It’s August and that means that the annual #RPGaDAY ‘question a day’ is here to celebrate “everything cool, memorable and amazing about our hobby.” This year we’ve decided to join in the fun and will be canvassing answers from the ENWorld crew, columnists and friends in the industry to bring you some of our answers. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too… So, without further ado, here’s Day 26 of #RPGaDAY 2017!
#RPGaDAY Question 26: Which RPG provides the most useful resources?
Michael J Tresca: I'm astonished by how good the Star Wars Dawn of Defiance campaign, provided for free, was compared to a lot of adventures today. It's a template for adventures done right.
Angus Abranson: I’m actually choosing a range that I haven’t actually played since the late 80’s/early 90’s – and even then it was only occasionally brought to the table. But I own almost every sourcebook they’ve published since the late 80’s because they are consistently really well written and contain not only loads of useful information on their subject matter but also great ideas for mash-ups and mixing the various books in the series together. Yep, I’m talking about Steve Jackson Games GURPS line. They’ve come in handy again and again over the years and I still reference them today.
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): For the sheer number and diversity of quality supplements (both from Pinnacle and third party publishers) I’d have to say Savage Worlds.
Richard August (Conan, Codex Infernus): Most RPGs provide excellent resources these days and, if they don't, Senor Google is the best replacement you could ask for. So, with that in mind, I'm going for something which offers resources in a way I hadn't seen before. The DVD extras featured in the Night's Black Agents core book are focused on playing the game and making it more entertaining.
David Donachie (Solipsist, Starblazer Adventures): Back to GURPS again. I've used some GURPS sourcebooks just as historical research, and as material for other games — especially the historical ones like Vikings, Middle Ages, Voodoo.
Laura Hoffman (Black Book Editions; Polaris RPG): Pathfinder campaigns! Starting out as a « novice » GM in a gaming group with only « veteran » gamers and GMing in a foreign language, the Pathfinder campaigns really saved my life. They are amazing because they provide so much input and stuff already figured out but you can still very easily adapt and modify them. The community behind that is super awesome and helpful as well.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Call of Cthulhu 7e. The crib sheets in the Keeper’s pack are an (elder)Godsend.
Mike Myler (EN Publishing, Legendary Games): Again, far and away, Pathfinder.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green. I’ve always found the sourcebooks about cities and countries in various eras fascinating and endlessly useful, and the collected books about creatures or tomes really handy to flesh out details in any given scenario. The scenarios themselves also often paint a picture of a given time and place really well and, given their basis in reality, often offer great jump-off points to pursue your own research into related material. It’s really easy to use these books as a basis for your own scenarios, in a world that seems very well realised.
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn (RPG Reviewer; Who Dares Rolls): Spycraft, specifically Spycraft 2.0. The later edition of Spycraft was a book large enough to kill a bear with a single strike, filled with enough rules to warn you not to dare read it front to back like a normal textbook. As such, the resources were a godsend. The gear tables had a separate PDF to print out, there were character sheets, dynamic initiative sheets and regular missions which could be downloaded for free from their site (three of which were written by me, admittedly). It’s a game which is pretty huge and clunky by today’s standards, but I loved the support it received. It helped me run multiple campaigns across the two editions, as well as tons of convention games.
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): I really like the Savage Worlds card decks.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): Shadow of the Demon Lord. Every supplement for that game adds to the game in some way and offers a superb resource. Just look at Godless, the toolkit for turning your world into that of a Post Apoc Fantasy. Mad Max with Orcs and cars? Yes, sign me up!
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Pathfinder provides a lot of useful resources, at least for me. Their map packs are excellent. I use them for D&D, Savage Worlds and other games. I understand they work with Pathfinder as well.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): For me, this is still the GURPS Sourcebooks. They remain the pinnacle for me.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Once again I find myself mentioning Vampire the Requiem, first edition in particular, which has a whole library of supplements, amongst which you find some of the best written gaming advice I've seen (The Blood, Damnation City, the Chronicler's Guide, etc.)
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
#RPGaDAY Question 26: Which RPG provides the most useful resources?
Michael J Tresca: I'm astonished by how good the Star Wars Dawn of Defiance campaign, provided for free, was compared to a lot of adventures today. It's a template for adventures done right.
Angus Abranson: I’m actually choosing a range that I haven’t actually played since the late 80’s/early 90’s – and even then it was only occasionally brought to the table. But I own almost every sourcebook they’ve published since the late 80’s because they are consistently really well written and contain not only loads of useful information on their subject matter but also great ideas for mash-ups and mixing the various books in the series together. Yep, I’m talking about Steve Jackson Games GURPS line. They’ve come in handy again and again over the years and I still reference them today.
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): For the sheer number and diversity of quality supplements (both from Pinnacle and third party publishers) I’d have to say Savage Worlds.
Richard August (Conan, Codex Infernus): Most RPGs provide excellent resources these days and, if they don't, Senor Google is the best replacement you could ask for. So, with that in mind, I'm going for something which offers resources in a way I hadn't seen before. The DVD extras featured in the Night's Black Agents core book are focused on playing the game and making it more entertaining.
David Donachie (Solipsist, Starblazer Adventures): Back to GURPS again. I've used some GURPS sourcebooks just as historical research, and as material for other games — especially the historical ones like Vikings, Middle Ages, Voodoo.
Laura Hoffman (Black Book Editions; Polaris RPG): Pathfinder campaigns! Starting out as a « novice » GM in a gaming group with only « veteran » gamers and GMing in a foreign language, the Pathfinder campaigns really saved my life. They are amazing because they provide so much input and stuff already figured out but you can still very easily adapt and modify them. The community behind that is super awesome and helpful as well.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Call of Cthulhu 7e. The crib sheets in the Keeper’s pack are an (elder)Godsend.
Mike Myler (EN Publishing, Legendary Games): Again, far and away, Pathfinder.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green. I’ve always found the sourcebooks about cities and countries in various eras fascinating and endlessly useful, and the collected books about creatures or tomes really handy to flesh out details in any given scenario. The scenarios themselves also often paint a picture of a given time and place really well and, given their basis in reality, often offer great jump-off points to pursue your own research into related material. It’s really easy to use these books as a basis for your own scenarios, in a world that seems very well realised.
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn (RPG Reviewer; Who Dares Rolls): Spycraft, specifically Spycraft 2.0. The later edition of Spycraft was a book large enough to kill a bear with a single strike, filled with enough rules to warn you not to dare read it front to back like a normal textbook. As such, the resources were a godsend. The gear tables had a separate PDF to print out, there were character sheets, dynamic initiative sheets and regular missions which could be downloaded for free from their site (three of which were written by me, admittedly). It’s a game which is pretty huge and clunky by today’s standards, but I loved the support it received. It helped me run multiple campaigns across the two editions, as well as tons of convention games.
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): I really like the Savage Worlds card decks.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): Shadow of the Demon Lord. Every supplement for that game adds to the game in some way and offers a superb resource. Just look at Godless, the toolkit for turning your world into that of a Post Apoc Fantasy. Mad Max with Orcs and cars? Yes, sign me up!
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Pathfinder provides a lot of useful resources, at least for me. Their map packs are excellent. I use them for D&D, Savage Worlds and other games. I understand they work with Pathfinder as well.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): For me, this is still the GURPS Sourcebooks. They remain the pinnacle for me.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Once again I find myself mentioning Vampire the Requiem, first edition in particular, which has a whole library of supplements, amongst which you find some of the best written gaming advice I've seen (The Blood, Damnation City, the Chronicler's Guide, etc.)
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
