Which book(s) 'did it' for you?

[Snoweel]

I'm talking inspiration here.

For me, it was Boxed-Set-D&D (is that the same as OD&D? - with elves and dwarves and halflings as classes) module B10 Night's Dark Terror.

This mega module was, for me (about 12 at the time), the pinnacle of plot-, campagn- and world-building.

I was inspired to make my game much more than a series of unrelated dungeon-crawls (which is all they were at the time), and it was pivotal in my development as a story-focused DM.

The related GAZ01 Grand Duchy of Karameikos runs a close second.

Which book triggered your gaming epiphany?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well, I wouldn't say this is the only book that "did it" for me...

But if I had to pick my earliest major inspiration (outside the core books/boxes, of course), it would actually be the old Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, by James M. "Drawmij" Ward.

Thing is, I never played in Greyhawk, except to the extent that playing with the core 1E books meant you were sort of playing in Greyhawk unless you decided otherwise. For me, though, Greyhawk Adventures wasn't cool because it was info on a specific campaign setting. That book really opened my eyes to the concept of creating an actual campaign world of my own. The earliest D&D stuff I ever put on paper, in terms of designing a world, was heavily modeled after that book, down to the chapter divisions. And while my style has evolved rather substantially since elementary/middle school, some of the stuff that book sparked actually still exists in my largest homebrew world today.

I can't think of another single non-core book that shaped my thinking, at any specific point during my RPG-playing career, as that one did.

 

[Southern Oracle]

The Planescape boxed set changed the way I approached campaign design. Something about the majesty and intrigue of Sigil and the factions grabbed ahold of my heart, and I've tried to pass that on to my players ever since.

 

[Gnarlo]

The World of Greyhawk folio. Those huge, beautiful maps, and the Gazeteer detailing a little of the history and politics of each place on the map opened my eyes to the possibility that adventures could be in a place that stayed consistent and had a reason for existing other than simply a location to stick your dungeons.

I immediately shifted my players and the places they had been into the Barony of Ratik, and when I started my homebrew a few months later it was needless to say very closely modelled after the contents of this folio (even kept it in a pocketed folder

 

[NiTessine]

The 2E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting box. I still remember the day I bought it. It was the summer of 1998. I was 13 (Egads, how long ago!). I remember reading the booklets for the whole hour-long bus ride home, enchanted by the richness of detail and wealth of adventure hooks around every corner.

Sadly, though, I couldn't run my first proper AD&D campaign until I was institutionalised a year later... My longest-running campaign is still the one I ran in the funny farm.

 

[evileeyore]

I'm talking inspiration here.

For me, it was Boxed-Set-D&D (is that the same as OD&D? - with elves and dwarves and halflings as classes) module B10 Night's Dark Terror.

I don't think the old box set was OD&D, you were probably playing the Old Red Box ('Basic Set' I believe).

The book that most inspired me (Aside GURPS 2nd ed) would have been Warlock of Firetop Mountian. In fact I had read a good handful from that series as well as the Choose Your Own Adventure series before I ever roleplayed with a group.

I went through all the books my library had those summers. That was back in like '82-84. Every summer I'd go check out whatever they had and read voraciously. Good times.

Editted for tag cleaning

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The old red box Basic set, with the Erol Otus art and Keep on the Borderlands module. I got it about a year after I had read Lord of the Rings for the first time and it just seemed a perfect fit.

 

[Piratecat]

Originally, back before I had even heard of the game, it was module B1. Flipping floors? Tubs of acid? Dungeons and one-way doors? I was in love.

Later, it was the Planescape boxed set. I've never found another supplement that melded so well with the way I run my game.

For cities, it was the Waterdeep boxed set. The product was lousy in a lot of ways - horrible organization - but deconstructing it taught me a ton about how to build a good fantasy city and how to run city adventures.

 

[Deadguy]

The old red box Basic set, with the Erol Otus art and Keep on the Borderlands module. I got it about a year after I had read Lord of the Rings for the first time and it just seemed a perfect fit.

Yes, I think I have to agree with Olgar here. I'd talked with another RPer prior to that, but it was that Red Box (it wasn't even mine, it belonged to a friend) which got me into gaming. I remember my appalling extension to KotB (the innovatively named 'Caves of Chaos') which was a true Monty Haul!

And curiously I had indeed only recently finished reading Lord of the Rings - it was my third attempt, and the one that worked.

Small world, eh?

 

[Crothian]

THe little red box got me into gaming, but it was actually Palladium's Hero's Unlimited that ignited the spark. That was the first non fantasy, non D&D RPG we had ever seen. It opened our eyes to new posibilities, new genres, and new games.