Surely this post is asking me to pick out my favourite book that supports a game. I am sure there are a bunch of posts out there about rangers and in-game events, but I think, for me, that it is all about the best guide I have ever found in a game.
Guide
I have played, and owned, so many games that I could never even come close to telling you how many in total. Of these systems, I have owned many, many guide books to enhance the core rules in various ways. So how do I choose the best guide book that I have ever had? Well, I am going to cheat a little and tell you two – a runner up and a winner for me. They are both books from the same company, but different games.
Shadowrun: The Seattle Sourcebook
The runner up in this situation is this pearler of a book. When I started running FASA’s Shadowrun (first edition the late Eighties/early Nineties) I don’t think I would ever have run it so well without this book. Essentially a guide book about Seattle the city offering local spots and locations throughout all the suburbs that make up Seattle. This book really did nothing for the rules but did everything for the setting. I think I have bought and sold many copies of this book in my time as a gamer and I always wish I didn’t sell it afterwards.
Earthdawn: Legends of Earthdawn
The winner for me is this great guide. It is a book that lays out a bunch of stories, legends, in the Earthdawn Universe. They are designed to inspire games in the Universe, and though I never firmly based games off any of them, they certainly made my world of Earthdawn come alive. NPC’s would mention these tales and players would take on snippets of them and really begin to understand the setting.
So the moral of the story for me is do not add more rules – add more story. You may find me putting you ahead of these two in years to come.