{{Short description|TTRPG supplement for players}} A '''splatbook''' or '''sourcebook''' is a supplement for a particular role-playing game (RPG) that is not needed for basic play, but is devoted to a particular facet, such as a character class or fictional 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 wargames or other 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 for its World of Darkness games.<ref name=designers>{{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}}</ref> Many of these books were titled using similar patterns: ''clan''books in ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''tribe''books for ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', ''tradition''books for ''Mage: The Ascension'', and so forth. In newsgroups, these were called '''{{vanchor|*book|*books}}s''' (the asterisk on a computer keyboard being used as a wildcard character). Since the asterisk is also known as a "splat", this gave rise to the term "splatbook".<ref name=mahg>{{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 }}</ref>
===Modern usage=== The term "splatbook" is now used to describe a range of sourcebooks, including those which predated the term. Shannon Appelcline and Stu Horvath have cited the 1978 book ''Mercenary,'' created for the science fiction RPG ''Traveller'', and the 1979 sourcebook ''Cults of Prax'', created for the fantasy RPG ''RuneQuest'', as examples of the splatbook format which preceded its definition.<ref name="mahg" /><ref name="designers" /><ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref> Other examples include ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' books such as the "Complete" series (''The Complete Book of Dwarves'', ''Complete Arcane'', etc.),<ref>{{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}}</ref> or the numerous codices for ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. By extension, the term "splat" is used for the character class described in a splatbook.<ref name="mahg" /><ref name="designers" /><ref name=":0" />
== Examples ==
Popular gaming series with many sourcebooks include: * ''GURPS'' * ''BattleTech'' * ''Dungeons & Dragons'' * ''Shadowrun''
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Role-playing game terminology