Oh no! The DM has [BLANK]! Or: What strikes fear into the hearts of players?

[the Jester]

Usually the pcs get really scared when I pull out a thick homebrewed document, all nicely bound up by me at work.

 

[Droid101]

My PCs were about 18-19th level and I pulled out the Epic Level Handbook just before an encounter. They kept stalling me for some reason...

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Gee, wish I knew what it was.

Synnibarr? It is arguably the worst RPG ever made. It isn't d20, but if I was a player who saw that on my DMs table, I would quake with fear.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4762.html

 

[Pants]

I've noticed that I can make the players groan whenever I pull out a non-core book.
It doesn't have to be 3rd party or WotC, just non-core. I pull out the Fiend Folio and nearly everyone groans. I pull out the BoVD and I almost always hear a 'Oh crap...'

 

[Commonblade]

BoVD scares them!

I have only used the BoVD once before in my home game to destroy a city. Since then I have pulled it out again just recently in the last two game sessions. I gotta tell you, they give me some really stange looks.

 

[AGGEMAM]

Just wondering....

What books, in your opinion, do the players dread, to the point that they shudder when they see it sitting in the DM's stack of books?

Hitler's Mein Kampf ... then you shudder!!!!

 

[howandwhy99]

You should see them all shudder when I pull out the:

Book of Erotic Fantasy

 

[pogre]

Old WFRP chaos books because that means mutations a plenty!

BoVD is probably something they do not much want to see either.

 

[Frost]

Rappan Athuk.... that thing is a glorious PC meat-grinder.

 

[demiurge1138]

For a while, my players all feared the BoVD. Then, after a game turned to evil, they began to view it with confidence, and even comfort, although the Dragon 300 vile spells still worried a few of them (who had read the issue).

Then I got the Fiend Folio.

It still causes groans of fear and despair to this day.

Demiurge out.