Pocket-size gaming books - looking for good examples!

[Deleted]

Hi all,

Title says it all. I'm specifically looking for rpg books from the 80s that chose pocket-size format (like my personal favorite, Dave Morris' Dragon Warriors), but I'm also looking for more modern examples - if there are any that warrant a mention, besides "Carcosa" and "Burning Wheel". I've been tasked with the layout for a pocket-size wedding booklet in RPG-format, and I'm now looking for some inspiration.

Thank you,

Rafe

[bigjackbrass]

There were quite a few in the UK. Before Corgi issued it as a mass-market paperback, Chris Harvey published Tunnels & Trolls fifth edition as an A5-sized boxed set; the first UK edition had been an A5 booklet, so for many people it was surprising to see the larger American format.

Fighting Fantasy, Advanced Fighting Fantasy and Maelstrom also went the small paperback route.

The Dungeons & Dragons red box from 1983 was also briefly published as a rather chunky paperback in the UK. That version is not common and can be quite expensive if you find one these days.

For something more modern, try Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! from Precis Intermedia. It's aimed at new players and is available as a single volume paperback or a compact boxed set.

[Zenopus]

The Tolkien-based gamebooks from Iron Crown Enterprises were some of the best that went beyond choose-your-own-adventure into solo RPG territory. They used a MERP-lite system based on 2d6. Some of were hexcrawls on a detachable color map that was provided in the center of the book.

There's a list of them & pictures here:
gamebooks.org/Series/270

[Stormcrow]

Does it have to be '80s? In 2000 Wingnut games printed the second edition of their caveman game, called Land of Og. It and its sole supplement are printed in digest-sized booklets, just like the original D&D booklets. It's a hilarious parody of D&D, in which the players are cavemen, and they, the players, are only allowed to speak to each other with the few words their cavemen know—usually only one to start with. The bestiary is filled with entries like "Big Hairy Thing," "Big Flying Thing," and "Big Big Thing," and the economy, such as it is, is based on small animal carcasses. Cavemen are so stupid, it's a challenge just getting out of your cave.

$6 at DriveThru.

[Stormcrow]

Also not '80s is GURPS Ultra-Lite, which is the GURPS rules simplified and condensed into a single sheet of paper that you fold into a tiny booklet. This one's free.

[Stormcrow]

The late '80s and early '90s say the printing of TWERPS, which was something of a parody of RPGs. Each set came in a Ziploc bag.

[Deleted]

Wow, thank you all very much! Some pretty good suggestions, already - and NO, of course this doesn't have to be comfined to the 80s. Basically, anything that serves as a good visual model is fine for me.

Myself, I obviously own a couple as well - but most of them were really, quite frankly, pretty ugly done. One positive highlight, though, is the Spanish "La Marca del Este"/"Adventures in the East Mark". That one, too, comes pocket.size, and is a thing of beauty. (The game itself, I recall as somewhat unreMARKable, though. --- Oh, YEAH, wanna have more of my German humor?! )

So far, I've really been working on something related to the Lone Wolf books - the groom seems to be a fan, that's where this is coming from.