Most useless book ever?

[jinx crossbow]

1. Green Races
2. All Scarred Land stuff, it makes me fall sleep

 

[Umbran]

So what's your most useless book ever?

Must....crack...joke. Can't....resist....

Olsen's Standard Book of British Birds - Expurgated Version

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Oh that's easy.

Sprawl Sites, for Shadowrun.

Old 1st ed SR book that had maps for various locations one might visit in the course of 'running. The back section had a number of random encounters broken down by encounter type.

The maps were ... lame. Limp and uninteresting. The random encounters were worse. I bought the book, read through it, scoffed at the content and banished it to the back of the collection never to be used.

Interesting.

The maps were lame, but they weren't supposed to be cool. They were supposed to be maps you used when the party suddenly decides they want to go to a nightclub and a fight breaks out. They were templates more than anything else.

We didn't use the random encounters but they helped give us a good idea of the flavor of the game. Actually I take that back. The DM used the one with the Troll gang "Lovers of Cats" that came down hard on any sort of animal abuse.

We never used this book "out of the box" so to speak, but it was a great start point for us.

 

[The_Magician]

D&D3e core books (PHB, DMG and MM)

 

[JoeGKushner]

Dragonlords of Melnibone d20

I can't even give it away, because I don't want to dump it on someone without telling them how awful it is, and then they decide they don't want it.

While the rules could use some work, the background details and maps are handy no? Be good for a fan of MM.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Even to the staunchest detractors of the 3.0 PsiHB, I can't see how it can hold a candle to the horribleness that was the 2E PsiHB. But, I did actually allow a Psion in a game I ran in 2E. He was the party's deus ex machina. He wouldn't do anything until they got in over their heads and then he would solve all their problems with one blink.

Yeah, it was neat being able to use disintegrate well before the wizard, or heal when the cleric was out of power or.... but man, the power points went way too quick!

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

While the rules could use some work, the background details and maps are handy no? Be good for a fan of MM.

Even the background details and maps are a hodgepodge of stuff culled from the BRP Stormbringer game, and just thrown together to cash in on the d20 license. For a Moorcock fan, I'd recommend they just get the BRP versions, as they have the info presented in a logical way. Dragonlords was the first time I read a book from Chaosium and thought "Who thought that was acceptable for publication?"

 

[mcrow]

I'm going to get lit up for saying it but:

Eternal Rome

it's no badly written or anything but I don't see how anyone would need it to run a roman game.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I did. I payed money for it intentionally. Just to say that yes I own a copy, and also to threaten my players with.

Something along the lines of "Go down to the kitchen and bring your DM a soda or I break out the Synnibar book! Don't make me use this! I'll smack you with its unrepentant wretchedness! Don't make me put it on your bookshelves and let it copulate with your other books. I will! And yeah, another diet coke would be good."

You an evil, evil person.

...I may have to yoink that idea.

 

[Halivar]

The Slayer's Guide to X convinced me never to buy any more non-WotC books.

The Planar Handbook convinced me never to buy any more WotC books, either.