Best Five RPG Books You Own

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm not going to include the D20 Core books...not that I don't like them or think they're excellent, but because you probably already have them.

In no particular order:

1) Hero 5th. An RPG without equal in terms of flexibility. (http://www.herogames.com/home.htm)

2) Mutants & Masterminds 2Ed. An RPG second only to Hero 5th in flexibility. (http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/)

3) Second World Sourcebook. Well designed and thought out. (http://www.second-world-simulations.com/)

4) Space: 1889. Love or hate the mechanics, this game is chock full of ideas for Victorian gaming in the vein of HG Wells or Jules Verne- I've not seen its equal in terms of a campaign world. (http://www.heliograph.com/space1889/)

5) Original Traveller. In many ways, the best sci-fi game ever made. Available in a quasi-compendium form. Other editions have their charms, and the game does have decent D20 and GURPS versions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(role-playing_game))

Honorable Mentions:

1) Paranoia XP. Mechanics aside, this game has 3 playstyles, the original slapstick sci-fi game, a toned down comedic game, and a gritty dystopic future setting. Very flexible. (http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpg/series.php?qsSeries=19)

2) Godlike. Supers in WW2- well researched with great atmosphere. (http://arcdream.com/godlike/)

3) RIFTS. Forget the mechanics completely- there are all kinds of problems with them- but KS's game is so imaginative you'll be able to mine it for any other RPG you own. Of its sourcebooks, my personal fave is Atlantis. (http://www.palladiumbooks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=R800)

4) Deadlands. Simply excellent fusion of fantasy & western. (http://www.peginc.com/games/)

5) Shadowrun. Simply excellent fusion of fantasy & cyberpunk. (http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/products/index.php)

6) Amazing Engine. A nice generic flexible system whose For Faerie, Queen, and Country setting is second only to Space: 1889 in its handling of Victorian adventuring. (http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=1720 and http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=system&value=Amazing Engine&sort=nosort)

7) StarDrive. A good sci-fi game on its own merits, its the game that took 2Ed concepts into space and was sort of a test ground for some 3Ed ideas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star*Drive)

8) GURPS. I hate the system, but I love the supplements. If it weren't for the big following of their own game, I bet the SJG crew could produce excellent 3rd party products for anyone's game. (http://www.sjgames.com/ourgames/rpg.html)

 

[Roadkill101]

1. Basic Dungeons and Dragons rulebook (Mentzer edition)--one of the most comprehensive and complete game rulebooks I've ever read, considereing the small spell lists, low class levels and lack of information for playing in anything but a dungeon. Which were all expanded in later rulebooks/sets.
2. AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1st ed.)--I still use it from time to time and no longer play D&D or D20 based rpg's.
3. Unearthed Arcana (3rd ed.)--I'm not a big fan of the 3.x/D20 ed. of the game, but I thought this book had some rather well laid out expansions and options, such that I consider it as a core rulebook (I've not read the PHB2 or DMG2 or any other third party or official expansion products).
4. Ruins of Undermountain boxed set--only because I extensively make use of the maps (well bits and pieces of them) instead of always drawingout my own on graph paper.
5. Forgotten Realms boxed set--I always felt it did a great job at presenting the Realms, while leaving plenty of room for me to play around in on my own.

 

[lior_shapira]

1. Exalted 2nd edition - amazing flavor, design, crunch, everything
2. Eberron campaign setting - my favorite campaign setting
3. Mutants&Masterminds 2nd edition - I'm hooked
4. Spycraft 2nd edition - Even though no one wants to play with me I still think its an amazing book with great well thought out rules
5. Spelljammer first boxed set (AD&D 2nd edition) - No project has ever caught me like this one

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Delta Green: Fantastic horror/modern conspiracy setting for Call of Cthulhu. Read this introduction for starters.

Delta Green: Countdown: Even better than the original, and more universally useable for horror games in set in other times and places. The cult that kidnaps important people and drills holes into their head is gold, as is the take on the Hastur Mythos.

Transhuman Space: My all-time favorite SF setting (and I'm not just saying this because I wrote for the line). It doesn't have intelligent aliens, faster-than-light space flight, psionic powers or anything else that violates the laws of physics as we know it, and pretty much everything is an extrapolation of current technological and social trends. But that doesn't keep it from being one of the most alien SF settings out there, in addition to one of the most thought-provoking. From human genetic engineering to sapient artificial intelligence, from the colonization of the solar system to the settlement of the oceans, this setting has it all. And descriptions of the settings have called it both "extremely optimistic" and "highly dystopian", which should show you how complex this setting is... See this page for my review of the setting.

GURPS Horror 3E: One of the best "genre books" out there, with plenty of highly useful advice for horror campaigns and adventures that transcends the rules and is useful whether you use GURPS or not.

Blue Planet: My seond favorite SF setting, which takes the hard SF approach of Transhuman Space and applies it to the alien environment of a water world recently colonized by humans.

 

[pogre]

1. WFRP 2E

2. The Power Gamer's 3.5 Warrior strategy guide

3. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

4. Anger of Angels

5. Grim Tales

 

[Shadeydm]

In no particular order

-The Book of the Righteous

-PHB2

-Gygax's Living Fantasy

-Gygax's World Builder

-Delta Green

Honorable Mention

MIC
Monster's Handbook
FC2
CoCD20
Complete Scoundrel

 

[Aus_Snow]

At this precise moment, in no order, and subject to change any month now . . .

A Game of Thrones, Guardians of Order (a perennial favourite of mine - it's simply awe-inspiring)
True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Green Ronin Games (d20 distilled to its pure essence)
Second Sight, White Wolf Publishing (it does what it claims to do, and remarkably well at that)
Artesia: Adventures in the Known World, Archaia Studios Press (great flavour, great system)
Cyberpunk 2020, R. Talsorian Games (going back to the roots of Artesia's system; this is an absolute classic - brilliant)


edit --- added links, as requested.

 

[Ry]

Dragonlance Fifth Age (Saga system)
Complete book of Villains (2e)
Ptolus
Astromundi Cluster (Spelljammer 2e boxed set)
Planescape

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Mutants & Masterminds 2e - the best supers game on the market

Ultimate Power - a M&M suppliament

Iron Kingdoms' Character Guide - includes everything you need to start a campaign in the Iron Kingdoms. Includes classes, races, discussions of equipment and mechanika

Book of Vile Darkness - I always manage to get use out of this

Lord of Madness - one of my favorite WoTC products in recent years

 

[taferial]

Nice thread...

1) Sla Industries - evryone should have a copy (I have 3!)

2) Cyberpunk 2020 - first boxed set (thank you Declan)

3) Paranoia - first printing (first thing I GM'd)

4) Killer

5) MERP - first edition, which was so badly laid out only the gm could ever find anything.

Lots of potential honourable mentions, WHFRP, Rolemaster, Earthdawn, ooh this could ba a long list.