of Adventure. Some great gaming there.

Greetings!

Yeah, I remember thinking the WSG was *ok*. I don't recall being bothered by anything substantial. The DSG, on the other hand, was very cool. I mined that thing extensively forideas, especially on the underworld of course. I especially enjoyed the *sample* underworld. That had lots of cool detailsand ideas that helped one to really imagine a subterranean world environment. I consulted those pages frequently when detailing underworld dungeons and environments. I'm not sure why some people hated the DSG. I thought in some ways it almost seemed like a teaser. They could have doubled the size of the book, with additional material, ideas and suggestions.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: S'mon;1077145I think my favourite 1e product was Lankhmar: City of Adventure. Some great gaming there.

Yeah, that was a good one; I had a lot of fun with it. When you run it as designed (i.e., altering some AD&D rules to better fit the setting) it really shines.

Quote from: Razor 007;1076963Why do people dog the non core stuff so badly?

Where?

Alot of folk loved Oriental Adventures and still use it.

The only thing that for some was Unearthed Arcana. Most everything else from AD&D was well recieved or at least neutral on. Some seemed to have issues with Wilderness & Dungeoneers Survival Guide. But others, myself included, found them useful.

It was 2e where the real negative reactions started popping up. Skills & Powers for example alot of people hated. And for some reason various people hated the class Handbook series. Others love them.

Quote from: jhkim;1077111I didn't think the Wilderness Survival Guide worked as well, as it seemed less grounded in real play.

Seemed more or less grounded to me. Though there were some oddities that cropped up. My only real issue was that there was stuff that could be important, like lava comes to mind, that was not covered fully or at all.

As for OA. Its based on Japanese and Chines martial arts and wuxia movies. With a dash of mythology.

Have Manual of the Planes and actually rather liked it. It gave a fairly good idea of each plane and its quirks without getting prosaic. Could have done with a few more mechanics of the environs rules. But worked well enough as was.

Whereas, for me as a DM, Planescape was just buried in prose in several spots and sorting out the details could be a task.

Quote from: Omega;1077340Have Manual of the Planes and actually rather liked it. It gave a fairly good idea of each plane and its quirks without getting prosaic. Could have done with a few more mechanics of the environs rules. But worked well enough as was.

Whereas, for me as a DM, Planescape was just buried in prose in several spots and sorting out the details could be a task.

I definitely preferred MoTP to Planescape. That whole '90s White Wolf-influenced era of RPG products did not suit me at all, it was really my 'lost decade' as far as gaming goes.

Quote from: S'mon;1077346I definitely preferred MoTP to Planescape. That whole '90s White Wolf-influenced era of RPG products did not suit me at all, it was really my 'lost decade' as far as gaming goes.

You just nailed why Planescape never did it for me, in one succinct statement.

I rate the Wilderness Survival Guide more highly than the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, mostly because the WSG had some good advice on world building. It's a relatively small portion of the book, though.

I also like Oriental Adventures. It's not a terribly coherent setting, but there are some fun spells, the martial arts system while broken is fascinating, and the non-weapon proficiency system is clearly superior to the one that later appeared in the DSG and persisted through 2nd edition.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;1076972Greyhawk Adventures is a 2e book (says so on the cover).

It's a transition book. It would be more accurate to say it's a 1e book that's 2e-ready. It was used to introduce some of the new features of second edition, before 2nd edition actually came out, like avatars and the more ecology-oriented monster stat block.

Quote from: Pat;1077377I rate the Wilderness Survival Guide more highly than the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, mostly because the WSG had some good advice on world building. It's a relatively small portion of the book, though.

If you didn't pay attention in Geography class, there's some handy stuff about watersheds I think.
But the DSG example of a worked-out Underdark was much more useful for me.

OK... My answer to the OP is: "A bunch of modules, notably Village of Hommlet and other stuff by Gygax, but there are lots of classics. Also the Darlene Greyhawk maps, and to a lesser extent the rest of the 1983 Greyhawk Box Set. The 1987 Forgotten Realms Grey Box."

Quote from: S'mon;1077379If you didn't pay attention in Geography class, there's some handy stuff about watersheds I think.
But the DSG example of a worked-out Underdark was much more useful for me.

It was succinct and aimed at gamers, like defining what specifically fell under a swamp hex, so it was useful. In contrast, the DSG felt pretty random. The deepearth was pretty flavorless, and there wasn't as much about world building. All you got was a list of different type of rock formations, and a discussion of the importance of water.

Quote from: Omega;1077257Where?

Alot of folk loved Oriental Adventures and still use it.

The only thing that for some was Unearthed Arcana. Most everything else from AD&D was well recieved or at least neutral on. Some seemed to have issues with Wilderness & Dungeoneers Survival Guide. But others, myself included, found them useful.

It was 2e where the real negative reactions started popping up. Skills & Powers for example alot of people hated. And for some reason various people hated the class Handbook series. Others love them.

I must admit that I never meet anyone who did not like Skills and Powers.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;1076972Greyhawk Adventures is a 2e book (says so on the cover).

Actually... No it doesnt. It says "Compatible with AD&D and 2e". Not positive but I believe it came out during the short lived "revised" AD&D edition just prior to 2e.

Quote from: Shasarak;1077464I must admit that I never meet anyone who did not like Skills and Powers.

I actually was ok with Skills & Powers. But it seemed kinda useless as it was never used in anything far as I could tell. Parts of it though feel like a sort of proto Alternity or post Amazing Engine.

I love the Fiend Folio. I've run multiple campaigns where the FF is the world bestiary. AKA, if its not in the FF, its not on the planet. Tremendous fun and because the FF is chock full of weird, it really influenced the entire world building and actual play experience.

Oriental Adventures was a great alternate D&D, but Bushido did it better. That said, I'd be happy to play OA again.