If you can afford it, give one of the valve distortion pedals a go. I used a mesaboogie v-twin for ages as my main distortion and that sounded quite nice. Also has 3 differnt channels (2 switchable at once) and is pretty indestructable. Also looks very cool, pick one up second hand if you haven't got the money for it new. You won't get tons and tons of distortion out of it, but it should give you enough.
As far as other pedals go, boss make good stuff generally so you could check that out. Even better would be to get something like a GT-5/6 or something like that. Good Solid and a decent multiFX. These things can take a hell of a beating and will give you some modelling stuff to play around with as well as decent effects.
Apart from that, have a look at a POD or something like that, should give you plenty of sounds to play with.