I've owned but never played many of these.

d6 Star Wars RE does fit though, mostly.  Don't recall an adventure in it, specifically,  but I would almost bet there is one.  The only thing that limits its qualifications is the dependence on the movies themselves.

Quote from: ICFTI;672968fates worse than death.

And the TROLL hits the thread!  Of course he has nothing of value to add but just his stupid opinion.

I would say the D&D RC.  It edges out CoC because RC D&D is slightly more favorable to long-term play.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;673193MERP 2nd Edition

I love MERP but I don't think it belongs here. If you're playing MERP without all the detailed setting books and the beautiful maps, all you're really doing is playing Rolemaster Lite with a setting you half remember from another source. By that logic any game would be self-contained as long as you used it to play out a setting you already knew very well.

Gamma World (1992 edition).
Arcana Evolved.

I actually though Fates Worse Than Death had an interesting setting if too many logic holes. But I remember *zero* of the system itself.

D&D rules cyclopedia, any version of Traveller  are good but right now Stars without Number is My favorite.

In one book, yeah I think WFRP1 takes the cake.  System, Setting, Bestiary, Magic, Careers, DMing advice, Adventure, it's got everything and lots of it.  You can run the lowest Zero to the highest Hero with one book and not want for rules.

The only other books that came out for it were adventures and city books (and a couple White Dwarf compilations which were half adventure).

To me, comprehensive means everything I need to play. So core system, classes, bestiary, setting, maps, adventure material. Everything.

With that in mind:

Talislanta 4th edition
The Savage World of Solomon Kane

With the latter, you could run a campaign for two years without ever cracking another book or putting pen to paper. That's comprehensive.

Quote from: soviet;673565I love MERP but I don't think it belongs here. (...) By that logic any game would be self-contained as long as you used it to play out a setting you already knew very well.

I GM'd MERP briefly as a generic RPG, just like you said - a RoleMaster that is not nearly as fiddly.

But I did the same with all the other games from my list:

Warhammer Fantasy RPG 1st Edition I played in three settings of my own, not the Old World.
D&D Rules Cyclopedia I played in my first homebrew setting, never in Mystara/Known World.
Dragon Warriors I'd play in a Legend-inspired setting but not Legend proper. Maybe as a Lyonesse RPG.
Instead of Talislanta I'd rather use High Medieval as I like the Talislanta/OMNI system but not necessarily the weird setting.

You may see a pattern here: I hardly ever use published settings.
And even though I like WHFRP so much that the 1st ed HC is a kind of holy grail for me (in terms of completeness, layout, heft, paper, and the general way the whole book captures a certain mood), I'd never ever use the Old World setting. I just can't take it seriously, it's like a Monty Python RPG.
(Pundit's Albion sounds much better.)

The only published settings I used were Greyhawk (the map basically, and none of the descriptions), Dragonlance (the full 12 modules, albeit heavily modified and de-railed), and a LotR one-shot that in fact could have been any generic world.

Quote from: Haffrung;673644To me, comprehensive means everything I need to play. So core system, classes, bestiary, setting, maps, adventure material. Everything.

I'd scratch setting and maps. For me, an implied setting is enough.

That said, a setting overview as a sample of what the writers had in mind is great (Legend in DW, the Palladium world, Magira in old Midgard, even Aventuria in old DSA/TDE). My sweet spot would be the cell of a world (Keep on the Borderland, Hommlet, Daggerford/Under Illefarn, the Axbridge region from the first DW paperbacks) that you can expand upon.

Quote from: Haffrung;673644To me, comprehensive means everything I need to play. So core system, classes, bestiary, setting, maps, adventure material. Everything.

That's my take on it as well, and why Over The Edge tops my list. Sure, that it takes place in the real world makes the setting somewhat implied, but at the same time it tweaks the real world in tiny but fucked up ways, making it both recognizable and alien to the players.

And it has all those things in 240 easily digested and well written pages with a minimum of crunch. Actually it could be cut by 40+ pages, due some wasted pages of rules for converting to odd systems like To Challenge Tomorrow and Fringeworthy... never quite understood the need for those.

Seeing as Stormbringer has already been mentioned, I'll add:

"Stars without number" and "Other dust"  
I've been happily running both off and on and just the one of either book is fine to work with.
Pretty much has everything you need.

Quote from: Zachary The First;672911In your opinion, what are the most comprehensive single-volume RPGs out there? Which games are the most complete in a single book of rules, while needing the least outside material to give a complete and fulfilling game experience?

Basically, what we're looking for is the most "buy this one book, and you're set for ages of gaming" product.

Call of Cthulhu, 2e-5e.  Any of 'em.

Don't like it myself but, of course, Rules Cyclopedia D&D.

Hero System 5e (or 4e, even).

Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 1e.

Shit, all this talk about first edition WFRP has given me an urge for a copy - my original was never returned from whoever I lend it to, and when I ran Enemy Within last year with 2nd edition it did feel quite right. 1st edtion it is. Again.

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;674523Shit, all this talk about first edition WFRP has given me an urge for a copy - my original was never returned from whoever I lend it to, and when I ran Enemy Within last year with 2nd edition it did feel quite right. 1st edtion it is. Again.

I found a n/m 1e GW hardback for $45 about 5 years ago...they're a bit more pricey now, but you can get 'em still...

D&D Next.