That said the Pathfinder GameMasters guide is great, just relly well writen, good advice gaming goodness!
Their adventures and supliments also awesome... I own a bunch of it, I convert it and play 4e.
So today I was talking to a friend who was thinking of playing RuneQuest 2, and we talked about it, and it sounded cool, but I couldn't find the books anywhere.
So my question is, is it worth me getting any of RuneQuest books for the same reason I get Pathfinder books, great DM advice, great creative ideas from their Viking setting book, or any other great resources?
And secondly what other rpgs are out there that have a lot to lend to D&D that are worth a read have a lot to offer a well rounded DM?
I have taken from Vampire the Masqurade for "clans" of vampires (along with other aspects of WoD), Palladium for some of it's setting ideas, and Pathfinder for all sorts of other goodies.
I've also taken from previous D&D editions as well.
2nd edition complete book of villains was an amazing sourcebook on building repeat villains and building campaigns around them.
Actually, many of the "Complete" books can be a wealth of ideas for campaigns and character ideas.
I love D&D and am not likely to switch for a long time for another system. D&D is just what Im looking for.
That said the Pathfinder GameMasters guide is great, just relly well writen, good advice gaming goodness!
Their adventures and supliments also awesome... I own a bunch of it, I convert it and play 4e.
So today I was talking to a friend who was thinking of playing RuneQuest 2, and we talked about it, and it sounded cool, but I couldn't find the books anywhere.
So my question is, is it worth me getting any of RuneQuest books for the same reason I get Pathfinder books, great DM advice, great creative ideas from their Viking setting book, or any other great resources?
And secondly what other rpgs are out there that have a lot to lend to D&D that are worth a read have a lot to offer a well rounded DM?
Well, RQ has gone through a few different incarnations. OLD RQ from the 'good old days' was basically BRP. It isn't a terribly sophisticated system really. I know it had a lot of fans back in the day but... I don't know much about the later versions of RQ. It sort of moved to AH, and now I believe the SYSTEM itself is basically dead under the RQ name. Mongoose put out a version a few years ago, and then a revised version a year ago, after which they gave up the license to the RQ name and I guess maybe they're going to release another version under some totally different name. Meanwhile the original BRP system itself has stayed with Chaosium and been used for a number of games (Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer being the most noted).
I have no idea what sort of writing style Mongoose has, so if what you're talking about is their latest RQ my understanding is they removed all Glorantha content. As for GM advice and such, who knows? You'd have to look at it to find out.
Personally I think the 4e DMG and DMG2 are AWESOME DMGs. I honestly don't know any better DM books out there in general, though there are several other really good ones. I haven't read the PF one. I'd just say that you're not going to find one that is vastly better than what 4e gives you. It may well be as good, and any good 'DMG' is likely to cover some interesting material that is worth reading. I like reading such books actually.
Shadowrun-Earthdawn have some nices ideas. I stole stuff form the continuum...
Also, old, less known rpg like Dragon Warrior (low fantasy Fantasy Medieval Earth) and the german classic the Dark Eye RPG (peoples say FR is too detailled? THIS is nothign compared to Dark Eye's universe...).
And the world of TItan (of many classic Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks), and Lone Wolf as well.... (It had a D20 adaptation).
I own some old Talislanta stuff that's pretty interesting from a flavor perspective.
And I'll second (or third) the GURPS worldbooks - they've got great ideas in them if you look outside just the regular fantasy ones... Any of the military, espionage or superheroes ones are great for stealing plot or adventure hooks, and I've stolen any number of npcs from them.
is it worth me getting any of RuneQuest books for the same reason I get Pathfinder books, great DM advice, great creative ideas from their Viking setting book, or any other great resources?
And secondly what other rpgs are out there that have a lot to lend to D&D that are worth a read have a lot to offer a well rounded DM?
My answer to the former is related heavily to the latter.
Yes. D&D is my favorite game mechanics. And into it I throw material I have stolen from just about every RPG, book, movie, and even song I have ever read, seen or heard. I have e3ven managed to import material from Paranoia into my D&D game.
I have e3ven managed to import material from Paranoia into my D&D game.
Tangential anecdote...
I once had a player who outright refused to use any magic item that had a button on it because he was a longtime Paranoia player.
If you have to grab something else, I would highly recommend grabbing the idea of Aspects from the Dresden Files RPG.
Here is an awesome blog post about plugging fate points into 4E.
www.vanitygames.com/blog/?p=1207
I take from everything
Me too. I so thoroughly enjoyed playing my shielding swordmage that I converted her to GURPS. So now I have a generic Mark ability and the shielding swordmage's mark punishment method as Advantages I can use with future characters. I have also added Fate Point-type effects to most of my campaigns (OVA already has Fate Dice so it doesn't need it) like those found in nearly every game printed in the last few years. TRPGs are all about the art of creative purloinment. 8o)
I'm likewise pulling aspects of GURPS 4e, HackMaster 5e, and D&D 4e into a game I'm designing. I also recommend the D&D 4e DMG to people who run other systems because it's one of the best GMing guides I've ever seen (as much as I love both editions of HackMaster, their GMing advice is next to useless).
Just to add – if you aren't used to writing a certain "theme" for a setting, such as horror, some of the GURPS source books are good – you'll just skip the crunch in them.
Even people who hate GURPS (a mind-boggling idea, that) still frequently buy GURPS sourcebooks for setting material. I constantly hear people raving about how well-researched their historical books are. I can't offer any first hand opinions since we only run games in our own worlds so all of our GURPS books were purchased for their crunch; Martial Arts is probably the fluff-heaviest book we have. Actually, I take that back. When our FLGS was closing we sold ourselves our last copy of GURPS: Infinite Worlds because it has tons of ideas for parallel Earths so we thought it would be a great idea mine.
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I can't offer any specific advice since I'm not familiar with the game in question, so my suggestion would be to borrow a copy or peruse it in a store if either are options, or see if there is a free sample version available for download. Otherwise, just go ahead and pick up the one book that seems like it will be most useful. If it's a dud then at least you've helped keep the hobby alive by feeding it the money that sustains it. But if it serves you well then you can feel more confident spending on other likely candidates from the same publisher.
If you have to grab something else, I would highly recommend grabbing the idea of Aspects from the Dresden Files RPG.
Here is an awesome blog post about plugging fate points into 4E.
www.vanitygames.com/blog/?p=1207
hummm... fate points eh... I like this.
I was going to start using the Plot twist deck from piazo, they are a deck of cards that have one boring mechanical benifit, and 4 plot twists, and I had heard people compair them to fate points, and not I have a system for handing them out and adding to them.
paizo.com/store/byCompany/p/paizoPublish...