Some part of me suspects that D&D 5th Edition may not be as universally accepted or desirable as I'd like it to be. Why do I suspect this? I keep buying Pathfinder books, for one!
Specifically, I've been buying lots of Alluria Publishing's books, which include Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting, a gorgeous book that I've had for a few months now and will properly review soon. It also has four supplements out, two of which I already snagged: Waves of Thought and Indigo Ice, along with the new Azure Abyss and Beasts of the Boundless Blue. Collectively these books amount to an immense amount of material for running a campaign set entirely on...and specifically under the ocean. Cool stuff.
Aside from that I also ordered their Bestiary of the Bizarre and Remarkable Races Compendium. I own the individual PDFs of the original Pathfinder (and 4E) Remarkable Races series, and there were a lot of weird and interesting exotic races; those who have Advanced Races Guide for Pathfinder would find the selection in Remarkable Races to be complementary, with no overlap, and plenty of weird options--want to play an ooze race? Here's your chance!
As I plan to do real reviews for all these soon, I just want to take a moment now to point out a few important facts about these books as well as the rpgnow/drivethrurpg print on demand features:
1. Always order the color premium option. The standard color option is washed out on what looks like newsprint. Unless you're nostalgic for comic-print quality from the seventies, this is not a good option. Alluria's books are only available in premium, which is a damned good thing for reason #1...
2. Alluria is one of the few 3PP publishers of Pathfinder content and a POD option that have decent to high quality art throughout the entire book, with decent interior graphics. About the only negative I can say is some of their tomes have background coloring/graphics that might annoy some (though the entire Cerulean Seas setting avoid this while still looking gorgeous) but they are bar none the best looking non-Paizo tomes on the market.
Here's some example art from the covers that I could dig up online. Note that the interiors are just as good looking, with very, very few "flubs." Most 3PP art content, in my experience, is subpar on average, but Alluria's Cerulean Seas series is just gorgeous:
I have most of the Cerulean books and I've been quite impressed with them. Agree fully on the artwork as well. Maybe when my current Pathfinder game winds up I'll offer to run a Cerulean Seas campaign.
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