>>44533057
single book? for your first time GMing?

dungeon world, numenera (ugh), feng shui (2)... just off the top of my head from my play group and first time GMs....

>>44533057
Numenera / Cypher

You'll get alot of hate for that on /tg/. But seriously it's quick and easy and minimal explanation on the player side that you can just introduce on the fly.

>>44533150

A lot of hate for tbose partucular RPGs? Why?

What is DungeonWorld like in terms of sandbox elements?

>>44533832
>What is DungeonWorld like in terms of sandbox elements?

As sandbox as it gets, really. One of the core principles is "draw maps, leave blanks".

Sadly it also encourages letting your players decide how the world is. Which sucks because players are stupid and never agree on things.

>>44533057
>open-ended system
whatnow? Are you trying to say generic?
>everything from Pathfinder to Legend
So you know DnD AND BRP? Impressive!
>What is the best place to start?
Find out what to make first. Define genre and dynamic, maybe tone.
>a big-ass book full of everything I could ever need to run a campaign, from world building to character creation.
What kind of campaign? Games differ for a reason.

The problem is you don't know what works for your group, or what manner of games are out there to matter. So regardless of whose advice you follow, you will end up discovering there are vastly different games out there that might suit your needs better. Better to find out what exists first and then decide what kind of mechanics will best deliver your kind of game.

A few to check out are BRP, ORE, Fate, Gurps, AW, and d6. Some of those are shit, but that's just my opinion, YMMV.

And I wouldn't call them generic because generic just means one size fits none. They are toolkits that help you make your own. They differ in what they pay attention to.

My advice is to play lots of different games and form an educated opinion. Don't listen to people who claim their system does anything because those just don't know a lot of systems from experience. Then pick crunch that suits your needs for this one game. No game fits every conceivable requirement.

>>44535087

Thanks for your advice. To be honest, I do a lot of one-shots with my girlfriend. I just end up making up things as I go along and let her actions drive the story. She's a very diplomatic person, so she portrays that in her characters and often talks her way out of fights. For that reason, I've never had to do a fight mechanic and it's more of a storytelling game than an RPG. I want to do an actual RPG with her as I know she would like it.

The bigger campaigns I've done under other GMs have always collapsed so I'd like to start my own, ya know?

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>>44535325
If you want mechanics to support what you are playing now, that's Fate Core. If you want mechanics that let you do that freeform and just show their dice when you want them to, that's BRP.

If you want to see the other side of the coin, ORE is very structured. Engine Heart is a great intro to classic crunch structure, but it isn't generic at all. Gurps is the system that has structure for everything in lists and on tables.

But maybe a GM book that looks at making a story would be more helpful than one that defines mechanics how to resolve details in a story.

>>44533057

See if you can find the original FirstQuest

>>44533057

Dungeon World is literally the only example of a system with a good GMing explanation that I have ever read in 5 years of gaming. Everything else assumes you basically already know what you're doing at best, or at worst doesn't have any clue on the practical, minute-by-minute advice a newbie GM needs to succeed.

>>44533057
Have you tried GURPS ?

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>>44540160

>GURPS
>Good for a beginning GM

I mean, I know you're memeing, but there's still a non-zero chance that you actually aren't.

>>44533057

Try Fate Accelerated.
http://www.evilhat.com/home/fae/