Indispensable Game Books

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been doing a lot of reading, and busy at work, and at home; I actually have a long-ish post that I've been working on for a bit.

In lieu of a more substantial post, I thought it'd be interesting to note the books that I try to have on hand when I am preparing and running games.

• B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The PCs use the Keep as a home base.
• Ready Ref Sheets. This should go without saying.
• Holmes Basic D&D Rulebook (1st edition, 3rd printing). In case I want to reference any rules or spells left out of Moldvay.
• The First Fantasy Campaign (1st printing). In case I want to reference any rules; the Blackmoor Dungeon is my fallback if I have absolutely nothing else to run.
• Metamorphosis Alpha (Print on Demand reprint). For mutations and science-fantasy goodness.
• Empire of the Petal Throne (Different Worlds reprint). In case I want to use Tékumel rules, monsters, or items.
• Mythmere's Adventure Design Deskbook, Volume II - Monsters. Obvious.
• The Random Esoteric Creature Generator. Same.
• Moldvay Basic D&D Rulebook. I'm running B/X, so it makes sense.
• Cook/Marsh Expert D&D Rulebook. As Moldvay above.
• The Dungeon Alphabet (non-expanded edition). For the charts.
• Dungeon Masters Guide (1st edition, 2013 reprint). For the charts.

Since I play D&D mostly via Google Plus these days, there's also a copy of OD&D within arm's reach as well, and one of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. But they're generally not in my prep list, and I would very rarely consult them during a game.

Books I'd use for RPG prep

I did Edgar Johnson's OSR Survey, having seen it linked on G+, and it had one question that really intrigued me: If you had to run a game tomorrow, what books would you use for prep?

This is the list I came up with.

• Original D&D booklets
• These are really for the treasure charts. I might substitute another core rulebook but I'd probably have Monsters & Treasure handy anyway.
• Dungeon Masters Guide (Gary Gygax / TSR)
• I usually use this for gems and jewelry - really only for referencing the values and deciding what the types are. I also reference the dungeon dressing stuff from time to time.
• Ready Ref Sheets (Judges Guild)
• This is for Startling Statues, Precious Pearls, the charts for determining ruin types, and the chart for determining what you find if you search.
• Dyson's Delves (Dyson Logos)
• If I had to run an adventure tomorrow, I'd steal one of Dyson's maps.
• The Dungeon Alphabet (Michael Curtis / Goodman Games)
• More charts. The charts in this are fun.
• The Random Esoteric Creature Generator (James Raggi / Goodman Games)
• I'd probably roll up a monster to be weird.
• Isle of the Unknown and Dungeon of the Unknown (Geoffrey McKinney / Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
• This is for stealing weird monsters, statues and encounter ideas. And rolling up a glop, I love those things.*
• Swords & Wizardry Monstrosities (various / Frog God Games) or Adventures Dark & Deep Bestiary (Joseph Bloch / BRW Games)
• This is for stealing "normal" monsters. Both of these books are pretty freakin' massive. I might grab another monster book but you can't go wrong with those two.

* Yes, I know the RPGPundit made his notorious review of Isle of the Unknown recently. Screw that. I like Geoffrey's weird monsters.

So, dear readers, what books would you use for these purposes?