What's Your Favorite Fluff...Stuff?

[Mamacat]

I work in a library (and one that buys RPG books for check out), so luckily, I'm surrounded by stuff to use for fluff!! I think my favourites are Hamunaptra (That is WAY misspelled, it's an egyptian boxed set) from Green Ronin, along with Black Company also from them. I also love GURPS books for fluff. Also, maps and guide books from AAA are great for fluff mining, and I like mining myths from other cultures as well.

Worst....gotta be Midnight.

 

[Chris Tavares]

Personal favorite has to be Castle Falkenstein. Gorgeous art, a genre-mash that appeals to every true gamer , and when the binding on the book snaps in half it breaks apart exactly where the fluff ends and the crunch starts.

Space:1889 is really nice for worldbuilding, rules are awful.

For straight d20 stuff, I happen to like Eberron a lot. Green Ronin's Mindshadows campaign setting is really, really cool, and I'd second the vote for Hamunaptra.

I also really like some of the Horizon books from FFG, particularly Spellslinger and Virtual. They pack just enough into those tiny books to give you the feel, while leaving them wide open to do whatever you want with them.

 

[Mechnomancer]

Delta Green is by far the best supplement put out for any game. the level of Detal and intricicy far outstrips any other book i have read.

Runner ups would include:

Pulp:
-Hollow Earth Expedition
-Pulp HERO
-Trail of Cthulhu

Sci Fi
-Cthulhutech
-Rifts

Fantasy:
-Eberron (the campaign setting and Sharn books)
-The Black Company
-Sundered Skies probably will once it is released

Misc.:
-Call of Cthulhu
-octaNe!
-Prime Time Adventures

 

[DMH]

Settings: Jakandor, Oathbound, Morninstar, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Second World, Wonderland (JAGS setting), 13 Colonies (same), Gamma World, Azk'arn (Sorcerer), Mechanical Dream and Lesser Shades of Evil

Games: The Collectors, Providence and Army Ants

 

[Center-of-All]

For D&D, Eberron and Dark Sun are the only settings that have ever really set my imagination on fire. Outside of that, GURPS and nWoD are constantly putting out amazing stuff. GURPS Infinite Worlds and Promethean: the Created are among the best supplements of all time, for any game system.

 

[Gothmog]

As others have said, some of the best ideas come from real world sources, so I always try to check history, archaeology, and science texts or articles from some cool ideas. From game books, the best fluff comes from:

Ars Magica
Midnight
Arcanis
Fading Suns
Deadlands
Darwin's World
Conan RPG
WHFRP
Dark Heresy (WH40K for that matter- some of the best sci-fi fluff out there)
Kult (yes its dark and twisted, but chock-full of incredible ideas)
WoD (old or new)
Call of Cthulhu (including the new Trail of Cthulhu)
Almost any GUPRS supplement

 

[TerraDave]

Some of the above reminded me of: Call of Cthulhu D20.

Great flavour and an excellent overview of the cthulhuverse.

 

[johnnype]

Greyhawk has a very interesting free fluff writeup in Ivid the Undying.

I agree 100% with those who have listed Iron Kingdoms and Midnight. Ptolus is very interesting but a little too generic to make it all that interesting.

L5R has a great setting with wonderful characters and a rich and ongoing storyline. The fluff is a lot of fun when taken in small doses.

Exalted is at least 50% fluff material. It has no metaplot as the setting is set in time and not moving forward but colorful and full of life. I often criticize the authors for being too verbose and taking far too long to get to the point but that's just me.

Not fantasy:

Heavy Gear has the best metaplot and setting info I've ever read bar none.

Transhuman Space is an amazing setting. If you're looking for a hard sci-fi setting set in this solar system you could do a lot worse than THS.

Delta Green is awesome in the truest definition of the word. It takes Cthulhu mythos and adds a level of grit that modernizes the setting perfectly.

 

[catsclaw227]

For d20/OGL stuff I like:

Oathbound
Scarred Lands
Warlords of the Accordlands
Wilderlands of High Fantasy
Midnight
Iron Kingdoms
Freeport
Valus
Book of the Righteous
Fiendish Codex 1 & 2
Arcanis


For fun smaller bits there was good fluff in Bluffside, Green Ronin's Mythic Vistas line, the stuff in all the Ronin Arts a dozen.... books had some great ideas.

 

[Khairn]

Best Fluff period ....

Primal Order
Iron Kingdoms
Harn
Exalted
Shadow World
Forgotten Realms 3E
Torg
Second World Sourcebook
MERP
Pathfinder
Planescape
Birthright
Ptolus
Scarred Lands