Reading/Viewing List for Ark of Fools MUX

Dungeons and Dragons: Core books

• Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5) The basic rulebook for the revamped D&D system. We highly recommend this book for all the players. It isn't even that expensive. :-)
• Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeon & Dragons, Edition 3.5) The second of the three core books. This is also very good, and contains the magical item descriptions and stats, and guidelines for NPC classes as well as prestige classes.
• Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5) The third of the three core books. Vital reference book for DMs, not as critical for players.

More Monsters!

• Monster Manual II (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Technically, a 3.0 book, but updates are available from the Wizards of the Coast web site.
• Monster Manual III (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Note: this book contains the player races introduced in the Eberron Campaign Setting (changeling, shifter, and warforged) which are now available for beginning characters on Ark of Fools.
• Monster Manual IV (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Note: the new format for the statblocks takes some getting used to. The most irritating thing about it is that it no longer gives you a HD: XdY+Z (average hp) line. It only tells you the total HD (you have to figure out what kind by yourself) and an average (you have to guess the modifiers yourself.) This sucks if you like to roll up random hp. A number of the monsters are simply previous races (orcs, drow, ogres, etc.) given some class levels. This can be viewed as a timesaving convenience or as a waste of valuable space, depending on your preferences.
• Monster Manual V (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) More monsters! This one had some good ideas in it. I'm glad I bought it. I actually like it better than the MM IV.
• Monster Manual V (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) I glanced at this at the bookstore. I still don't like the new format! Also, they announced 4th edition recently, which makes this book seem futile.
• Fiend Folio (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) Another 3.0 book, but a good one. A few of the races have since been updated elsewhere. For the rest, check the Wizards of the Coast web site for updates.
• The Draconomicon (Dungeons & Dragons) Dragons, dragons, dragons!
• Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Fun with Aberrations! (The secret history of aboleth, beholders, illithids, and more! Which may or may not have any truth in the Ark of Fools world, but it's still a fun read, especially for a DM.)
• Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Fun with the Undead! At least for the evil DM.

Splatbooks

• Player's Handbook II (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Decent book, shows what direction WotC is going in: spontaneous arcane casters specializing in a limited range of spells (beguiler), a 20-level gish (i.e., a combination warrior/spellcaster) in the duskblade, a simplified (and somewhat weakened) druid shapeshifting alternative that replaces the animal companion and Wild Shape (you trade off unlimited shifting as a swift action for potentially more powerful shapes), more powerful fighter feat chains, and the replacement of polymorph with a line of short-duration spells that replace your stats with those of a specific monster (e.g, "trollshape"). Terrible editing job, however. That also seems to be a trend.
• Complete Warrior (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) Hexblade, Samurai, and Swashbuckler base classes.
• Complete Divine (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Favored Soul, Shugenja (not used on Ark of Fools), and Spirit Shaman (also not used on Ark of Fools).
• Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Warlock, Warmage, and Wu Jen (not used on Ark of Fools) base classes.
• Complete Adventurer: A Guide to Skillful Characters of All Classes (Dungeon & Dragons: Hero Series Supplement) Ninja, Scout, and Spellthief base classes.
• Complete Mage: A Player's Guide to All Things Arcane (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) A sequel of sorts to "Complete Arcane". Heritage and reserve feats. PRCs for warlocks. (No new base classes.)
• Complete Scoundrel: A Player's Guide to Trickery and Ingenuity (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) A sequel of sorts to "Complete Adventurer." Luck feats. Skill tricks. (No new base classes.)
• Complete Champion: A Player's Guide to Divine Heroes (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) More options for divine types. No new base classes. Domain feats. Faith-based affiliations. I haven't personally found it very useful so far.
• Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) I liked this. A lot. So I added it to the Ark of Fools. I've always wanted to do a wuxia style game, and this gets me that much closer. Upon closer inspection, I don't feel that it's unbalanced, but just more cinematic.
• Tome of Magic: Pact, Shadow, and Truename Magic (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) This is not currently in use on Ark of Fools (though some players have asked, so it may be a future possibility.)
• Heroes of Horror (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Archivist and Dread Necromancer base classes. Introduces a "taint" system (not used on Ark of Fools.)
• Heroes of Battle (Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Rules Supplements) Not used on Ark of Fools. Included for completeness.
• Miniatures Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) We use the Healer and Marshal base classes from this book. (The favored soul and warmage were reprinted in "Complete Divine" and "Complete Arcane", along with many of the feats.)
• Expanded Psionics Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Psionics is not used on Ark of Fools, but the soulknife class has been adapted as the "mystic knife".

Enviroments: on the Prime and Beyond

• Frostburn: Mastering the Perils of Ice and Snow (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)
• Sandstorm: Mastering the Perils of Fire and Sand (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)
• Stormwrack: Mastering the Perils of Wind and Wave (Dungeons & Dragons: Environment Series Supplement)
• Cityscape (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)
• Dungeonscape: An Essential Guide to Dungeon Adventuring (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory)
• Planar Handbook (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Rules Supplements)
• Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)
• Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)

Races of...

These books are not officially used on Ark of Fools, but people have been known to refer to them now and then, or make a character using one of the new races or templates presented in them.

• Races of Stone (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Dwarves, gnomes, and goliaths (new race).
• Races of the Wild: A Race Guide for Dungeons and Dragons Elves, halfings, and raptorans (new race).
• Races of Destiny (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Humans, half-elves, half-orcs, and illumians (new race).
• Races of the Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) Kobolds, half-dragons, Dragonborn of Bahamut (new race), and spellscales (new race).

Other D & D

• Spell Compendium Spells! More spells! If you have the "Complete" books, you've seen many of them before, but there's plenty more from other sources. (Some of them may get house-ruled, so check with the staff first.)
• Magic Item Compendium Magic items! More magic items! (Again, check with staff first.)

Other Campaigns

• Mutants & Masterminds: RPG - 2nd Edition
• Call of Cthulhu D20 Roleplaying Game Cthulhu in d20: an abomination? At any rate, it seems to be out of print.
• The Black Company Campaign Setting Someday I will convince people to play this... Meanwhile, the campaign setting book is also a great guide to a long and sometimes confusing series of books.

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