Best Five RPG Books You Own

[The Green Adam]

The 5 Best RPG Items I Own Are...

1) Mutants & Masterminds Rulebook, 2nd Edition, Green Ronin
2) Star Wars, The Role Playing Game, Second Edition, West End Games
3) Ars Magica, 3rd Edition, Atlas Games
4) Star Trek, The Original Series Role Playing Game Corebook, Last Unicorn Games
5) Traveller, The Basic Books, Far Future Enterprises

These are the books I look at, use and just plain love the mostest.

AD

 

[Psion]

Top 5 RPG books, eh?

1. Spycraft 2.0 - This book is really a thing of beauty. It's amazing how thorough the book is, and how flexible. It gives characters the same detail standard D20 books do, but is easier to run, very flexible, and has a nice set of rules to handle conflicts that aren't directly combat related. Best yet, it works great in actual play. I weep for those who mention they have the book but don't get a chance to play. I've been there, but I stumbled into a group that wanted to play it... and it's GREAT!
2. Beyond Countless Doorways - Oh how I want to explore the possibilities of all of these planes. To me, this is Malhavoc's underrated masterpiece.
3. Second World Sourcebook - Opened my mind to a new kind of gaming. I want to send a special forces fire team into Rappan Athuk!
4. AD&D 2e World Builder's Guide - Still a great resource for world tinkering.
5. Book of the Righteous - Fantasy faiths given sufficient attention, making them more than just a line on a cleric's resume.

Subject to revision at my whim.

 

[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.

 

[gribble]

Tough one... other than the 3.5 SRD, probably something like:

• Star Wars Saga Edition
• Ptolus
• World of Darkness core book (revised)
• True 20
• Planescape campaign setting

with (very) honorable mentions to:

• Shadowrun 4
• Monsternomicon 3.5 (and probably Monsternomicon 2, once I own it!)
• Call of Cthulhu d20
• Dark*Matter campaign setting (I only own the d20 version, but would take either - it's the fluff I love, not the crunch)

At least, they're definitely the ones I'd replace first, if I suddenly lost all my books!

 

[EditorBFG]

Top 5:

1) Dogs in the Vineyard - Probably the best RPG ever published
2) Mutants & Masterminds - Just plain smart
3) Delta Green - Either version- just plain better than any other setting book
4) Pendragon - Underappreciated, thank God White Wolf has decided to revive it
5) The System Reference Document - The innovation wasn't d20, it was making it open

Runners-up: Warhammer FRP, Star Wars (Saga Edition), Dread, True20 (wonderful, just not as good as M&M), and a little-known game called Carry that you can actually download for free-- it's not on this list because I don't own it in book form, but my first session was the single best role-playing experience I've ever had with strangers.

 

[Silver Moon]

1E PHB - my first RPG book (you always remember your first)

1E DMG - inspiration to actually run!

2E Monstorus Manual - 384 pages of monsters, with nearly all in a single volume, each on a single page with a nice color illustration - makes a great reference source for any edition - especially when gaming with younger players who the pictures help with.

2E Castles Boxed Set - Panned by many, I have found this to be a great product with three excellent castles, each fully described with a poster-sized portrait of each and great maps. Each castle is of a different architecture and setting (Mountain, Desert, Ocean).

Boot Hill Module BH3 "Ballots and Bullets" - This module creates a full wild west town with maps, over 200 buildings, and over 300 NPC's. I've used it as the backdrop for several successful modules.

 

[EvilPheemy]

with the core books assumed...

HERO 5th edition Revised
New World of Darkness
Traveller d20
LotR: Moria
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

Honorably Mentioned and just missed the list

Cyberpunk 2020
Fantasy HERO
2nd Ed MAGE
Champions
Call of Cthulhu
Stormbringer 5th

 

[Arkhandus]

Eh, considering I'm kinda poor and don't own quite all the books I'd most like to have, then among the ones I do own......

1) Shadowrun 3rd Edition
2) The Complete Psionics Handbook (2E AD&D)
3) Oriental Adventures (3E D&D)
4) Monster Manual II (3E D&D)
5) Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed

One's that would be there if I owned them (I've skimmed through them before).....
1) Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords
2) The Complete Ninja's Handbook (2E AD&D)
3) (The Complete Psionics Handbook, which I do have)
4) Um, whatever the main setting book was called for Dark Sun in 2nd Edition
5) Likewise but for Planescape in 2nd Edition (wish my memory were better) :\

 

[Doug Sundseth]

Hero 5th Rev.
Fantasy Hero
Seventh Sea - Flawed world, but brilliant design for encouraging swashbuckling roleplaying.
Lands of Mystery (expansion for Hero's Justice, Inc.) - Some of the best GMing advice I've seen anywhere.
Space 1889

 

[catsclaw227]

...<snip>... Very close honorable mentions include: Oathbound Campaign Setting ...</snip>...

I can't believe I spaced this one out. I dig Oathbound. A lot.

To where did it disappear? Wasn't it supposed to be resurrected by the original writer?