Top 3 All-Time RPG Supplements

[jdrakeh]

What is your list of all-time Top 3 RPG supplements (i.e. books specifically written as supplements for RPGs)? These are those books that are awesome, multi-utility, supplements that you get a tremendous amount of use out of, regardless of the system they were originally designed for. In no specific order, mine are:

The Apocalypse Stone for AD&D is a somewhat underwhelming adventure, but it's a great handbook on how to blow up a fantasy setting regardless of what system you happen to be using.

Palladium RPG Book II: Old Ones is an awesome collection of maps of cities, towns, and forts that can easily be used to breathe life into any fantasy RPG setting (I've used it heavily in AD&D and Rolemaster, for example).

Sprawl Sites (for Shadowrun) is a great collection of adventure seeds and story-starters that is good for both reading and practical use in cyberpunk settings in general (it doesn't take much adaptation to use them in non-Shadowrun settings).

 

[Bilharzia]

My top 38,000:

Internet Archive Search: The ancient world

of note:

People of the earth : an introduction to world prehistory

People of the earth : an introduction to world prehistory : Fagan, Brian M : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

xxv, 597 p. : 28 cm. +

archive.org

The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art

The mind in the cave : consciousness and the origins of art : Lewis-Williams, J. David : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

320 pages : 24 cm

archive.org

After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000-5000 BC

After the Ice

20,000 B.C., the peak of the last ice age--the atmosphere is heavy with dust, deserts, and glaciers span vast regions, and people, if the...

www.goodreads.com

 

[Alzrius]

For me, it's the following:


Eclipse: The Codex Persona is a d20 supplement that, to me, epitomizes the mantra of "options, not restrictions" that characterized D&D Third Edition. It presents a point-buy (rather than character class-based) system for building not only characters, as well as races, and is remarkable for the sheer amount of options it allowed for. What makes it different from other point-buy systems is that if offers guidelines wherein weaknesses can be introduced to abilities in exchange for either a cost reduction or a power-up in another aspect. Of course, all of this requires adjudication by the GM, as well as players who don't want to be disruptive, power-game, or otherwise hog the spotlight (instead of everyone adhering to a "Rules As Written" paradigm), but a glance at what the author's done on his blog should make it clear how impressive this is.


The Primal Order is, for me, the last word in deities and religions in tabletop RPGs. I've seen a lot of supplements that de-emphasize the presence of gods in favor of their terrestrial institutions, but this one puts the focus squarely on the deities in a way that makes it clear that they're the movers and shakers of the multiverse, and what that means in the scope of your game! Not a bestiary of cosmic beings, it instead outlines what gods are, what they can do, and what takes up their time and effort every day. The "capstone" appendices of how this works for various RPGs are the cherry on the sundae here (even if they did bring legal trouble), and I still refer to this book and its supplements today.


I'm not sure if there's every been a more elegant D&D product than the Rules Cyclopedia. Compressing the first four entries of the BECMI line, along with some salient parts of the D&D Gazetteers, and even giving a quick conversion guide for AD&D 2E, this was the all-in-one package. Not a starter set, it presented literally everything you needed to play D&D from levels 1 to 36, including campaign setting information, a collection of monsters, spells and magic items, and how to quest for immortality (even if playing an Immortal wasn't to be found here). There's a reason why this book has the acclaim that it does among those who remember it.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[jdrakeh]

For me, it's the following:


Eclipse: The Codex Persona is a d20 supplement that, to me, epitomizes the mantra of "options, not restrictions" that characterized D&D Third Edition. It presents a point-buy (rather than character class-based) system for building not only characters, as well as races, and is remarkable for the sheer amount of options it allowed for. What makes it different from other point-buy systems is that if offers guidelines wherein weaknesses can be introduced to abilities in exchange for either a cost reduction or a power-up in another aspect. Of course, all of this requires adjudication by the GM, as well as players who don't want to be disruptive, power-game, or otherwise hog the spotlight (instead of everyone adhering to a "Rules As Written" paradigm), but a glance at what the author's done on his blog should make it clear how impressive this is.

I honestly thought that I alone ever read and used this book (there aren't too many mentions of it online). Cool!

 

[Alzrius]

I honestly thought that I alone ever read and used this book (there aren't too many mentions of it online). Cool!

I've felt the same way; glad to know it's not just me!

Also, at the risk of being self-aggrandizing, I've made some Eclipse builds over on my blog. Check them out if you ever feel so inclined.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Can’t really go top 3, but:

WotC’s The Primal Order series of books
Task Force Games’ The Central Casting series of books
Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous
Palladium’s Compendium of Weapons, Armour, and Castles
GURPS Martial Arts

I’ve used them countless times over the years, across editions and even systems.

 

[Jd Smith1]

G and D series, TSR, AD&D
Dark Tower, Judges Guild. D&D
City of Lies, Legend of the 5 rings

 

[TerraDave]

Palladium’s Compendium of Weapons, Armour, and Castles
GURPS Martial Arts

I have that Palladium guide, and use to use it a lot. I have GUPRS books that I really liked, and have never played GURPS.

My old 1E DMG remains the single book I reference the most. At some point I realized that the--BEST SELLING--Moldvay/Cook books--and the openings of those accompanying modules, are also great, and sort of cliff notes to the AD&D stuff that I would for games published years latter.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jaquays. The gold standard of dungeons - history, layout, factions; it's all there.

Faiths & Avatars for the Forgotten Realms. Finally, a stake in the heart of bad design which was generic clerics.

 

[delericho]

"Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide" for AD&D 2nd Ed is #1 for me.

#2 and #3 are rather more fluid. Probably the original "Chicago by Night" for Vampire: the Masquerade, and the "Star Wars Sourcebook" for SW d6.

That said, Jared Blando has two books on drawing maps, "Fantasy Art & RPG Maps" and "Fantasy Mapmaker". I'm not sure if these are strictly RPG supplements, but they've jumped to very high positions on my list.