I was glad to see the deities of the Dawn War in the DMG, and I began reminiscing, fondly, about certain aspects of 4th Edition. Yes, you read correctly. Fondly. I realize 4th Edition is much maligned (personally, I tend to go all Lewis Black over 3rd Edition), but I don't beieve I've seen much, if anything, criticizing the fluff, only the mechanics. Bear in mind, however, that some of the mechanics of 4th have laid the groundwork for/lent themselves to 5th.
I look at my bowing bookshelves and know there's little chance of me ever needing the crunch books again, the Player's Handbooks, The DMGs, or the (insert type) Powers. But there is way too much good stuff in the majority-fluff books, Open Grave, Plane Above/Below, etc., to dismiss them out of hand. For example, the incunabulum from the Underdark supplement. If they don't immediately grab you with an adventure hook idea, I'm afraid little else will. Or go back even earlier, to Planescape, when Sigil and the planes were more fully fleshed out.
It's probably just a matter of time until many of these types of products are reimagined and re-released, but what products from previous editions do you find yourselves unwilling to part with, doubtful that if an updated version does come out, it will be as good? What fuels your imagination to such a degree that it transcends editions? What types of offerings do you feel WotC should simply stop trying to repackage and concentrate their efforts elsewhere?
On a tangential matter, I really liked the way the 4th Edition monsters were presented, with several different types of the same creature given. It made sense, especially for the more intelligent/communal ones. I have 3 Monster Manuals and several sourcebooks from which to draw, but they all need conversion to 5th. I've attempted to create a single formula for this, but it gets really swingy. I read that WotC was going to present such a formula, but I haven't seen anything yet, and honestly, I can't say if what I read was an official announcement or just speculation on the boards. Does anyone have any insight?
Faiths & Avatars from second edition is still far and away the best D&D supplement ever published, in my opinion. My copy is held together by quite a bit of tape as it has received *very* heavy use. In general, I see 2e as the golden age of fluff. This ethos extended to magazines. Dragon magazine articles were very often entirely mechanics-free, or certainly mechanics-lite. Polyhedron even more so. Dungeon magazine articles often had many pages of background before getting to any crunch element of the adventure. My 2e books have, consequently, never stopped being relevant.
I agree, the 4e planes books, open grave, and the underdark supplement, along with (especially) the feywild book and the neverwinter book, were the best (and most enduringly relevant) books of the edition.
paulstrait wrote:
I'm a Dragonlance fan, mainly because one of the first D&D books I ever bought was the AD&D campaign book for DL! Loved reading through all the info about the places and the people that populated the setting. Very high fantasy. I also loved the 4E Manual of the Planes! A first look at including Shadowfell and Feywild into the cosmology! I ended up purchasing the Shadowfell supplement too which I loved. Started a game in Gloonwrought that I could easily port over to 5e!
I feel the best method of conversion is to simple break all of a books components down and start using the DMG to recreate monsters with their monster builder. Same for any NPCs. To some this might seem like too much work, but to me I think it's fun to do that because it gives the person doing it a chance to create it all their own way.
And to address the idea that WotC will be reimagining and repackaging a lot of the old stuff, I can say that after listening to the recent Chris Perkins
interview posted in this forum, that WotC's approach is different. They want to give us supplements that we can use! So far that has been adventures that are linked to old content from past D&D stuff, that has been given new life through a new adventure that breaths new life into old content. It's great because you can use the supplement for the adventure and then riff off of it based on the content within for use in your own campaigns. The only difficulty I have with this is that I just don't have enough time to run all of this new and great material!
You should also probably check out the GURPs and HERO system genre books. Both typically are mechanics light and more about how the genre in-topic works. Aaron Alston's Champions book for HERO5e is probably one of the all time best breakdowns of the superhero genre, regardless of context, ever written.
I use some of the 4E fluff and deities at home. Some of it was decent other parts were meh. The main problem with it was they tried to 4Eize previous ediitons stuff like the Great Wheel and FR and DS to a lesser extent. Nerath was a decent enough campaign world in its own right for the most part.
I really liked the Dawn War Pantheon as well (and have continued to use it in 5e), and the history of that world, despite not liking 4e itself.
The Manual of the Planes, in any edition, is always a must-have for me. I love extraplanar adventures.
The only book I've ever bothered to keep hold of was AD&D's Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide. Advice for world building, adventure and dungeon design. And lots of advice for running the sessions. Some of this content makes it into all the DMGs since then, but this book is more complete.
So, uh, DIY fluff.
GAZETTEER!
I have been mining Mystara as of late because no one knows much about that world anymore.
I liked the fluff and cultural possibilities opened up in Primal Power. Finally you are not required to make your Barbarian a totally illiterate uneducated dolt.
One item I am going to keep from Dawn War concerns the sidebar for War of Winter: Moradin and Kord fought to a standstill. After that, both gods share a bond of mutual respect.
BRJN wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
arnwolf666 wrote:
I still get a lot of use outta Aurora's Whole Realms Catologue (first pubished way back in '92).
It was basically a fantasy take on turn of the century mail catalogues. Old-timey descriptions of everything from candy, to cranial drills. No magic items, just lots of mundane merchandise. And lots of flavor.
I use it to add 'texture' to otherwise bland shops, taverns, dwellings, whatnot. "On the mantlepiece you see a set of nesting dolls carved to look like the Seven Sisters." Only 2 gp 
.
Artifact wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
As long as we're not talking about 4E Dark Sun...
4E Dark Sun was a total travesty! Someone should be seriously spanked in their bottoms (hard!) for doing that blasphemy to the most well-conceived setting ever made for D&D!!!
Rastapopoulos wrote:
arnwolf666 wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
abs1nth wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
My favorite setting of D&D ever published is 4e’s default setting, which I call Nerath because there’s no better name than this one. That may explain why I don’t like the current edition that much, often I feel that my favorite lore is been treated as a 4th class citizen. Even in that list of gods overall it wasn’t a good work. Don’t worry, I already have my backup.
With that said, I love to create my own settings. Some of them are a modification from Nerath, and there’s one I’m cooking up which it’s very different. Modifying and creating settings has become a hobby for me right now. I love using cosmologies and religions, but my current RPG system and my current setting are making me think on other directions, too. I’m pretty happy right now, except for the bad taste in leaving D&D 5e, but well, that happens. Still have previous edition books, so I may play them anytime.
My favorite settings are ones set in antiquity. I love the architecture of Persia, Sumeria, and Syria. I like drawing in Pre-Helinistic Greece. I find the Minoans and Myceneans far more interesting. I like Roman religion before it was influenced by Greece. I find Etruscan culture and religion fascinating. I try to create kingdoms not based on the values and ethics of our modern world. I like slavery being accepted throughout the world and lawful (but still not good).
arnwolf666 wrote:
arnwolf666 wrote:
paulstrait wrote:
arnwolf666 wrote:
abs1nth wrote:
Dougan_Axehammer wrote:
Same here. It's super useful for prices on odds and ends beyond the PHB.
Artifact wrote: