A book by James Desborough published by Steve Jackson Games which covers tips on power gaming for Munchkins (as if they needed the help). It covers all the major genres of Tabletop Games and has many tips on how to cheat, how to fudge dice rolls, how to make your character sheet unreadable (so you can claim anything is written on it) and how to build your character to best accomplish your goals of killing and looting (with thoughtful advice about how to justify all the killing and looting you do to your GM.) It also has suggestions for the GM who wants to fight fire with fire.
A precursor to Jackson's Munchkin D20 line, its a humorous look at all the habits and idiosyncracies of immature gamers and a fun read.
Tropes:
- Acronym Confusion: The list of roleplaying terminology defines RPG as "Rocket-Propelled Grenade".
- Dragon Hoard: One of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide."
- Intimidating Revenue Service: One of its suggestions for dealing with a dragon (see Dragon Hoard above).
- Moral Guardians: The first page contains a dreadfully sarcastic disclaimer suggesting that the creators use actual magic and are happy to kill off their own customer base.
- Serial Escalation: Several "timelines" of an example adventure getting dreadfully out of hand.
- The All-Solving Hammer: A list is presented explaining how guns can substitute for every skill. Lockpicking? Shoot the lock. Diplomacy? Threaten the negotiator.
- Unusual Euphemism: "female-parent-copulating".