Best Five RPG Books You Own

[Drowbane]

in brief...

Draconomicon mmm, dragons...
Expanded Psionics Handbook to hell with Vancian Magic!
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting a beautifully set up campaign setting book.
Mutants and Masterminds 1e, I don't yet own the 2e book
Tome of Battle: the Book of Nine Swords too cool for words

 

[wolfpunk]

In no particular order,

Expanded Psionics Handbook, Unearthed Arcana, Spell Compendium, and then I actually would have said a subscription to Dragon Magazine and a Subscription to Dungeon Magazine. As it were, I am hoping that I will be able to say that a subscription to Pathfinder will make up for those two.

 

[00Machado]

Aaron Allston's Strikeforce - for a crash course in the process and methodology of running campaigns, player types, etc
Star Wars D6 - probably 2nd edition revised and expanded edition, though perhaps 1st edition.
Greyhawk The Marklands - changed the way I look at politics, war, and integrating PCs into same
Power of Faerun - expanded greatly on my ideas about what PCs can get involved in politically
5th book is a hard choice I'd lean toward Champions 4E. With this on book (and knowledge of how to use it) and your imagination, you can play anything. It's more concise than the current edition, which I still haven't had time to finish reading yet.

Honorable mentions
Nightmares of Mine. This might even edge out SW D6 since it can be used in any genre
1E DM design kit - A lesson in how to focus and refine your ideas into adventures and encounters. In fairness, this might supercede The Marklands since it's more utilitarian than that book
Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastery
Renegade Crowns - more of the political theme.
Magical Medieval Society - Warfare PDF - more of the war theme
Heroes of Battle - Combined with Power of Faerun, Magical Medieal Warfare, Renegade Crowns, The Marklands, and the Complete History of the Greyhawk wars, this would be my uber list of political and warfar themed game inspiration (not including fiction and history)

Ones that might be added to the list soon, but that I haven't used enough yet:
Mutants and Msterminds
Savage Worlds
Ptolus
D6 Fantasy or the older D6 System RPG

 

[00Machado]

3rd Aliens, Adventure Game

What makes this one so good?

 

[Mark]

Arise and be judged or continued, thread of favorites . . .

 

[DaveMage]

I look at it this way:

If my collection were to be lost, what 5 books would I buy first?

1-2-3 are the core 3.5 books.

After that, my top 5 would be:

1. Rappan Athuk Reloaded
2. Ptolus
3. Wilderlands Box Set
4. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss
5. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

Very close honorable mentions include: Oathbound Campaign Setting, World's Largest Dungeon, Gazetteer of the Known Realms, Tomb of Abysthor, Planescape Box Sets (all), and Shackled City Adventure Path.

Still pretty much the same....

 

[Crothian]

Best 5 books for what? I'm sure I listed some books in here, but with over a 1000 RPG books and maybe four times that in PDFs it becomes tough to poick. If I picked the best it would games or suppliemtns that are just exceptional and not ones that would be used together. It really would depend on where my mind and gaming focus is at that time.

 

[Steel_Wind]

D&D 3.5, PHB Collector's Edition (faux leatherbound)
D&D 4th Ed DMG (iffy system - great book)
Star Wars: Saga Edition Core Rules: Simply put, the best book on Star Wars Roleplaying ever written
Time Riders: Awesome rules for incorporating time travelling and paradox into your RPG campaign. The best parts are non-system specific.
Nightmares of Mine: The best non-system specific book on RPGs ever written. This ought to be mandatory reading for all GMs.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Well, Mr. DaveMage, thou art certainly more constant than I.

Wow, it seems I was going through one of those stages of trying lots of games -- as many as possible (that appealed at the time) even! -- whereas now, I feel that I've learned a lot more about what really works for me and mine.

Right, then. The current list:

Mutants & Masterminds 2e (where I thought True20 was d20 perfected, this truly is.)
Pendragon, 4th ed. (stunning as it is, yet can also be mined for goodies.)
CP2020 (yeah, that stays, and probably always will.)
Ultimate Toolbox (one of the most useful fantasy RPG books ever.)

I am struggling to think of a fifth (well, trying to decide from several, in fact.) I'll probably edit this post some time to add one more.

 

[deadsmurf]

Eberron Campaign Guide (4E)
Eberron Campaign Setting (3.5)
Player's Handbook 2 (4E)
Shadowrun 3rd Edition
Sharn City of Towers