It’s hard to believe now, but in the early 2000s Dungeons and Dragons was one of the most punk RPGs on the market. A new bundle of digital rulebooks and supplements by Mongoose Publishing will take you right back to the glory days of the d20 boom, with 30 sourcebooks, supplements, and adventures for just $15 (£11.10).
We’ll start with a brief history lesson for everyone who got into Dungeons and Dragons with fifth edition. When Wizards of the Coast released DnD 3rd edition (on the last day of the year 2000, no less!), it published it under the innovative Open Gaming License, or OGL. This allowed anyone to publish supplements that were compatible with the rules without paying a license fee, provided they made it clear it wasn’t an official supplement.
And boy, did they! The d20 system created a tidal wave of third party DnD books, well beyond anything that Wizards of the Coast could possibly have made. This was before digital distribution services like Roll20 or DriveThruRPG, so everything was done in print. Not only was it before crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, it was even before e-retail had really begun to take hold, so this incredible range of content was on sale in brick and mortar stores.
The Fanatical D20 Adventurer and Dungeon Master Book Bundle is a glimpse into that era. It contains 30 digital rulebooks and supplements created by Mongoose Publishing for the d20 system. They were designed to be compatible with the third edition DnD System Reference Document (which you can find free online). With a little tinkering, most of them will work just fine with DnD 5e or Pathfinder.
There are supplements that expand the DnD classes with new options, like The Quintessential Wizard, or even add new ones, like Power Classes: Alchemist. There are guides to specific DnD races, like the Slayer’s Guide to Bugbears or The Tome of Drow Lore, which combine rules with background material about their society and culture.
And there are campaigns in here too: Ruins of the Dragon Lord is a twenty level mega dungeon inside the legendary Mount Moru, which will take a party of adventurers from callow newbies to level 20 heroes.
Then there are the real experiments, like ‘Infernum, Book of the Damned’, by the revered Gareth Hanrahan – it’s an alternative to the Player’s Handbook for running games set entirely in hell! Or how about The Slayer’s Guide to Rules Lawyers?
We have a keen eye for deals here at Wargamer – our main DnD page is always a good place to look, and you can follow Wargamer on Google news to keep up with the latest. If you’re keen to stay up to date with the current version of DnD, check out our guide to the DnD release schedule!
Source: Wargamer
