Do you buy new versions of TTRPG games when you haven't had time to play the older version sitting on your shelf?

[MNblockhead]

Got back into TTRPGs in 2014. I keep seeing new editions and starter sets for games I've bought and never got around to playing. There is a weird pull to want to buy the new version, just in case I do play them. I've not succumb to this as I've gotten over my earlier impulse buying of Kickstarter material and now that I play online, I don't buy many physical books. If prices are low enough, I might buy a PDF of a core book, just to check it out, but I don't buy VTT versions of games until I have a plan (as in first session on the calendar) to run them. But there is still that pull.

For those of you who do find themselves buying new versions of games they own older editions of, but have never played, is it mainly because you like collecting games or is it because you still want to run the game and figure you might as well get the new rules?

What triggered this post was reading another post about a new Lord of the Rings starter set. But the biggest temptation was the 2023 release of Paranoia: Perfect Edition, by Mongoose games. I bought nearly everything they published for the Red Clearance edition (I backed the Kickstarter for the Ultraviolet edition, which was an early release of the Red Clearance edition), but only ran one game session. I was very attempted to at least get the new rule book as it seemed to streamline and improve upon the mechanics and brought back a lot of classic lore. But I'm in the minority of fans who likes the card mechanics of the Red Clearance edition and I was happy enough with the lore. Still, if I get more time and decide to run some games, I might get a PDF version of the new edition to see if there are any rule changes I want to incorporate into my Red Clearance game.

Cubicle 7 releasing the Old World TTRPG is going to be tempting, but I think I can resist, so long as I don't make the mistake of paging through a book at a convention or FLGS.

How about you?

 

[Umbran]

Among fabric and fiber crafters, it is well known that buying materials and using materials are actually two separate hobbies.

Same for some RPG players.

I don't always buy a new version of a game, though, just to buy it. I will sometimes if I found the original intriguing, and the new one is presented as having intriguing improvements over the old.

 

[Arilyn]

No! Never! That would be a waste.
OK, maybe this happened a few times.

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

It's called "collecting"

 

[soviet]

The automatic replacement by consumers of old but loved games with whatever new version the publisher decides to dump out is a plague on the hobby. Most games were best in their first or second editions.

 

[payn]

Not always, no. I might if there is an innovative overhaul or an attractive kickstarter to lure me in.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

The automatic replacement by consumers of old but loved games with whatever new version the publisher decides to dump out is a plague on the hobby. Most games were best in their first or second editions.

I don't think there was a way to buy it at the time I bought Pendragon 5th edition (eBay, I guess), but I'm reading through Pendragon 1st edition now and it is really nicely done. My understanding from work I'm doing for a project is that Pendragon has been refined more than revised over its publication history, but I find it hard to believe that subsequent editions have much on 1st. It's absolutely delightful.

 

[Autumnal]

It depends. If the new version seems to have changes I regard as improvements, yes. If not, no.

 

[Count_Zero]

It depends. If the new version seems to have changes I regard as improvements, yes. If not, no.

Pretty much same here - or at least if there's any significant shifts between the old and new version. For example, I haven't picked up the new edition of The One Ring, because it's not clear if it's actually that different than the Cubicle 7 version I already have.

 

[Autumnal]

When I could play with others anything like regularly, I’d sometimes get a new edition for the sake of working from materials others could also get easily. But that’s no longer a concern, so I get to acquire or not for personal reasons.