# Splatbook
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{{Short description|TTRPG supplement for players}}
A '''splatbook''' or '''sourcebook''' is a [supplement](/source/supplement_(gaming)) for a particular [role-playing game](/source/role-playing_game) (RPG) that is not needed for basic play, but is devoted to a particular facet, such as a [character class](/source/character_class) or fictional [faction](/source/Political_faction), providing additional background details, scenarios, rules options, or other materials that players can use to extend or enhance the central game. For example, a "swords and sorcery" fantasy game might offer splatbooks for each of the races in the setting: humans, dwarves, elves, and others. A splatbook supplements the core materials of a game, which are typically given in a basic publication known as the ''core rulebook'' or by other names — these core books might also be referred to as ''sourcebooks'', occasionally. Splatbooks may also be offered for other types of games, such as [wargame](/source/wargame)s or other [tabletop games](/source/tabletop_games).
==History==
===Origins===
The term "splatbook" arose in the 1990s. It originally described the sourcebooks published in the early 1990s by [White Wolf Game Studio](/source/White_Wolf_Game_Studio) for its [World of Darkness](/source/World_of_Darkness) games.[{{cite book| last = Appelcline| first = Shannon| title = Designers & Dragons: The 90s| publisher = Evil Hat Productions| date = 2014| location = Silver Spring, Maryland| pages = 16–17 | isbn = 978-1-61317-081-6}}] Many of these books were titled using similar patterns: ''clan''books in ''[Vampire: The Masquerade](/source/Vampire%3A_The_Masquerade)'', ''tribe''books for ''[Werewolf: The Apocalypse](/source/Werewolf%3A_The_Apocalypse)'', ''tradition''books for ''[Mage: The Ascension](/source/Mage%3A_The_Ascension)'', and so forth. In newsgroups, these were called '''{{vanchor|*book|*books}}s''' (the [asterisk](/source/asterisk) on a [computer keyboard](/source/computer_keyboard) being used as a [wildcard character](/source/wildcard_character)). Since the asterisk is also known as a "splat", this gave rise to the term "splatbook".[{{cite book| last = Horvath| first = Stu| title = Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground| publisher = MIT Press| date = 2023| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| pages = 54–55 | isbn =9780262048224 }}]
===Modern usage===
The term "splatbook" is now used to describe a range of sourcebooks, including those which predated the term. [Shannon Appelcline](/source/Shannon_Appelcline) and Stu Horvath have cited the 1978 book ''[Mercenary](/source/Traveller_Book_4%3A_Mercenary),'' created for the science fiction RPG ''[Traveller](/source/Traveller_(role-playing_game))'', and the 1979 sourcebook ''[Cults of Prax](/source/Cults_of_Prax)'', created for the fantasy RPG ''[RuneQuest](/source/RuneQuest)'', as examples of the splatbook format which preceded its definition.[{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of Game #11: White Wolf, Part One: 1986-1995 - RPGnet |url=https://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory11.phtml |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=www.rpg.net}}] Other examples include ''[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](/source/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons)'' books such as the "Complete" series (''[The Complete Book of Dwarves](/source/The_Complete_Book_of_Dwarves)'', ''[Complete Arcane](/source/Complete_Arcane)'', etc.),[{{cite book| last = Fannon| first = Sean Patrick| title = The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible| publisher = Obsidian Studios| date = 1999| location = Jacksonville, FL| pages = 242| isbn = 0967442907}}] or the numerous [codices](/source/codex_(Warhammer_40%2C000)) for ''[Warhammer Fantasy Battle](/source/Warhammer_Fantasy_Battle)'' and ''[Warhammer 40,000](/source/Warhammer_40%2C000)''. By extension, the term "splat" is used for the [character class](/source/character_class) described in a splatbook.