Quote from: Jam The MF on August 01, 2021, 01:15:04 AM
Now that I've thought about it a great deal, I will say the AD&D 1st Edition Monster Manual. 

It was the first, of the core books released for AD&D; but it was also very compatible with Original D&D.  It grew the offering of published Monster stats for the game in a massive way, and it took the game beyond little paper booklets.  It was the herald of things to come.  It was the point when the game made the jump to hardcover books.

I own all 3 core books for AD&D 1st Edition; and the Monster Manual is where it's at, for me.  Give me that book, and i can make up the rest of a playable game at the table.

What I've been saying. The classic, simple line art, the fact that almost every entry has art. It was basically my introduction to gaming. Flipping through my friend's Monster Manual in junior high in the mid-80s is what made me want to play RPGs. It is a beautiful, high-quality book.

Let me add a friendly briefing for Chill's 1st edition Things supplement. While not of the caliber of the 1e MM, it too featured art for pretty much every creature and is a great, classic horror book (although I never realized it until recently).

The Tome of Adventure Design

Most of the RPG core books by Kevin Crawford as well, for the same reason. Let's you go from rules to creating something you can run with your players quickly.

Do boxed sets count as one book? If so I nominate the first edition of Ghostbusters. The earliest example I'm aware of of an RPG departing from the wargaming paradigm, probably the easiest ever rpg to learn, and actually funny to read.

I'd be very curious to see how many people are answering as a GM vs. as a Player?

My answers are purely as a GM. In terms of books that I simply love as well done books that completely made me go WHOA!!

D&D 1e - Faiths and Pantheons
Star Wars D6 - Tramp Freighters
Vampire 1e core
Cyberpunk 2020 core and 'Listen Up All You Primitive Screwheads' GM guide.

I wont make any judgement on "best". However, for me, the most influential RPG supplement was probably Trollpak for Chaosiums RuneQuest. As a young teen it taught me to use subtlety in how I depict non-human sentients.

And playing Troll Ball was fun as hell.

As a gamemaster, for all-in-one goodness, I prefer Dogs in the Vineyard, but Teenagers from Outer Space comes in a close second. For parts of a ruleset, Tech Law from the SpaceMaster set is probably my favorite single book.

As a player, my favorite book was Gurahl from W:tAp's Changing Breeds line.

I don't particularly like the 1ed AD&D DMG because it's poorly organized, and contradicts things that are in both the PHB and MM. On the other hand, the tables (treasure, encounters, random dungeon, etc.) in the back of the DMG are among the best things ever for any system -- I think they're tied with the RoleMaster critical tables for sheer creative input to my games.

Quote from: tenbones on August 02, 2021, 09:55:27 AM
I'd be very curious to see how many people are answering as a GM vs. as a Player?

The secret is that there is no spoon.

1e DMG is probably what would get me through a polygraph, but I am going to say Raggi's Referee book. Even if you are not looking to run a weird/horror game, there is so much information on how to craft adventures and campaigns. He also does a great job outlining how to bring the mystery back to monsters. Great resource.

I can't pick a single best. For me, it's tied between Delta Green and Ptolus.

Delta Green was a gamechanger for me and Call of Cthulhu, which I loved but had become stale. Delta Green added multiple dimensions on top of CoC that took what was already a great game and cranked it to 11. It was so well-written and designed. It just blew my mind.

Ptolus really made D&D click for me as a DM. It was a setting where all the D&Disms came together in a logical and awesome way. There were so many locations and factions and adventure hooks crammed into one massive tome. Every time I read even a couple of pages of that book, I start thinking of ideas and adventures and campaigns based on what I'm reading. It's the best laid out book, as well. Everything is cross-referenced with lots of information in the sidebars, index, etc. It's not as original as Delta Green, but it was the setting for 2 of the 3 best campaigns I've ever run.

Quote from: Shasarak on August 02, 2021, 05:28:28 PM

Quote from: tenbones on August 02, 2021, 09:55:27 AM
I'd be very curious to see how many people are answering as a GM vs. as a Player?

The secret is that there is no spoon.

That's something a GM that gets to actually play says.

Anything by Kevin Crawford. Everything in one (huge) book for the most part. Easy character creation and fast play.

Quote from: Jaeger on July 31, 2021, 06:42:41 PM
Warhammer fantasy role play 1e.

Definitely! Probably my favorite game (still). The one book that does it all, plus the supplements are class too.

1e was what made me drop D&D altogether back in the day. But I do love some of the later OSR stuff.

oooh!  Fire Fusion and Steel!  I'd say GURPS Vehicles except it uses Imperial measurements.

Quote from: David Johansen on August 22, 2021, 01:25:39 PM
oooh!  Fire Fusion and Steel!  I'd say GURPS Vehicles except it uses Imperial measurements.

You, sir, are an asshole. That's what the six-page long calculation tells me.

You like Imperial measurements?  Well, you can have them.  Fire Fusion and Steel also has some nice essays on the principles behind the technology.  The T4 version is actually better once you implement about 20 pages of errata, corrected formulae, and addenums but that kinda disqualifies it from being best unless that kind of red pen editing really, really floats your boat.