What are some interesting or noteworthy RPG books?

What are some interesting or noteworthy RPG books?

What are some good examples of layout, content, or presentation?

I'd like to discuss RPG books themselves, rather than the games they contain.

I really like 3.0 D&D's "let's make them look like tomes" approach. Yes, it's a little awkward because they're not really tome dimensions, but it was a nice aesthetic and they really felt at place at the table.

Sadly, 3.5 went for universally inferior cover arts, but they made up for it with generally better interior art and some layout improvements. It's what being the most popular brand allows you to afford.

Overall, I really have to commend D&D in general for illustrating almost every single monster. I've played a few games that only illustrated a handful, and there's something extremely underwhelming about a bestiary that relies on text descriptions.

Veins of the Earth and other scrap princess works made 6-year-old-paper-scribbles-as-art look good again.

Any thing with an index of terms. So many arguments can be shut down without having to hunt for the phrasing in the actual text.

>What are some good examples of layout, content, or presentation?
Maze of the Blue Medusa has mediocre content, but THE BEST layout and presentation I have ever seen. THE BEST.

I agree, 3rd and 3.5 sort of set a precedent for RPG manuals, as far as layout. Say what you will about D&D, but their layout is top-notch and their content is usually pretty sound. I was thoroughly impressed with 5e's books. Now that I've used them for a year, I notice many of their flaws, but they are still pretty remarkable, as far as presentation and layout go.

The Dungeon Crawl Classics book is sort of silly, but heartwarming with it's presentation, but as far as published modules go, I absolutely love how those books are layed out. The DCC Adventures are simple, straightforward, and they present their info in an order that makes sense to the game world, rather than from a GM's perspective. So, if you're looking for content to spalsh in an already moving campaign, you can just photocopy or dogear a page, and you're good to go.

HM5E - Hacklopedia of Beasts

Probably the best book of ttrpg monsters ever. Looks great from cover to cover, beautiful presentation and incredibly useful and easy to read content. Wish they were all like that.

Degenesis 2.0 Deluxe Edition had one of the most beautiful layouts I've ever seen. Pity about the game itself.

Managed to finally get a physical copy that wasn't $200. $165 was still way too much.

Regardless of other elements, D&D 4e was a revelation for me in terms of good presentation and ease of use in an RPG books. I know the lack of flavour annoyed some people, but in terms of functioning as a rules reference document they were the absolute best.

the green leather bound Call of Cthulhu (whichever edition it was), where the paper looked like parchment and all the writing in the book was in what looked like blood red ink. Sure it is a headache to read, but it LOOKS so pretty.

I'll second Veins of the Earth. It's a thick, squat book but the Scrap Princess drawing work really well despite being mostly frenetic scribbles (Antiphoenix probably being my favorite artwise) and the world building through monster entries is really neat.

For similar reasons I really like the Planescape Monstrous Compendiums and Uncaged: Faces of Sigil.

Actually, I don't think I've looked at the 4e books since they came out. I'll take a look at 'em real quick.

I'm sort've familiar with what 4e was all about, but they might actually be good representations of a rules document.

In terms of layout, organization, ease of reading, hyperlinking, and general content, the EABA rules by BTRC are tops. In fact, if you like bare bones rules-only with few illustrations, any of Greg Porter's work is perfect.

Came here to post exactly this.

Kevin Crawford's stuff

In terms of RPG books as a work of art, Nobilis 2e deserves a mention. It's an incredibly, unplayable, beautiful mess of prose and rules and fascinating snippets of mythology, artwork or storytelling. The far less artistically pleasing 3e works significantly better as a game, but is lacking compared to the beauty of its predecessor... Especially considering the art.

I always really liked the chapter intro pages with the pencil drawings.

Honestly, I'd prefer more pencil drawings over all the digital art.

The mechanics are meh buy passable, but the setting is great. Definitely my favorite on my shelf.

Ever wonder why white wolf and onyx path can't publish a book that has a easy to understand layout? Or am I thinking of Palladium?

Both are bad for that sort of thing. I know in Palladium's case is that Kevin will accept not an editor to make his ideas coherent.

Motherfucker. I am so angry that I missed on that shit. They were selling copies at gencon, I had a friend there, but they didn't see my desperate plea for help until it was too late. Now a physical copy will likely be forever outside my reach.

Feels bad, man

GURPS Basic Set...

I genuinely enjoy the game.

The indexing and ability to reference in play is amazing. Glossary, index, trait list, unified page numbering. Indexed front to back in a way that is not a chore to find, and pretty easy to guess what section it is in. This is a problem I've had with other books, including 3.PF, spending literally 10 minutes trying to find something that should have taken me one minute and flipping to a page number.

The three skinny-column layout of the actual text, though? Yucky as hell.

WW/OP once released a book with a typo in the *title*.

Speaking of which, Exalted 2e is the only edition I'm familiar with, but its special ability descriptions are amazing. Every Charm starts with a grandiose two-sentence description of how amazing the Exalted are in this particular field, and really sells the whole thing in a really organic fashion.

...

Realms of Chaos are two of the best books GW has ever put out.

Mini Six. The book is laid out so each section can be wholly displayed when you lay the book flat.

Degenesis has an outstanding layout, the words are easy to read and the rules are easy to reference - all while the book is stylish and looks like a quality product. This user is also right that book is laid out wonderfully and clearly. One of the immediate warning signs of a bad book is textured backgrounds, the next is seeing if art assets bleed over words. Books like the FFG Star Wars games are really bad about this, but for some reason fans of table top games just sort of accept terrible layouts.

And RPG books tend to be laid out like shit, 3.5 is no exception. The whole idea that you are immersing yourself in a parchment tome is a problem, because it makes for a poor reference book for the many, many rules.

I haven't seen any of those books, any other examples of good ones?

>whichever edition it was
That's the 25th Anniversary Edition.

The Guide to Glorantha is one of the best sourcebooks I've ever read.

Don't Lose Your Mind is very interesting as a concept. It's basically a list of powers available for players, but it also serves as a bestiary due to how Don't Rest Your Head works. Don't Rest Your Head, while not necessarily noteworthy, also deserves a mention for being well-written and generally looking nice.

Van Richten's Guides do something I haven't seen elsewhere: In essence, the majority of each text is written from an in-game perspective: Van Richten is a doctor turned monster hunter, and each Guide is an attempt to study and categorize the namesake monster as well as provide tips for other would-be hunters.

While not a book, www.d20pfsrd.com probably deserves a mention since we're talking about layout and presentation: it contains the majority of official Pathfinder content published under OGL, as well as a large amount of third-party material under the same. And all that material is categorized and indexed so it's easy to browse for your own pleasure or quickly reference should a rules question arise while you're at a computer. It's annoying how it's sometimes missing things(such a magic items) apparently at random, and it's not exactly flawless otherwise either, but it's the only reference document I've seen that's both easy to use and has such a large amount of material.

Runehammer Games, ICRPG Core
the layout is clear and concise, being all in red, black, and white. the art is excellent too

They show up on eBay from time to time, but prepare to get hardcore price gouged.

>What are some interesting or noteworthy RPG books?
40K Roleplay has some great production value. DH 2E not so much though.

> One of the immediate warning signs of a bad book is textured backgrounds, the next is seeing if art assets bleed over words. Books like the FFG Star Wars games are really bad about this, but for some reason fans of table top games just sort of accept terrible layouts.
Couldn't disagree any more. Generally game texts are still readable enough and textured backgrounds just add a lot to a gamebook's atmosphere. All the big shots (D&D, CoC, Shadowrun) use it, apparently customers agree with my point-of-view.

Index Card RPG is a big deal. You don't have to play it as a "system", but rather, it's great to mine pieces from because it distills lots of great ideas which RPGs tend to unnecessarily inflate. ICRPG is simple and effective.

It's ass.

>be OP
>be kind enough to specify that talk of systems vs strictly books themselves is to be avoided
welp, only took 30odd posts

Absolutely. Mind-boggling art.