Have you ever found a rulesbook that was too boring to read but the concept is interesting? GURPS? HERO? WH40K?

It's supposed to be DMG and PHB combined. Idk, I know the ships are unbalanced and I suppose you could just skip that.

Shadowrun

What the actual flying fuck? Is this supposed to be some metaphorical circle jerk of shame? or an actaul circle jerk between two people "Larping" (pretending to fuck)?

i like reading rulebooks, but infinity was pure pain to read through. That rulebook is a fucking mess.

>Cºntinuum

Not worth the effort. The background details of the timecops make zero sense as soon as you start looking at it, and the rules are garbage.

I just abandoned Anima: Beyond Fantasy. The rules as described were really uninteresting. I can see how it would work as a functional game, but it was just so mind-numbingly bland I couldn't bring myself to finish the core book.

Ironically, the only win/lose portion of the system is a game of chicken to see if the rapist or the victim gets too uncomfortable to continue. It's supposed to be some sort of sensitivity exercise, but the problem is that you have two results:

A.) Strangers or acquaintances who play together and are too uncomfortable with it to get through the thing, especially where you have to stare into eachother's eyes while describing how you rape/react to your rape.

A.) Friends with sick (or great) senses of humor who play together and are too busy cracking up ver it to get through the thing, especially where you have to stare into eachother's eyes while describing how you rape/react to your rape.

Only the former is approved of by the designers, who explicitly say no fun allowed while playing.

Unironically GURPS.
I fucking love the game and playing it. But I hardly ever manage to read more than a few pages before starting to fall asleep, no matter the time or coffee.

Almost anything over 30 pages. There are exceptions but they have to be damn interesting.

Yep, came here to post this. The setting's really cool but the books are horribly written.

Cthulhutech setting is garbage too. like cool art and stuff but it's just a bunch of ideas that don't work together

The original basic set layout us such hot garbage

Thank God they got their act together and the splats are fu

Same here, I've heard it's because it's laid out to be easy to reference during play, rather than being easy to read. But it makes the system a hellova lot more difficult to get into as a newbie.

>it's laid out to be easy to reference during play, rather than being easy to read
It succeeds at neither. Poor book

GURPS is amazingly enjoyfull reading

Infinity always feels so slick and full of good ideas when I read it, but I can't keep going for long. I cam binge read most games, but I struggle with that one for god knows what reason.

I really want to learn Ars Magica but the way the book is laid out just kills me.

I have run campaigns in Degensis, and the books are great and the art work too. But they do not give enough tools to the GM.

Takes a lot of trial and error to get right.

Besides that, the system is pretty standard. Just gotta get through the odd translation errors.

Eclipse Phase.
I ended up just skimming over bodyforms for ideas and never read the rest of the book.

Most RPG books are interesting to read or get ideas from but i have no real interest in playing (there are a few exceptions i will make). But otherwise i only get the books to read them, especially sourcebooks and supplements.

Eclipse Phase

Decent setting, absolutely fuckawful mechanics

Eclipse Phase. It was interesting- even the rulesbook was interesting, but I leafed through two hundred pages of just pure setting info, with absolutely no system behind it, before I put it down.

Don't forget to check out the bibliographies, too!

tfw i read the whole basic set cover to cover.

It's really badly laid out - everything involves flipping between at least 3 sections. But I fucking love GURPS, in process of transferring from 5E and it's a real breath of fresh air. Also means I don't have to homebrew as much because it's all already there.

Plus:
>Playing a character instead of a class.

I'm the sort of person who will randomly spend hours at a time reading wikipedia articles on, say, the differences and similarities between a jumper, apron, and pinafore, or the manufacturing process of shoe leather. There has not yet been a text too dry or daunting for me to get through provided I have a single iota of interest in the subject.

That said, my gaming tastes tend to run on the lighter side of the rules spectrum, so it would rarely be an issue regardless.