I came across this fantastic article at The Guardian about RPG books as, well, books (as opposed to game manuals).
“By putting aside simple narrative storytelling and replacing it with detailed description, the RPG offers the total immersion in an imaginary world so valued by geek readers. The elaboration of leading characters, political factions and major historical events is sometimes a very dry exercise in world building, but done with enough skill it can spark a deeply satisfying response”
It’s a short read, but thought-provoking, and will hopefully inspire some people to pick up an RPG book, and just explore the world within its covers.
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I’ve actually spent WAY more time reading RPG books than actually playing. Partly due to growing up in a very small town where it was tough to find like minded geeks.
Some of my favorite reading are Ars Magica, 7th Sea, and Legend of the Five Rings.
I went to a ridiculously small school, and there were not enough people interested to run any RPG’s, so I just read the books and made up stories with them. In seventh grade I did an art project with travel posters for the various elemental realms from D&D. And Werewolf: The Apocalypse was more or less the reason I survived high school, even though I never actually played a game of it.
If you don’t already @damiengwalter is worth following on twitter for this commentary on SF/F writing.
my no so guilty pleasure in the early 1990’s was modern horror genre RP, and we had a fantastic group while i was in college. Palladium Chaosium and Steve Jackson Games got loads of my money, while we home brewed with a little known game called Bureau 13 by Tri Tac systems for loads of laughs and excitement.
It makes me think that when we forget about Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s Ode we should recall that he meant it when he said;
“We ARE the music makers,
And we ARE the dreamers of dreams,”
Oh my! Bureau 13! I still have all the novels they wrote for that system. in fact it was the novels that got me into it.
Legend of the Five Rings was good, as were the various White Wolf titles. But Shadowrun gets my vote for favorite for their ability to add a narrative, timeline, and recurring characters into source books.
I think you’d get a kick from playing Swords Without Master, Wil. Right up your alley as a narrator, especially one that likes the back and forth of collaboration with your players.
Also, a full satisfying game takes 2 hours… and it’s by Dread’s Epidiah Ravachol!
Wil – Conversations with Creators?! SO STOKED! 😀
I still have all my Star Frontiers books. Loved those but never actually played due to lack of other like minded friends.
This probably dates me a lot but I LOVED reading the TMNT RPG books when I was a teenager. The world that they created was just so amazing, and varied. I really loved the After The Bomb material.
That and the Robotech RPG game book. I still have them somewhere… I recently picked up some Star Wars RPG stuff from Fantasy Flight and love just like when I was a kid I love paging through that book and enjoying it as a book, not just a manual.
I read Fiasco probably 4 times before I actually got to play it with a group of my own. I owe you and the TableTop crew for introducing me to that game, because I am hooked on RPGs now. I also recently won a contest on RPGGeek for producing a playset for Fiasco, and I can’t wait to try it out on a few people.
Thanks for opening up the world of RPGs and tabletop board games to me and countless others. Keep it up.
I’ve also read a lot more RPG Books than I actually played and I can’t wait to read the Titansgrave book.
I have obtained my first RPG book of the Pathfinder game. They seem to have several books in their series following various character’s adventures. I like it thus far. Thanks for the article Will.
I’m doing this right now with Ehdrigohr, a FATE-style RPG based on Native American culture. Over the years I’ve found that I appreciate and enjoy a good work of worldbuilding almost as much as actual stories.
I’ve certainly read a lot more RPGs than I’ve ever played, since the very beginning, so I’ve been on board with this idea for about 30 years.
The Call of Cthulhu books are exceptional, as are the Delta Green supplements for the game. Unlike other RPGs, they are great reads even if you don’t play the game..
Loyal Citizen,
You are not cleared to read this material.
A crack team of troubleshooters has been dispatched to ensure this violation is fully eradicated.
Your friend,
The Computer
Reading Paranoia books was always great fun. I think the Dramatic Tactical Combat system would have been good for Titansgrave but without a bunch of clones probably would not work as well
Jackson’s ‘Sorcery’ series was (is) incredible. Million ways to die, coded keys and clues to collect.
I’ve always said that the thing I personally loved about writing for RPGs was that it was all about characters and setting without actually having to worry about plot. Plot ideas (i.e. adventure seeds) yes. Actual novel length plot? Not so much.
As a long-time roleplayer who doesn’t have the time (or local friends) to actually play RPGs, this is definitely how I mostly experience RPGs these days. I had an idea a while back of specifically writing an RPG to be read rather than played, but I haven’t entirely figured out what that would look like yet.
I think the closest I’ve found, though, is Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine by Jenna Moran. I’m not sure it’s a game I would actually enjoy playing, but good God do I love reading every page of that book. The tone, style, and depth involved is an absolute joy to experience.
Hi Wil This is probably not the right place to write this but I hope you’ll read it.
I read somewhere that Startrek fans were not quite fond of you. And that it affected you as a teenager.
I want to tell you this isn’t true. I loved Wesley and was totally impressed by him and thought you did a great job playing him. Haleh xx
I recently bought and read the new version of Shadowrun, and then followed up with the Seattle 2072 source book and then the Sixth World Almanac for the alt history of the game world. Yeah, like reading sci-fi but in an experimental format. Love it. Another commenter mentioned the Paranoia rpg, The original rules of that game are a hilarious read, it’s all written in the voice of the insane AI overlord-computer of the game world’s Alpha Dome.
An Edinburgh charity shop (USA: ‘thrift store’?) recently had a whole window display of second hand RPG source books, many from games i’d never heard of, it took a lot of willpower not to spend my entire months pay. Have to say that although reading the source and rule books is great – its not half as good as creating characters that you’ll never use in anger….
for me there’s also something about the fairly early materials, the slightly amateur pencil drawings etc, sligfhtly off typesetting etc, that make you feel like part of something when I read them – newer sourcebooks dont quite capture my childhood in the same way.
The Dark Heresy 40k books are great. I’ve never found a group to run a campaign in the setting but the lore is insane and very cool to read and just think about stories to create.
On another note, I’m loving Titansgrave! Keep up the great work!
I used to scour the FASA Doctor Who RPG books. I never got a chance to play them because this was the 80s and Who wasn’t quite as cool as it is now. I’ve still not played an RPG. I need to change that sometime.
Oh, and yeah, I still have those FASA books. 🙂