Best Five RPG Books You Own

[Teflon Billy]

Great minds... (and all of that)

Hey, what did you like so much about Dawnforge? Give me a 5 sentence pitch.

Five Sentences huh?

Ok here goes....

"It's what I hoped the Epic Level handbook would be. This is high powered D&D without bleeding over into a cheesy muchkin-fest. Character creation is varied and cool. The art in the book is really evocative.

They managed to make Gnomes cool....Gnomes!"

If that doesn't sell you, then I can't help

Edit: I like Eberron just fine. There is a lot of cool stuff in Eberron.

Dawnforge should've won the setting search.

 

[Bacris]

Hrm, top 5... and I have to own them... I haven't picked up a few books that friends have and seem pretty dang sweet, but I'll stick to what I own

Expanded Psionics Handbook - I mean, seriously, best psionics system I've seen so far
Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave - I picked this up cheap for use when my regular DM gets burned out - absolutely love it and will be picking up the 2nd in the series.
Tome of Battle - the focus moving to encounter-based mechanics is an excellent system
Hyperconscious - it's not perfect, but it gives a usable psionic combat system and a variety of options for psionic fans
Thri-Kreen of Athas - you want to talk about a book with some great fluff on an interesting race, this is your book

 

[catsclaw227]

"It's what I hoped the Epic Level handbook would be. This is high powered D&D without bleeding over into a cheesy muchkin-fest. Character creation is varied and cool. The art in the book is really evocative.

They managed to make Gnomes cool....Gnomes!"

If that doesn't sell you, then I can't help

OK... well then I need to pull it out of the archives when I get home tomorrow. I skimmed it, but never really sunk my teeth in. Maybe it's time.

 

[Teflon Billy]

OK... well then I need to pull it out of the archives when I get home tomorrow. I skimmed it, but never really sunk my teeth in. Maybe it's time.

We played it quite a bit for awhile. It held together really well.

 

[meomwt]

Top Five, eh? Well, in the order they pop into my head:

City of Greyhawk Boxed Set - a wonderful resource, lots of poster maps, adventure cards and ideas, personalities, places and gods, all crammed into two 96-page books. Still useful for me as a city resource, 20 years after publication.

Tome of Horrors (Necromancer Games) - just pips the 2e Monstrous Compendium into the list, this is a volume full of worthy nasties. It's great to pull something out of there that 3.xE players who have memorised the SRD don't expect. Brings a smile to grognards' faces, as well.

Griffin Mountain (Chaosium/ Moon Design) - HUGE campaign area, descriptions on citadels, personalities, rituals, Chaos Gods, hunting regions and a Mountain where Griffins lair. Glorantha comes alive in these pages, an area where culture is important (and not in a petri dish). More info here

The Grey Citadel (Necromancer Games) - possibly the best city-based adventure I've read (though SCAP - when my H/C volume finally arrives - may top it), this module offers investigation, role-playing and a brutal dungeon crawl. Multiple plot lines dovetail together to a deadly resolution involving demons, blackguards and the local Thieves' Guild. The book delivers a city background which can be used for further adventure (or as a base of operations) on top of the adventure.

Earthdawn (FASA) - Fantasy/ Horror roleplaying, with a novel (and workable) step/ action dice resolution system, magic system which can have Consequences and some of the creepiest adversaries ever. Current Earthdawn Edition site

Bubbling Under - Tunnels & Trolls (5th Edition) - first RPG rules I bought, fondly remembered, and with DM advice and world-building tips I still use today; D&D Cyclopedia - great rules compilation with material which a 3.xE game could easily cannabilise (Mass Cimbat Rules, I'm looking at you), it's a surprisingly sophisticated system; Shadowrun 2nd Edition; Paranoia 2nd Edition. Tunnels & Trolls No links for the earlier Paranoia or Shadowrun editions.

 

[DaveMage]

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?

Yep - the rights went back to the original author who has done...nothing, at least publicly.

 

[Desdichado]

Huh. Top five of all time, huh?

1. Call of Cthulhu d20. While purists may mock, I honestly think this game is better than the BRP version. And it's certainly prettier!
   
   It gets extra props due to the excellent GMing advice, among the best I've ever seen, as well as the fact that since it's compatible with D&D, it allows me to have Hounds of Tindalos, Byakhee and other Mythos critters in any d20 game, which is a value that I think has been under-rated. But seriously; the game is excellent in it's own right. Probably my favorite campaign (which sadly fell apart when scheduling difficulties made sessions almost impossible to hold) that I've played in for the last ten years was a d20 CoC game.
   
   
2. Monsternomicon. I'm going to cheat just a bit and include both volumes here. Monsternomicon 2 is just as good as the original. This is the first monster book that I literally devoured cover to cover because it was so interesting to read, and every single entry just seems to shout ideas right in my ear on how to use them. I always turn here first when looking for monsters for my PCs to face.
   
   
3. d20 Modern. The game itself is OK... perhaps not excellent... but the fact that I can do literally anything with it is a huge draw. Whenever I've got some oddball setting in mind and I'm wondering what system would best represent it, I almost always find myself turning to d20 Modern first: from Thundarr the Barbarian to Victorian horror to Doom.
   
   
4. Fiendish Codex I. Someone earlier called this the perfect marriage of source material and authors... I agree. Maybe it makes the list because it's still relatively new and has some lingering novelty value, but this book more than any other published in the last several years made me sit up with a fiendish grin on my face and wish I was running again.
   
   
5. Delta Green. Sadly, this isn't very flexible, it can only be used as a Delta Green game, but this is probably the best setting ever written for any RPG. Period.

Honorable mention goes to:

Mutants & Masterminds as the best supers game ever written, and probably the slickest RPG book ever, with the best art.

Manual of the Planes: The first truly modular 3e sourcebook; this was just crawling with ideas. I'm still impressed years later.

Lord of Madness. To me, aberrations are usually too weird, too lacking in horrible cultural resonance, and too self-referential to really cut the mustard as campaign antagonists, but this book nearly convinced me otherwise.

 

[masshysteria]

Top Five
1. Alternity Player's Handbook - An excellent system, often referred to as rules-medium and depicting cinematic realism. It uses a unified resolution method and a condition track instead of hitpoints (something that seems to be growing in popularity now; True 20, Star Wars Saga). Also, like d20 Modern, it really can handle far more than modern and sci-fi gaming. Too bad it was showed so little support.

2. Dark*Matter (Alternity version) - This setting was full of great ideas. The production values and excellent writing made it even better.

3. Dread - A wonderful horror game. The character creation system is great. And it is nice to see a game whose resolution mechanic creates the tension necessary for a good horror game.

4. Spirit of the Century - Another game with an inspired character creation system. A great read for anyone interested in RPG design as the FATE game mechanics are very different from d20, but work very well. It also does an excellent job reproducing the pulp fictions that inspired it.

5. Star Wars Saga Edition - So, I'm buying my third edition of the Star Wars rules from WotC and if the rules weren't that interesting I'd probably be unhappy. As it stands, it is probably the best Star Wars rules to date.


Honorable Mentions
1. Shadowrun Fourth Edition - A wonderfully detailed setting. The organization of the book could be better and the art isn't on the same level as the 3.5 core rules, but taken as a whole, Shadowrun is great.

2. Dogs in the Vineyard - This would probably rank on my top 5 except I don't own it. The exploration of morality in the game and the escalation mechanic makes it great.

3. Star*Drive - Another off-shoot of the Alternity universe. It is a wonderfully detailed sci-fi/space opera setting that was large enough to fit in just about any kind of sci-fi you wanted without feeling out of place or cluttered.

Edit: Added links per Treebore's request.

 

[JDJblatherings]

best 5 i own.

1) 1st edition DMG
2) D&D Rules Cyclopedia
3) Lands of Mystery
4) Call of Cthulhu Rulebook
5) Runequest 2nd edition rulebook

 

[Wombat]

Ars Magica: My single favourite game, the single best magic system out there, a feel for a real time and place with the magic overlayed, deep character generation, and an overall wonderful time! I have followed this game from 2nd through 5th editions (acting as a playtester with some of the current material) and it is, hands down, my single favourite rpg system.

Over the Edge: I have been able to introduce more people to rpgs through the use of the system in this book than any other system. The setting can drive some people bananas, but the system is so clean, so clear, and so easy to master that it is a dream. I have used the base system for the given setting, for a Pulp private detective game, for a superhero game, for spacefaring adventures, and for standard fantasy -- highly flexible!

Book of the Righteous: The single best D&D supplement ever written, this book doesn't present gods as numbers, statistics, or simply a backdrop, but integrates them into your society, provides myths, makes players and GMs think about where deities belong in their world, and provides soundingboads for society in general. This is a dream!

D&D (three original books in a box): Just like LotR, I count this as one book. Why is this on my "best" books list? Because it got me started in the game!

A Magical Medieval Society - Western Europe: This book (and its follow-up volumes) are a must for anyone under almost any system that wants to really think about the implications to society and geography about dropping magic and magical beasties into a realistic world. This provides deep, chewy food for thought on topics such as social organization, prejudice, town construction, the raising of armies, crops, legal codes, and all those other points that move a game from merely being a collection of unrelated adventures into the realm of a true history and a grand, epic tale. Fantastic material!