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Message: <blockquote data-quote="chaochou" data-source="post: 6102216" data-attributes="member: 99817">I've felt this way for a long time. I stopped buying games based on the 'wall of books' publishing model sometime in the early 90s - I think Call of Cthulhu was the last RPG where I bought extensive setting books, guides, campaigns and scenarios.But as  @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=27160" target="_blank">Balesir</a>  and  @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=98938" target="_blank">Def</a>con1 said, there are a lot of very good standalone games out there where one book is all you'll ever need or be sold.I'd point to Apocalypse World. The mechanics engine has been adapted for Dungeon World, if you prefer fantasy, or Monsterhearts if you want Buffy-style supernatural teen angst.Then there's The Burning Wheel, Burning Empires for a sci-fi take and Mouse Guard - using a simplified BW to replicate the comics (which seem to be a kind of Beatrix Potter meets The Three Musketeers mash-up).You've got the FATE family - Spirit of the Century (Pulp), Diaspora (Sci-fi), Legends of Anglerre (Fantasy), Dresden Files (Modern supernatural) and others.Almost none of these games have any splatbooks, supplements, guides, handbooks or scenarios. One book, your imagination and a bunch of people excited to play is all there is and, in most cases, all there ever will be.One thing I'd note - of all the games I've listed, Burning Wheel is the only one I'd really consider written for 'long-term' play. They tend to be about putting characters in a situation and seeing what happens, not 'exploring a setting'.So, for example, in Apocalypse World you might run 10-20 sessions and then you will probably have told the story of that set of characters and situations and mayhem. I'm not envisaging my Fate game going more than 15-20. These are not generally games where 'campaigns' last years and years. Burning Wheel can run like that though - not because there's a load of setting splat to use, but because the beliefs, experience, improvement cycle is built to run like that.Best of luck. Hope you find a game that clicks.</blockquote>

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