Reddit reviews Creature Codex

I'm pretty sure WotC came out of the gate with the affirmation that they wouldn't release more than a few books a year (most of which are adventures). I get the business decisions, they don't want to flood the market.

For those who want more, there are tuns of fantastic third party books and top-tier homebrew to be had. Check out dmsguild.com and it's parent, DriveThruRPG.com. Some of my favorite third party books (and PDF's) include:

• Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts and it's followup Creature Codex, two fantastic and huge Monster Manual type books. The monsters within tend to be a little over-tuned, but highly original and IMHO most the MM creatures are too weak as it is. Wish you had more fey & celestials, or crazy demon lords and dragons? These are the books for you. Kobold Press also has their own setting called Midguard though I don't own the books.
  
  
• The Heroes of the Orient & Monsters of the Orient by Mark A has some very cool new material, including two new classes, new feats, and stuff for existing classes. Very popular on dmsguild.com
  
  
• Matt Colville's Strongholds & Followers has great rules for player's constructing their own strongholds or coming together to build/repair a castle, raise an army and go to war with your campaign's villain!
  
  
• I am particularly fond of Onyx Path Publishing, known for fantastic writers, and RPG heavy games, like 20th Anniversary World of Darkness (V20, etc), Chronicles of darkness (my group's favorite game series), Exalted, Pugmire, and more. They also have a 5e setting called Scarred Lands. It's based on a somewhat lesser known 3e setting of the same name Set in a world like classical Greece, only an age later, after the world was scarred by the war between the gods & the titans.

Sorry for the long links but I'm on mobile. I use these. Yes they are intended as dnd monsters but the creatures are very easily adaptable. I'm using these 2 books for inspiration in a dungeon world game at the moment.

Tome of Beasts https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936781565/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wKGzCbCPJ9KQ8

Creature Codex https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936781921/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6HGzCbN9F22K2

It's the Creature Codex by Kobold Press

It's fantastic, it also includes this thicc boi

https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Codex-Wolfgang-Baur/dp/1936781921/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1539907620&sr=8-1&keywords=creature+codex

Tome of Beasts https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936781565/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_7KO-BbY8B7JKV

Creature Codex https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936781921/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.JO-BbR81DXRG

To your first point, I make up cheat sheets for my players and I have the rules distilled down to about 8 pages that are quick to reference. If your players aren't going to read the PHB, then you can control how they upgrade and what spells they have. (More power to the DM! Ah ha ha ha!)

Second, I demand that players stay off the phone at the table. As a GM, I know I can get players and you will too. Rather than making it a direct confrontation though, put tools in place that speed up the game and cause them to pay attention. I use a timer during combat and give 90 seconds per player per round to take their actions. (This is a good thing to do anyway for a good number of reasons. You'll find that once the players get used to it, it's way more time than they need anyway.)

If your player knows the tropes, it's on you to get creative and challenge him. This is one where I don't have any sympathy for you. (Ok, I really do, but it's your problem not the player's.) You're basically being challenged to step up your game. If it's combat, be more obscure with your monster choices and maybe use an alternative monster manual like the Creature Codex and Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press. (I had to do this because of the veteran players at my table.) If it's puzzles, you'll just have to dig up more obscure material. For politics and NPCs, read Roger Zelazny novels for non-tropish inspiration. As far as metagaming, watch this video by Seth Skorkowsky for an alternative view: Metagaming Isn't All Bad - RPG Philosophy.