There’s the usual “You’re on a desert island, what 10 RPG books do you bring with you?” meme running through the interwebz. I decided to play along. Unless my desert island has power outlets and wifi connections for my iPad so I don’t have to choose, here would be the ones I “need”:
1. Victory Games’ James Bond: 007 RPG. Or at the very least, the GM screen, which is almost all you need to run the thing.
2. Margaret Weis’ Cortex corebook. You can pretty much run anything with it.
3. Margaret Weis’ Marvel Heroic RPG. My new go-to supers system.
4. R Talsoran’s Castle Falkenstein. With our house rules for combat, it’s a pretty solid game engine.
5. GDW’s Space: 1889. Combine it with the above and you’ve got a good setting and decent rules.
6 & 7: Exile Games’ Hollow Earth Expedition and Secrets of the Surface World (the period sourcebook with lots of nice rules addendums and gear updates.
8 & 9: Decipher’s Star Trek Narrator and Players Guides.
10: Margaret Weis’ Serenity. Used in tandem with the core Cortex book, you add some good, but very abstract, rules for spacecraft.
Notice the glaring omission of fantasy stuff..?
What’s yours..?
28 July, 2012 at 21:52
Seriously difficult choices to make, so I’m going to cheat a little…
1. Victory Games’ James Bond 007 RPG.
2. Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Savage Worlds – most settings especially Hellfrost / Solomon Kane / Pirates of the Spanish Main / Agents of Oblivion / Rippers / Realms of Cthulhu.
3. Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu.
4. Exile Games Studios Hollow Earth Expedition and Triple Ace Games’ All For One: Regime Diabolique. Joined these together because they both use the Ubiquity system. AFO has some great support material at the TAG website.
5. Basic Actions Games’ Honor + Intrigue. Awesome new swashbuckling game.
6. Basic Action Games’ Basic Action Super Heroes RPG. Used to be Mutants & Masterminds; looked at Marvel Heroic RPG but BASH! hits the mark for me.
7. Traveller (Classic and Mongoose). Need I say more?
8. Evil Hat Productions’ Dresden Files. A must have for fans of the books if only for source and reference material.
9. Driftwood Publishing’s The Riddle of Steel. Driftwood has gone the way of the Dodo and a new fan produced update is imminent but TRoS is still a great game.
10. Swashbuckling Games – Flashing Blades / Swashbuckler / Run Out The Guns / Privateers & Gentlemen / A mighty Fortress. I can live without these games if I have to but in all honesty it would hurt badly; they each bring something to the swashbuckling genre and provide excellent historical info as well.
Apologies if I cheated too much 🙂
28 July, 2012 at 21:54
You cheaty cheating cheat!
All good!
29 July, 2012 at 22:52
[…] Black Campbell‘s post on which 10 game books he would like to be marooned with should he ever take a tour on the Minnow or start working for […]
29 July, 2012 at 22:55
Ok, let’s see… I think I will do this trying to limit myself to games I can run in a satisfying fashion with just 1 or 2 books for eachl:
1. Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition
You know how it is about first loves. They usually aren’ t on your mind, but it’s funny what makes you think of them and how long the affection lasts. I may end up padding my list with other versions of BRP and not explain. The explanation is simple: the system works, it allows for growth in skill as a player and GM, and it totally frees you from the sundry crap that clings to the fur of class/level systems. As a bonus, you get the chance to use some of your funky dice, and can engineer reasons to use more or less without ending the universe. I would choose the 6th Edition because I have it in hard cover and it compiles a broad enough range of the game that I will not need anything else.
2. All for One: Regime Diabolique
Ubiquity has become my regular game and has yet to let me down.
3. Leagues of Adventure
Using AfO to handle pre-modern, and LoA to handle modern eras, I should be able to generate any sort of game I wish using these two core books with the addition of…
4. Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
A great rules extension for Ubiquity
5. A Time of War
This game started as a means to an end with me. I wanted to get a Mechwarrior + Battletech game going and this seemed to be the easiest way to accomplish that. Since I began using it, I have been consistently pleased with the way it handles simulating the universe, how smoothly and consistently it runs and scales, and the speed of its resolution mechanics. It brings in a broad range of character actions and conditions often absent in other games and brings them in without undue fuss and bother. That it made so small a splash would seem to be more to do with the wealth of Buy/Read reviewers we have and our dearth of Buy/Read/Play reviewers.
6. Techmanual
Rather than wallow in the ‘If I only hads…” I think in a desert island situation the sanest way to run Battletech is by dumping the canon mechs and replacing them with your own. Not for a lack of love of printed mechs, but for reasons of size. You could build your own island out of Battletech books and still not have them all. In this situation, it’s best not to try.
7. Aces & Eights
More game lies between the leather covers of this tome than most people suspect.
8. Shootist’s Guide
With rules extensions As&8s plus a broad range of new silhouettes for the shot clock, this is worth taking to exile island.
9. RuneQuest 6th Edition – Just in case I get the urge to create my own Swords and Sorcery universe and want to have as much depth and flexibility as possible I would take the latest edition of RuneQuest. No Glorantha required.
10. Mutants and Masterminds 3
I go through very different moods when I want to run a supers campaign, and while I am not entirely pleased with M&M3, it pays enough attention to the range of possibilities that I can get over its shortcomings. I was tempted to choose Superworld or Villains & Vigilantes, but… not for this list.
30 July, 2012 at 20:20
1. In Nomine
My best game came out of that and it only needs 3D6.
2. Marvel Super Heroic Roleplaying
My new favorite Supers RPG System.
3. Any Document That Outlines The basic gist of FATE
One of my favorite RPG system.
4. Knights of the Hidden Sun
I’m writing this book. I worked on the first draft for years so I’m keeping it. When it comes out I’ll keep a published copy.
5. Star Wars D6 Revised
I ran my first complete campaign in it. I’d want this for nostalgia value.
6. Ars Magica
I’ve always wanted to play that game.
7. WuShu
Always great for a pickup game.
8. Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
If I’m on a deserted Island I’d want to play something with a piratical theme.
9. If it existed an omnibus of Grey Star the Wizard, twas my favorite solo RPG book series.
10. West End Games DC Heroes
Mostly for the reference so as I can convert to Marvel Heroic Roleplaying