Author Topic: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread  (Read 5551 times)

Offline Libertad

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High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« on: April 19, 2020, 03:13:23 AM »
Hello everyone. During my work on Odyssey of the Dragonlords I came up with the idea of reviewing third party 5th Edition sourcebooks for this site and others. Much like the OGL of the 3rd Edition era, we have tomes ranging from professional writers with high production value to shovelware cash grabs. While many people are most familiar with WotC's work, I feel that it is remiss to ignore the many other sourcebooks out there, be they flying under the radar or are featured in Critical Role's next livestreamed session.

Before are a few of the products I seem interesting, offbeat, or weird enough to be review-worthy. While I have plans for reviewing some below, others should feel free to take up the mantle themselves.

Regular to Large-sized Sourcebooks

These include the industry standard, typically 160 to 400 pages.



Adventures in Middle-Earth Corebooks: Part conversion of The One Ring, part building up original material on the 5e chassis, Adventures in Middle-Earth finally makes the DM of the Rings webcomic a reality.



Monsters of Murka: A meme-influenced parody setting derived from modern American pop culture.



Primeval Thule Campaign Setting: You got my Conan in my D&D!



Tales of the Old Margreve for 5th Edition: An update to a level 1 to 10 pseudo-AP taking place primarily in a Grimm's Fairy Tales styled forest.



The Seas of Vodari: A nautical swashbuckling-themed setting with lots of anime-style artwork.

Splatbooks:

These are far smaller, ranging from anywhere from a few pages to 64 at most.



Five Torches Deep: Do you like OSR retrolclones? Do you like 5th Edition? WHAT IF WE GOT CRAZY AND COMBINED THEM?! WOAAAAAH! Review.



5e: HARDCORE MODE: A series of house rules for making 5th Edition harder in an old-school spirit. Review.



The Mistwalker: D&D YouTuber dude turns his homebrewed Ravenloft class into a professional product. A mobile gish who uses the Mists to teleport around the battlefield, confounding their foes.



The Channeler: Do you like Jojo's Bizarre Adventures? Do you like the Persona series of video games? What if we made a class based off of these series' supernatural companions?



Call to Arms: The Warlord: Creator of Shadow of the Demon Lords brings the 4th Edition class to 5th Edition.



In the Company of Dragons: Playable dragons for 5e (based off an earlier Pathfinder book).

Door-Stoppers

Typically around 500 pages or more.



Odyssey of the Dragonlords: An Ancient Greek-flavored setting and adventure path from two of Bioware's most notable game designers. Review.



City of Brass: A level 1 to 20 adventure path revolving around the titular planar metropolis. Is actually a 5th Edition conversion of a 2007 3.X city sourcebook, but with expanded adventure material and new color artwork.

What the Hell is This, War & Peace?!

Self-Explanatory.



Dark Obelisk Adventure Path: Notable for being the longest sourcebook for well, any D&D/D20 game by sheer pagecount in the thousands. More notable for its length than anything else. This is an undertaking only a rare few can do.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2021, 08:46:58 PM by Libertad »

Offline Hoebagger

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2020, 10:19:04 PM »
Just resurrected my account to say: “Thanks!”

This is a fantastic overview.

Offline Libertad

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2020, 10:37:47 PM »
Just resurrected my account to say: “Thanks!”

This is a fantastic overview.

Don't thank me yet; I haven't reviewed any of them so far! :P

But still, thank you for the kind words.

Offline Libertad

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2020, 06:35:26 AM »
Given that I'm nearing the end of the class mini-sourcebook marathon review, I figured to post another product I found interesting.



Witchcraft: Magic of Hereva: An unofficial adaption of the setting of Pepper & Carrot, a public domain webcomic.


Offline Libertad

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2021, 12:13:53 AM »
Well now, I haven't posted here in like. Forever, but I figured this thread's in sore need of an update.

But without further ado, here’s 19 more products that caught my eye:



The Adventurer’s Guide to Theria: A campaign setting based off of a livestreaming group’s D&D sessions.



Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e: A book that seeks a compromise between the bioessentialist “all dwarves know how to dodge giants” and making race not matter by providing new rules separating the two. That way, one can mix and match to have an elf raised in human communities, a hero of mixed gnome-tiefling heritage, and guidelines for converting existing races into the new system.



Arcana of the Ancients: A conversion of the technomagic items of Monte Cook’s Numenera to D&D.



Arcanis 5e Setting: A 5th Edition conversion of the Arcanis setting.



BEOWULF: Age of Heroes: A 1 player 1 GM setting in a mythical version of Early Medieval Britain and Scandinavia based on the tales of Beowulf.



Brancalonia Spaghetti Fantasy Setting Book: A campaign setting derived from Italian culture and media where the PCs are lovable scoundrels constantly looking for the next big job.



Esper-Genesis 5e Sci-Fi Core Manual: A starfaring science-fiction setting.



Faerie Fire, a 5e Supplemental: A fey-themed bestiary with a 1980s neon aesthetic.



Koryo Hall of Adventures: A campaign setting inspired by Korean history, mythology, and folklore.



Legendary Planet Adventure Path: A 1st to 20th Level sword and planet style adventure path.



Manastorm: World of Shin’ar (5e): A high-magic setting where magical radiation surrounds the inhabited planet.



Midgard Heroes Handbook for 5th Edition: a collection of new races, class archetypes, spells, and optional subsystems for Kobold Press’ Midgard campaign setting.



Mini-Dungeon Tome for 5th Edition: A collection of bite-sized dungeons perfect for an evening one-shot.



Rocket Age Corebook: A pulp-flavored retro-future campaign setting.



Runewild Campaign Setting: A dark fairy-tale themed forest setting.



Spheres of Power & Spheres of Might: Conversions of Drop Dead Studios’ notable Spheres system to 5th Edition!



Supers & Sorcery: Costumed vigilantes in medieval fantasy



Ultimate Kingdoms (5e): A domain management system for 5th Edition.



Unbreakable Volume 1: A group of authors from East and Southeast Asian nations and backgrounds who got together to write a series of adventures showcasing folklore, monsters, and other fantasy elements from their respective societies.



Witch + Craft: A 5e Crafting Supplemental: A sourcebook of “domestic magic” spells and rules options.



The World of Alessia Campaign Primer: A science-fantasy space opera setting.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 02:49:12 AM by Libertad »

Offline Libertad

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« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 02:50:41 AM by Libertad »

Offline Libertad

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2021, 07:33:02 PM »
3 more entries!





Adventures From the Pot-Bellied Kobold: A series of 15 short adventures.





Blue Rose Adventurer's Guide: A 5e conversion on the notable queer-friendly romantic fantasy setting.





Grim Hollow: A dark fantasy setting that got a notable bump from Critical Role. Currently available as a Campaign Guide and supplementary Player's Guide.

Offline Pennad21

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Re: High 5e: Review, Resource, & Request Thread
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2021, 07:30:29 AM »
These are very good.  :clap  :clap