Shrink your collection to the essentials. What makes the cut?

[Tales and Chronicles]

Mmm..thats a hard choice

• my AiME PHB
• my AiME Wilderland adventures
• my Veins of the Earth book
• Shadowdark
• my 5e Starter Set with the core rules and LMOP.

This would cover my need for low level gritty-ish adventuring.

Building on that, I can homebrew the rest.

 

[Jasperak]

1. Any single self-contained version of B/X (two books is fine), Swords & Wizardry, or like retroclone
2. A copy of Philotomy's Musings by Jason Cone to remind me why I don't need a billion books in the first place
3. A copy of Blackmarsh by Robert Conley to remind me why I don't need a 300 page setting manual and give me a template to create my own
4. A copy of The Gygax's 75 Challenge by Ray Otus to give a very quick and easy system to build my own campaign in a very short amount of time
5. A copy of Johnn Four's '3-line NPCs' newsletter for most of my NPCs (I'd love to find the pdf of just the three-line stuff, so I have to make do with the newsletter)
6. A copy of the '7-Sentence NPC' article by C.M. Cline from Dragon Magazine #184 for my important NPCs
7. A copy of one of How to RPG's Adventure Locations by Fred Wheeler to use as a template for my own adventure locations to remind me that I don't have to overproduce to create a good adventure.
8. A copy of B/X Options: Class Builder by Erin D. Smale to systematically create new classes to adjust the style or feel for any mini campaign
9. A copy of Johnn Four's '5-room Dungeons' article/newsletter to remind me how little one may need to create a quick yet intersting adventure location
10. AD&D 2e World Builder's Guidebook to give me a systematic way to expand upon my own setting creation
11. AD&D 2e Complete Book of Villains for that last little bit to give life to the badites
12. AD&D 2e Monstous Compendium to populate my settings with monsters. I like this book the most because it generally gives a great idea on how to fit the monsters in a campaign setting.

#2 through #9 printed out and put in a Pressboard two-prong Report Folder. I tried using a binder with rings for some of these, but turning pages started to suck. I think that's it for what I'd love to keep.

I have all of these printed out individually, but now that I've typed this up, I think I may just go and create my gotta have kit right now.

Edit: Fixed formatting and added comment about Johnn Four's '3-Line NPC' newsletter, added Johnn Four's '5-Room Dungeon' artticle, and added 2e Monstrous Compendium

 

[Blue Orange]

I think the thing is it's not really about the game, necessarily. You can download a copy of the 1st edition Monster Manual quite legally from Hasbro now, but it wouldn't be the one you grew up with.

I wound up losing a bunch of my books in a move and have copies now. Not sure what I'd hold onto--the physical items in this case hold no special resonances. Probably stuff that's harder to get online--I don't think anyone's ever digitized Fantasy Wargaming, for instance, and it's fun to show people the game that actually statted out the Virgin Mary.

 

[darjr]

PDF for the win.

The things I’d keep are hard to get originals.
Just not gonna decide now.
I will have to in the not to distant future unfortunately.

 

[overgeeked]

I wish I still had that kind of memory!

No crazy memory required. It’s all a jumble of 40 years of RPG rules. I am more comfortable running games in the Free Kriegsspiel Renaissance (FKR) style, that is without being beholden to rule books.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I didn’t even touch on geeky non-RPGs.

Star Fleet Battles and OGRE/GEV would be keepers. Then it gets tough again. Contenders include Nuclear War, RoboRally, BattleTech, Car Wars, and WotC’s Chainmail (and the very similar Confrontation).

And then there’s the Melee/Wizardry/In The Labyrinth/The Fantasy Trip ecosystem.

 

[Deset Gled]

I think the thing is it's not really about the game, necessarily. You can download a copy of the 1st edition Monster Manual quite legally from Hasbro now, but it wouldn't be the one you grew up with.

This was my thought, too. I'm not that much of a 1e or OSR guy, but in a choice between the 5e books I use every week and the Red Box that was the first D&D product I ever owned, I'd hold onto the Red Box. My Star Wars WEG d6 books and signed copy of The Last Unicorn would also be near the top of the list

In addition to pure nostalgia, there's also something to be said about replaceability. I'd hold onto my DVD of Dogma and my copy of The Consumer (by Michael Gira) just because I know it would be way too much work to ever get my hands on another copy, even if I don't think they're a pinnacle of art.

 

[der_kluge]

More move purging today.

This is a lot more emotionally taxing than I expected it to be.

Also, important safety tip: DO NOT fill a "medium" Home Depot box with RPG hardcovers and expect to lift it without injury.

I've moved a lot, and most of my collection has moved with me. Yea, a medium-sized box full of hardcovers is pretty nightmarish. I'd recommend an even distribution of things like boxed sets to take up some of that space.

 

[overgeeked]

The best moving boxes for RPG books are Diamond comic shop boxes. New comic day is Wednesday. Go in Monday or Tuesday and ask if you can have their boxes. Most shop owners are fine with it. They end up in the recycling bin anyway.

 

[der_kluge]

I have sold D&D stuff in the past, that I knew I'd never use, and I certainly own plenty of stuff now that I'll never use. If I absolutely had to boil my collection down to the essentials:

Wilderlands Boxed set
2nd edition Faiths and Avatars (because I use FR deities)
5e core rulebooks (though I could replace these easily enough)
2e Legends and Lore
2e Book of Artifacts

Books that I wrote/helped write:
Bluffside
Artificer's Handbook

That's probably about it. The rest I have in PDF form.