Name an Awesome Book

[Josh]

Name an Awesome Book and explain why, but not to actually play.

The premise of this thread is to give some books for people to keep an eye out for that have weak rules but are worth getting for the ideas.

1) Transhuman Space - GURPS/Steve Jackson Games - Even among GURPS books this one is fascinating.  Foremost is the exploration of transhumanisim, like in cyberpunk.  (Actually this is a sort of cyberpunk, minus the punk.)  The book uses "real" futurist concepts and projects them into a genuine Sci-Fi world.  And when I say real I mean actual research.  The problem with most game books is that the writer has no grasp of science or engineering so they look foolish.  Not this book.  I am always impressed with GURPS sourcebooks, I am extra impressed with this one.  Almost any Sci Fi campaign could benefit from this book. 

2) Cthulhutech - Flaming Cobra/Mongoose - I have an unnatural love for this book for putting cool ideas in my brain.  This book is full of awesome ideas executed horribly.  I challenge anyone to look through this book and not think awesome thoughts.  Out of all the books I wish I could go back and fix the mechanics this is my number 1. 

[AngelBlade]

One of the ones that I love is Rifts Worldbook: Japan

I loved the art, and I loved the way they old world mysticism/magic and new world technology...

of course it's the Rifts system, so... i never actually got to use any of that cool stuff. LOL

AngelBlade

[Prime32]

Is it okay to list novels with interesting settings?

[Sinfire Titan]

Is it okay to list novels with interesting settings?

Or books with no rules in them at all, but are still worth getting because of the ideas they hold? If so, my recomendations are the Liber Chaotica and Watership Down. Just because they are that awesome when you need basic ideas for a campaign.

[Josh]

Do you know that there is a Watership down rpg from GURPS?

And feel free to list any books you think are useful.  It might spark an interesting discussion.

Like what makes a book helpful for RPGs.

Then again we could do a whole thread just on book worlds.  So keep this thread about books that have useful things and start a new thread about worlds from books.

[Josh]

One of the ones that I love is Rifts Worldbook: Japan

I loved the art, and I loved the way they old world mysticism/magic and new world technology...

of course it's the Rifts system, so... i never actually got to use any of that cool stuff. LOL

AngelBlade

Rifts does have some really awesome looking books

Germany, Japan and Russia all had great tech stuff.  Cyborgs and power armor. 

In fact I am resisting the urge to go looking for my books right now.

[Sinfire Titan]

Do you know that there is a Watership down rpg from GURPS?

And feel free to list any books you think are useful.  It might spark an interesting discussion.

Like what makes a book helpful for RPGs.

Then again we could do a whole thread just on book worlds.  So keep this thread about books that have useful things and start a new thread about worlds from books.

I've heard about it, but I dislike the idea as a whole. The books were great, but games based off of books and TV shows usually don't work out. Besides, all of my players would give me funny looks if I tried that.

[bhu]

I dunno, there's a group of goth gamer girls nearby who luv GURPS Bunnies.  You'd be surprised who ends up being fans of some books.

[Sinfire Titan]

I dunno, there's a group of goth gamer girls nearby who luv GURPS Bunnies.  You'd be surprised who ends up being fans of some books.

That's them. My players would never let me get away with the idea.

[InnaBinder]

Guildcraft - Bastion Press.  It's got several ready-made guilds for different classes, races, and specific purposes to just drop into a game, and really simple rules for creating your own.  It's for the D20 system.

[j0lt]

d20 Apocalypse.  Perfectly fits in with the "toolbox" approach that made d20 Modern my favourite system.  d20 Apocalypse provides several disparate setting frameworks, but leaves you to fill in the details as you see fit.  They provide several alternate rules mechanics, such as TU (trade units) which all have that lovely plug-n-play feel, to further allow you to take what you want for the campaign you're running, and ignore the rest.

And while not a whole book, page 102-119 in the Urban Arcana sourcebook that details the Incantation mechanic of ritual-based magic is absolutely brilliant for anyone who wants a low-magic game while still allowing fantasy/horror novel style magic.

[Cam_Banks]

I dunno, there's a group of goth gamer girls nearby who luv GURPS Bunnies.  You'd be surprised who ends up being fans of some books.

Bunnies and Burrows was a game on its own before it became a GURPS sourcebook. It was rather influential, being the first game to allow the play of animals as player characters and for a number of other minor rules/setting innovations. Of course, nowadays people would look at it and wonder what the big deal was.

Cheers,
Cam

[brokenoakleys]

The old Traveller 'Mercenary' and 'High Guard' books.  They had a unique character generation system that was like a lot like the game 'Life':  you started out at 18 years of age, made career and education choices, and rolled dice to figure out if you suceeded.  Would you start out as a conscripted foot soldier or a space academy educated star pilot?  Your choices and the die rolls determined the outcome. 

Then each year of your career was documented, with possible special assignments, skill improvements, medals or even death.  You could opt out at any time and begin your adventuring career.  Opting out early mean you were young but had little accumulated wealth or skills.  Opting out later meant more risk of dying or loss of health due to age, but more skills and wealth, including the possibility of getting your own starship!


 

[Talen Lee]

Do you know that there is a Watership down rpg from GURPS?

And, because it's GURPS, you can easily mod it into being We3, the RPG.

You get bonus XP if you make someone cry.

[skydragonknight]

The old Traveller 'Mercenary' and 'High Guard' books.  They had a unique character generation system that was like a lot like the game 'Life':  you started out at 18 years of age, made career and education choices, and rolled dice to figure out if you suceeded.  Would you start out as a conscripted foot soldier or a space academy educated star pilot?  Your choices and the die rolls determined the outcome. 

Then each year of your career was documented, with possible special assignments, skill improvements, medals or even death.  You could opt out at any time and begin your adventuring career.  Opting out early mean you were young but had little accumulated wealth or skills.  Opting out later meant more risk of dying or loss of health due to age, but more skills and wealth, including the possibility of getting your own starship!

Traveller itself is pretty unique in that it's the only game I know of where you can actually die during character creation.

[Cam_Banks]

Traveller itself is pretty unique in that it's the only game I know of where you can actually die during character creation.

You can also die during character creation in the West End Games' DC Universe RPG, if you create a speedster character and lose yourself in the Speed Force. It's sort of like dying. It's certainly time to start over and make a new character.

Cheers,
Cam

[Shoggoth]

Do you know that there is a Watership down rpg from GURPS?

And, because it's GURPS, you can easily mod it into being We3, the RPG.

You get bonus XP if you make someone cry.

I just teared up a little bit, goddamnit.

That poor bunny...   

[Talen Lee]

Do you know that there is a Watership down rpg from GURPS?

And, because it's GURPS, you can easily mod it into being We3, the RPG.

You get bonus XP if you make someone cry.

I just teared up a little bit, goddamnit.

That poor bunny...   

This is how you know you have a soul.

[RobbyPants]

One of my personal favs has always been D&D 3.5's Heroes of Horror.

There are some rules in there, but at at least half of the book is just flavor suggestions and ideas.  A lot of the ideas in the book could be used in many different editions or games.

[woodenbandman]

^YEAH!

I think that the best ideas to look for aren't so much setting ideas as much as playstyle or narration style ideas.