This is the list I came up with.
- Original D&D booklets
- These are really for the treasure charts. I might substitute another core rulebook but I'd probably have Monsters & Treasure handy anyway.
- Dungeon Masters Guide (Gary Gygax / TSR)
- I usually use this for gems and jewelry - really only for referencing the values and deciding what the types are. I also reference the dungeon dressing stuff from time to time.
- Ready Ref Sheets (Judges Guild)
- This is for Startling Statues, Precious Pearls, the charts for determining ruin types, and the chart for determining what you find if you search.
- Dyson's Delves (Dyson Logos)
- If I had to run an adventure tomorrow, I'd steal one of Dyson's maps.
- The Dungeon Alphabet (Michael Curtis / Goodman Games)
- More charts. The charts in this are fun.
- The Random Esoteric Creature Generator (James Raggi / Goodman Games)
- I'd probably roll up a monster to be weird.
- Isle of the Unknown and Dungeon of the Unknown (Geoffrey McKinney / Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
- This is for stealing weird monsters, statues and encounter ideas. And rolling up a glop, I love those things.*
- Swords & Wizardry Monstrosities (various / Frog God Games) or Adventures Dark & Deep Bestiary (Joseph Bloch / BRW Games)
- This is for stealing "normal" monsters. Both of these books are pretty freakin' massive. I might grab another monster book but you can't go wrong with those two.
So, dear readers, what books would you use for these purposes?
Raggi's book is the single greatest thing to come out of the OSR and I would be lost without it.
ReplyDeleteI also use google images and Monster Brains to call up weird monsters as inspiration.
With the caveat that most of my books are pdfs...Swords & Wizardry Complete Rules, Pars Fortuna, Monstrosities, and Tome of Horrors Complete.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe Blood & Treasure.
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