Bookshelf Meme: RPGs

In response to the Grognardia bookshelf meme, I snapped a pic of two of the four shelf spaces I regularly visit. I don't put 'em near my desk, though, as that would be in the bedroom.

To be honest, most of the RPG material I read tends to be electronic these days -- and I have digital copies of some of the materials above.

Armchair Review: Doomed Slayers

Doomed Slayers is not an RPG, but a sourcebook. And an unusual sourcebook it is: a campaign premise -- a rationale, if you will -- for many of the D&D adventurer tropes that have occasionally made us challenge the societal plausibility of the game setting. It can be applied to any D&D ruleset or retroclone, and can even make the adventurer's culture a significant aspect of the campaign.


Part I of the book, which explores the premise, is quite good. Within its short page count, it introduces the idea that 'doomed slayers' are a separate class or subculture of society that deals with monsters. Monsters, you see, are overtly and covertly responsible for the fall of many civilizations (even if the weakness and corruption of humans is also at fault sometimes), and often stop smaller communities from gaining a foothold in various lands. Experienced dungeon delvers familiar with the plethora of monsters out there can easily make a case for this somewhat simplistic statement, and will understand the necessity for the emergence of monster hunters in their ranks.

Much like the monster hunters seen in contemporary urban fantasy, these slayers have no real lasting place in society due to their calling. Unlike contemporary urban fantasy settings, however, Doomed Slayers posits that it is a calling that is afforded certain benefits and concessions and even grudging respect for the lifestyle. However, that tenuous relationship between society and slayer caste, is governed by a social contract.

On the part of the Slayers, there is the Slayers' Code:

• Go where you are needed, help where you can.
• Do not tarry where you are not needed.
• Own only what you can take with you.
• Fight the monsters, not your kin.

Each of these tenets and their implications are covered succinctly, and grant rationale for the roving lifestyle of these adventurers.

On the part of normal society, there are some (usually) unwritten rules:

• Pay them what you can, appropriate to what you ask of them.
• Do not bar their way.
• What they find, they keep.

In addition to these, there are other nuances and extrapolations of the interplay between Society and Slayers that are tackled -- how PCs might enter the ranks of Slayers, other organizations that might arise due to the presence of the Slayer culture (Lightkeepers, Crowmen), and how some Slayers might ultimately leave those ranks (aside from death, that is).

Part II is the world, and -- at first glance, does seem like a saddeningly generic take on the fantasy setting: the Known World and its various locations, countries, and regions. However, a closer look reveals that it is actually another exploration of Slayer culture, and how the many varied, yet familiar cultures and societal structures themselves deal and interact with Slayers. Think of it as a guided tour of a world where Slayers make an impact in every corner (even Faerie and Hell).

Overall, Doomed Slayers is a good sourcebook -- however I find myself looking for more. I want more examples of different types of Slayer organizations that might have arisen -- some more like the Templars, some more like the Freemasons, and some like Hell's Angels perhaps? The intriguing premise already has me looking for more source material. This doesn't mean that Doomed Slayers isn't satisfying -- it means that it has set me up for the next expansion to this campaign premise, which will hopefully maintain its ability to translate almost all of the material into any D&D setting.

About Sourcebooks: Some Initial Thoughts on Types

The Event Strategy of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying -- a series of sourcebooks centered around comic book events -- makes sense for comic books. While comic books like Astro City are obviously centered around a specific location, a majority of the ongoing series are centered around storylines.

It made me start thinking about the common types of sourcebooks that have come out for RPGs.

Location Sourcebooks

The most common type of sourcebook, aside from the rules expansions, tends to be tied to a location. In fact, if you think about the earliest non-rules RPG books, they were mostly locations: dungeons. And I've been fascinated by them -- now that I think about it, the very first RPG book that I bought (a module) was a location-centered module: T1 - The Village of Hommlet. Locations then expanded to the setting boxed sets and books that dominated TSR & WOTC lines.

Character Option Sourcebooks

Another common sourcebook is one that gives character options. White Wolf really milked this one with the clan books (I think that they're called splatbooks -- dunno why). I think it was an important strategy for them, especially with Vampire: the Masquerade not only trying to break the older stereotypes of vampires (castles, counts, and the Carpathians), but also the more modern stereotype kicked off by the juggernaut series of novels from Anne Rice -- to show what kinds of vamp characters are open for play in a modern setting.

Storyline Sourcebooks

I don't know exactly when the storyline sourcebook can be considered to have started. Some might point to Ravenloft and of course the Dragonlance series of modules, some might cite Paizo's Adventure Paths, others might cite the influence of the Storyteller folks at White Wolf. Or we might go back to some of the earliest D&D modules and revisit them as disguised storylines. In any case, I always looked for some kind of our adventure support in an RPG.

When I think of this type of sourcebook, I think of popular choices like Call of Cthulhu's Masks of Nyarlathotep, Warhammer Fantasy's The Enemy Within, and Shadowrun's epic Universal Brotherhood. But I also think of the Fading Suns shards, the Cyberpunk collection of adventures titled Tales from the Forlorn Hope, and the Over The Edge adventures.

NPC Sourcebooks

Normally tied into one of the other sourcebooks, sometimes they come out with these: sources of NPCs. Sometimes they're combinations of allies, enemies, and neutrals. Over the Edge had a killer collection of characters -- all with interesting names -- not only in one sourcebook, but also in their CCG!

But sometimes they're all enemies like WOTC's excellent 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms sourcebook Champions of Darkness, or the series of Enemies sourcebooks from Hero Games.

I don't really see that many of these, but it's hard to actually come up with interesting characters in this situation. Super-villains tend to try to cover all bases, but definitely end up with some that will never be used. Is it the same for other genres?

Observations

So far, the non-rules expansion sourcebooks essentially break down into

• character
• plot and metaplot
• setting and milieu

where are all very much story-related, but they can be considered as ways of bolstering certain aspects of an adventure or story that a GM needs.