How much of your collection do you use?

[Pinotage]

There are a lot of people that have extensive D&D/RPG collections, and I can't image ever using all the material that I or they own. I was scanning through my stuff and there's a host that I haven't even read yet, let alone thought about to use. So, a quick poll. What percentage of your collection (books and pdfs) do you actually use and if not a lot, why not?

Pinotage

 

[Crothian]

All of it gets used. Not on a weekly, monthy, or perhaps even yearly basis but it all gets used.

 

[Buttercup]

Although my collection is quite large, I've used about 75% of it in one way or another. When I'm in serious adventure creating mode, I end up with books piled aorund me. A plot hook here, a map there, a spell from this one and a monster from that one, it's all fodder for the game.

I tend to do all of that ahead of time, so the only books I typically have at the table are the PHB and MM.

 

[drothgery]

I don't DM much, and I buy a lot of stuff just because it's interesting to me. So if my DM isn't interested, or I don't have a good character concept that uses a book, then it's probably going to sit idle. And a fair amount of my library was obsoleted by 3.5.

Hence, I've got campaign settings and d20 games that I'll probably never play. And the 3.0 core books and splatbooks have been superceded by the 3.5 core and Complete X series.

 

[Nifft]

Active use, or ever use? For example, I no longer actively use my 3.0e PHB, but at one time I did indeed use it quite a bit.

I have used over half of what I own.
I actively use (last 4 months or so) less than 1/5th.

-- N

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

In actual play? Less than 10%. For sheer reading enjoyment and research? 100%!!!

 

[Wombat]

On a regular basis? For research? For enjoyment? To mine for ideas? To test new systems?

I have been collecting rpgs since 1975. I still have most of them. I am happy to switch between systems for each campaign I run, even nowadays. I have a huge Ars Magica collection, a large one for RuneQuest, a goodly amount of D20, over a dozen GURPS supplements, and over 30 other systems in one form or another.

During any given weekly session, I use maybe 1-3% of the collection. For a given campaign this probably shoots up to 5%. On the other hand when I am setting up a campaign I use large swaths of material, gleefully jumping between systems for ideas (as well as my non-gaming library). And I can say that I have read through, cover to cover, 90+% of these books (including the Aria books...).

So this weekend for my game I will end up using Arcana Unearthed, the Monster Manual the Dungeon Master's Guide, and maybe an extra book or two of spells -- just about 1% there. This is a pretty simple session. Others I might use a dozen books. And when I switch to a different system, I will use a different group (and percentage) of my books.

I use most of them, just not necessarily in the way they were intended.

 

[Psionicist]

Less than 1%. Heck, probably less than 0.01% in actual play. For example, last session I only used the PHB, and I only used it to read a paragraph of the Bluff skill.

However when I'm creating a new character, then I use everything at my disposal.

 

[Teneb]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as CWFrizzle; I've read everything I've bought and mined quite a bit of it for ideas, but as far as actually using books at the table, I guess I'd say about 20%. Now, stuff I'd like to use at the table but don't have enough time for? That's probably closer to 50%

 

[IronWolf]

I went with the 75% option. My collection is probably not nearly as extensive as some I know, but I have more than the casual gamer (I think). I use bits and parts from a multitude of books a fair amount. It may only be some reference information on some deity or one snippet of something else from another book, but I do use them. I certainly have some books I use more than others, but I try to make use of all of my books. Even if it is mining them for ideas and inspiration.