What are your top three gaming resources? Rel shines a spotlight on three that are true essentials and explains a bit about why.
Today’s topic became so big I had to break it into two awesome parts. Kind of like a calzone.
If the first half of my June was characterized by awesome vacations, the second half has been characterized by moving piles of stuff from one place to another. A dear friend is coming to live with us for few months while she gets settled in our area and we’re making space for her. This is forcing us to do some organizing we wanted to do anyway, but now it’s urgent. Notably it is forcing us to clear out our (junky) guest room and downsize our (cluttered) library. It’s the latter bit I’ll be talking about today and next week.
Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved books and reading. I always fantasized I’d have a whole room devoted to being a library, crammed full of wonderful books! Be careful what you wish for. My wife and I have spent the last 25 years accumulating a big library and now it is weighing us down. And collecting dust. Lots of dust.
We realized several months ago something needed to be done. That something was us going through these books, shelf by shelf, and deciding which of them really needed to stay part of our collection and which needed to be sent to a new home. We got a very small amount of that project done...and then got distracted by other matters. Which was fine right up until we needed the space to shuffle around furniture and accommodate our friend.
There was simply no way to quickly cull the huge piles of books and do it properly, so we are instead boxing most of them up to store in the attic. This will allow us to pull them back out, one bin at a time, and sort them properly. Or we’ll just leave them up there until we die and let our heirs sort it all out. Either way is fine with us. Meanwhile we have pulled out just a few books, ones we can’t live without, to keep around during this interim.
This is an “across the board” book boxing, so it spans my fiction collection, my gaming collection, and even some of the non-fiction stuff I call on for my coaching. I’ve kept one shelf where my entire Larry Niven collection can stay (our guest is a big fan of hard sci-fi so she’ll want to read those anyway) alongside my Steven Brust books (because I can read them over and over). I can live without the rest of my fiction collection for a while.
Among the gaming books I’m keeping around, I wanted to shine a spotlight on three that are true essentials and explain a bit about why:
Savage Worlds Deluxe, Explorers Edition by Shane Lacy Hensley - Savage Worlds is probably my favorite RPG right now and a big reason is how concise it is. Nearly every rule you could need is contained in one small (6”x9”) thin (maybe ⅜ of an inch) paperback. As a bonus, these rules are so well constructed, with such a strong core mechanic, that I rarely need to consult the book anyway. Anything which has us spending more time having fun and less time flipping pages is a good thing. This book doesn’t even take up shelf space because it never leaves my gaming bag.
4th Edition D&D Dungeon Masters Guide by James Wyatt - I know that the Edition Wars are still smouldering, and I’m certainly not trying to reignite them. Truth be told, while I generally liked 4e, I haven’t played any 4e in about two years now. I haven’t run it in about 5 years, and I have no particular interest in playing or running it anytime in the future. That’s why I know this book is great. It’s simply a fantastic collection of GMing advice for any GM of almost any game. In terms of practical advice on group dynamics, world building, adventure design, and many other fundamental aspects of being a good GM, it’s hard to beat. Whenever I feel stuck about a gaming concept, this is one of the first places I turn.
The Pirates Guide to Freeport by Patrick O’Duffy, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb - Ok so I’m a sucker for gritty, pirate adventure. Freeport is one of my favorite settings of all time. But this book is way more than a resource about Freeport. The juicy bits of awesome setting, location, and adventure ideas in this book have been mined for nearly every game I’ve run since I got it. Need an idea for a crime family? This book has at least half a dozen that are pure awesome. Need details on a cool location as a backdrop for your big battle? Dozens of them in this book. Want a juicy backstory for a NPC or even a PC you want to play? You’ll find one on almost every page. And it’s all amazing prose without any ugly stat blocks in the way. Truly a fantastic resource.
Next week I’ll discuss the non-gaming resources I need to keep on hand. Meanwhile I’d love to hear what your top three gaming resource books are in the comments here.
Today’s topic became so big I had to break it into two awesome parts. Kind of like a calzone.
If the first half of my June was characterized by awesome vacations, the second half has been characterized by moving piles of stuff from one place to another. A dear friend is coming to live with us for few months while she gets settled in our area and we’re making space for her. This is forcing us to do some organizing we wanted to do anyway, but now it’s urgent. Notably it is forcing us to clear out our (junky) guest room and downsize our (cluttered) library. It’s the latter bit I’ll be talking about today and next week.
Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved books and reading. I always fantasized I’d have a whole room devoted to being a library, crammed full of wonderful books! Be careful what you wish for. My wife and I have spent the last 25 years accumulating a big library and now it is weighing us down. And collecting dust. Lots of dust.
We realized several months ago something needed to be done. That something was us going through these books, shelf by shelf, and deciding which of them really needed to stay part of our collection and which needed to be sent to a new home. We got a very small amount of that project done...and then got distracted by other matters. Which was fine right up until we needed the space to shuffle around furniture and accommodate our friend.
There was simply no way to quickly cull the huge piles of books and do it properly, so we are instead boxing most of them up to store in the attic. This will allow us to pull them back out, one bin at a time, and sort them properly. Or we’ll just leave them up there until we die and let our heirs sort it all out. Either way is fine with us. Meanwhile we have pulled out just a few books, ones we can’t live without, to keep around during this interim.
This is an “across the board” book boxing, so it spans my fiction collection, my gaming collection, and even some of the non-fiction stuff I call on for my coaching. I’ve kept one shelf where my entire Larry Niven collection can stay (our guest is a big fan of hard sci-fi so she’ll want to read those anyway) alongside my Steven Brust books (because I can read them over and over). I can live without the rest of my fiction collection for a while.
Among the gaming books I’m keeping around, I wanted to shine a spotlight on three that are true essentials and explain a bit about why:
Savage Worlds Deluxe, Explorers Edition by Shane Lacy Hensley - Savage Worlds is probably my favorite RPG right now and a big reason is how concise it is. Nearly every rule you could need is contained in one small (6”x9”) thin (maybe ⅜ of an inch) paperback. As a bonus, these rules are so well constructed, with such a strong core mechanic, that I rarely need to consult the book anyway. Anything which has us spending more time having fun and less time flipping pages is a good thing. This book doesn’t even take up shelf space because it never leaves my gaming bag.
4th Edition D&D Dungeon Masters Guide by James Wyatt - I know that the Edition Wars are still smouldering, and I’m certainly not trying to reignite them. Truth be told, while I generally liked 4e, I haven’t played any 4e in about two years now. I haven’t run it in about 5 years, and I have no particular interest in playing or running it anytime in the future. That’s why I know this book is great. It’s simply a fantastic collection of GMing advice for any GM of almost any game. In terms of practical advice on group dynamics, world building, adventure design, and many other fundamental aspects of being a good GM, it’s hard to beat. Whenever I feel stuck about a gaming concept, this is one of the first places I turn.
The Pirates Guide to Freeport by Patrick O’Duffy, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb - Ok so I’m a sucker for gritty, pirate adventure. Freeport is one of my favorite settings of all time. But this book is way more than a resource about Freeport. The juicy bits of awesome setting, location, and adventure ideas in this book have been mined for nearly every game I’ve run since I got it. Need an idea for a crime family? This book has at least half a dozen that are pure awesome. Need details on a cool location as a backdrop for your big battle? Dozens of them in this book. Want a juicy backstory for a NPC or even a PC you want to play? You’ll find one on almost every page. And it’s all amazing prose without any ugly stat blocks in the way. Truly a fantastic resource.
Next week I’ll discuss the non-gaming resources I need to keep on hand. Meanwhile I’d love to hear what your top three gaming resource books are in the comments here.
