Unreliable Narrator/Tabletop Games

Examples of s in include:


 * Nearly all of the background material for Warhammer 40,000 is told from possibly inaccurate histories and skewed Propaganda Pieces, making the exact nature of the setting dubious at best.
 * And like Warhammer 40,000 the regular Warhammer Fantasy books are also written in an unreliable sort of way.
 * Much like the above Warhammer example, all of the material on BattleTech is written from an in-universe perspective, always of some particular person or organization. This goes for everything, even the technical readouts on new 'Mechs and such. ComStar was the original viewpoint group, but it has since branched out to every faction. Some of the earlier books had significant errors (people doing things before their stated date of birth, using 'Mechs that hadn't been invented yet, etc), and the in-universe perspective allowed them to chalk it up to different perspectives. It also allowed them to Retcon things that they didn't want.
 * Traveller Sourcebooks are kind of this way too, though far more reliable as it is a more mundane setting. There is enough leeway for a good gamemaster to go every which way.
 * Notably used as a justification for adventure hooks in Unknown Armies, in the form of rumours that may or may not be true as the GM decides. One example: "Bigfoot has a social security number".
 * Almost all source materials for games set in Greg Stafford's "Glorantha" (RuneQuest, Hero Quest, Dragon Pass, Nomad Gods) along with books (King of Sartar) are written in the style of Unreliable Narrators with no one absolute truth.
 * Large parts of Shadowrun supplements were written as posts on an online message board, and the authors were ever eager to point out that anything could be wrong, exaggerated, or invented.
 * All of the world background in White Wolf's Old World of Darkness is presented in this way. This is most notable in the clanbooks/tribebooks etc. Each Vampire clan tells a different version of history in which their own clan is somehow older, smarter and generally more awesome than all the others.
 * The largest one: Demon: The Fallen. We never get the other viewpoint, and the viewpoint we do get is filtered through several millennia of resentment.
 * Dungeons & Dragons:
 * Many 2nd Edition sourcebooks involve Unreliable Narrator and/or Unreliable Expositor. After all, players need a good idea of what is considered "believable" in-universe.
 * The Complete Book of Elves. It very seriously explains how the elves are wondrous sophisticated creatures and - contrary to a popular opinion - most certainly not backward arrogant jerks at all. And then it gleefully gives in-universe and in-character examples. Quoth a review on rpg.net forums - "So we're half a page in and we've already learned something that will serve us well as we read the rest of the book: elves are gigantic dicks."
 * Most notably the Planescape ones, are assigned specific narrators. Planescape had more unreliable narrators than others, considering the fact that at least one of them was certifiably insane by human standards...
 * In fact, the Splat book Faces of Evil: The Fiends had several oddball narrators presented as contributors, but by far the most interesting - and likely most unreliable - one was the blue slaad Xanxost who was... Who was a slaad. That was the best way the editor could describe Xanxost. Xanxost seemed to be less chaotic than most of its kind, being able to write complete sentences and follow a single train of thought for nearly an entire paragraph (most of the time), but was distracted easily (mostly by its appetite), repeated itself often, and seemed to have trouble counting. Xanxost appeared later to narrate the chapter on the Quasielemental Plane of Steam in the later book The Inner Planes, the editor of that book claiming Xanxost was recruited to pen the chapter because feedback to its commentary in the former book was overwhelmingly positive.
 * This also includes the Ravenloft with Van Richten's Guides and a bunch of others.
 * Forgotten Realms has its share. Its style leans more toward Unreliable Expositor, but "Volo's Guides" use a lot of both - and Elminster's "helpful corrections" and mocking comments on the author's indiscretions don't make Volo look more credible. An especially interesting example of this was the Netheril: Empire of Magic sourcebook that described said lost civilization in the Forgotten Realms. Except one particular archwizard of immense power was never mentioned in the entire book, despite being a prominent figure. That is, until you start to try to figure out who the narrator was...
 * Many of the 5th Edition sourcebooks are obsequiously written by characters (often with their names in the titles) you would be wise not to trust:
 * Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Again, as Elminster warns in the book, always be wary of Volo’s advice.
 * Tasha’s Guide to Everything. Iggwilv is fooling nobody, the fans know “Tasha” is one of her aliases, and trusting the word of an Evil Sorceress known for her dalliances with Graz’zt and being the mother of Iuz the Old is something to avoid. She is also co-collaborator of Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, and while Mordenkainen fits this Trope two for many reasons, he is the more trustworthy of the two.
 * Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Xanathar is a beholder a species most civilized races know enough to steer clear of (including other races that hate humans, like the drow and illithids), and a known crime boss as well, who desires to know everything. Its comments in the text will often make its Orange and Blue Morality obvious.
 * Indie storytelling game The Adventures of Baron Munchausen makes every player into an unreliable narrator, and has specific mechanics governing how players can challenge the veracity of each others' tales.
 * TheDeadlands source books are divided into two to three sections. The Posse Territory sections are for general use, and give about as much information as the world at large knows. No Man's Land is for information only certain people would know, like the existence of Harrowed or how Huckster magic works. Both of these sections are filled with untruths, ranging from simple misinformation to Blatant Lies. The Marshall's Only sections have the lowdown on how things really work. Part of the setting's mystique is having the inner workings of the Reckoning remain a mystery to the players.
 * The First and Early Second Edition Sourcebooks of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG were all written from the subjective in-universe point of view of the Clan or Faction that was the primary focus of the book. This was done both for flavor and to give the GM the freedom to decide what was true and what wasn't in his campaign. This approach was eventually abandoned during the Second Edition because Wizards of the Coast thought it was too confusing for d20 players.