Games I own that I'll never play (again)

[giant.robot]

I was reorganizing someone of my books and laughed at a few I own that I'm just never going to play. Some I tried to play at some point but for whatever reason bounced off the system. Others I read and just didn't even try to play. I don't necessarily want to get rid of them because there's something interesting about them, I just know I'm never going to get a game going. I'll start but what are yours?

• Leading Edge Aliens Adventure Game - all the ease of play of Phoenix Command in one place! Some interesting lore ideas even if they're no longer Aliens canon.
• Millennium's End - No interest in the system after buying several of the books in like 2000 or so.
• Alternity - I tried to love this game but it was not to be. Unfortunately I bought like every book in the line including the awful StarCraft boxed set before figuring out I wasn't interested in the system. Some good lore ideas with Star*Drive and Dark•Matter though.
• MERP - Mostly bought and used for the lore and maps. I only managed to play a couple sessions of the game. I just don't think RoleMaster is for me.

 

[billd91]

I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll play an edition of D&D before 5e again. I'll use/convert some adventures and setting info, but I don't feel the urge to use any of the older rule sets.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I live in Southern California, so I don't have the space to keep games I won't play, and I sell them off as they're identified.

Heading to Noble Knight in my next dump of this stuff is Colostle, which is a solo game with an amazing Cartoon Network-vibes fantasy setting shackled to card-based mechanics that are simultaneously too simple and stick way too much on the player to interpret. I'll likely post one more story in my Colostle story hour here and be done with the system. (And keep an eye out for the day that a comprehensive Colostle setting book that's either system neutral or designed for a system I like is released.)

I previously sold off Traveller when my players bounced off it very, very hard. The lack of character advancement combined with roleplaying characters with a mortgage just wasn't for them.

 

[SableWyvern]

Almost every game I've ever played is likely to be one I won't play again. As a general rule, I run something for 18 - 36 months, then move onto the next thing. Rolemaster is the only game I own that's seen significant use across multiple campaigns.

 

[payn]

D&D 4E

I previously sold off Traveller when my players bounced off it very, very hard. The lack of character advancement combined with roleplaying characters with a mortgage just wasn't for them.

That sucks Traveller is my jam because of the flatter progression. However, I do think the characters paying off a mortgage is a poor play expectation and there are much better ways to play Traveller.

 

[MNblockhead]

I don't keep games I no longer play and don't intend to play again, unless I enjoy the books for reasons other than playing the game.

The Expanse is one such book. I ran a one shot a couple years ago when I first got it, but never intend to play it again. But I still enjoy the book as a fan of the TV series.

There may be some PDFs I have of some games that I'll never run, but that is mostly because I'm too lazy to clean up my Google Drive. I've 12 TB of shared storage on the Google Workspaces account I run for my family, which I've barely put a dent in. Its easier to just keep everything dumped in Google Drive than try to ever clean it up.

There are no other physical TTRPG rule books on my book shelves that I don't intend to run. There are, however, plenty of adventures I know I'll never get around to running again or, having run them, would not want to run them again. But I enjoy these as something to read or to take pieces from to use in homebrewed adventures. All my Goodman Games Adventures Reincarnated books are more coffee table books than something I'll likely run.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Probably the standout is Mutants and Masterminds, which I think has an excellent character generation system and a combat system where (and it took me a very long time to firm this up in my mind) most of the supposed tactical choices are, essentially, bad.

I ran two campaigns using it, and played in three more, but after the last one I think "never again" describes it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That sucks Traveller is my jam because of the flatter progression. However, I do think the characters paying off a mortgage is a poor play expectation and there are much better ways to play Traveller.

I am positive a big part of the problem was me. I was trying to do what I thought was "classic Traveller," without checking with everyone first to see if that was the experience they were looking for.

 

[GMMichael]

You'd have to twist my arm pretty hard to get me to want to play with my 3.5 books again. I won't sell them though: too many good ideas in there. Also, I'm pretty easy if someone else is GMing.

I am positive a big part of the problem was me. I was trying to do what I thought was "classic Traveller," without checking with everyone first to see if that was the experience they were looking for.

Playing a character with a mortgage would be fun for me! I wouldn't make a payment, of course. And things would get interesting when the sheriff showed up . . .

 

[Aldarc]

Maybe 5e D&D. Not that I dislike it or anything, but I have so many other great games at this point, and I want to force myself to play other games and not be stuck in an endless cycle of playing just D&D.