Do you like to use just a core rulebook or core plus more?

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Charlie D

Man on the Silver Mountain
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Over time my tastes have radically changed. I had so much for 3.0 and 3.5. So much I didn't use, so much was broken, and so much distracted me from what I was actually running at the time. Plus Dragon Maganize and 3rd party. It was madness.

I went through a world building phase after that were I wanted a core rulebook and everything I could get my hands on to make my own setting and adventures. The D&D playtest is a great example with me using playtest stuff, modules from all editions, and third party stuff.

Currently, I'm more into using just a core rulebook for the rules. Supplements are items I approach with great care after 3.5. I do like adventures though, running some as written and yanking pieces and parts out of others.

For Warhammer 2E I used the rulebook, the monster book, and the three Paths of the Damned modules. I've used none of the other rulebooks.

For Dark Sun 2E I'm using the boxed set and 2E core three along with the psionic handbook and Dark Sun monstrous compendium (and all together those all really form the core rules, plus Battlesystem for skirmishes if you need it). I'm not using any other rulebooks but I'm using the adventures.

Traveller Mongoose 2E is about my limit, with four core books (and an options book coming soon). And it is a lot to try to wield wisely.

I saw the Conan kickstarter and I think it had something like 20 books? That would make me twitch.

What do you ike to use at the table? One rulebook to rule them all, a handful, or all the shiny stuff?
 
My strong preference is for one book of rules and options and then to explore the game. I don't want another book of rules options and in all likelihood won't buy any that are produced and this is especially true of books that are simply this and no more.

Setting books that detail areas of the game world and offer strongly tied additions might be the exception - an example being C7's various The One Ring region books which I have bought and generally find add atmosphere and genuinely useful options to develop the game; it helps that they've also tied in scenario books with each region supplement.

Don't get me started on funky dice...............
 
I'm highly opposed to the supplement treadmill style of releasing a game system, especially when some essential elements of the system are spread out into other books. I really appreciate a comprehensive core, and if so, I don't mind supplements adding specific options that are generally unnecessary but cover specific situations beyond the typical. But chances are I won't use most optional rules. My tendency as a GM is to strip rules away to the bare minimum as it is, so in all likelihood optional rules wont in and of themselves cause me to pick up a supplement.

You mention The One Ring, and while again the supplement style of release annoys me, the fact that each covers a specific area I can kind of forgive as the flavour text is excellent (as is the art). One of the funny things I've found reading Rivendell the last week, however, is , that the flavour text doesn't inspire me to game but instead inspires me to write. Not sure why that is, but its something.

Anyways to this day I consider the original WHFRP core book as the gold standard as far as single-book RPG presentation. It has everything you need for a lifetime of gaming. And the supplements for the game, though some are of high quality and I like them a lot, are all totally unnecessary.

OTOH my absolute biggest pet peeve in the industry altogether, the absolute opposite of the comprehensive single book, is the "crippleware" starter sets. I find these deplorable cash-grabs.
 
I can't say I've got much value from additional supplements and sourcebooks. The main exception are books filled with villains. Especially for superhero games, where each villain is potentially unique, it is good to have a large number of disposable B-Listers that burn through.
 
Very few of the games I play have any supplements other than setting and adventure books. A few setting-specific rules changes are fine, but I have no need of a conveyor belt of additional material. If the basic product isn't enough to pay the game fully then I'll pass and go for something else.

This is also why RPGs are such a terrible product from a business point of view: nobody really needs to pay money for new things.
 
Very few of the games I play have any supplements other than setting and adventure books. A few setting-specific rules changes are fine, but I have no need of a conveyor belt of additional material. If the basic product isn't enough to pay the game fully then I'll pass and go for something else.

This is also why RPGs are such a terrible product from a business point of view: nobody really needs to pay money for new things.

I will pay for adventures, books of locations and NPCs, expanded setting, etc. A few new rules are fine if needed to make any of those things work. But a whole book of new rules? Not usually interested.

However, Dark Sun is an interesting exception. It requires the Psionics Handbook and really the Dark Sun monstrous compendium and maybe Battlesystem. But I don't mind because it is building on the three core books.

I wonder if other RPGs could use a model like that. I know Mutant: Year Zero does. Each book works separately just fine but you can mix and match from the various settings as well and a future adventure promises to tie many of the different options together.
 
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That's one of the main reasons I love Savage Worlds. Everything I need to run almost any kind of game is contained in one small core book that costs less than $10. There are other books that contain supplementary rules, but they're by no means required. Just can't beat it.
 
Hell, I usually need less than most core books provide. If the core book comes with a setting...well that's cool, and I may use some pieces. But mostly I'm interested in rules and adventures, period. I actually like settings that come with adventures more than ones that come with rules. The more I GM, the less I prepare ahead of time. I let the setting evolve from a very simple hex map and a couple adventures. This is right up my alley (not sure if I saw it on this site).
 
Core plus a little more. Bits and pieces taken from supplements, not splatbooks everywhere.

For Call of Cthulhu, I use the core book (5.6.1 is my favorite); some of the firearm rules from SixtyStone Press' Investigator Weapons books; the 1920 Investigator's companion for other Occupation options; and a few small things from the BRP Big Gold Book. Only the core book is at the table. I'll make notes / houserules from the other books and have those present.
 
Hmm, let's see ... I prefer a pretty concise rule set - either a single corebook, or a small set (PHB, DMG, MM sorta thing, for example). But that's not to say that I won't buy a bunch of other books. I just prefer them not to be rule books, character options (the worst!), or the like. I love monster books, adventures, settings, that sort of thing, and will happily buy and use those.
 
Sometimes I'm good with the core, sometimes I want more.

I'm generally not interested in adventures or books of more rules.

I'm more prone to be interested in books of ideas, whether they be for people, critters, places, or things. I'd rather have inspiration than exposition.
 
Depends on the game. Some require a minimum of two core rulebooks (Buck Rogers XXVc, Robotech if using anything other than the default time period setting, FrontierSpace, Mongoose Traveller 2E, etc.) But no matter what, I try not to use more than three books at a time at the absolute maximum.
 
This is also why RPGs are such a terrible product from a business point of view: nobody really needs to pay money for new things.

I don't understand how anyone can make a living creating game content. What you mention has been a problem since the early days. When you factor in how the low barrier to digital publishing has caused an ongoing flood of material (and that's really understating it), I'm surprised the hobby still has a niche for professional products.
 
I don't understand how anyone can make a living creating game content. What you mention has been a problem since the early days. When you factor in how the low barrier to digital publishing has caused an ongoing flood of material (and that's really understating it), I'm surprised the hobby still has a niche for professional products.
Since when has need defined economic success? Barbie is a friggin 50+year old powerhouse of a doll. No one needed her.
There aren't many new video games, books or movies that develop something truly new such that we need them and those are all undeniably successful. I have a whole room full of boardgames and I can guarantee you I will buy another this month I won't need.

All of the accessories help the purchaser do something probably with less effort than developing from scratch. For enough people that's worth a few bucks.
 
I don't tend to use much splatbook stuff myself, but for 4e & 5e D&D I'm fine with players using whatever they want, pretty much. The games don't break.

For 3e D&D/Pathfinder if I ran them again I would likely be heavily restrictive, there is so much nightmarish broken crap published by WoTC and Paizo. Realistically I would almost certainly run it as E6 or (most likely) as Beginner Box Only/E5.
 
I prefer a single, stable core book with perhaps an additional supplement for antagonists (ie: monster manual, book of characters), or in older games a single box set of smaller books (ie: 0D&D, Marvel Super Heroes). I used to love a tower of books and options, but over time I've found those hinder more often than help - not to mention irritation at rules spread across a line of books (Exalted, I'm looking at you).

A book series that opens new setting content by supplements, I'm okay with (WHFRP, MERP, One Ring). What I really miss is solid core books and inexpensive supplements!
 
Ideally, yes, I'd prefer a single book. That's why I have a special love for the following books (off the top of my head):
  • Rules Cyclopedia
  • Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition
  • WFRP 1e
  • Zweihander
  • Cypher System Core book
  • Dungeon World
  • Fate Core
Just knowing that if someone held a gun to my head and told me I could keep only a handful of RPG books, I know that I would be able to survive.

That being said, I love my 5e and Adventures in Middle Earth, even though I have to carry around a pile of heavy books. Oh well.
 
I've for a while now have preferred things to be simple. A single core book suits my tastes. At most the D&D trio (PG, DMG, and MM) is ok. Probably out of tradition more than anything else. I do enjoy setting books, but I've never have a need really for adventures and modules. Maybe to steal bits from. The idea that I never this book and that book to get all the rules. With them spread across many books, including splats. That concept drives me insane. A single core book is the delicious cake. Everything else should just be icing to enhance the flavor.
 
That being said, I love my 5e and Adventures in Middle Earth, even though I have to carry around a pile of heavy books. Oh well.
Ha, yeah, I get that. That's how I feel about another Cubicle 7 line, Doctor Who. I may have a fairly large number of shiny DWRPG hardbacks on my bookshelf ... Having said that, they're mostly for fun; I could run the game just fine with the core book.
 
Theoretically, I don't have a problem with supplements. If they're written later in the game's life, then the designers have presumably got better at understanding their game, how it actually works in play, and what sort of mechanics really belong in it; they can write better content for their game at that stage (And note that I said better not stronger) that represents the game they were trying to design.

Unfortunately, that means carrying more books around, and it also raises the possibility of content for the content god... filling pages because they need to be filled. It's a fine balance. I know which side a book is on when I see it.

And then, of course, you get the Shadowrun-style "the corebook contains enough of everything to just be slightly better than useless, so every chapter gets an expansion book". I can't be arsed with that.
 
It depends. If it's TOR or something I'll get everything they make because the lore is so important for that kind of game.

I stopped buying FFG SW books because I'll never use them. Too much splat for my tastes and wallet.

For D&D style stuff, just the minimum thanks.

My only exception is you can never have too many high quality bestiaries. The FAGE one is full of adventure hooks and despite its relatively small size, kind of sets the gold standard IMO. That and the AD&D 2e Monstrous Manual. Other favourites are the RMSS Creature Catalog and the UK BD&D one.
 
Depends primarily on how strong the core rulebook is, and how easy it is to make up your own stuff for the game. And, to a lesser degree, on how good are the supplements (defined here as game-mechanical expansions, distinct from settings or adventures).

I’ve used brilliant core rulebooks like the D&D RC, CoC5 and Mongoose Traveller 1st edition without supplements — the first two for decades. I don’t miss them.

But books like Mercenary, High Guard, Dynasty, Robots and Cybernetics bring fun tools to the SF toolbox, so I'd gladly get them. On the other hand I'm hard-pressed to figure out a supplement that would expand the mechanics in the D&D RC or CoC5 in a similar manner, except maybe for more monsters. (Or, in the RC's case, more classes and/or magic, though those are all easy enough to make up on one's own.)

Mythras has a superb core rulebook but I'd be all for a domain management sourcebook in the vein of (MRQ2) Runequest Empires, or new collections of magic like Mongoose's Arcana of Legend, or more bestiaries.
 
For Traveller, the supplements I use all the time are Starports, Startown Liberty, Animal Encounters, Central Supply Catalogue, and various ship supplements, the gold standard being FASA's "Adventure Class Ships" volumes, plus The Kinunir and Leviathan Adventures. Nothing like having an adventuring TOWN going from star system to star system, I think the next Kinunir I use will be called "The Village of Hommlet." ;)
 
Setting supplements don't bother me.

"Here's a bunch of new widgets for your character" books annoy me.

I can probably generalize that to not minding GM-targeted supplements.
 
Setting supplements don't bother me.

"Here's a bunch of new widgets for your character" books annoy me.

I can probably generalize that to not minding GM-targeted supplements.

In principle, I'm okay with players having more toys to play with too — I just don't care to be burdened with high-maintenance "system mastery required" character-building on my end of the GM screen.

I really, really like the balance D&D5 struck in this regard.
 
In principle, I'm okay with players having more toys to play with too — I just don't care to be burdened with high-maintenance "system mastery required" character-building on my end of the GM screen.

I really, really like the balance D&D5 struck in this regard.

Yeah, in theory, I don't mind it either. In practice...

I think AL's "Core + 1" is a reasonable compromise.

I'm also biased as a professional game developer. I can see what happens when you allow arbitrary combinations of widgets. The combinatorial complexity kills you. Every. Time.
 
I liked the old Marvel Super Heroes and DC Heroes approach too. Cram as many of the main heroes and villains in the core product (boxed sets) then release separate books for each individual hero or group with all their B and C-list villains and supporting characters. It was also cool because they were at that point up to date with the comics and it was like having an extra comic handbook. DC Heroes had some of my favorite sourcebooks ever with the Batman and Justice League ones topping the list.
 
I generally prefer to stick with the core rules for any game that I'm running. There are a few reasons for this, but one big one is that I just find reading rules pretty boring these days (years ago I used to love it). So once I've read and (more or less) 'mastered' the core, I don't want to spend more time reading additional rules. Another reason I prefer 'core only' is maintaining a sense of overall control (as a GM) with respect to what is possible within the game. (I recall running Rolemaster back when endless, poorly play-tested, 'Rolemaster Companions' were being published. Yes, they were all 'optional', but the sheer volume was overwhelming. And I was young and foolish at the time, and permitted too many ridiculous classes and options to be used...)

I'm willing to make an exception for supplements aimed at realizing a particular setting. So I am happy to use the Adventures in Middle-earth supplements for 5e. (And if anything, the AiME rules make running 5e easier, as most magic and magic items are stripped out.)
 
Rules Cyclopedia is the corebook of corebooks. I can't believe I didn't know about that until at least ten years after it was released.

I bought it when it came out but no one wanted to play 'Basic' back then. Then I gave it away with most of my collection when I went to university. :cry:

At least the pdf is easily available for a reasonable price.
 
Ideally, I want a corebook that can be self-sufficient, plus additional material if I want it. I don't want a big commitment getting into a game, but it's nice to be able to get more stuff to read and hopefully use later. It is a bit frustrating that there's been no new CineUni books in a decade, though I can run a game quite well with what I've got. (For that line, the Buffy corebook is a good book but not really self-sufficient - the Angel corebook is better, and combined with either Ghosts of Albion or Magic Box is nearly complete.)
 
Ideally, I want a corebook that can be self-sufficient, plus additional material if I want it. I don't want a big commitment getting into a game, but it's nice to be able to get more stuff to read and hopefully use later. It is a bit frustrating that there's been no new CineUni books in a decade, though I can run a game quite well with what I've got. (For that line, the Buffy corebook is a good book but not really self-sufficient - the Angel corebook is better, and combined with either Ghosts of Albion or Magic Box is nearly complete.)
Yes, but Beyond Human is coming out any day now ... ;)
 
I want all the books.

All. Of. Them.

image.png


I will likely not buy into a gaming line if they only offer a single, core book. I want splatbooks. I want more splatbooks than I can possibly use. I want to be buried in splat books. I want OWOD level of splatbooks, that's how serious I am about this.

Spatbooks or GTFO.

Why, you ask? Why want such a terrible and unpopular thing?

Three reasons.

1. I want settings: I don't homebrew unless I have no choice. Which bring me to...

2. I want choices. I want lots of options. I want lots of settings. I want lots of stuff already done for me. Because I'm a lazy, GM donkey-bitch.

3. I want to throw money at whichever publisher I decide is worthy of my cash. I want them to make a profit. I want to contribute to that end.

And that's all. Thank you for reading.

All. The. Books.

All. Of. Them.
 
2. I want choices. I want lots of options. I want lots of settings. I want lots of stuff already done for me. Because I'm a lazy, GM donkey-bitch.
Ironically, the reason I don't want lots of supplements overflowing with setting and options is because I too am lazy, and I don't want to have to deal with it all. I guess laziness is a complicated thing.
 
Ironically, the reason I don't want lots of supplements overflowing with setting and options is because I too am lazy, and I don't want to have to deal with it all. I guess laziness is a complicated thing.

Agreed. What's troublesome for one person is easy for another.
 
I want all the books.

All. Of. Them.

image.png


I will likely not buy into a gaming line if they only offer a single, core book. I want splatbooks. I want more splatbooks than I can possibly use. I want to be buried in splat books. I want OWOD level of splatbooks, that's how serious I am about this.

Spatbooks or GTFO.

Why, you ask? Why want such a terrible and unpopular thing?

Three reasons.

1. I want settings: I don't homebrew unless I have no choice. Which bring me to...

2. I want choices. I want lots of options. I want lots of settings. I want lots of stuff already done for me. Because I'm a lazy, GM donkey-bitch.

3. I want to throw money at whichever publisher I decide is worthy of my cash. I want them to make a profit. I want to contribute to that end.

And that's all. Thank you for reading.

All. The. Books.

All. Of. Them.

Wrong noman. The correct answer is all of them in the limited edition cover!

But you and I are so close in answer I think we could game together happily.
 
So many supplements I mortgage the house multiple times then risk it all on Black in Las Vegas. (Being welsh I hope that metaphor makes sense lol).

I want HQ add ons and settings to my games. I don’t want buy book A but you also need book b+c and possibly the rest of the alphabet just to play.
 
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