Subject: Roleplaying Tips Weekly Supplemental #14: The GM's Library Thank you for requesting: Roleplaying Tips Weekly Supplemental #14 "The GM's Library" In this file you'll find reader submitted non-fiction books that might be useful for GMs. If you have items on your bookshelf not mentioned here, please drop me a note with: 1) Title and author 2) Publisher and date of publication (if known), availability (if known) 3) Brief description of contents. 4) Relevance/usefulness to RPGs A special thanks to Neil Falkner--chief organizer, categorizer, editor, and librarian of this file. Cheers, Johnn Four johnn@roleplayingtips.com http://www.roleplayingtips.com @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Following the request for non-fiction books that GMs have found useful, informative, or inspirational for their campaigns, the following titles were suggested by Tips readers. They are sorted into three categories: General, Medieval, and Modern, with the following information for each title (as submitted): a) Title and author b) Availability data - publisher, date, and ISBN (where included) c) A brief summary of the book's contents d) An indication of the book's usefulness to GMs and applicability to role-playing games Further suggestions of non-fiction titles for inclusion in later editions of this list are welcome! It would be appreciated if the format above could be followed as far as possible. Unfortunately, some recommendations had to be omitted because nothing more than a title was submitted. This list was compiled by Neil Faulkner on behalf of Johnn Four. Comments in [square brackets] preceded by "NF" are by Neil. All other comments are from the original contributors. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Contents/Categories ------------------- 1. General. Titles applicable to a range of game genres. 2. Medieval. Useful background reading for injecting some realism into a fantasy game based, however loosely, on the middle ages. 3. Modern. I initially divided this category into three sub-categories, though the first only received one recommended title. I have retained the division in case further recommendations for 3a - Modern Horror are forthcoming. 3a. Modern Day: Horror 3b. Modern Day: Military/Mercenary 3c. Reference Books for the Modern Campaign Setting @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 1. GENERAL * "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering" Steve Jackson Games (February 2002), Sold at WOTC. Excellent tips and ideas for getting to know the different types of gamers, choosing the right game system for you and your players, campaign building, designing adventures, and improvisation. A very useful little guide for the GM that has little experience in the field. While the ideas within have a distinctive GURPS swing to them, they can be applied to any system and any gaming style. * "John Haywoods World Atlas of the Past, Vol. 1-4" Andromeda Oxford Ltd 1999. Should be relatively easy to get. Complete maps of the entire world from 10 000 BC - 1975, with plenty of useful tidbits and general facts of the period concerned. The maps are wonderful, and put into context by easy to understand timelines. Mostly relevant when building your own world, but can also be scoured for interesting scenarios to inspire your adventures. * "History's Timeline" by Jean Cook, Ann Kramer, Theodore Rowland-Entwhistle Barnes & Noble Books. 240pp. A timeline from 40,000 BC to 1996 AD with notes on key historical events. Idea springboard; Illustrative of the constant political and cultural clashes throughout man's history. Very useful for creating governments, cultures, and political situations. * "Facts and Fallacies", many authors - [NF - I could find no reference to this book at Amazon, which is a shame because it sounds quite interesting.] edited by Dorling Kindersley Ltd. for Readers Digest. Hundreds of weird, funny and creepy "facts" and some tall tales. A lot of good info here, but not all is relevant to roleplaying. * "Shared Fantasy" by Gary Alan Fine The University of Chicago Press - www.press-uchicago.edu - 1983/2002. Currently in print. "An ethnography of fantasy role-playing games and gamers." It's a book, no, it's THE book on role-playing games as ideocultural entities (social worlds). Shared fantasy does a top-notch job of dissecting the social metagame that forms around a role-playing group. After reading this book, I was better able to understand why I played, why my friends and associates played, and how to make sure that everyone got what they needed out of the game. I purchased 10 copies to give to friends for holiday presents this past year. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. * "The Art of War in the Western World" by Geoffrey Archer [No availability information given.] Not politics and who did what to who but rather a history of the development of tactics and strategy. Equipping armies and movement, supply and battlefield maneuvers. Ranging in era from ancient to WWII. Not an easy read but fascinating. Very useful for large scale RPG. * "The Reader's Digest Book of Natural Wonders" Reader's Digest Association Inc, 1980. A hefty (more than 450pp) and lavishly illustrated collection of the most majestic, spectacular or just downright bizarre landscape features on Earth, from Aar Gorge in Switzerland to the Zugspitze of the Bavarian Alps. All climes and continents are represented in this impressive selection of mountains, lakes, caves, deltas, canyons, waterfalls and much else besides. This book (and others like it) offers useful inspiration to a GM seeking a memorable locale for a scenario, with the added advantage that you don't need to describe the terrain to the players when you can simply show them the photograph. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 2. MEDIEVAL/FANTASY "A Short History of Byzantium" by John J. Norwich. David McKay Company, Ltd. Hard to find, but the Norwich book is fairly well-known and new editions are printed every so often. The most recent trade paperback printing (1998), still available, is published by Penguin UK, ISBN 0140259600, and runs $24.99 Canadian on www.indigo.ca. Also available for $11.90 American on www.amazon.com for the 1998 Vintage Books paperback edition. This book is a fairly well detailed history of Byzantium, the very best example of a magnificent, then corrupt, then dying empire. It offers fantastic characters for use as rulers, from general-kings to boy-figureheads, licentious queens, and barbarian guards of the king. Political settings can be lifted directly out of nearly any page for colour or plot, and political intrigue is rife throughout. Any character of power, no matter the setting, can be coloured with the information in this book. I can't really recommend this book enough. * Any Tolkien Companion/Encyclopedia/whatever. Like it or not, Tolkien is a great source of inspiration for any fantasy roleplaying game. By buying a complete guide of some kind, you can steal some of the more obscure details, and nobody will notice. My guide is written by David Day, who I believe is quite an authority on Tolkien. Given the recent rise in popularity Tolkien has experienced, getting any guide on him shouldn't prove difficult. [NF - I have been led to understand that Mr. Day is rather liberal in his interpretation of Tolkien's works, though his books (eg: "A Tolkien Bestiary", Mitchell Beazly Publishers Ltd 1979) are not necessarily any less useful as a generic fantasy gaming resource. For the GM planning to run a campaign in Middle Earth, Robert Foster's "Complete Guide to Middle Earth" is an indispensable reference. Barbara Strachey's "Journeys of Frodo" (Unwin Paperbacks 1981) follows the journeys of the Fellowship of the Ring (not just Frodo) across Middle Earth in 50 two-colour maps of very variable scale.] * "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times, Together With Some Closely Related Subjects" by G. C. Stone [No availability information given.] Some of the research from this book is outdated (it was originally published in the 20's). But as an RPG reference, it is still the best single source for every weapon and armor imaginable. Unlike many modern books it actually tries to cover as many cultural weapons as possible. * "Life in a Medieval Castle" by Joseph & France Gies Harper & Row, New York 1979. This detailed but entertaining and highly readable book describes everything you need to know about a medieval castle from the perspective of those who actually lived there. Chapters cover such areas as the castle as house, the castle at war, the lord, lady and the household, a typical day and a typical year. It is extensively illustrated with dark but useful photographs as well as many revealing images from illuminated manuscripts. For any player of medieval fantasy RPGs, this is an invaluable resource which really helps to set the scene for player and referee alike. [NF - Gies and Gies have also written a companion volume, "Life in a Medieval Village", which would appear to be at least as useful to the fantasy GM seeking a bit of social authenticity in his or her campaign.] * "The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of the First Millennium" by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger. Little Brown and Company 1999, ISBN 0 316 64375 0 A month-by-month account of daily life in Anglo-Saxon England, following the rhythm of the seasons but finding sound reasons to digress into all manner of social and domestic topics, such as education, medicine, law, monastic life and architecture (including that well known incident in 978, when the upper floor of the first documented two-storey building in England collapsed, leaving archbishop Dunstan perched on a supporting beam). Written by journalists rather than historians, and with a blatant eye for cashing in on the approaching second millennium, this is nevertheless a rich and lively (if rather disjointed) profile of medieval life, highly recommended to any GM who wants a bit of authenticity in his/er fantasy campaign. * "The Village in Society" by Graham Nicolson and Jane Fawcett Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1988. A general account of the English village, from before the Norman Conquest to the present day. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with the village in the medieval period, where such things as the size of settlements and estates, house construction and organisation, field sizes, crop yields, village officials and taxes are among the various topics covered to a greater or lesser degree. Useful background reading for those GMs who want a feel for medieval times. Since the rural peasantry comprised at least three quarters of the medieval population, it's useful to have some account of how they lived. * Treasures of Britain Published: 1977 [NF - I have a book of this title, presumably an earlier edition, published in 1968 by Drive Publications Ltd for the Automobile Association. A more recent edition is apparently available from Amazon.] This book has all kinds of great things, descriptions of castles and manors, pictures and descriptions of masterful pieces of art, pictures and descriptions of all kinds of booty to distribute. Each Description also gives a little detail about where it came from and the significance of the item which is a boost to coming up with ways to introduce it into your game. When players get tired of the same 'old' treasure, or when I'm looking for a magical item of immense power I turn to this book. When I'm in need of a quick manor house, or location, I turn to this book. It's perfect for ideas from the real world, and does not give enough information to inhibit a creative mind. * "Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary" by Terry Jones. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1980. Eyre Methuen 1982 (paperback). ISBN 0 413 49640 6 An analysis of the Knight in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, placing both the character and the tale he tells within the context of late 14th Century Europe, where rogue mercenary companies were bringing knighthood into disrepute and old social barriers were threatening to come crashing down. Don't be put off by the fact that the author is best known as a member of the wacky Monty Python team! He's also a very diligent historian who paints a gripping and very readable profile of late medieval society, full of ideas that can be imported singly or wholesale into a medieval fantasy setting. * "The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages" by Jean Gimpel. Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1976. An account of the state of technology in medieval Europe, with many surprises tucked away in its pages for those who thought the Middle Ages were all about proud knights and wimpled ladies. Gimpel's medieval Europe is a land of greedy profiteers, rebellious weavers, smog-bound cities and stinking polluted rivers, where (rather optimistic) visionaries design wind-powered mobile fortresses, miners do just about anything they damn well please, and endless wranglings over milling rights make a lot of lawyers very well off. This book paints a very different portrait of the period compared with most books on the Middle Ages, but is better seen as complementing rather than contradicting them. It's full of little background details that could be used to add touches of colour to a fantasy campaign (how about a fight in a water-powered saw mill?) and offers intriguing hints of what might have been developed had the social climate been more amenable to invention. (Unfortunately - or rather fortunately! - Gimpel's concluding analysis of the sorry state of the West in the 20th Century now seems dated and unnecessarily gloomy, but that's not what this book is worth reading for.) * "English Wayfaring Life in the 14th Century" by Jean Jules Jusserand. First published in 1889. My copy (3rd edition) is a 13th impression from 1929. A reprint is listed as available from Amazon. A comprehensive account of roads and road users in Chaucerian England, including the state of repair of roads; the construction and maintenance of bridges; royal and noble travellers and their retinues; minstrels; inns and ale houses; fugitives and the provision of sanctuary; hermits and hermitages; and preachers and pilgrims, true or otherwise. No other book I've read gives such an exhaustive account of the sheer variety of people that made up medieval society. It's almost overflowing with NPCs for a historical (eg Ars Magica) campaign, and most of them could be easily adapted for a fantasy game. There are also plenty of references to authentic prices, wages and fines, and numerous anecdotes, many of which might be incorporated into a scenario. * "The Jesus Conspiracy" by Holger Kersten and Elmar R Gruber [No availability information given] Openly skeptical of the radiocarbon test results that date the Turin Shroud to the 14th Century, the authors set out to 'prove' that the Shroud is genuine by reconstructing its history. They also offer a theory to account for the Vatican's wish to have their most famous relic declared a forgery. From a rolegaming point of view, it matters not whether Kersten and Gruber's conspiracy theory holds water or not. This is instead a gripping account of the alleged power of a holy artefact and its (sometimes putative) impact on history, theology and art, and a useful case study for a GM wishing to introduce such an artefact into his or her campaign. Early Byzantine wars, the sack of Constantinople and the dissolution of the Templars all get dragged into the saga. Devout Christians (and not just Catholics) should however be aware that they will probably find this book irritating, if not downright offensive. * "Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa" by Frank McLynn. Hutchinson 1992. ISBN 0 7126 5665 0 An account of European explorers in the Dark Continent, from James Bruce and Mungo Park to the great names of the Victorian era - Livingstone, Burton, Speke and Stanley. Section by section, McLynn details the expeditions and their routes, the practical process of exploring hostile unknown territory, the dangers and other obstacles facing the explorers, and finally a largely unflattering psychoanalysis of the explorers themselves. This book is about mostly 19th Century personalities. Why, then, have I included it in the Medieval/Fantasy section? Because it's about real-life adventurers leaving civilisation behind to grapple with the unknown, much as your average dungeoneer does. They entered hostile territory, negotiated with potentially unfriendly natives, had hair-raising encounters with monstrous creatures that were little more than legend, and sometimes barely lived to tell the tale. They meddled in local politics, tried (some of them, anyway) to build their own little private empires, and more than once behaved in such an ignoble fashion that they found themselves outcasts at home. Very useful as a resource for GMs who feel like attaching a fantasy Africa to their fantasy Europe, but a quick lick of paint and many of the incidents and background details in this book can be transplanted to almost any climate. * "Warfare in the Classical World" by John Warry. St. Martin's Press, 1981. There are more recent editions and it is still in print. Describes instruments and tactics of battle from the early Greeks to the late Romans in entertaining layman's language. Contains many detailed illustrations. Good for frpg gamers because many frpgs are actually set in a tech level world approximating the King Arthur or early Medieval period rather than late Middle Age as many seem to think. Late Roman is more Arthurian in many ways than Middle Age. A good Discovery Channel documentary was also made based on this book. * "The Face of Battle" by John Keegan. Viking Press, 1976. There are more recent editions and it is still in print. Eminent military historian discusses the battlefield experience from a grunt's perspective. Does so through 3 case studies: Agincourt, Waterloo & The Somme. Pays special attention to the motives behind soldiers' actions. Really helpful to inform a gamemaster's notion of how battles progress and how characters behave during and after battle. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 3. MODERN DAY 3a. HORROR * The X-Files Declassified, by Frank Lovece Citadell Press, 1996. A bit dated, might be a bit hard to get... An Unauthorized Guide to X-Files, featuring in debt descriptions of every episode from the 1st to the 3rd season of this eminent show. X-Files is a treasure trove for modern horror roleplaying, and with a bit of tweaking makes good fantasy too. Get a more recent guide than mine, and you'll see the entire story-arc much better. 3b. MILITARY/MERC * "Small Arms of the World" by WHB Smith [No availability information given] A definitive work on practically all modern firearms in production, it is occasionally revised as new weapons are added to the mix, a bit pricey but an excellent reference book. * "The Good Guys Wear Black" by Steve Collins Arrow 1998 (paperback); ISBN: 0099186829. Available from Amazon UK at £4.79 (not available from Amazon US). Subtitled "The True Life Heroes of Britain's Armed Police", this is Collins' account of his own career in the elite section SO19 of the Metropolitan Police, describing training, equipment, operational procedure and the kind of incidents that British armed police have to deal with, from organised crime to terrorists and drunken soldiers on leave. Useful background material for any GM running a modern or near-future police or special ops game, especially one set in the UK. Collins offers a solid impression of the kind of people employed in this line of work, the qualities they need to possess and the pressures they come under. * "One Up: A Woman in Action with the SAS" by Sarah Ford Harper Collins 1997. ISBN: 000638837X Ford's autobiography briefly recounts her tough working class childhood and her early career in the Royal Navy before moving on to her progression into 'the Det', an elite army unit working against the IRA in Northern Ireland. (As a woman, Ford couldn't actually join the SAS, though she did come to work alongside them.) Training, intelligence gathering and counter-terrorist operations are all covered, along with the personal (and sexual) tensions that took their toll on Ford and those she worked with. Useful general background reading for the genre. Ford's descriptions of herself and her colleagues provides very usable raw material for realistic NPCs. * "The New Mercenaries" by Anthony Mockler Sidgwick and Jackson 1985. Corgi 1986 (paperback). An account of the resurgence of mercenarism in post-colonial Africa, starting with 'Mad Mike' Hoare and Robert Denard in Katanga in 1960, through Costas 'Colonel Callan' Georgiou's 1976 exploits in Angola, and ending with Hoare again, this time in the Seychelles where an attempted mercenary coup in 1981 swiftly turned into a fiasco. Other operations in Benin, Biafra and elsewhere are lightly touched upon. Plenty of gripping and detailed accounts of mercenary actions, and lots of factual background to lend authenticity to an NPC (or PC), and obviously useful for any merc campaign or scenario set in post-colonial Africa. The book also includes the full employment contract offered to mercenaries working for Hoare in the Congo. * Jane's Books [NF - No availability information given, but this is a very well known and reputable range of titles.] These books will teach you all you need to know about modern military hardware , pricey but excellent source, and reference material. Because my real use of these books is for my miniatures painting they help in getting the camouflage patterns realistic. 3c. REFERENCE BOOKS FOR THE MODERN CAMPAIGN SETTING a) Local phone directory, published by your friendly phone company. This is a good source for names and businesses for your campaign. b) Thomas Brothers Guide (preferably of the year you're portraying). This is a good source of detailed and accurate street maps as well as street names. An outdated one can often be picked up cheap. c) Brochures on various tourist attractions. Many offer maps of the facility, and the attractions could serve as a backdrop for an adventure. For example, I have used Pioneer Courthouse Square as a setting for some of my campaign's scenes, with the assistance of a website offering a layout, along with pertinent details about the site. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I hope this file helped point out some interesting and useful books for your GMing. Feel free to send in your own GM Library recommendations! Have more fun at every game! johnn@roleplayingtips.com End of Supplemental #14 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@