D&D: Volo’s Guide To Monsters
Dungeons & Dragons
Hardcover
Wizards Of the Coast
Release Date: November 15, 2016
Cover Price: $49.95

There are two schools of thought when it comes to expansion books. The first sees extra non-core books as a waste of money or even as a ploy to get them to part with their hard-earned wages, whereas the second is more open-minded and is happy to utilize these extra tomes to enhance and elaborate on their adventures. I have forever been part of this second group, happy to have more text and knowledge to increase the entertainment value of my role-playing games. I presume if you are reading this then you also have an interest in expansion books, since that’s what Volo’s Guide to Monsters perfectly represents. Still curious? Good, I’ve got quite a bit to say about it!

Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms
Hardcover
Written by Ed Greenwood and the Wizards RPG staff
Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: October 16, 2012

I remember the day the very first Forgotten Realms boxed reference set was released. It included not just game materials, but a really awesome map and a bit of background information to start your own campaigns. But never in a hundred years did I think I would ever see such an in depth look as Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms. It really is a masterpiece of Ed Greenwood‘s imagination.

Taken from Greenwood’s original notes from the late sixties, the Forgotten Realms were adapted in the seventies for game play with the original Dungeons & Dragons and finalized in the eighties for release with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game books. By far the most popular and well known of all the official settings, the Realms are packed with well developed and powerful non-player characters (known as NPCs). This tome gives us a plethora of formerly unknown information, thereby not just amplifying our collective knowledge of Faerun but also expanding the possibilities in a campaign setting.