Have much of your gaming books have you read?

[Voadam]

3e stuff I've read cover to cover.

PHB 3.0
Book of Challenges
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
Wildwood
Arena
Mysteries of Arena
Wrack and Ruin
Torn Asunder
Minions Rebirth
Complete Minions
DoomStriders
Norse Gods
Egyptian Gods
Greek Gods
Alchemy and Herbalists 3.5
Spells and Magic
Arms and Equipment Guide 3.5
Into the Green
Into the Blue
Into the Black
Out for Blood
Book of Templates
Beyond Monks 3.0
Call of Duty
Librum Equitis Compiled
Mythic Races
Ravenloft CS
Denizens of Darkness
Demon God's Fane
Way of the Sword
Hungry Little Monsters
EN Critters Along the Banks of the River Vaal
Ragnarok!
Doom of Odin
Twilight of Atlantis
War in Heliopolis
Twin Crowns CS
Broadsides!
Valus CS
Eight Kings
Relics and Rituals
Hallowfaust
Quintessential Wizard
Encyclopedia Divine Fey Magic
Slayer's Guide to Demons
Lunar Knights
Enchiridion of Mystic Music
Joe's Book of Enchantments
Core Class Variants unrevised edition
Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts
Book of Fiends
Soul Harvest
St. John's College of Abjuration
Harvest of Darkness
Midnight Terror
Action Maneuvers Flipkick

I think that is it, maybe more.

 

[Teflon Billy]

From the Do you have too amny RPG books? thread there are a few comments in there by people who have gaming books they have not read. It seems a bit odd to me that people would buy a book and then just stick it on their shelf. To help me not get too many books I read ever RPG book I get cover to cover. I'm curious how many other people do that? And why do people get books they don't read?

I do the same.

 

[danbuter]

Many of the books I own that I haven't read are on the "to be read someday" list. Some day, dammit, I will read them.

 

[Harmon]

I read as much of them as I can- usually what I need to know, but my reading comprehension is so bad and my reading speed is so slow that I can't read a book the size of the DMG all the way through in under a couple of months. I have to rely on my fellow Players, and my GM (or my Players when ever it is that I GM) to gain their in sight and their understanding, when as a GM I have to make a call I read what I can and I talk it out with them.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I read game books like I read the World Book Encyclopedia.

When I first get them I flip through the thing and look at all the pictures. If anything catches my eye I read that section.

Every now and then I grab a different one off the shelf and flip through it repeating the process.

They aren't novels, so I don't read them like novels. They are rule encyclopedias. If I need to know something I know where to find it.

 

[Pinotage]

Get out of my mind!

And then the time it takes to write the review... ugh!

*Steps outside* "Hey, the sun does shine out here!"

At least it takes a lot less time to write the review than to read the product.

Pinotage

 

[woodelf]

From the Do you have too amny RPG books? thread there are a few comments in there by people who have gaming books they have not read. It seems a bit odd to me that people would buy a book and then just stick it on their shelf. To help me not get too many books I read ever RPG book I get cover to cover. I'm curious how many other people do that? And why do people get books they don't read?

Well, first of all, my track record for RPG books is better than for non-RPG books. As someone once said, buying more books than you have time to read is optimism in action. I really do intend to read all the books i buy. It just doesn't always happen. It's a lot like ordering too much food for dinner because several things look good, and at the time you order you think you're hungry enough to eat it all.

Now, on to RPG books in particular.

• Sometimes i buy an RPG book knowing full well that it may be years 'til i even crack the cover, because it's such a good deal. But it's something that i want to play, i just know it won't happen soon (wrong group, too many games already lined up, etc.). Spycraft 2.0 was like this--a 'damaged' copy for $20. [As it turns out, i've read significant portions of it already, nonetheless.]
• Sometimes i buy an RPG book for a relatively small portion of its content. I bought the Spycraft Modern Arms Guide just for the fluid/cyclic initiative--i have no interest in introducing the level of detail that it embodies into equipment. This seems to be particularly true with D20 System books. I bought Tome of Magic for the pact magic stuff, am confident i'll never use the truename stuff in any way, and am unlikely to use the shadow magic stuff. For that matter, it is unlikely i'll ever use a prestige class, so i rarely even read that section of a book.
• Certain portions of RPG books are skipped until i need them. I still haven't read all the spells in Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, frex, because i'm not playing a spellcaster. If i were going to run a game of Werewolf: the Forsaken (a game i haven't read yet), i probably wouldn't even read the higher-rank gifts until the PCs became eligible for them, or i needed to create an NPC that could use them.
• Rarely, i buy an RPG book as reference material. I have a copy of GURPS (3rd ed) just so that when discussions reference it, i can get sufficient background to understand them (if needed). Having read most of it by now, i can safely say there's no way i would choose to play GURPS 3rd (and i doubt i'd ever play GURPS 4th).
• Similarly, i've bought a few RPG books as research. If i'm working on a game design, i'll look at how others have addressed a similar issue, either for inspiration, or to keep me from getting into a rut, or to help get past a mental block.
• Very rarely, i buy an RPG book for the library. In other words, for others. Same way i keep creamy peanut butter in the house for friends, even though i prefer super-chunky, and will generally eat something else rather than eat creamy peanut butter. And, soon, i expect to have a literal library--just have to figure out the logistics of loaning the books out, and what fees if any to charge, and so on.
• And, of course, we get back to the whole optimism thing. I absolutely love Ars Magica, and plan to play a campaign again someday, so i've bought just about every book put out for the game, even though i haven't actually played it since before 4th edition came out, and haven't yet read more than half of them.

 

[werk]

I read them all, cover to cover. I usually buy them 2 or 3 at a time, and bounce around until they are fully read.

I don't buy every book, nor am I a collector, so the only reason I have them is for use.

Now, remembering what I read, accurately...that's a different issue.

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

I almost never read a book cover to cover. I skim to get an idea what parts are about, read what's relevant to my campaign or PC at the moment plus anything interesting, and go back to read things as they become relevant. For example, I rarely if ever read all the PrCs in a book. I'll skim the charts then go back to them if I think "Hey, PrC X would make a neat villian when the PCs storm X place" or somesuch. Then I'll go back and actually read it. Same with feats, magic items, etc.

This is exactly what I do

Ideally, I would like to read them cover to cover (and probably should), but I just don't have the time.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

It isn't that I buy books and just stick them on a shelf. I buy them out of SOME interest, read the relevant parts and maybe a bit more. 99% of the time I then find that it is not immediately/directly applicable to my current game whereupon it goes onto the shelf as resource material until needed. And, I don't buy much RPG material anyway as most of what I do no longer requires a steady stream of new rules, settings, and background material.