D&D 5E Highest Quality D&D 5e 3rd party publishers?

[n2Ashes]

I haven't wondered into any 3rd party stuff for D&D 5e yet (or any other editions for that matter as ad&d 2nd edition was the last edition I played) with the exception of backing the new Midgaurd Campaign kickstarter from Kobold Press.

I'm assuming Kobold Press does high quality stuff since they've partnered with WotC and so many people are backing their Midguard setting. Is that most people's experience?

I'm wanting to know what other publishers do a good job of creating high quality content (alternate classes, campaign settings, etc..) When I mean high quality I mean very well balanced, well written, nice art, etc.

There's so much stuff on DriveThruRPG and dmsguild that it can be hard to know what is good quality and what's not.

So, who's the best in the biz?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zardnaar]

The Kobolds have been beating WotC.

DM guild you have to sift through it.

Frog God games are decent but black and white YMMV.

Green Ronin usually does good stuff.

EN5ider also has some good stuff and its cheap.

 

[arjomanes]

Kobold Press was already mentioned. I like Frog God Games, but due to their 1st edition feel, they aren't always as buttoned up on the rules mechanics as Kobold Press. That may not be an issue, but I wanted to point that out. Their adventures are very good, and the spells and monsters are unique and memorable.

Legendary Games is very good. They started out as a quality 3rd party publisher for Pathfinder games. Their top writers were winners of the Pathfinder "RPG Superstar" contest, and they did a lot of good official pathfinder stuff. They have since branched into 5e as well.
http://www.makeyourgamelegendary.com/products-page/5th-edition/

Sasquatch Games is also worth mentioning since they worked on the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure. They publish the Primeval Thule product line, which is good if you want a sword and sorcery Conan-like vibe.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I can give a thumbs up for Kobold Press as well, and a provisional thumbs up to Frog God Games, because their products are relatively well put together but there are some rough spots (example: their Book of Lost Spells includes spells which do ability score damage even though that is intentionally made ultra-rare in 5th edition, and other effects like causing spellcasters to lose spell slots that might not gel with everyone's sensibilities), definitely worth checking out if you have a bent towards the "old-school" way of thinking.

I've also got to mention the team of Onyx Path Publishing/Nocturnal Media, as the Scarred Lands Player's Guide they put together is both nice to look at, and full of interesting game stuff (albeit intentionally slightly higher powered in the race department than the PHB, but they are upfront and clear about that). I admit a mild bias, though, since Scarred Lands has been a long-time favorite setting of mine.

 

[Ath'kethin]

By and large, if a company produces hardcover physical books, their stuff is pretty solid. Nobody is going to go though the expense of producing and distributing a physical product of that magnitude without having their stuff together.

That said, much will depend on your preferences. I am a drooling fanboy for Sasquatch's Primeval Thule setting, but it was written before there was a direct legal means of using 5e terminology so some of the wording is a little funky. The adventures are generally top-notch, though my group has found their climaxes to be somewhat uninspiring on occasion and they tend to be pretty brutal.

Much of the stuff that comes from companies who publish material for multiple editions show definite signs of converting from Pathfinder or 4e or what have you to 5e (Frog God and Kobold stand out particularly to me in this regard; though Sasquatch falls into that category I've found their stuff to be less so).

 

[Dualazi]

I'll add my voice to the crowd echoing support for Kobold Press. Didn't really know much about them when I backed Tome of Beasts, and it blew me away how good it ended up being. I backed their cults supplement as well, so if that is of comparable quality they'll likely have a dedicated fan from me.

 

[gweinel]

I am surprised that no one mentioned Cubicle 7.
It has produced the adaptation of Tolkien's Middle Earth to 5e rules. The Adventures of Middle Earth is very solid book, with just GREAT production value. The Loremaster book (just got the pdf) continues the superior production value and is probably even better since the people at C7 seems that have listened the fans who wanted a more modular approach in order to use content to their not-Middle-Earth campaigns.

 

[Ezequielramone]

We all agree that kobold press does a great job. I only have the tome of beasts but I think everything else is more or less centered in their Midgard setting.
Green Ronin has made a kick-started for their deities book, it was a successful book back in 3rd edition era. They want to update it to 5e.

 

[Mercule]

So, question about Kobold Press....

I have Hoard of the Dragon Queen and really hate the flavor. I suspect a lot of that is how tightly married it is to the Realms as well as things like having a half-dragon as a featured antagonist. The dungeons look extremely well done, but the "overland" portions seem very sketchy. I'd just kind of written off Kobold Press because of HotDQ, but with all the love they're getting, here, I have to ask whether that adventure is representative and their work is just not going to click with me or if I should give them another look?

 

[Ezequielramone]

So, question about Kobold Press....

I have Hoard of the Dragon Queen and really hate the flavor. I suspect a lot of that is how tightly married it is to the Realms as well as things like having a half-dragon as a featured antagonist. The dungeons look extremely well done, but the "overland" portions seem very sketchy. I'd just kind of written off Kobold Press because of HotDQ, but with all the love they're getting, here, I have to ask whether that adventure is representative and their work is just not going to click with me or if I should give them another look?

As far as I know, the adventure suffered from short time and high pressure. I ran it two times and both times was fantastic. There is not any perfect adventure. There are many many things you put in the scale when choosing what to write in the book. The Frozen Castle is an example of this.
With every adventure I ran I always have to add or modify things in order to things make sense and/or to fit our preferences.
Where you see a sketchy part I see a lot of opportunities to add things otherwise you can't, mostly things that players want, like meetings NPC's from their background or explore religious matters about their character. I like and I WANT to have place in adventures to explore with my creativity, my players and their characters.
So the adventure is great is you put effort to make it work.

Coming back to your question, you have to remember that they didn't work freely with HotDQ, they had to follow WotC's rules. So, for me, it's not representative. I don't know much about the adventures, but the tome of beasts goes one step further and every monster is creative and unique, I have been using monsters like the Eye golem (as a twisted experiment of Latanther) and gremlins (with aura of drunkenness, awesome) and I always get fresh and interesting encounters.

So people on kobold press is creative and you should not be afraid to explore their products.