Best RPG Supplement

Lowly Uhlan · Post by **Lowly Uhlan** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 11:53 pm

Another one of those threads.

So my favorite all-time RPG supplement is The Starfleet Operations Manual for Star Trek. The perfect mix of background and rules. Cool stuff like what happens during red and yellow alert, away team guidelines, fleet deployment and starbase descriptions-all pure source and solid stuff as close to Trek canon as could be. The "About Your Tricorder" section is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Written in the Lcars style (curved numbered borders seen in various Trek control panels), it mixes the writing from the POV of a text for SF officers with game stats without a hitch. Very cool.

And the pure rules stuff has alien races, ships, expanded skills and traits, and new combat options. Quality rules for the best RPG system available. 98 pages, how did they pack all that stuff in there? And hardback. I like the idea of a 98 page hardback. Awesome production values as well. Best looking RPG line on the market.

My only complaint is that it's published by Decipher. They have no fucking idea how to publish RPGs. I want to kick warren Holland in the nuts.

So, you got a favorite supplement?

(not a core rulebook)

BreakfastOfChampions · Mon Apr 19, 2004 6:41 am

Delta Green.

Its kind of blurry, because its setting for Call of Cthulhu, but it changes the flavor of the game quite a bit.

The level of detail is *enormous*, and the research done on government agencies alone is well worth the read.

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:18 am

Tough one...

I'm going to have to go with the Sidereals fatsplat for Exalted. It introduced a new character type that kicks much ass, has all sorts of nifty stuff on supernatural martial arts, and it fleshed out the celestial buerecracy... all in all, it made the heavens of Exalted much, much cooler...

cczernia · Post by **cczernia** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:35 am

This one is easy. Lords of the Known World for Fading Suns. The book is about to fall apart I've read and looked up so many things. I probably reference it as much as the corebook.

Runner Ups:

Guide to the Camarilla (Vampire tM)
Manacle and Coin (Exalted)
Spacers Guide (Jovian Chr)
Guide to the Technocracy (Mage: tA)

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:17 am

Iâ€™m going to have to go with the old Rebel Alliance Field Manual for the old Star Wars. It had a lot of real cool information on jury rigging equipment. Things like adjusting the beam width of you blaster to increase you to hit dice but lower your damage. Plus anything you rolled extra dice they were of a different color then the rest and if you got a 1 or 6 or something on them your gear broke down. It really captured the rag-tag feel of the rebel alliance.

Lowly Uhlan · Post by **Lowly Uhlan** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:27 am

WEG Star Wars rocked.

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 10:09 am

I loved the AD&D 2nd edition thief's handbook as a kid. My favorite non-game company resource is probably Jane's Gun Recognition Guide.

Favorite Supplement, tho? Hmmm... probably Shadowrun's Tir Taingere splat.

cczernia · Post by **cczernia** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 10:30 am

~~[quote="Wintermute"]~~My favorite non-game company resource is probably Jane's Gun Recognition Guide. [/quote]

I have a book like this by the Diagram Company called "Weapons." It starts with a rock and end with atomic missiles. It is a great resource.

Chulainn · Post by **Chulainn** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 10:44 am

There are just WAY WAY too way to pick just one. I do not not even think I could do a top 10.....

:)

C

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 11:38 am

~~[quote="Wintermute"]~~I loved the AD&D 2nd edition thief's handbook as a kid.[/quote]

That would have been my second choice. I just loved all that gear. I don't know how many characters of mine had a "sword-stick".

Foxbat · Post by **Foxbat** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:07 pm

I have lots of favorites:

AD&D Ninjas Handbook
Mechwarrior Intelligence Operations
Battletech Objective Raids
GURPS Mecha (because I love numbers)
GURPS Cyberpunk

Jane's All the World's Infantry Weapons
Small Arms of the World

Daniel

Lowly Uhlan · Post by **Lowly Uhlan** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:13 pm

I loved the Objective Raids book. Hotspots was another one kind of in the same vein. I'd still be playing Battletech if the rules weren't so clunky. Kind of funny how what was acceptable to then in terms of rules doesn't work for me now.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 1:03 pm

Back in my AD&D days the "Arms & Equipment Guide" was great. New Items and a better description of existing ones.

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 1:29 pm

White Wolfs: Mage - The Sorcerers Crusade had a supplement called the Swashbucklers Companion... all sorts of nifty stuff on renaisance life, dueling, and court politics...

Guide to the Technocracy has to be one of the coolest books in my collection.

And, uh.. meh... The d20 Forgotten Realms Gazeteer. It was the first really cool setting supplement for 3rd edition, even if it had started going all meta-plotty. The prestige classes in there still make me drool.

cczernia · Post by **cczernia** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:00 pm

~~[quote="smartmonkey"]~~White Wolfs: Mage - The Sorcerers Crusade had a supplement called the Swashbucklers Companion... all sorts of nifty stuff on renaisance life, dueling, and court politics...[/quote]

The entire Mage:SC line was amazing. Infernalism: The Path of Screams (the M:SC book on demons and cults) was probably the best book on the subject out of all the WW stuff.

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:02 pm

~~[quote]~~The entire Mage:SC line was amazing. Infernalism: The Path of Screams (the M:SC book on demons and cults) was probably the best book on the subject out of all the WW stuff.[/quote]

And it's the one book of the series I lack. Damnit. I made a habit of collecting them when the WOTC store sold all the WW rpg stuff at close to cost... and I think Path of Screams was probably a bit mature for the store...

cczernia · Post by **cczernia** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:31 pm

~~[quote="smartmonkey"][quote]~~The entire Mage:SC line was amazing. Infernalism: The Path of Screams (the M:SC book on demons and cults) was probably the best book on the subject out of all the WW stuff.[/quote]

And it's the one book of the series I lack. Damnit. I made a habit of collecting them when the WOTC store sold all the WW rpg stuff at close to cost... and I think Path of Screams was probably a bit mature for the store...[/quote]

Yep, they are all great books. The only one I don't have is the monster companion which I'm not interested in. I think the companion has stats for William Shakespear and Machievelli.

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:33 pm

Not stats, really. It talks about who they were and what they were probably like, etc... the Borgia family gets a pretty good treatment as well. Theres a whole section on NPC/PC archetypes as characters in Shakespeares plays...

Just damn good stuff.

Northman · Post by **Northman** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:35 pm

Arnor for MERP

It was a huge resource with tons of stuff in it. It always fired my imagination.

or the Riders of Rohan for MERP or

The Minatures Handbook for D&D that recently came out. I really like that one.

Gotetsu · Post by **Gotetsu** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:01 am

I would have to say that the Bastet book for Werewolf was always one of my favs. I love big cats (and pretty much all cats and cat-like beings), so being able to play a changing breed of one of them was like the coolest idea ever to me.

Right now I'm kinda diggin on Smuggler's Run for Dragonstar. Lotsa cool ideas for that "fringe of the known galaxy" type campaign. I just wish they had more ships and stuff.

Oh, and the Ratlings book for Legends of the Five Rings (non-d20) is very cool. I just love those furry little guys.

Wait...that sounds bad... :shock:

Foxbat · Post by **Foxbat** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:53 am

~~[quote="Gotetsu"]~~I would have to say that the Bastet book for Werewolf was always one of my favs. I love big cats (and pretty much all cats and cat-like beings), so being able to play a changing breed of one of them was like the coolest idea ever to me.

Right now I'm kinda diggin on Smuggler's Run for Dragonstar. Lotsa cool ideas for that "fringe of the known galaxy" type campaign. I just wish they had more ships and stuff.

Oh, and the Ratlings book for Legends of the Five Rings (non-d20) is very cool. I just love those furry little guys.

Wait...that sounds bad... :shock:[/quote]

Keep an eye on this one. He's showing signs of infection...

Daniel

Gotetsu · Post by **Gotetsu** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 8:26 am

~~[quote="Foxbat"]~~Keep an eye on this one. He's showing signs of infection...[/quote]

You'll smoke a turd in Jigoku for that! :evil:

DevJannz · Post by **DevJannz** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:10 pm

These are choices for games that I play.

Official Supplements: Rifts Game Masters Guide. It cleared up alot of issues with rules and it has a complete list of skills, weapons and psychis abilities gathered from all the books. The Book of Magic is a close second.

Unofficial Supplements: Highlander rules for WW on this one. The rules were so good that my WW GM read through them once and let me make one as a character (and it was a blast playing that character).

Gotetsu · Post by **Gotetsu** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:28 pm

Well, if we're gonna go for unofficial suppliments, let me plug the one I wrote:

Gargoyles for WoD. :D

(sorry about the pop ups)

BreakfastOfChampions · Fri Apr 23, 2004 1:14 pm

I'd like to plug the WotC Mythic Europe supplement for Ars Magica.

Great with the history and the local color.

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:08 pm

Hmmm...the best suppliment. That's hard. If modules count I would choose the Tomb of Horrors in the first edition of AD&D. That set the standard for me and gave me the template idea for any adventure.

Presently the CoC Arkham City suppliment is doing wonders.

Lowly Uhlan · Post by **Lowly Uhlan** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:34 pm

I lost my character within 10 minutes of play in Tomb of Horrors. Squashed flat. Nice dungeon, though. Damn, that was like 20 years ago.

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:40 pm

~~[quote="Lowly Uhlan"]~~I lost my character within 10 minutes of play in Tomb of Horrors. Squashed flat. Nice dungeon, though. Damn, that was like 20 years ago.[/quote]

Oh yeah, mine was butt naked in 5 minutes

Lowly Uhlan · Post by **Lowly Uhlan** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 11:07 pm

It's a bad place.

Barrier Peaks · Post by **Barrier Peaks** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 8:29 am

"Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" was one of my favorite AD&D supplements. Nearly 100% fluff, but it's great stuff.

"Mindwalking" for Alternity. The first set of rules to do psionics right.

I also have to chime in on "Delta Green." Very good supplement/setting, incredibly well-written.

"Chromebook 3" for Cyberpunk 2020. Not a single gun between those covers, but with all the other stuff, who cared?

BP

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 10:15 am

~~[quote="Barrier Peaks"]~~"Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" was one of my favorite AD&D supplements. Nearly 100% fluff, but it's great stuff.[/quote]

That was a great book. I gotta say, when it comes to RPGs I am an equipment whore.

DevJannz · Post by **DevJannz** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:36 am

~~[quote="Northman"]~~Arnor for MERP

It was a huge resource with tons of stuff in it. It always fired my imagination.

or the Riders of Rohan for MERP or

The Minatures Handbook for D&D that recently came out. I really like that one.[/quote]

I would have to agree with Arnor (which I happen to have). It is a very useful book for running MERP (something I have not playd in a long time).

MarktheAnimator · Post by **MarktheAnimator** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:29 am

BlanchPrez · Post by **BlanchPrez** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:12 am

~~[quote="Wintermute"]~~[quote:27127486ff="Barrier Peaks"]"Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" was one of my favorite AD&D supplements. Nearly 100% fluff, but it's great stuff.[/quote]

That was a great book. [/quote:27127486ff]

I gotta agree with this one. I think I may even still have that one, in one of the boxes currently in my parents garage. Great stuff in there. :)

Chris