Your single favourite RPG book?
For me, probably the AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual. I still often use it to show my players what they're up against, as I really disliked the "upgraded" artwork they came up with for some of the creatures in 3E. And back then, you got a good description of how the monster fit into the game world.
Johnathan
Johnathan
The Crimson Binome
Hero
If I had to pick one favorite, it would probably be the core rulebook for third edition Shadowrun. It's a complete game, it describes a fun setting at the last point before it got silly, and it even includes stats for all of my favorite characters from the Born To Run trilogy of novels!
HERO core rulebook- pick almost any edition- has to get my nod just for sheer versatility.
But there have been soooo many other books I consider to be true gems that shaped me as a gamer:
Original Traveler 0-9
Central Casting
The Primal Order series
Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous
The Fantasy Trip/In the Labyrinth
Space:1889
RIFTS (mainly for the fluff & the setting, not the mechanics) & some of its sourcebooks
Deadlands
SPI Universe
D&D Core 3.5, along with its close cousins- Pathfinder, Midnight 2Ed, Arcana Evolved, FantasyCraft, True 20, etc.
Mutants & Masterminds 2Ed
WoD/NWoD
Scion Hero/Demigod/God
And while I don’t have a particular love for the game, GURPS 2Ed is important enough to me that I bought a copy of the core rulebook (and the martial arts supplement). I was in a group that played a lot of it, including some playtests, like GURPS: Vampire. I had a lot of fun in those games, and made some particularly memorable characters.
But there have been soooo many other books I consider to be true gems that shaped me as a gamer:
Original Traveler 0-9
Central Casting
The Primal Order series
Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous
The Fantasy Trip/In the Labyrinth
Space:1889
RIFTS (mainly for the fluff & the setting, not the mechanics) & some of its sourcebooks
Deadlands
SPI Universe
D&D Core 3.5, along with its close cousins- Pathfinder, Midnight 2Ed, Arcana Evolved, FantasyCraft, True 20, etc.
Mutants & Masterminds 2Ed
WoD/NWoD
Scion Hero/Demigod/God
And while I don’t have a particular love for the game, GURPS 2Ed is important enough to me that I bought a copy of the core rulebook (and the martial arts supplement). I was in a group that played a lot of it, including some playtests, like GURPS: Vampire. I had a lot of fun in those games, and made some particularly memorable characters.
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Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
Edge of the Empire. Beautifully illustrated. Elelgant design and layout. So much good information and insight, I am always finding something new and interesting no matter how many times I read it. The other two core books are equally good, but Edge was the first and I like the tone of struggling to survive in the lawless Outer Rim. Punch it Chewie!
Celebrim
Legend
Without question, Green Ronin's "The Book of the Righteous".
The 1e AD&D DMG would probably be #2. Other honorable mentions: 2e AD&D Thieves Handbook, 3e D&D Player's Handbook, Green Ronin's Shaman's Handbook, 1e FASA Star Wars, and the 2e Chill rulebook. Finally, the original VtM rule book is a masterpiece even if I neither like it or the game it made. The same to a large extent could be said of the largely unplayable as written Wraith: The Oblivion and the Mousegaurd rule book. An opposite example might be the 4e Call of Cthulhu rule book which is a largely terrible book that creates a game I admire and enjoy.
The 1e AD&D DMG would probably be #2. Other honorable mentions: 2e AD&D Thieves Handbook, 3e D&D Player's Handbook, Green Ronin's Shaman's Handbook, 1e FASA Star Wars, and the 2e Chill rulebook. Finally, the original VtM rule book is a masterpiece even if I neither like it or the game it made. The same to a large extent could be said of the largely unplayable as written Wraith: The Oblivion and the Mousegaurd rule book. An opposite example might be the 4e Call of Cthulhu rule book which is a largely terrible book that creates a game I admire and enjoy.
That’s a damn good book.
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