Splat Books

[RogueJK]

The '*' is called a 'splat' by publishers and those in the publishing industry. It was just picked by gamers as a derogatory term for anything they don't like.

Well, you're half right, there...

The asterisk (*) is where it gets the name splatbook from, but the term "splatbooks" is not mean as a derogatory term to show a dislike of the book... The asterisk, or "splat", is commonly used by publishers and printers to designate an unknown.

The term "splatbook", as Crothian said, refers to any number of books with various subjects, which are usually produced in a series. These categories of books usually have the term "book" placed at the end of the title of the category. i.e. Classbooks, Sourcebooks, Worldbooks, etc.

The "splat" is inserted to show that it is a book of this type, on any number of various subjects. A "*book". Replace the * with a word related to the subject of the book, and you have a more narrowly defined category of books, such as Clanbooks.

This broad grouping of books is commonly referred to as "splatbooks" by gamers. It isn't meant to imply something negative. It is merely a classification of books, just like Short Story Collection, Paperback Fiction, or Encyclopedia would be used to classify other types of books.

 

[Staffan]

Hmm... it was my impression that Splatbook specifically referred to books that takes a fundamental PC division (preferably with game-mechanical impact) and give an in-depth description of one group created by that division. Stuff like AD&D's Complete _____ handbooks, D&D's Classbooks, Exalted's Caste books, Mage's Tradition books or L5R's Clan books are all splatbooks, while stuff like adventures (like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil), "generic" rule expansions (like Manual of the Planes), and world descriptions (like the FRCS or the forthcoming Silver Marches) don't.

Splatbooks are also often associated with "power creep" - each subsequent expansion increases the power level a little in order to make it more attractive to players. A 2e fighter created with the proficiencies and kits from the Complete Fighter's Handbook is more powerful than one created out of the PHB alone, but less powerful than an Elven Archer created with the Complete Elves' Handbook. This is not true for *all* class books (notably, the AD&D Complete Priest's Handbook lowered the power level for priests compared to the PHB Cleric), but it's common enough to be a stereotype.

 

[sircaren]

What an odd collection of definitions, I didn't think there would be so many differing opinions. Thanks all.

 

[Henry]

Sircaren, RogueJK has it right: it is a printing term, started long before Role Playing Games, but really popularized with White Wolf's Clanbooks for the "Vampire" game.

 

[Crothian]

I'm not certain why people keep thinking Splatbook is a bad word. I like especially in the days of d20 with all the source material. When I ask my friends what their latest splat books are they picked up they know I'm talking about the little add ons and not modules or new games.

 

[Vaxalon]

I thought the term came from Mark Rein*Hagen, whose name was originally "Rein-Hagen" but in a move reminiscent of the name-games of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince changed the dash to a dot, that standard dot that is a standard part of the White Wolf line.

Mark Rein*Hagen is, if you don't already know, one of the primary people behind the White Wolf line of roleplaying products.

People started calling him Mark Rein-splat-Hagen, with the same kind of mild derision reminiscent of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

That was what moved "splat" from the typographer's term into the gaming vocabulary.

 

[Tiberius]

I was always under the impression that since there was a substantial computer geek community involved in role-playing games, the term splatbook came from UNIX. Since the * in the assorted splatnix distros (and DOS, for that matter) denoted a "wild card", it would make sense to call the assorted clanbooks, tradition books, class books, etc. *books, or "splatbooks", given that the * looks like a splat up close.

-Tiberius

 

[Corinth]

I first heard it in reference to the faction sourcebooks published by White Wolf Game Studios back in the mid-'90s, and it was in a derogotory tone as the books were largely the same (especially the Werewolf line's first iteration). The term spread beyond the World of Darkness and into general gamer lexicon thereafter, so now it's commonly used to mean "RPG supplement that focuses upon one or a few related groups, usually by expanding options and adding new toys".