“I got a
Baby’s brain and an old man’s heart
Took eighteen years to get this far
Don’t always know what I’m talkin’ about
Feels like I’m livin’ in the middle of doubt
‘Cause I’m
Eighteen
I get confused every day
Eighteen
I just don’t know what to say…” Alice Cooper Eighteen

I hope you enjoyed that snippet from an Alice Cooper classic. Kinda sums me up on this blog. Obviously not the age part!

So here is our word of inspiration for this behind the times #RPGaDaY2020 post…

Meet my go to books for D&D that are not official WotC books.

These four books (which include my latest addition) are the books I turn to the most when planning my D&D sessions (when they run).

The Lazy DM books are a fantastic framework for planning a session without spending hours and hours doing so. Plus the workbook has some hand tables and maps that can be used during planning or more importantly on the fly during a session.

The Monsters Know What They’re Doing just complements the Monster Manual. Decide what creatures your party will encounter, then look them up in this tome. This will suggest tactics for you to use so that those creatures seem “realistic” and believable. The encounters won’t just be a fight to the death, or charging in. They will be much more intelligent than that.

This last book, also the newest addition, was a recommendation by Kelsey of The Arcane Library in one of her email newsletters. This book is full of useful tables to inspire your planning. Such as generating a location name, and a back story for the location.

What books are your go to none WotC D&D books?