Reference Books
Steven Jones
a GM?
I have:
Gray's Anatomy
Jane's All the World's Aircraft
Reader's Digest Motoring Guide to Australia
CIA World Factbook
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia
librarian
Various Maps and atlases, both terrestrial and otherwise.
Barlowe's Guide to Aliens
Dictionary of Imaginary Places
And other source material on whatever world I might be working on...
best -
chris
Ben Finney
> What reference books (other than GURPS itself) do you consider
> essential for a GM?
Hard to say; most of my RPG reference material *is* various GURPS
sourcebooks.
When I'm not running an already-researched adventure, I generally try to
rip ideas from current headlines, then plunder GURPS sourcebooks for
gameable details. They're amazingly consistent in depth of research and
focus on “interesting to play” detail.
--
\ “Science shows that belief in God is not only obsolete. It is |
`\ also incoherent.” —Victor J. Stenger, 2001 |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
Steven Jones
win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. It gives great
strategies for PCs to improve reaction bonuses from NPCs.
Tetsubo
The most useful reference book for any gamer, the Pocket Ref by Thomas
Glover.
--
Tetsubo
Deviant Art: http://ironstaff.deviantart.com/
Daily Booth: http://dailybooth.com/Tetsubo
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/tetsubo57
MeaningWhat
Long by Eliot Coleman
Rob Kelk
<stev...@aapt.net.au> wrote:
>What reference books (other than GURPS itself) do you consider essential for
>a GM?
What genre and style of game is the GM running? Essential reference
books for high fantasy are going to be somewhat different from essential
reference books for space opera, or for cliffhangers, or for Victorian
horror, and so on...
<snip>
--
Rob Kelk Personal address (ROT-13): eboxryx -ng- tznvy -qbg- pbz
"There's always somebody who's going to hate your work, no matter
how good it is. DON'T LET HIM CHASE YOU AWAY FROM WRITING, BECAUSE
THAT WAY HE WINS." - Robert M. Schroeck, 18 July 2006
Rob Kelk
>On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:13:22 +1100, "Steven Jones"
><stev...@aapt.net.au> wrote:
>
>>What reference books (other than GURPS itself) do you consider essential for
>>a GM?
>
>What genre and style of game is the GM running? Essential reference
>books for high fantasy are going to be somewhat different from essential
>reference books for space opera, or for cliffhangers, or for Victorian
>horror, and so on...
>
><snip>
Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
Gamemastering"
http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
librarian
??? I love this book too, but for GURPS??
best -
chris
librarian
> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:41:18 GMT, I wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:13:22 +1100, "Steven Jones"
>> <stev...@aapt.net.au> wrote:
>>
>>> What reference books (other than GURPS itself) do you consider essential for
>>> a GM?
>> What genre and style of game is the GM running? Essential reference
>> books for high fantasy are going to be somewhat different from essential
>> reference books for space opera, or for cliffhangers, or for Victorian
>> horror, and so on...
>>
>> <snip>
>
> Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
> for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
> Gamemastering"
>
> http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
>
Mind if I ditto? That's a great book.
best -
chris
cop...@yahoo.com
> What reference books (other than GURPS itself) do you consider essential for
> a GM?
This is highly variable, depending on the campaign. A few I like to
consult, however, are:
-The Prince, by Machiavelli
-The Art Of Wat, by Sun Tzu
-How To Make War, by James Dunnigan
-Larousse Dictionary Of World Folklore
-Babelfish website
-Wikipedia website
-some multimedia encyclopedia on CD (currently Britannica 2007)
-various travel guides (I've used ones for The Bahamas, Switzerland,
Hong Kong and Scotland in two recent campaigns)
-assorted books on myths and legends
I've consulted The Indians Of Texas for two different campaigns.
While I own several books relating to WWII history and vehicles, I
tend not to use them that much as actually gaming references, except
when I'm actually designing a vehicle (the vast majority of which I
never personally use)
I'd like to use The Monster Hunter's Handbook (by Ibrahim Amin) and
The Zombie Survival Guide (by Max Brooks) but haven't gotten the
chance.
As for game books other than GURPS:
-Call of Cthulhu (I have the 4th edition)
-Fantasy Wargaming
-Gear Krieg: The RPG
-Indiana Jones (Masterbook) and several supplements
Brandon
Peter Knutsen
> This is highly variable, depending on the campaign. A few I like to
> consult, however, are:
>
> -The Prince, by Machiavelli
> -The Art Of Wat, by Sun Tzu
> -How To Make War, by James Dunnigan
I've checked an older edition (early 1980s) out from the Copenhagen
library system, at least twice, and it is quite useful.
> -Larousse Dictionary Of World Folklore
> -Babelfish website
> -Wikipedia website
Not thoroughly fact-checked, of course, but actually I often find myself
lusting for websites with wilder and hairier and less thouroughly
checked facts than English Wikipedia, especially when it comes to
medieval time and myths and legends.
I know of the TV Tropes website, and I like that one a lot, but it's not
a website for crazy stuff that people (possibly) once believed, and
which can be useful for a medieval fantasy RPG campaign.
> -some multimedia encyclopedia on CD (currently Britannica 2007)
> -various travel guides (I've used ones for The Bahamas, Switzerland,
> Hong Kong and Scotland in two recent campaigns)
> -assorted books on myths and legends
[...]
> As for game books other than GURPS:
> -Call of Cthulhu (I have the 4th edition)
> -Fantasy Wargaming
> -Gear Krieg: The RPG
> -Indiana Jones (Masterbook) and several supplements
I've got a lot of GURPS books, and a bunch of Ars Magica RPG books too.
Also some Hero System, including "Dark Champions" and "Pulp Hero", and
photocopies of about a dozen highly useful pages about the 1980's
geopolitical situation from "Danger International". Haven't used that
yet, but the 1980's is the period I most want to run a modern genre
campaign in.
Pulp era is fun too, so perhaps I should check out some Indiana Jones
material...?
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
Peter Knutsen
> Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
> for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
> Gamemastering"
>
> http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
Lots of GMs hate that book intensely, because it dares to talk about
controversial phenomena, such as crunchy bits - stuff that most GMs
don't want to think about.
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
Peter Knutsen
> MeaningWhat wrote:
>> Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year
>> Long by Eliot Coleman
>
> ??? I love this book too, but for GURPS??
Perhaps for some kind of Robinsonade campaign?
That's probably the #2 3rd Edition-era GURPS supplement that I am very
sad SJ Games never published (the #1 being GURPS Middle Ages 2).
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
Rob Kelk
You refused to answer on the SJGames forums, but there's no moderator
here... Exactly what do you (not Kromm, not the books - *_YOU_*) mean by
"crunchy bits", and why do you say they are different from "crunch"?
Until you answer that, your statement above is meaningless.
Tetsubo
> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:16:44 +0100, Peter Knutsen
> <pe...@sagatafl.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>>Rob Kelk wrote:
>>
>>>Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
>>>for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
>>>Gamemastering"
>>>
>>>http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
>>
>>Lots of GMs hate that book intensely, because it dares to talk about
>>controversial phenomena, such as crunchy bits - stuff that most GMs
>>don't want to think about.
>
>
> You refused to answer on the SJGames forums, but there's no moderator
> here... Exactly what do you (not Kromm, not the books - *_YOU_*) mean by
> "crunchy bits", and why do you say they are different from "crunch"?
>
> Until you answer that, your statement above is meaningless.
>
But I really like the crunchy bits...
--
Tetsubo
Deviant Art: http://ironstaff.deviantart.com/
Charlton Wilbur
>> -Wikipedia website
PK> Not thoroughly fact-checked, of course, but actually I often
PK> find myself lusting for websites with wilder and hairier and
PK> less thouroughly checked facts than English Wikipedia,
PK> especially when it comes to medieval time and myths and legends.
I like historical games, and while *I* like reading history, not all of
my potential players do. Wikipedia is a godsend for this, because it's
ubiquitous, it's available at the table without much disruption, and its
historical articles contain enough information to be useful for gaming
but not so much that readers get bogged down in detail.
Charlton
--
Charlton Wilbur
cwi...@chromatico.net
Rob Kelk
>Rob Kelk wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:16:44 +0100, Peter Knutsen
>> <pe...@sagatafl.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Rob Kelk wrote:
>>>
>>>>Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
>>>>for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
>>>>Gamemastering"
>>>>
>>>>http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
>>>
>>>Lots of GMs hate that book intensely, because it dares to talk about
>>>controversial phenomena, such as crunchy bits - stuff that most GMs
>>>don't want to think about.
>>
>>
>> You refused to answer on the SJGames forums, but there's no moderator
>> here... Exactly what do you (not Kromm, not the books - *_YOU_*) mean by
>> "crunchy bits", and why do you say they are different from "crunch"?
>>
>> Until you answer that, your statement above is meaningless.
>>
>
> But I really like the crunchy bits...
There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're willing to tell us
what the "crunchy bits" are. Peter isn't - he's said that "crunch" and
"crunchy bits" are two different things but refuses to tell anyone the
difference between the two.
(Which is why so many people are upset with him this time.)
MeaningWhat
of techniques.
cop...@yahoo.com
> cop...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > This is highly variable, depending on the campaign. A few I like to
> > consult, however, are:
>
> > -The Prince, by Machiavelli
> > -The Art Of Wat, by Sun Tzu
> > -How To Make War, by James Dunnigan
>
> I've checked an older edition (early 1980s) out from the Copenhagen
> library system, at least twice, and it is quite useful.
I have the 1993 version..
> Pulp era is fun too, so perhaps I should check out some Indiana Jones
> material...?
I don't think the information in it is useful enough for the effort
and cost to obtain. GURPS Cliffhangers and Gear Krieg: The RPG do a
better job.
Brandon
Peter Knutsen
I've got GURPS Cliffhangers and Pulp Hero already, but maybe I'll look
for Gear Krieg some day...
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
cop...@yahoo.com
About 1/3 of Gear Kraig: The RPG (distinct fom Gear Kreig, the
miniatures rules) is advice on creating and running pulp campaigns and
adventures. It also has a very handy set of table for randomly
generating a pulp adventure.
Brandon
Rob Kelk
>On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:41:25 -0500, Tetsubo <tet...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>Rob Kelk wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:16:44 +0100, Peter Knutsen
>>> <pe...@sagatafl.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Rob Kelk wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Upon reflection, I *can* think of one book that's an essential reference
>>>>>for any GM, running any style of game: "Robin's Laws of Good
>>>>>Gamemastering"
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
>>>>
>>>>Lots of GMs hate that book intensely, because it dares to talk about
>>>>controversial phenomena, such as crunchy bits - stuff that most GMs
>>>>don't want to think about.
>>>
>>>
>>> You refused to answer on the SJGames forums, but there's no moderator
>>> here... Exactly what do you (not Kromm, not the books - *_YOU_*) mean by
>>> "crunchy bits", and why do you say they are different from "crunch"?
>>>
>>> Until you answer that, your statement above is meaningless.
>>>
>>
>> But I really like the crunchy bits...
>
>There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're willing to tell us
>what the "crunchy bits" are. Peter isn't - he's said that "crunch" and
>"crunchy bits" are two different things but refuses to tell anyone the
>difference between the two.
>
>(Which is why so many people are upset with him this time.)
And I see he's posted to this thread after I asked him to define his
terms, but didn't bother to define his terms. This isn't the first time
he's done this.
I'm beginning to think he's a troll...
--
Rob Kelk Personal address (ROT-13): eboxryx -ng- tznvy -qbg- pbz
"Aggresive killfiling. I highly recommend it. It isn't personal;
there's just a limited number of hours in the day."
- Russ Allbery (<http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>), in message
<yl66l68...@windlord.stanford.edu>