Your Favorite RPG Supplement, for any Game, Period

[Baron Opal]

I have many of the supplements mentioned above. When I think of what has been useful, been a fun read and given me years of use I come down to:

Universal Brotherhood - The only organization that could tie up the power-mongering beasts in my Shadowrun game, for two real-time years, no less. Sadly lost in the Great Gaming Purge of '96.

Big Rubble - This has been a template for other lost cities and environs in my campaigns for years, not to mention being a great time in my RuneQuest game.

Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st ed. - The first and the greatest. While I and my gaming buddies prefered our own worlds to that of Greyhawk the evocative artifact descriptions fueled our imaginations for over a decade.

As I look to the future, I expect Ptolus and Arcana Evolved to take their places next to these three hallowed titles.

 

[Sunderstone]

Not in order (and off the top of my head)...

• Forgotten Realms Boxed Set (grey box)
• Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (by Erik and Co.)
• Greyhawk, The Adventure Begins
• The Ravenloft Boxed Set
• In the Cage: A guide to Sigil
• The Factol's Manifesto
• The Expanded Psionics Handbook
• Zebulon's Guide Frontier Space (from Star Frontiers, I used this book for a long time SF campaign)

 

[Set]

As with so many before me, I can't pick just one;

GURPS Timeline - more adventure seeds than you can shake a stick at, and particularly useful when playing Vampire and wanting some 'local color' about someting that happened 50 years ago.

Arcana Unearthed - I love Monte's magic system and flexible class structures (a half-dozen different types of witch, champion, totem-warrior, etc.). This is what the Warlock or Sorcerer could have been with a decent write up, divided out into those of Fiendish, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Draconic, Aberrant, etc. heritage.

Unearthed Arcana 3e - So much variety, I love toolkits.

Players Handbook II - same as UA 3e. Nothing pleases me more than racial and class substitution levels. Get away from those lousy PrCs.

Mutants & Masterminds 1e - so streamlined, it's perfect for comic-book superhero action.

Trinity - best sci-fi setting I've ever seen, able to accomodate *everything* I'd want.

Luna Rising - the first, and, IMO, best Order book for the Trinity setting.

Adventure! - Pulp! What's not to love?

Tradbook: Sons of Ether for Mage - so much love!

GURPS I.S.T. - best superhero setting, with Aberrant nipping at it's heels. (Aberrant would win on flavor, but the IST setting accomodates all types of superheroic origins, such as aliens, mages and powered armor characters, while Aberrant is self-limiting.)

Guide to the Technocracy - why are the bad-guys always so much freaking cooler than the good-guys?

Al-Qadim campaign setting - best 2e campaign setting, with Kara-Tur and Greyhawk only a hair behind.

Scarred Lands campaign setting - best 3e campaign setting. Unlike 2e, I haven't seen anyone even get close yet to as evocative and compelling a setting for 3e.

Ultimate Power (M&M 2e) - breaks down the power construction scheme, allowing the GM or player to build anything using the basic tools. Just invaluable for tweaking powers to make oddball or just uncommon super concepts.

College of Wizardry - so cool, the Language Primeval was an amazing concept.

The Complete Necromancer's Handbook - yet another 2e product that remains a vital source of inspiration and sits proudly with my 3.x stuff.

Honorable mention

The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook - a dozen *amazingly* cool ideas, for the most part badly implemented. It's a great source for inspiration, even if the mechanics are wince-inducing.

 

[Raven Crowking]

For my money, the 1e DMG.

RC