Best world of darkness books according to redditors

• Teenagers from Outer Space -- my favorite funny game, it's an anime inspired high-school comedy sci-fi game. Players play either aliens who have come to Earth because Earth stuff is trendy in the Universe right now, or the humans who have to deal with them (want an ancient anime reference? It's pretty much Urusei Yatsura: the Game). Aliens can have wild powers, but humans have the Human Fake-Out: aliens believe anything a human tells them because 'they're from Earth and you're not'. Shennanigans ensue (also has a great section on 'how to be funny').
  
  
• HOL (Human Occupied Landfill) -- more fun to read than to play (I assume -- never played it but loved reading it). The handwritten (!!) manuscript describes an offbeat science fiction setting that takes place in a planetary landfill/prison for the criminally insane. Impossible to take seriously.
  
  
• Ork: The Roleplaying Game -- you play an Ork in a fantasy setting where Orks are violent, short tempered, cruel and ill-fortuned. It's a game that's about letting out your worst urges and not feeling bad about it because your Ork could be crushed by a refrigerator falling out of a magical portal any second.
  
  
• Stuperpowers -- My funniest game sessions have been playing Stuperpowers, and it always shows up during 'beer and pretzels night'. You get three random and incredibly worthless super powers and you make a super hero out of them (just for fun, I'll roll an example: make a hero out of 'Turn yourself into a Picasso-esque figurine'; 'Pied-Piper Karaoke (others must follow you for as long as you keep singing pop songs); and 'Switch Stomach Contents With Anyone Else'). Also has a mad-libs style adventure generator and 'live action' rules (a Stuperpowers party game)
  
  
• ELFs -- in ELFs you play childish, mischievous Elfs on an adventure. The core mechanic of this game is that you get bonuses to actions when your character expresses one goal but you the player express another (for example: your Elf might be trying to chop the orc's head off, but what you the player want if for him to trip and fall off the balcony into a lake so he can escape). I never actually played this one, but always thought it sounded funny.
  
  
• Murphy's World -- Murphy's World is actually more of a system-independent source book than an RPG unto itself, but still tons of fun. The tagline of Murphy's World is 'it can always get worse' -- it's a sci-fi/fantasy/adventure RPG that takes place on Murphy's World, a planet bombarded by a mysterious radiation that makes any attempt to plan, build, or seriously try to accomplish something go completely awry. Every game is a ridiculous comedy of errors, created by randomly selecting various tropes from the book and inflicting them on the player (an example: 'The greater the desire to find something or an item of information you are searching for, the less likely it will turn up'). The strange magic of Murphy's Worlds sun also means that wishes and desires are fulfilled exactly when you don't want them to in exactly the way you don't want them fulfilled. If you're a GM who loves to mis-interpret wishes in D&D, it's the setting for you.
  
  That's everything I have on my shelf/hard drive. I remember Trollbabes being sort of humorous, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned Kobolds Ate My Baby yet (I didn't really like that one, honestly).
  
  Edit: formatting (lurking ill-prepared me for markdown)

Perhaps you should get some funny shaped dice and some friends together around your dining room table and play some World of Darkness and make your own zombie story.

The corebook is a little under 30 dollars on Amazon, and you can generally get enough ten sided dice for 5 bucks in any card or hobby shop. Other than that, you only need a couple pieces of paper and some moderate to decent narrating skills and a little creativity. Although these printable character sheets in one, two, and four page versions are useful. And if you're not sure about trying out something new and different from the video gaming you're used to based on the word of some randie off the internet, well, there's this free quickstart campaign.

I would almost, almost be willing to run a game, but I've realized that when I run games over IRC, I tend to ignore real life and become a reclusive hermit, and I'm trying to avoid doing that.

First thing is since HP is essentially earth, you can already borrow from all your favorite myths and superstitions; djinns and ifrits in the deserts of the middle east, giant jungle beasts of the darkest reaches of the congo, romanian vampires, fuckin' atlantis.

Of course if you want to keep it in (edit: the regions where the story takes place), the forbidden forest, before it was reduced to a magical creature sanctuary could be insane, a massive sprawling wilderness, a magical biome with its own civilizations, warring factions, caves and dungeons, etc.

I'm gonna be honest though, if you want to adapt a role playing game to the harry potter universe; instead of D&D I would highly recommend using "MAGE : THE SORCERERS CRUSADE"

https://www.amazon.com/Mage-Sorcerers-Crusade/dp/1565044894 - Used copies start at $11

I'd recommend asking /r/rpg since that's more a question for them. There are a couple board games that are kind of similar (Descent 2E and Mice and Mystics) if you wanted board game suggestions.

My personal suggestion as a table top RPG player is to either go to a FLGS and see if they have weekly D&D games and join in if they do (it's very common among stores to have these events) OR, if the themes appeal to you, try out some of the White Wolf books and the World of Darkness setting. You need the core rulebook to run any of the settings. The rules are pretty simple for character creation and the game itself. You only use 10-sided dice (d10s) for skill checks. You roll the d10s and any 8+ is considered a success and a 10 is a success and a re-roll for another potential success. The books themselves also do a great job of getting new players into the setting by giving a lot of examples and lots of backstory.

Once you have the core set, you can pick one or more of the books to introduce one or more "classes" to the game. There are old and new versions as you'll see on the wiki link I gave you. I've both tried only playing one "class" (Vampires and Hunters both) and mixing them together (I've had a game of 2 Vampires, a Werewolf, and a Mage and similar mixes multiple times). One of my GMs threw my group for a loop: We played a game of Vampires, Werewolves, and Mages and then, a month or so after finishing that campaign, we played all Hunters and we ended up hunting our previous characters as part of the story.

Edit: fixed typos.

Do you mean videogames like Telltale Games series or even Crusader Kings mod?

Or do you mean more of a pen and paper or tabletop or card game?


Or any of the above as long as people liked them?

Make up your own story with these mechanics.

A Game of Thrones: D20-Based Open Gaming RPG

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE ROLEPLAYING
The Game of Thrones RPG

List of Influential RPG Titles

Dungeons and Dragons - By TSR and WotC

Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - TSR

• Core Rulebooks
  
• Adventures (Keep on the Boarderlands, The Tomb of Horrors, The Temple of Elemental Evil)
  
  Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition - TSR
  
  
• Core Books (PHB, DMG, MM)
  
• Unearthed Arcana
  
• Campaign Settings (Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun)
  
• Arms and Equipment Guide
  
  Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 - WotC
  
  
• Savage Species
  
• Deities and Demigods
  
• Stronghold Builder's Guidebook
  
  Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 - WotC
  
  
• Core Rulebooks (PHB, DMG, & MM)
  
• Expanded Core (PHB2, DMG2, MM2, 3, 4, 5)
  
• Psionics Handbook
  
• Unearthed Arcana
  
• Complete Series (Arcane, Adventurer, Warrior, Divine, Champion, Scoundrel, Mage, Psionics)
  
• Campaign Settings (Ebberon, Forgotten Realms)
  
• Adventures (Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil)
  
  Dungeons and Dragons 4e - WotC
  
  
• Core Rulebooks (PHB, PHB2, PHB3, DMG, DMG2, MM, MM2, MM3)
  
• Essentials (Heroes of Forgotten Kingdoms and Heroes of Fallen Lands, Rules Compendium)
  
• Settings (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun)
  
• Adventures (Tomb of Horrors)
  
  Pathfinder - Paizo Publishing
  
  
• Core Rulebook
  
• Advanced Player's Guide
  
• Advanced Race Guide
  
• Ultimate Magic
  
• Ultimate Combat
  
• Ultimate Equipment
  
• Game Mastery Guide
  
• Ultimate Campaign
  
• Mythic Adventures
  
• NPC Codex
  
• Bestiaries 1-4
  
  Not Dungeons and Dragons
  
  World of Darkness - by White Wolf
  
  
• Vampire the Masquerade - Vampires are so mainstream now...
  
• Werewolf the Apocylypse - Where there are vampires there are werewolves.
  
• Mage the Ascention - and witches and wizards.
  
• Hunter the Reckoning - and someone to hunt them.
  
• Changeling the Dreaming
  
  "New" World of Darkness
  
  
• Core Book
  
• Expanded Core (Vampire, Mage, Werewolf)
  
  AEG
  
  
• Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition Core Rulebook
  
• Legend of the Five Rings 1st Edition Core Rulebook
  
• 7th Sea
  
• Deadlands
  
  Other
  
  
• Shadowrun
  
• Savage Worlds
  
• Dungeon World
  
• FATE Core
  
• Call of Cthulhu
  
• RIFTS
  
• GURPS
  
• Paranoia - Super expensive on Amazon, not sure why.
  
• Elf Quest - Also a very popular graphic novel.
  
  Authors to Look for
  
  
• Gary Gygax - Role Playing Mastery and Master of the Game
  
• Monte Cook
  
• John Wick
  
• Dave Arneston
  
  RPG Related Non-Fiction
  
  
• Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress - Shelley Mazzinoble
  
• Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It
  
  RPG Fiction, also essential
  
  
• Dragonlance - Chronicles Triligy by Weise and Hickman - Set in a D&D campaign Setting
  
• Drizzit's Series - By R. A. Salvatore. Icewind Dale Trilogy and The Dark Elf Trilogy
  
• The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist - It's allegedly the story of the author's long running D&D game.
  
  Other Lists
  
  
• Good Reads Popular RPG titles.
  
• Wikipedia timeline of RPGs
  
  Honorable Mentions
  
  
• Star Wars - d6 Edition, d20 Edition, SAGA Edition, Star Wars RPG (Fantsy Flight)
  
• Star Trek - Various Incarnations
  
• Serenity the RPG
  
• D&D Comic Books
  
• Buffy the RPG
  
• Whatever the heck "Demon" is...
  
  *Please add suggestions below, I'll add to the list as I revisit this thread throughout the day. Adding Amazon links now.

Do you mean Elysium?

You might be better off looking into something like this
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-D20-Based-Open-Gaming/dp/1588469425

I know how much fun it can be to convert D&D into different settings, but it is a HUGE amount of work. I spent weeks creating a Ghostbusters P&P RPG in the Shadowrun 4th edition system, and it was just to much work.

edit I just saw the price tag, IGNORE ME!

Necromancer Games put out a City of Brass high-level adventure years ago that I played through - had a great time with it. Doesn't look like you can buy it from them any more (they're gone) but it's still on Amazon.

I played an azer-blooded dwarf bard who was there looking for his grandfather so he could get approval for his marriage. The grandfather ended up being an azer slave that was one of the ringleaders for a slave uprising.

I believe that campaign ended with us goading the tarrasque into attacking the City walls by flying away from it at top speed with its eggs, throwing them at the wall, and then flying away. That was done as a distraction so we could sneak into the Sultan's palace and kill him, after we learned his True Name.

The dice you're looking for do exist. Finding some at a reasonable price might be a bit more work though.

Starting a World of Darkness game this weekend, following the Subtle Key storyline from the Tales from the 13th Precinct book to start out with, setting it in mid-90s Kansas City. It's going to be interesting having them all as mortals uncovering all the crazy shit the WoD has to offer.

Actually, I built him as an immobile mage carry, like Ryze. Assassins all have abilities which let them jump on people and move around: see also Ahri, LeBlanc, Zed, Master Yi, etc. ASGORE is a close range mage like Annie, Ryze, and Brand, and I designed him that way because at least 80% of his fight with you is him using fire magic attacks. Sure he looks juggernautish in model, but I decided to go more based on translating the gameplay, so that playing against ASGORE in lane and team fights would feel like fighting him in Undertale.

Thanks for the compliment on my design! I'm actually a professional game designer in real life, having worked on three Vampire: the Requiem books freelance (these three: 1, 2, 3), and released two games of my own (Bad Decisions, Kitsune: of Foxes and Fools), and currently working on some other projects, both freelance and of my own. So I think seriously about these exercises!

i'll just suggest the new World of Darkness because i think it's cool. pretty simple and adaptable system

http://www.amazon.com/World-Darkness-White-Wolf-Studio/dp/1588464849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344394194&sr=8-1&keywords=world+of+darkness

Best monsters you can have are the ones you make yourself. That is to say, don't be afraid to throw some stats down as you see fit and give dots were you think they should go. As for powers and such, go with the theme of the monster you want them to fight.

Wanna have a werewolf stalking and killing livestock and even members of a small, isolated farming community that the group is passing through? Don't reach for the W:tF source book, go old school 'The Wolfman' on it.

Big bad is a demon? Take a day or two and watch a few exorcism movies (personal favorites are 'The Rite', 'The Last Exorcism', and 'The Haunting in Connecticut' they can give you some great ideas) and then just right down what powers you want to use and how effective most basic exorcisms will be.

Zombie plague can be fun if done right. Use normal NPCs and give them immunity to bashing and extra soak on lethal.

What if instead of a supernatural monster your hunters faced a serial killer like any slasher movie. There is a H:tV source book for that, but I like to make things on my own.

Monsters are always the easy part. The hard part is the tone and atmosphere. Nail those and your group will be seriously happy, I know I would be.

It's not a video game per se, but the environment could easily be one: The fast-paced, over-the-top chaotic gladiatorial combat in the Superjail episode Combaticus (or really any of the combat sequences). Ludicrous melee with punchy dice rolling mechanics to not bog down the action.

I envison an unholy union between the unlikely combinations generated by Superfight, the needlessly gratuituous cartoon violence of Time Killers, and the nihlistic, Mad Max-meets-Escape From LA aesthetic in Hol.

The crowd roars as the spotlight shines on two rascals in a trench coat, armed with a trident and who can control magnetism and a velociraptor armed with a gatling gun singing showtunes lock eyes, ready to lock in mortal combat. Suddenly the gate at the far end of the arena opens to the revving of a small engine, reveal a two-story Pope armed with chainsaw hands, rampaging out from the darkness, a fury of white rainments and smoke.

Something like that.

I bought one during the early days of EQ. Maybe it was during Velious or possibly Luclin. I spent hours reading all the info in it. I still have it and pull it out from time to time. Not very helpful for abilities and skills but amazing for some extra lore. This is my copy

There are several actually. This appears to be the most recent and best liked

Another from 2005

There may be more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1588461254/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1451590153&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0786965606/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1451590031&sr=8-1

For those who don't want to click; used Everquest RPG PHB for $6.50 and $3.99 shipping. Used D&D 5th Edition PHB is $18.50 with $3.99 shipping.

I don't know where /u/downthegoldenstream got the idea D&D was free, nor his claims of $200 dollars to play.

But don't worry, /u/downthegoldenstream, I get it, bro. You don't want to play with me. It's cool. Happy New Years, bro. Peace out.

Just to clarify, you're referring to the now-defunct A Game of Thrones RPG, put out by... White Wolf? Maybe?

They're referring to A Song of Ice And Fire Roleplaying, by Green Ronin.

Amazon has them under the used section of the listing.
Amazon

$46 "new" listed at Amazon

$30 "Hardcover Color Book (Premium Heavyweight)" at RPGDriveThru

http://www.amazon.com/OP-Mage-Storytellers-Handbook-Rev/dp/1588464024/ is the ST book I want. The revised tribe book is black not white, with a picture not the tribe logo. Yes I want them. You want the minis in exchange?

I marked things with a [w] if they're on my WL!

1. Something that is grey. China Glaze Polish Ecollection Recycle [w]
   
   
2. Something reminiscent of rain. Hehe, a watering can [w]
   
   
3. Something food related that is unusual. Miracle Noodles - they're these weird low-carb noodles [w]
   
   
4. Something on your list that is for someone other than yourself. Tell me who it's for and why. (Yes, pets count!) LARPing Book for my friend Dennis. His is missing several pages, which is very frustrating to him. He's endlessly dear to me. [w]
   
   
5. A book I should read! I am an avid reader, so take your best shot and tell me why I need to read it! Other People's Love Letters - doesn't that just sound romantic? :D [w]
   
   
6. An item that is less than a dollar, including shipping... that is not jewelry, nail polish, and or hair related! Mickey Mouse Cookies!
   
   
7. Something related to cats. I love cats! (keep this SFW, you know who you are...) SmartCat [w]
   
   
8. Something that is not useful, but so beautiful you must have it. Triple heart necklace <3 [w]
   
   
9. A movie everyone should watch at least once in their life. Why? Love Me If You Dare. Everyone should have more French film in their lives. It's a beautiful, artistic, funny, romantic movie. The main characters are hot.
   
   
10. Something that would be useful when the zombies attack. Explain. Cast Iron is heavy! [w]
    
    
11. Something that would have a profound impact on your life and help you to achieve your current goals. For exercise, way easier on my knees than the treadmill [w]
    
    
12. One of those pesky Add-On items. Awesome fabric softener - and I really want it, too! [w]
    
    
13. The most expensive thing on your list. Your dream item. Why? A Roomba. I have pets. I need to vacuum more often. I'm lazy. Also he would be my robot butler friend. I'd name him Alfred or Jeeves or Pennyworth. My cats would be afraid of him. [w]
    
    
14. Something bigger than a bread box. A mattress is quite a bit bigger! [w]
    
    
15. Something smaller than a golf ball. Pearl earrings [w]
    
    
16. Something that smells wonderful. Lilac and Lilies! [w]
    
    
17. A (SFW) toy. Cat toy! [w]
    
    
18. Something that would be helpful for going back to school. Chromebook! It's actually for when my husband starts college. [w]
    
    
19. Something related to your current obsession, whatever that may be. Filter for my new fishtank! [w]
    
    
20. Something that is just so amazing and awe-inspiring that I simply must see it. Explain why it is so grand. Electric bike so, my comment on this is: “Theoretically I would like to bike. Realistically I'd like to bike, except up hills. Oh, here we are!”. Right?! Also what they sell electric bikes on Amazon? Damn! [w]
    
    Bonus:
    
    Oregon Chai!

Girls in high school were carrying around the "Book of Nod" https://www.amazon.com/Book-of-Nod/dp/B000VEET4S

Its a fluff book for Vampire the masquerade. I say "I didnt know you played that game" Her/them "Its not a game". Was like a scene from coven.

Are you looking for the kind of thing that uses examples to put power levels in perspective? Like, "One dot in Strength = average human, can lift a TV... Seven dots = Able to drop-kick a Hummer" kind of thing?

It's been long enough since I read any of those books that I can't remember if I ever saw one of those examples go past 5 or 6, but if I had to guess I'd say you might find something like that in a Storyteller's Handbook or (Google, Google) Elysium, which had rules for playing elder vampires.

If you mean a vRPG, we already have one and it HEAVILY apes Dragon Age Origins. It doesn't have the polish or graphics and the UI is heavily unintuitive, but if you figure that out and turn the graphics to max you will find a pretty good story buried under there. http://www.gameofthrones-rpg.com/

if you mean a tabletop RPG, we have that too although it's out of print. Made by Guardians of Order, the guys who did Big Eyes, Small Mouth, it's every bit as political and unforgiving as the books it's based on. Definitely not a hack and slash RPG unless you want to go through characters like toilet paper. http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-D20-Based-Open-Gaming/dp/1588469425

EQ was my intro to RPGs as well. The experiences I had in that game are what I strive to create in my campaigns. Here is a link to an amazon listing of the PHB. I don't think thy had any other sourcebooks for it though sadly.

Hunter: The Vigil

https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Vigil-Chuck-Wendig/dp/158846718X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1W8F5F35NJA7F&keywords=hunter+the+vigil&qid=1572266433&sprefix=hunter+the+vigil%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-1

Badump bump.

There are entire books you can get that are D20 but take place in established MMOs.

[EQ] (http://www.amazon.com/EverQuest-Players-Handbook-Role-Playing-Game/dp/1588461254/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426774878&sr=1-1&keywords=everquest)

[WoW] (http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Roleplaying-Game-d20/dp/1588467813/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426774925&sr=1-1&keywords=world+of+warcraft+d20)

I saw you like RPG's, World of Darkness is quite fun, it's a lot more RP heavy than D&D, I find.

I like Baoding balls.

New world or Old? I'd say start by reading the core book for nWod: The World of Darkness and one of the core splats that strikes your fancy: Vampire, Geist, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling, Hunter, etc. Between those two books you'll be ready to run a game. You can also find some SAS (stand alone stories) for your chosen game if you prefer published stories to writing your own.

First and foremost, it might help to establish whether you are Old WoD or New WoD (old: Vampire the Mascarade, Werewolf the Apocolypse, Demon the Fallen / new: Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Demon the Descent)

There's some serious deviation between the various games, and I'd hate to think you picked up one book from oWoD and one from nWoD, because then your head will explode and you will die.

Secondly, yeah. Assuming you can talk your players back from the ledge, the best thing to do is pick up the New WoD core materials book (either World of Darkness or God Machine Chronicle) and start them out as plan vanilla mortals. Play, say, a three-game story arc. Run it like a Call of Cthulhu or other pulp horror game. Go for a proper Halloween vibe. Feel free to kill everyone in the final game. They should even have a few out-of-the-box adventures you can run. This can be a prelude or just an intro-to kind of thing, but don't make anyone feel too bad about "losing" or dying or whatever.

That should establish everyone on the ground rules of the game and also give them a taste for the grittery modern setting, the less hack-and-slash friendly environment, and a bit of proper social investigation-style role playing. WoD, generally speaking, runs like a pulpy supernatural murder mystery or survival horror. You shouldn't be marching your players through dungeons or leading armies into glorious battle, but gum-shoeing it on the mean streets and eating beans out of a can between confrontations with mind-melting horrors and underground masterminds.

Finally, once everyone's on an even footing, I recommend picking ONE of the setting books - Vampire, Werewolf, Demon - and spend a week or two soaking it in. Then let your players role up some proper supernatural characters and start the campaign. If you want to rotate through the settings, maybe do another couple of three-game arcs. Run a short Vamp game. Then run a short Werewolf game. Then run a short Demon game. Then if you are still feeling absolutely crazy, try and merge the settings. But by that time, you should have run this game for the better part of a year, and feel a lot more confident in what you're doing.

I wish you the best of luck. WoD is probably my favorite RP setting. Feel free to bug us for hints or hooks or to express the inevitable "WTF, overpowered!" gripes. We're always happy to take in a little... ahem fresh blood. :-)

Well - if you want to get super crazy - as in - I can set an entire campaign in this city and basically never have the players leave if they don't want to. Look no further than this:

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1588467899

This is a link to the hard copy - I'm sure you can find a PDF somewhere for cheaper. But yeah basically this book is the single best book I've ever read about a city. You could adapt it to any fantasy or D&D style setting basically and it has hundreds of NPCs, rumors, and dungeons pre-mapped out. In my own mind this is the gold standard of cities.

If you're looking for a city with a more Asian flair I can recommend http://www.rpgnow.com/product/3566/City-of-Lies-Box-Set?it=1&filters=0_0_10109_0_0. Though it is heavily steeped in the Legend of the Five Rings setting - it too is very detailed and has a bunch of stuff going on with it.

If you're looking for something more modern I can recommend the city building book for Vampire the Requiem http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Damnation-City-Requiem/dp/1588462676 - I found this very helpful when I was playing world of darkness.

The best thing to do is have a good time preparing the material, but don't drive your players crazy sticking to the script. For a first adventure, an open setting like a city adventure can be very rewarding. Let your players develop a character according to whatever restrictions you like, but make sure you outline them clearly.

I am always nervous when DMing; my biggest fear is keeping all the PCs involved and doing something special. My main concern is keeping each player happy by keeping them involved. Obstacles and challenges for each character can be tough to integrate, so make sure you know know their skill sets inside and out. Once again, especially for low-level characters, a city adventure is a great way to get this going.

I have read a few excellent DM / Storyteller books over the years. GURPS Campaigns and the Mage: The Ascension Storyteller's Handbook are both good intros to running a game in general; lost of solid advice.

I will always be a little on edge DMing; for me, it's actually comfortable. You'll find your own comfort zone after a while. Good luck!

Back in 2006 I ran a mercenary campaign using the D20 GoT system. I made a custom world and threw the party members in the middle of a civil war. Mercenaries can do quite well in that sort of environment.

It was a short-lived campaign due to scheduling, but was well received by the players!

One thing that I definitely remember about this campaign: No magic makes healing difficult. So choose your battles wisely.

My players were beset by a pack of wolves and though they survived, had to take several months rest (in game) to heal up to fighting strength again.

Vampire is a little older these days. Here's a more modern version. https://www.amazon.com/Monte-Cooks-World-Darkness-Hardcover/dp/1588464679