RPGs where a single book is enough to play the entire thing

The art in that book OP is atrocious

...

Risus can do it in a page

Just like the good old days.

> Thread title "RPGs where a single book is enough to play the entire thing"
> Volume 3 of three booklets
> 555-5555-come-on-now

Not him but to be fair there's a short list of monsters in the back of the book that can be used in lieu of the MM. The DMG is utterly optional.

>Book 3 refers to Book 2 for monsters and treasure
>refers to Book 1 for movement, classes for NPCs, and the alternate land/aerial melee combat system
>refers to Chainmail for jousting, land/aerial melee combat, naval missile combat, and boarding combat
Book 3 is not a complete game.

My nigga also WFRP 1 and 2e

Dungeon Crawl Classics.

>WFRP

>not knowing the PHB has monsters and even without homebrew is enough
>thinking the DMG is anything but optional

Is it difficult being a retard in a normal person's world? I imagine it's like being blind: tough, but workable.

Also, Edge of the Empire works. Unless when OP said "single book is enough to play the entire thing" he meant "there is only one book ever published for it".

Of course. At most there are supplements, but dnd format is higly retarded.

>Book 3 is not a complete game.
Adding books is only going to make that worse.

Most editions of D&D are technically playable with one purchase.

Which is really the point of most RPGs. There aren't many where something is critical past the core rulebook.

Obviously some want other books more than others, but most can get away with a core rulebook and nothing more, especially for a GM who does more than copy & paste stories and encounters.

...

I don't think so. GM rules are necessary.

They're helpful, but not necessary.

Does it need to be a single book OP? Perhaps it need only be a narriative on the social injustice which we face in our everyday existence...

...

Literally all of them except D&D.

Basic Fantasy RPG is MY SHIT, dawg.

Honestly, my game group has pretty much been using a variant of this ruleset with a bunch of houserules implimented for about 20 years now.

>Monster Manual and DMG are optional
That's mostly theoretical. The PHB is missing a lot of rules you'd expect from a fantasy adventure.

OP asked for playable, not fun. This fits the bill.

...

You're an idiot, OP. D&D is pretty much exclusively the only game where multiple books are required and not just supplementary.

...

begs to differ

Depending on what you count as the complete game, X might fall into the required category. Holmes, on the other hand, is only one book.

but you know that he is without question looking for something playable AND fun, you sperg

Shattered

13th Age, tbqh

GURPS Basic Set 3e if you're courageous.

Too bad 4e cut the Basic Set into two books.

So having a GM is optional in D&D?

You really are dense. You don't need the DMG to actually DM, but rather it does provide advice to DMing and some useful tables and loot. The core mechanics are all contained in the PHB though. There's no such a thing as "DM Rules"

...

You posted the wrong one

...

Shadowrun 5e has all the core rules for player generation, for GMing, and for common critters and mooks in the book itself. Granted, it's shadowrun 5e, but still.

...

...

...

5e BTFO again.
Soft cover pathinfer core is allso only 20$

I sure like a good fat bestiary have yet to see a one Book game that has one but I’m open to suggestions.

Wfrp 1e has a fat bestiary included in the main manual ranging from dangerous fungis/moulf to greater demons

Always debated having a look at the system. Worth giving it a go? What're it's strengths compared to a game of the same/similar genre.

>playing pathfinder

...

I like the icons system and the profession based skill system, it's worth checking out for those.

Only really need the main book. Extra supplements are dope but ultimately unnecessary.

Just remember: never EVER pay for CGL books.

I didn't know this rule. I bought the core book before I realised they fucked it. All other splat books are on my phone.

Corebook is fine, especially if you're playing at a table.

Yep, table.Bought the Gm screen, it's okay. Not super necessary desu. Speaking of, any idea what I should add to it? Complex and weird stuff that I've got to remember.

Speaking of the Apocalypse... Pic related does just fine as a single book for the players and GM.

Nice!

...

WHAT is the flat out largest In page count single rpg book?

Probably FATAL, it's like 900+

Isn't FATAL something like 600?

I believe FATAL is over 1000 pages.

There are some big setting books like Worlds Largest Dungeon and Taslantia 4th Ed.

You know you can just grab the .pdf, right? It's 980 pages.

I want to run this so bad

Came here to post this.

>spots sandy Petersen

id Software Sandy petersen?

>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Petersen

well shit!

>My nigga also WFRP 1 and 2e

But that's not D&D, user.

Fantasy craft

just out of curiosity what rules are you talking about

NAYRT but that's about the subject, not the image.

Try again.

Tunnels & Trolls

This but the Shadowrun 4e 20th anniversary edition. Just a more playable game all round

It's why I still run 3e. Won't support -OR- promote CGL, which is what you're doing even if you're only running 4/5e from liberated PDFs.

Sure, the draw of the game are the Supernatural splats, but a game of average folk dealing with ghosts is fun too!

It got me into DMing.

game sucks

Those elements mixed together is definitely like a sauce.

Pretty good

...

Probably my favorite system.

Shadowrun 5th edition.

runequest is hilariously shit

RQ6/Mythras
DCC
Moldvay Basic
Ars Magica
Delta Green

It's a mix between D&D 4e and 3e with narrative mechanics acting like a flexible resin holding the whole thing together. It encourages lots of negotiation and brainstorming between players and GM while also abstracting a lot of mechanics. Skills, for example, are handled by making basic backgrounds for your character (Exiled dwarven forge-heretic, imperial knight of the northern provinces, etc) and justifying how they could apply. Combat is theater of the mind over grid and minis and far less rules-tactical than D&D in general. The escalation die mechanic keeps fights pretty quick (most of mine have been six rounds or less) while also encouraging you not to blow your encounter, recharge, or daily abilities at the beginning. Each class acts and feels very different from one another, some more than others, with each class running down a spectrum of simple to complex in order to cater to differences in player skill and preference. Whether you like or dislike any of these features is up to you.

One book
Zero prep

I don't always want a game where I can play a cybernetically modified gorilla WW1 fighter ace, but when I do, I reach for this one.

I played that once... "Merciful" Matthew Reed was his name.

Mob doctor with a legitimate front and an occasional assassin. Got sponsored by Al Capone, and was occasionally paid to kill his patients, throwing scalpels or blatantly lying about the contents of his syringe ("yeah, it's morphine... no, it's carbolic acid, I swear.")

Great game, senpai.

What's this thingie?

Good selection of character paths to do quite a bit, all the rules for combat and spells in one place, monsters near the back of the book. The splats and modules are nice, but not at all necessary.

Also any of the O.R.E. games

>Isn't that most RPGs?
Not really. At the very least most of them have a player book and a GM / Setting book.