RPG Supplements, that aren't RPG Supplements

Those vouchers burning a hole in your pocket? Consider some of these RPG supplements that are not RPG supplements.

Last month, I was sharing some of my book collection on Twitter and Discord that can be described as RPG supplements that are not RPG supplements. You can pull books like this, down from the shelf and use them at the gaming table with very little effort. Some include images that can create perfect handouts for additional, ‘supplement’ authenticity.

They are distinct from books that provide inspiration for adventures, non-player characters or settings. Any book will trigger ideas, but these books go a little further as they are RPG books in all but name.

The advantage of having these in your collection is that they don’t contain game book guilt. If they sit on your shelf, furnishing the room, they’re not silently pricking your conscious by whispering, “use me, use me,” every time you sit down for a brew and a hob nob.

Enjoy, this collection and feel free to let me know your suggestions for the Great Library of RPGs. There are many more where these came from, but let us start with 1d6. Here are five great picks from my Great Library and one duff one.

Phantom Architecture. The Fantastical Structures the World’s Great Architects Really Wanted to Build. Philip Wilkinson, 2017

A beautiful book to own, printed on good quality paper, this is a pictorial tour of the imagination of architects through the ages. Fifty concepts that stayed on the drawing board due to lack of resources, political will or falling foul of regulations. Many of the ideas push the limits of materials and explore challenging new ideas about space and structure.

Some of the examples are schemes for rebuilding existing towns and cities with visionary solutions for overcrowding and energy efficiency. The most striking, and most useful for RPGs, are the incredible structures that are illustrated with concept art that can be shared at the table.

For example, Ron Herron devised the Walking City that could wander the Earth in search of resources, or to move labour to locations where it was needed. The concept art depicts steel structures on telescopic legs. Herron was a member of a society of architects known as Archigram who were influential on Richard Rodgers among others.

Cities built on bridges will be familiar to Dragon Warriors players, but what about apartments on the bridges into Manhattan or cluster buildings in the sky?

Look out for this book at remainder stores as it can be bought for a fraction of the recommended retail price.

You Are Here. Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination. Katharine Harmon, 2004

This is one of my favourite books to dip into. It’s a wonderfully illustrated exploration of cartography in many forms. It includes maps of the memory, the body, place and the fantastical. I like the idea of presenting your players with layered strata as they got deeper and deeper into place, or maps from different points-of-view such as a goblin’s view of the town (maybe the butcher would be a focus, in the same way as a dog views a place), or maps of the human body, or a crab shaped island.

In general, an Atlas is a great gaming resource, but this book sparks the imagination and presents a liminal view of the world.

Murder Maps. Crime Scenes Revisited. Phrenology to Fingerprint. 1811-1911. Dr Drew Gray, 2020

“100% Game Handaboutable” according to Ken Hite who picked this book up when he visited London for Dragonmeet in 2022. This is an incredible book of murder case studies, including detailed crime scene maps, of some of the most notorious murders from cities around the world. It features un-nerving, early forensic photography as well as precisely written details of the crimes. Serial killers, bizarre crimes of passion and gangland killings are detailed. You can pick a single page and unleash a purpose built investigation (if you can stomach it).

An Underground Guide to Sewers. Or: Down, through and out in Paris, London, New York, & c. Stephen Halliday, 2019

I know from the GROGNARD files book club that a number of people have picked up this book following the recommendation on twitter. It’s another smart production from Thames and Hudson which includes maps and photographs. There’s dramatic, esoteric images such as the Medusa Frieze in the Basilica Cistern in Turkey and the brutalist splendour of Thames Water Beckton Treatment plant, London. I enjoy the story of the various factions involved in the development of the Paris sewers, as depicted in Les Misérables, you can certainly port such drama into your games. If the only sewer map you own is the underground of Altdorf in Warhammer, you can supplement it with this great book.

Mondo 2000. A Users Guide to the New Edge. Rudy Rucker, R.U. Sirius and Queen Mu, 1992

A longstanding staple on my book shelf from the period when I wasn’t playing RPGs. It features a subtitle, listing some of its contents: Cyberpunk, Virtual Reality, Wetware, Designer Aphrodisiacs, Artificial Life, Techno-erotic paganism and more. In other words, this is a book that surfaced the transgressive and weird in that early 90s manner; like Louis Theroux on mainstream TV, Factsheet Five for ‘zine culture. By the end of the decade, it would become a bit passé thanks to the internet and post-Millennial paranoia burning out and reality biting in the early noughts. Gamers may turn to GURPS supplements that cover similar ground, as JG Ballard said, there is a distinctive joy in finding nostalgia in the future.

The Incredible World of Spy-Fi. Wild and Crazy Spy Gadgets, props and artifacts from TV and The Movies. Danny Biederman, 2004

The promise of this book was a companion to Victory Game’s Q Manual, but it isn’t quite as good. Instead of an Innovation catalogue of spy gadgets, this is more of a low-grade TV listing book with more padding than the gold sofa from the Wild, Wild, West (which is featured here) . The cigarette-pack transmitter from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is displayed like something you might find next to a bottle of bleach in a car-boot sale.

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