How Do You Decide What RPGs to Buy?

[overgeeked]

It used to be whatever looked good.

Now it’s only stuff that will see actual play at the table.

 

[Scott Christian]

After some reflection, I look at three things:

• The setting. This is first and foremost. It has to interest me. And, even after thirty years, fantasy still interests my friends and me. But I also ask, "Is this a new setting I'd like to learn more about?" (Numenera and the first time I saw Masquerade comes to mind.)
• The ruleset. Is it clear and concise? Does it have one interesting deviation from D&D?
• Are the objectives something I believe in? Does the mission statement say cinematic combat? Okay, that might be something I would be interested in. Does it say, "fast combat?" That too sounds good. Does it suggest that every single player be able to add to the lore? I will pass.

 

[TerraDave]

Over the years I have built up quite a bit of resistance to buying new rpgs, for the reasons mentioned above.

But then once in a while resistance will breakdown and I make an impulse purchase. Results are pretty random, but it does not happen very often.

 

[Anon Adderlan]

Typically I only buy PDFs which are either on sale at #DriveThruRPG, #HumbleBundle, or #BundleOfHolding. And at this point I have more RPGs than I know what to do with. Yet I persist.

 

[MNblockhead]

Typically I only buy PDFs which are either on sale at #DriveThruRPG, #HumbleBundle, or #BundleOfHolding. And at this point I have more RPGs than I know what to do with. Yet I persist.

Yeah, PDFs are sneaky that way. You can buy and file away and without them taking up physical space you forgot how much stuff you've accumulated. I've gotten better about not buying or gathering PDFs for systems I don't have a plan to play in the new future. My issue is that when I start a new campaign, especially a new system, my start getting excited and start collecting as much stuff as I can find that I think might be useful for the campaign. I only ever end up using a small percentage of it.

 

[Distracted DM]

Whatever Questing Beast tells me to buy.
Not really.
Kind of.

I have a hoard of TTRPG content that I'll never use. Pretty bleak statement, I can't say why except I have impulse spending issues that come with ADHD and that's not even considering the minis that I have; most of them unpainted :')
The requirement for purchase is "do I think this is cool and could see see myself using it?" I am unfortunately good at selling myself on things.

 

[harunmushod]

Yeah. I ran into this issue with the RuneQuest Starter Set, which was presented fairly well (I got it on a PDF sale). Then I bought the hardcover rulebook, and it was honestly like reading a different game. Maybe that's a Chaosium thing? (I heard they do produce excellent Starter Sets, FWIW.)

Appears to be. My experience too. I've had to cut, paste and heavily edit everything they do to make it usable for me at the table. I am currently running Masks of Nyarlathotep and the block texts and organisation of material is abysmal (the substance of the campaign, however, is excellent).

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, PDFs are sneaky that way. You can buy and file away and without them taking up physical space you forgot how much stuff you've accumulated. I've gotten better about not buying or gathering PDFs for systems I don't have a plan to play in the new future. My issue is that when I start a new campaign, especially a new system, my start getting excited and start collecting as much stuff as I can find that I think might be useful for the campaign. I only ever end up using a small percentage of it.

My problem is that at least a couple of the more successful start-a-new-game I've done in the last decade came from random PDF purchases...

 

[billd91]

Appears to be. My experience too. I've had to cut, paste and heavily edit everything they do to make it usable for me at the table. I am currently running Masks of Nyarlathotep and the block texts and organisation of material is abysmal (the substance of the campaign, however, is excellent).

Is it the newer edition from 2018? If so, I agree that there's a lot of excellent material but the organization and presentation of some elements is hard to deal with. The earlier editions like the 2001 version lacks the new additional material, but is much better organized and easy to run with. The clue inventories at the start of each chapter are listed in tables rather than busy maps and the NPCs are detailed in their encounter locations/scenes rather than in a summary at the chapter start. I like the use of bullet points in the newer edition, but I don't like having to page back several pages to find info on, for example, the principals of the Clive expedition when the PCs are at the dig site.

 

[CleverNickName]

If I'm browsing an actual brick-and-mortar bookstore, the first thing that I'll notice is the cover art. If it looks enticing, I'll pick it up and read the title, the author, and the publishing company. If no warning bells go off (there are certain names that I passionately avoid), I'll open it up and read the introduction. If it's for a game system that I'm already familiar with, and if the introduction is interesting and well-written, I'll finally look at the price tag. Paperbacks over $20, or hardcovers over $40, get put back on the shelf. Otherwise, I'll probably take it to the counter.

But most of my RPG shopping is done online--probably about 90% or more these days, and usually on DriveThruRPG, Roll20 Marketplace, or Amazon. If the product isn't being sold on one of these sites, I won't see it. And I don't just casually browse titles online; I go to a website deliberately looking for something specifice...so I'll start by searching their inventory for a game system that I already play ("5E D&D", or "Call of Cthluhu," etc.) and if it returns too many unrelated matches, I'll refine the search by adding "-OSR" or "-5E Compatible" or whatever. If certain names come up in the search (again, there are certain names I avoid), I'll refine the search further. When I end up with a short list of options, I'll sort them by price. Then I'll start opening the links and reading the product info and introductions, stopping when I reach $10 for electronic files, $20 for paperbacks, and $40 for hardcover. Finally--if it's indeed written for the system I was searching for (and not merely "compatible with" or some variation thereof that was carefully written to defeat my search term exclusions), and if the product page is well-organized and well-written, I'll click Add To Cart.