They're also fun in fantasy games.  Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue is a staple to any D&D collection.

I get more upset with uneven equipment lists than sparse ones.  See, Qin is a great game, for example, and its true that they have 12 million kinds of vegetables, but then they lack so many other basic items that would have been more immediately sensible in an equipment list.

RPGPundit

'...and a 10' Pole' is an excellent collection of price lists compiled by ICE for various time periods.  Very handy.

LOVE equipment lists, the bigger the better.  nothing sucks up player cash quicker than a good shopping run.  just remember to set aside a session for it sometimes.

Cyberspace, the ill-fated Spacemaster Lite game by ICE had a nice equipment list. Once you read about the fashion articles and entertainment products, you knew some useful things about their current pop culture.
And back then I thought it rather ridiculous that Madonna was still alive and active in 2090...

That reminds me of the CP2020 Chrome books, and Solo of Fortune. Where it was laid out more like a catalog or magazine. Than a dry equipment book.

Terra Nova had a lot of neat equipment lists. They were spread out through all the books, but they were always handy and pretty neat. Life on Terra Nova even had entries for typical fast-food meals PCs would be eating. Back in 1e and 2e, that game was hard-core into immersion though. I've never run across such a meticulously detailed world that wasn't written by a Brit named Tolkien.

digest group publications (and maybe GDW?  can't remember) did individual equipment sheets for CT/MT, complete with illustrations, costs, "power usage" checkboxes, etc.   we found those to be a great addition since traveller has such a tech disparity.  you could see the differences for an item all in one glance.  and the weapon pics were always cool too!

Actually MSPE (current RPGSite darling, apparently...) specifically reccomends using Sears catalogues as an equipment list.
I'm a bit leery of using real-world equipment sources because if you know where to shop for the stuff you want, you can make huge savings over the prices given in the sourcebooks - especially if you're adept at finding stores having clearance sales or special deals.
IMO, bargain hunting and shopping is a skill in itself and should be treated as such in game, similar to or part of a Merchant skill.

Quote from: RoninI really think it helps players visualize there weapons and equipment. helping with visualizing their character.

The danger of this is players visualizing their character by their equipment list.

One caveat about cros-referrencing some catalogs with some price lists and amounts of money alotted to characters--

There's a site--not bookmarked on this terminal, dammit--that presents tbles of currency evaluated from year to year. A dollar was worth x in 1983, it's worth .43x now, or 1.23x in 1926 or whatever. And it translates for other currencies, as well, giving the average rate of exchange for dollars to pounds or whatever in a given year. These conversions increase the utility of some price lists and allow for some parity in generating an MSPE character with 1982 dollars and running him in an 1873 game.

All of that said with the admission that I only go into such detil when it increases verisimilitude. I will edit this post to include that site info if I can find it, unless someone else posts it first.

Quote from: stu2000There's a site--not bookmarked on this terminal, dammit--that presents tbles of currency evaluated from year to year. A dollar was worth x in 1983, it's worth .43x now, or 1.23x in 1926 or whatever. And it translates for other currencies, as well, giving the average rate of exchange for dollars to pounds or whatever in a given year. These conversions increase the utility of some price lists and allow for some parity in generating an MSPE character with 1982 dollars and running him in an 1873 game.

That would be a very useful site indeed if you can find it

Quote from: O'BorgActually MSPE (current RPGSite darling, apparently...) specifically reccomends using Sears catalogues as an equipment list.
I'm a bit leery of using real-world equipment sources because if you know where to shop for the stuff you want, you can make huge savings over the prices given in the sourcebooks - especially if you're adept at finding stores having clearance sales or special deals.
IMO, bargain hunting and shopping is a skill in itself and should be treated as such in game, similar to or part of a Merchant skill.

Well that could be said about many parts of an RPG. Weapons for example. Three people may look and 9mm handgun. And have three different ideas about how much damage should be done. While I can understand the bargain shopping idea/concept. It just one of those things you have to take at face value and say ok.

[EDIT] I had another thought you could use a haggle skill or what not to try to get a better deal than what is on the list. So if you think you can get it cheaper. Use your character to try to.

Quote from: O'BorgThat would be a very useful site indeed if you can find it

Well. Here's an oft-cited table. Conversions are centered on 2005, but as a quick and dirty guide, it's good.
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/cv2005.xls

This site offers common rates of exchange, going back to 1913 0r 1921, depending on the currency.
http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/

This one has historic rates for the pound. This site has more info, some is subscription.
http://www.globalfinancialdata.com/index.php3?action=detailedinfo&sampledata=true&id=4028

The site I had bookmarked before doesn't come up anymore. I bet it was someone's school page. If it does turn up, I'll repost. It was handy because it was one-stop shopping. I know the table linked at the begining of this post was part of the data included on that page.