What TTRPG Is Perfect and Complete In One Volume?

To be fair, that’s two books. I preferred the Basic Set and it’s definitely short enough to cram into one book, but it wasn’t. Same with the D&D Basic Set.

I think Icons (either edition) is completely fine as the one book, though the supplements don’t hurt. Fabula Ultima is fine as one book. Supers! is absolutely dandy as one book.

A lot of superhero games are at least somewhat self-contained, if you're willing to make your own villains (some have enough you could get by for a while without doing that). The question often turns on whether there's enough examples to give you good modelling.
 

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Except D&D, most games are perfect with just the first book, and D&D is good with its first three books. Over the years I've become very skeptical of expansions and companion books. I often feel they hold rules that were rejected for the first book and introduce complexity without making things better. There is something known as the Splatbook Phenonema, where a book expanding on a certain aspect of the rules complicate this type of play to the point where it becomes useless. Shadowrun is particularily notorious for this.
 


For me, gurps 3rd edition basic set before the revision when it still had an adventure module and strands of fate 2nd edition would be my picks. Both generic, and I think strands explains the concepts of fate better than the actual fate core book does. It's got issues with aspect bloat, but for fate gaming in one book, it's my pick, and for me any one book game would have to be generic to make the cut. But that's because I get tired of playing in his one genre all the time
 

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