Core Rule Books Only - What system would you play?

[Kafen]

An interesting question I put to my gaming group and which I now put to the Enworld population at large:

If you could use only the core books (PHB and DMG equivalent) for your gaming group, what system would you use and why (I'll even be nice and allow you to use one setting book if needed)?

Off hand, I would pick Pathfinder and Mutants and Masterminds as my top two choices with Pathfinder being first.

GURPS would be first, but I use too many secondary books for that to be an option in the topic.

 

[sjmiller]

For me, it would be a tough choice. I think I could narrow it down to the following books (assuming no house rules):

• DragonQuest (2nd ed)
• GURPS (either 3rd or 4th ed)
• Classic Traveller
• Villains and Vigilantes (only has one book)

I have played all of them without supplements or house rules and loved it. D&D has always been house ruled for me, so it does not qualify.

 

[Chrono22]

I'd probably play either starwars d6 (2e) or starwars saga edition.

Playing D&D without supplements is like taking coffee without creamer.

 

[nerfherder]

Probably either BRP or Savage Worlds.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Hero System 5th Edition Revised.

All the rules are in the book. Everything else is just examples.

 

[delericho]

D&D 3.5e

or Star Wars Saga Edition

or d20 Modern

or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (if and only if the Bestiary counts as a core rulebook)

So, basically the same games I usually run. In a Core-Rules-only manner.

 

[Hierax]

Yeah,

One single book of any RPG it would definitely be Hero 5th ed. Revised (6th ed. is better but is now 2 books).

For xD&D it would have to be the Rules Cyclopedia. (If only they had made one volume compiling all rules from the boxed sets and one volume for all the Mystara Gazetteers, but as it stands it's the best self-contained game). Even if you went to 2 books for D&D this would be it as it is a PHB, DMG, MM, and setting all in one!

 

[Wormwood]

Most of my favorite RPGs are "core book only":

Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG
Moldvay B/E D&D
WoD/Vampire the Requiem
Dogs in the Vineyard
Amber Diceless
Shotgun Diaries
Dread

The *only* exception is 4e, which I would not run without a DDI subscription.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Yeah,

One single book of any RPG it would definitely be Hero 5th ed. Revised (6th ed. is better but is now 2 books).

If xD&D can get away with PHB/DMG, I'd say HERO can get away with its two-volume core set. Either edition, though--and even the original 4th Edition HERO System Rulesbook--is arguably among the most complete RPGs in existence. As Lord Mhoram said upthread, after you've got the core, the rest is largely examples.

For xD&D it would have to be the Rules Cyclopedia. (If only they had made one volume compiling all rules from the boxed sets and one volume for all the Mystara Gazetteers, but as it stands it's the best self-contained game). Even if you went to 2 books for D&D this would be it as it is a PHB, DMG, MM, and setting all in one!

Seconded. I have at least three 'core rules only' RPGs that come to mind as ones I could be eminently satisfied with:

If it were 'one game system, core rules only, on a desert island forever', HERO 6E (or 5th if you're going to be unfair and limit us to one-volume rulebooks while letting xD&D get away with the two-volume set. )

For D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia. (2E is too clunky for me without the option to cherry-pick from supplements and streamline via houseruling, and 3E/3.5 look to require nearly as much work as HERO without as much flexibility.)

For Star Wars gaming, Star Wars Saga Edition.

Honorable Mention for if I wanted something faster and lighter would probably go to my copy of BESM 3E.

 

[samursus]

Rules Cyclopedia