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turkishproverb
2008-08-31, 12:24 AM
Does anyone know of any good 1 Book RPG's, or Games that only require1 Rulebook rather than alot of splats?

RTGoodman
2008-08-31, 12:28 AM
Sure - there are a ton of them out there. The problem is whether or not they're GOOD games. :smallwink:

Off the top of my head, I can think of Nobilis (but good luck getting it for less than like $300 or some ridiculous price), Wushu (http://www.bayn.org/wushu/index.html) (which, despite the name, is in no way genre-specific), and Minimus (http://www.adastragames.com/downloads/RPGs/Minimus.pdf) (supposedly the one-page RPG ruleset, but I haven't played it so I can't comment on the quality). I believe you can do d20 Modern without any splatbooks, but some of them add neat stuff (like different time periods, more equipment, rules for magic/monsters, etc.). Star Wars Saga Edition can be run with just the Core book also, but the splatbooks (there are only two so far, I think) are probably pretty cool (it is d20, after all).

Dhavaer
2008-08-31, 12:31 AM
World of Darkness and d20 Modern can be played with one book. d20 Modern also has the MSRD which contains most of the crunch from the better splatbooks if you want it.

Jerthanis
2008-08-31, 12:31 AM
My very favorite RPG ever: Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition requires only one book. I've found the Magic supplement to be good as well, but it's nowhere near necessary to play a magician character, and is mostly full of advice for running magic themed superhero stories as the GM. Mutants and Masterminds is effect based too, so it's easy to utilize/retool its system to support any flavor or setting you're into, although the damage system would need some serious overhaul to be as gritty as a Shadowrun or something of that nature.

BESM 3rd edition (NOT d20!) is also a single book, but it's got more flaws than M&M, and is incredibly similar in some ways. I've always felt that 2d6 was a better dice resolution mechanic than a d20 though, because of the more regular bell curve of results, so it DOES have that going for it.

Grynning
2008-08-31, 12:33 AM
If you're looking for d20 stuff, Mutants and Masterminds can be played just fine with a single book (and they also offer a cut down softcover version for about half the price of the regular one).
The Conan RPG by Mongoose is also d20 and can be played pretty easily with just the main book.

Thrud
2008-08-31, 12:36 AM
Does anyone know of any good 1 Book RPG's, or Games that only require1 Rulebook rather than alot of splats?

Hero System, also called Champions (that is the superhero game that uses the Hero system.)

I have run many many campaigns with just the one $20 book. It is also the only truly universal game system I have ever come across. There are others that can be melded into one genre or another by adding a splatbook, but with a single $20 book I have run.

(just off the top of my head here, there are probably a few I missed)

Star Trek
Star Wars
Superhero (my own world)
Robotech
Battletech
Mechwarrior for a Battletech campaign.
Fantasy campaign (again my own world)

I am sure there are others that will occur to me later, but those are the ones that spring to mind right now.

HOWEVER

If you have a group of rules lawyers then be very very careful with Hero system. It is a point based system that is totally open ended. It is very easy to create a monsterously powerful undefeatable character because the rules are so very open ended.

Some guidelines until you have your feet under you (if you ever decide to go with Hero) Don't allow a variable point power pool of larger than about 30 active points. Don't allow anyone to take a No Normal Defense attack of larger than 3d6. Same for an Attack Verses Limited defense. Limit max upper attack strength to about 10d6 damage, (which means limit strength to about 50).

The game is designed basically without any limits to it whatsoever, as they expect the players and GM to put in the limits that they want. That is why it is so great, because you can do absolutely anything with it. But it is also possible to build a character who can go out of phase, be invisible, and create an attack that cannot be blocked in any way shape or form, and will gradually kill anyone in the game over the course of a couple of minutes. I know. I did it once just to see if I could.

:smallbiggrin:

Ahem. Other problem with the game is that it takes for frickin' ever to create a character the first few times you do it. The lack of sourcebooks also means that you need to spend a LOT of time working on it as a GM.

But there you go.

JMobius
2008-08-31, 12:37 AM
I'll second the vote for Nobilis, as it's bar none my favorite system of all time. Its due for a reprinting soon, so it should be attainable for a reasonable price shortly.

Elana
2008-08-31, 12:42 AM
Dungeons and Dragons :P

No really, the Original game is quite playable, and all you need is the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia.

That book gives you even rules for mass battles in case you want to play a war within the game.


If you wonder how they fit it all in there, it's simple, not as many spells as later editions had :D

RTGoodman
2008-08-31, 12:44 AM
From my experience, I'd be wary HERO System. I've only played a session or so and it was really neat, and I can see that you CAN play it with only one book, but for most of the stuff (or so my DM for that game told me) there's a whole plethora of sourcebooks that you need. I think we had three we were using - the Core book, a generic fantasy one (or something like that), and the Hyborian Age book (since it was a Conan-type game). That could be because we don't play superhero games, though, so YMMV.

The d20 Conan also works - I'd forgotten about that. You can get the PDF for cheap (or occasionally free) on some of the various websites like RPGNow and places.

Tallis
2008-08-31, 12:45 AM
I'll throw in my vote for Mutants and Masterminds 2e. There are splatbooks, but they aren't necessary.

Superglucose
2008-08-31, 12:49 AM
Universal Decay: Deadstars.

Not only is it just 1 book, but it's FREE as well. As in, free. Costs you nothing. The DL link doesn't seem to be working, but send me a PM and I'll email you my copy.

It's d20, very similar to D&D, but very different in many ways. D&D 3.5 for Hardcore Gamers, which definitely says something.

Vortling
2008-08-31, 12:50 AM
1 book? Try savage worlds or pdq (prose descriptive qualities). Both can be had for cheapon the internets and are perfectly playable with one book.

Raum
2008-08-31, 12:53 AM
Does anyone know of any good 1 Book RPG's, or Games that only require1 Rulebook rather than alot of splats?What type of game are you looking for? Do you want the world / setting information is the same book? Most of the smaller publishers have games needing only one or two books. Only the larger publishers with established product lines can afford the multiple book requirements.

Here's a random selection, I can try to narrow it down with a better idea of what you're looking for. Savage Worlds
Witchcraft (available free in pdf)
True20
Warhammer Fantasy Role Play

quillbreaker
2008-08-31, 01:15 AM
Hero System, also called Champions (that is the superhero game that uses the Hero system.)


Wouldn't touch it without splatbooks. No splatbooks means you are making the npcs yourself, and Hero is not a fast system for character creation.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-08-31, 01:44 AM
BESM, Ex Machina, Bubblegum Crisis (two cool splats available, though)...

Heck, most games that do have splatbooks available can be played just fine without them. Conan d20, Cyberpunk 2020, GURPS...

Thrud
2008-08-31, 02:15 AM
Wouldn't touch it without splatbooks. No splatbooks means you are making the npcs yourself, and Hero is not a fast system for character creation.

Ehh, depends on how much time you spend running and playing it. Give me a calculator and about 5 minutes and I can generate a generic villian. Plus I have a lot of ready made generic templates that I use too. The initial setup takes time, but after that not really. But then again I have been playing hero system for nearly 20 years (counts on fingers and toes, pulls out calculator) Over 20 years. That helps. But yeah, a couple splatbooks to give you an idea are not bad. Just not really necessary. But there is definitely a steep learning curve for a GM.

Still, he asked.

random11
2008-08-31, 02:28 AM
I played EARTHDAWN without any extra books and it was okay.

Gurps is also good, but might require a bit of work and house rules if you want to avoid buying more books.

turkishproverb
2008-08-31, 03:39 AM
What type of game are you looking for? Do you want the world / setting information is the same book? Most of the smaller publishers have games needing only one or two books. Only the larger publishers with established product lines can afford the multiple book requirements.

Here's a random selection, I can try to narrow it down with a better idea of what you're looking for. Savage Worlds
Witchcraft (available free in pdf)
True20
Warhammer Fantasy Role Play


Anything really, as long as it is good. I'm looking for things to test out to see if my new group will like.

I thought WFRP had alot of books?

SmartAlec
2008-08-31, 03:41 AM
It does, but you can easily use just the core one.

Ars Magica is another one-book game I was fond of.

turkishproverb
2008-08-31, 03:45 AM
It does, but you can easily use just the core one.

Ars Magica is another one-book game I was fond of.

ah. K


Dungeons and Dragons :P

No really, the Original game is quite playable, and all you need is the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia.

That book gives you even rules for mass battles in case you want to play a war within the game.


If you wonder how they fit it all in there, it's simple, not as many spells as later editions had :D



HOw hard is it to get the RUles Cyclopedia now anyway? Although I admit that wasn't what I was looking for, you do make me wonder about that book with that explanation.

1of3
2008-08-31, 03:46 AM
Looking at my bookshelf:

Kobolds ate my Baby
Capes
Breaking the Ice
With Great Power
Reign
Polaris
Savage Worlds

Gorbash
2008-08-31, 04:22 AM
Dark Heresy (Warhammer 40 000 FRP)

One book, over 400 pages, the best selling system in Europe atm.

Waspinator
2008-08-31, 04:28 AM
Star Wars Saga or RCR. While the splats are certainly nice for more ship stats and races and settings and whatnot, the core book has all of the rules you really need (especially because the Star Wars fan community is dedicated enough to make fan-made stat blocks for a lot of stuff and put it online).

Kurald Galain
2008-08-31, 04:36 AM
All games from the old World of Darkness can be played perfectly well with only the main book (e.g. Vampire the Masquerade, or Wraith the Oblivion). Of course, dozens of splats exist, but it's not like you need to rely on them.

Totally Guy
2008-08-31, 04:41 AM
We had a pretty good campaign with Serenity. We were all space cowboys.

Although the campaign sequel we had kind of sucked. The downer ending we originally reached was retracted and we were given the opportunity carry on and we came up with dumb plans based on science nobody understood.

Tengu_temp
2008-08-31, 07:09 AM
My very favorite RPG ever: Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition requires only one book. I've found the Magic supplement to be good as well, but it's nowhere near necessary to play a magician character, and is mostly full of advice for running magic themed superhero stories as the GM. Mutants and Masterminds is effect based too, so it's easy to utilize/retool its system to support any flavor or setting you're into, although the damage system would need some serious overhaul to be as gritty as a Shadowrun or something of that nature.

BESM 3rd edition (NOT d20!) is also a single book, but it's got more flaws than M&M, and is incredibly similar in some ways. I've always felt that 2d6 was a better dice resolution mechanic than a d20 though, because of the more regular bell curve of results, so it DOES have that going for it.

Damn, I wanted to suggest these two. I'd suggest Earthdawn and Exalted, but Earthdawn is actually rather splatbook-heavy (you can play with just the core book, but splatbooks add so much fluff and crunch!) and for Exalted you need at least the Storyteller's Companion apart from the main book.

Ah, I know! Fading Suns work well with the main book alone. And, seeing that it's probably the best science-fantasy game out there, it's worth a try.

Saph
2008-08-31, 07:20 AM
I'll throw in another vote for Star Wars Saga. Base classes, skills, feats, combat rules, prestige classes, the Force, DM guide, destiny rules, short monster manual, equipment list, short starship list, and stats for the film characters, all in one book. Everything you need to play in one funny-shaped package. :)

- Saph

Pyroconstruct
2008-08-31, 09:08 AM
From my experience, I'd be wary HERO System. I've only played a session or so and it was really neat, and I can see that you CAN play it with only one book, but for most of the stuff (or so my DM for that game told me) there's a whole plethora of sourcebooks that you need. I think we had three we were using - the Core book, a generic fantasy one (or something like that), and the Hyborian Age book (since it was a Conan-type game). That could be because we don't play superhero games, though, so YMMV.


No, the way it works is that the core book is the rules, and anything else is either the equivalent of a specific campaign setting, a premade adventure, or a bunch of NPCs. It's not like D&D where the splatbooks are there to provide new options; they're more about giving examples of what you can do with the existing options.

HERO is a good idea to run if you're the type of GM who likes making your own setting and wants to be able to make the setting work the way you want it to, instead of trying to shoehorn it into an existing game built for a specific system. It's a bad idea if you want a "plug and play" game, because creating good, detailed PCs takes a while and the game has a steep learning curve.

adanedhel9
2008-08-31, 09:23 AM
I've been recently introduced to Over The Edge, which is an interesting system. Somwhat modern setting (set entirely in '92, when the book first came out); very open-ended character creation (the character sheet is mostly empty space to fill in however you want); simple mechanics (the "rules" section of the book is about 30 pages long with plenty of examples).

Hairb
2008-08-31, 09:34 AM
Spirit of the Century requires but one very cool little book.

Jimp
2008-08-31, 09:35 AM
GURPS is all in one book, though there are a ton of setting splatbooks that are unnecessary but a good read.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten is a zombie focused game that is all in one book.
D20 Modern only really need one book, but the splats open up some fun options.
Dark Heresy is great if your a Warhammer 40k fan. Good system, great fluff and all in one book.

bosssmiley
2008-08-31, 11:02 AM
Looking at my bookshelf:

Kobolds ate my Baby

:smallcool:

Pendragon
Ars Magica
Elric/Stormbringer
Spirit of the Century
WFRP
Fading Suns
Agone
LUGTrek

puppyavenger
2008-08-31, 11:05 AM
I third Nobilis, also because you can get the complete rulebook free as an ebook with nothing but a Google search.

kjones
2008-08-31, 11:25 AM
Damn, somebody beat me to Spirit of the Century. Pulp action-adventure, fairly narrativist with some extremely clever mechanics - fun for the whole family.

Knaight
2008-08-31, 12:01 PM
Spirit of the Century requires but one very cool little book.

And its based off of Fudge, which also requires only 1 little book(I wouldn't call either of them necessarily narrativist though. They are both fairly rules light, but they work fine for a "world GM"). And it has a chapter for dogfighting with planes, and fighter space ships and such, which also works for naval battles, and car chase battles. And if you call a round a minute or something, you can use bigger ships. And a chapter on fantasy. And there is a free PDF to check out the system(Ars Magica and Gurps Lite also does this, so take a look at them too.). Then there is also Mutants and Masterminds, which is pretty good, and Savage Worlds, which is pretty good, although I haven't had a very good look at it yet.

quillbreaker
2008-08-31, 12:10 PM
I've been recently introduced to Over The Edge, which is an interesting system. Somwhat modern setting (set entirely in '92, when the book first came out); very open-ended character creation (the character sheet is mostly empty space to fill in however you want); simple mechanics (the "rules" section of the book is about 30 pages long with plenty of examples).

Over The Edge is a game with an interesting background, but I've never actually played it. Unknown Armies and Blue Planet are the same, games with good stories whose systems I couldn't vouch for. Which makes me curious, does one want one book with a good system, or one book with a good setting? There are some excellent one book systems, and some excellent one book settings, but the two probably don't meet that often.

Raum
2008-08-31, 02:06 PM
Anything really, as long as it is good. I'm looking for things to test out to see if my new group will like.What type of systems has the group liked in the past? Are you looking for a detailed system or a lighter framework? What style of gaming do you prefer?

Savage Worlds is a great system but it's best for a pulp or heroic style. It's harder to use it for gritty games. It also doesn't contain a setting in the $10 core book - though two of the setting books (Pirates of the Spanish Main and Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane) do contain the core rules and don't need Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition.

The classic Unisystem is available free in Witchcraft and I like the system over all...and dislike the book's organization.

True 20 is similar enough to d20 for familiarity and different enough to require close reading.

All three systems are lighter than d20 - probably 'rules medium' systems. If you want something light, Over the Edge may be for you. If you prefer more detailed rules and like gritty games played in the muck and blood of a dark world I'd suggest looking at Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.

There's also a much longer list (~1100) of games here (http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/fulllist.html). At a guess, 80% or more will only require one book.

imperialspectre
2008-08-31, 02:35 PM
Exalted can be run from the core book without a problem--my group did it for some time, until we wanted to branch out into extra martial arts and stuff.

WOD also can be run from one book. Other than that, my group just plays D&D 3.5 (with lots of splats), occasional freeform, and talks about playing Vampire: the Requiem, so I wouldn't know.

Oh, and I play in a group with massively houseruled, Skills and Powers-incorporated 2nd Edition.

Innis Cabal
2008-08-31, 02:40 PM
Ninja Burger

Tyrrell
2008-08-31, 03:32 PM
There is a school of thought that says that most role playing games are much better before you add any suppliments.

My experience is consistent with this for 2nd ed D&D, Rolemaster, oWoD games, Paranoia, Seventh Sea and Exalted.

Less so with 3/3.5 D&D, classic Traveler, and Ars Magica. However even of these games I can easily select small groups of suppliments that make a better game than all of the suppliments. (Ars Magica 5th edition is the only real outlier in that I'd actually use all of the supplements for it given a choice).

Regardless of whether or not a game is best with no supplements, I think that almost any game can be played with no supplements.

Waspinator
2008-09-01, 01:52 AM
Another reason to go with Star Wars would be that it's a very familiar setting. So many people have seen, read, or played so many movies, books, and games related to Star Wars that you probably don't need much in the way of setting sourcebooks beyond stat blocks.

It also allows you to work the inevitable movie references that happen during a game into the game itself. For example, in the SW SE I've DMed (which FYI, is a pretty light-hearted game), I tend to make any stray blaster shots hit some bystander, such as a R5 droid or a Bothan. Because remember, if you haven't got the information you need, you've obviously not had enough Bothans die to get it. :smallamused:

CASTLEMIKE
2008-09-01, 01:57 AM
Harnmaster (HM3) although picking up a copy of Harnworld or Harnplayer could be helpful.

http://www.lythia.com/

Gavin Sage
2008-09-01, 02:13 AM
All games from the old World of Darkness can be played perfectly well with only the main book (e.g. Vampire the Masquerade, or Wraith the Oblivion). Of course, dozens of splats exist, but it's not like you need to rely on them.

Not that I disagree too much but I feel I should note that at least for V:tM some clans aren't as playable with just the main book.

Cainen
2008-09-01, 05:25 AM
Shadowrun of any edition works fine for this, though you may want to start homebrewing to give more options to the PCs.

Elana
2008-09-01, 12:27 PM
HOw hard is it to get the RUles Cyclopedia now anyway? Although I admit that wasn't what I was looking for, you do make me wonder about that book with that explanation.

Well, if a pdf is enough, it would take you about 2 minutes to buy it on drivethruRPG

printed..I don't know, but if I compare the looks, then I can say that the cover of my book has lost a lot of the original color.
(But that is okay, as long as the pages on the inside still look good)

And since it also had conversion rules to AD&D and back from AD&D(that is 1st edition, not 2nd by the way), I would guess that it is out of print for a very long time now)