I just threw away 100+ RPG books

[Jd Smith1]

The setting is make-believe. The game is a historical pastime...it's like casting notes for a village mummers' play.

I don't know how historically important D&D is going to be, but I wouldn't rule out it being of some interest down the line.

Are you referring to the RPG hobby as a whole, or just D&D groups?

 

[Reynard]

Likewise.

I'm not the one being dismissive.

 

[Greggy C]

I think the actual books are less of a loss than the notebooks and journals. I feel like we need a national repository for that stuff from players and GMs. There's history in there.

Oh naughty word I wrote something on a piece of paper last week and threw it in the garbage. I didn't realize I should have summoned a historian to determine if that behavior was appropriate. No offense, but your take on random peoples scribblings is not one I could ever have believed possible. Exactly how you compare it to someone writing a book on the history hobby and the people who started the game is blowing my mind. That is like saying every game of every player who ever played a video game should be recorded.

 

[Cadence]

RE: Records for Posterity

although Lucien's filing system seems a bit nonstandard compared to living libraries.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Oh naughty word I wrote something on a piece of paper last week and threw it in the garbage. I didn't realize I should have summoned a historian to determine if that behavior was appropriate. No offense, but your take on random peoples scribblings is not one I could ever have believed possible. Exactly how you compare it to someone writing a book on the history hobby and the people who started the game is blowing my mind. That is like saying every game of every player who ever played a video game should be recorded.

Very well said!

 

[Umbran]

No offense...

Mod Note:
The rest of your post does not support the idea that you didn't want to offend. So, if you really didn't mean to, you really, really need to go back to the drawing board.

You don't have to think that there's folk history worth saving there, but you do have to try harder to hold to Wheaton's Law as you say so.

 

[MGibster]

I got so much money for my 1e and 2e WFRP books. Enough to pay for all my 4e books.

I have an ton of 2nd edition WFRP books that are in near mint condition. Nobody ever wanted to play them. I should try to get rid of 'em.

This hurts my librarian heart.

I used to feel the same way, but books these days are mass produced quite cheaply rather than individual treasures produced by a team of scribes working in their cells in European monastaries.

I don't believe there's a historical perspective to notes on a game of make-believe. Sentiment for a participant, sure.

Maybe, but maybe not. In a century, some graduate student might be writing his thesis on the "role playing game" fad of the late 20th and early 21st century, and your notes might prove invaluable. Probably not, but you never know.

Well, then my actions are good news to you, as your books just became a tiny fraction more valuable. That's how collecting works: you hang on to old crap in the hopes that someday it will be worth something. Me, I need storage space.

I've purged my collection twice in the last 25 years. The first time I sold quite a bit of it, the second time I gave away most of it, and I'm sure I'll purge again in the future. I might even just toss some of the books. In both cases, I needed the space. And when I decide I'm too cluttered, I'll purge again.

Oh naughty word I wrote something on a piece of paper last week and threw it in the garbage. I didn't realize I should have summoned a historian to determine if that behavior was appropriate.

The truth is that modern historians would love to have written accounts of what people in the past found to be the most mundane of activities and were therefore not mentioned in letters and notes. But practically speaking, we can't save everything. We probably can't even save most of it.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I used to feel the same way, but books these days are mass produced quite cheaply rather than individual treasures produced by a team of scribes working in their cells in European monastaries.

Exactly.

Maybe, but maybe not. In a century, some graduate student might be writing his thesis on the "role playing game" fad of the late 20th and early 21st century, and your notes might prove invaluable. Probably not, but you never know.

If he used my campaign notes, there would be a very confused rendition of the hobby. Back in the days when I had hard-copy notes, they were a mish-mash of military acronyms, abbreviations, and the like. I was big on having a very compact notes back then.

I've purged my collection twice in the last 25 years. The first time I sold quite a bit of it, the second time I gave away most of it, and I'm sure I'll purge again in the future. I might even just toss some of the books. In both cases, I needed the space. And when I decide I'm too cluttered, I'll purge again.

Yeah, when Ebay first came out I dumped a ton of stuff, and I've given a lot of stuff away in years past. But since I've gone exclusively online, I've lost contact with the fragmented bits of the local gamer community.

 

[AnotherGuy]

We tried the online but it was not for us mostly because I'm feel like a terrible DM online and not confident about by tech skills. All of my players are far more tech savvy than me.
We were fortunate in that one of my groups returned quickly to tabletop playing (by November-December 2020) and that game flourished while our weekly online game suffered until end of last year when that too returned to tabletop.

As for parting with rpg books, I haven't done it, not that I have a lot, but I do want to get rid of my 4e books as I hardly refer to them. But every time I get close to making that decision, I page through and find something useful. I'm a hoarder. The pain is real.

 

[Jd Smith1]

We tried the online but it was not for us mostly because I'm feel like a terrible DM online and not confident about by tech skills. All of my players are far more tech savvy than me.
We were fortunate in that one of my groups returned quickly to tabletop playing (by November-December 2020) and that game flourished while our weekly online game game suffered until end of last year when that too returned to tabletop.

As for parting with rpg books, I haven't done it, not that I have a lot, but I do want to get rid of my 4e books as I hardly refer to them. But every time I get close to making that decision, I page through and find something useful. I'm a hoarder. The pain is real.

My face to face group never stopped until 2021, when work issues ended a 20 year run. Online gaming is the greatest development in the hobby, IMO. The endless supply of players is wonderful; since I went online I'm gaming more than ever.

At my peak, I had a walk-in closet full of RPG stuff.

 

[Dioltach]

I just sorted out my RPG collection. Tossed a bunch of books in the bin. Now I have a stack for keeping (D&D 3.5, D20 Modern, D20 Star Wars and my old BECMI collection, mostly, with some sourcebooks like Ptolus and City State of the Invincible Overlord), and a huge stack for Goodwill: old 1e and 2e boxed sets and sourcebooks, and some standalone games like Ars Magica and Spycraft.

Next step: sort out all my notes and old character sheets from almost 35 years of roleplaying.

 

[Mannahnin]

I just sorted out my RPG collection. Tossed a bunch of books in the bin. Now I have a stack for keeping (D&D 3.5, D20 Modern, D20 Star Wars and my old BECMI collection, mostly, with some sourcebooks like Ptolus and City State of the Invincible Overlord), and a huge stack for Goodwill: old 1e and 2e boxed sets and sourcebooks, and some standalone games like Ars Magica and Spycraft.

You might want to check ebay completed sales for that 1E and 2E stuff, if you can spare the time, just to see if any of it is commanding real money. Even if you don't want to go through the hassle of liquidating it via auctions to get the best prices, you might be able to sell the lot at a discount to your FLGS (if they handle old stuff) or to a collector over FB marketplace or something. $30-$50 seems to be common even for used and beat up copies of AD&D hardcovers at this point, with earlier prints and more pristine copies going for silly amounts.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I just sorted out my RPG collection. Tossed a bunch of books in the bin. Now I have a stack for keeping (D&D 3.5, D20 Modern, D20 Star Wars and my old BECMI collection, mostly, with some sourcebooks like Ptolus and City State of the Invincible Overlord), and a huge stack for Goodwill: old 1e and 2e boxed sets and sourcebooks, and some standalone games like Ars Magica and Spycraft.

Next step: sort out all my notes and old character sheets from almost 35 years of roleplaying.

Yeah, even though my copy is in rough shape, and I have it in pdf, I hung on to that and all my JG stuff.

 

[Dioltach]

World of Greyhawk boxed set, Forgotten Realms grey box, GH Adventures, FR Adventures, DL Adventures, Spelljammer, loads of Planescape stuff. If anyone wants to make me an offer for the lot, feel free! Otherwise they're going out. It's too much hassle to advertise them separately.

For the records, I also went through all my old notes. The only thing worth saving for prosterity was the unused paper.

 

[Cadence]

If things are in reasonable condition, I wonder how long they would last in a little free library. I'm guessing lots of neighborhoods have them.

Little Free Library World Map - Little Free Library

How to use the map Welcome to the Little Free Library map where you can find Little Free Libraries near you! Choose from three main search options and use the… Continue reading Little Free Library World Map

littlefreelibrary.org

 

[Mannahnin]

World of Greyhawk boxed set, Forgotten Realms grey box, GH Adventures, FR Adventures, DL Adventures, Spelljammer, loads of Planescape stuff. If anyone wants to make me an offer for the lot, feel free! Otherwise they're going out. It's too much hassle to advertise them separately.

Shot you a message.