Making the cut for your TTRPG library

[Dannyalcatraz]

How long do you hold onto a game book you don't like before unloading it somehow?

I started in 77-78, but my collection didn’t expand much beyond D&D, Traveller, and Champions until the early 1990s. At that point, it exploded! By the turn of the century, I owned books from 200 different RPGs.

And there it stood for a good decade or so, when I finally divested myself of about 40 systems worth of books. I donated a lot of them to the USO, along with some polyhedral dice sets.

Since then, I’ve added a couple new systems.

But the real answer is, “it depends”, because I absolutely still have my earliest acquisitions. The stuff I donated was all bought post-1990.

 

[jdrakeh]

I used to be very big into collecting physical books and boxed sets. At one time, I had an actual library of them (i.e. a dedicated room in my house that was nothing but RPG stuff). I currently own exactly three physical books (the Anniversary Edition of BFRPG, a NOS copy of Freeport: City of Adventure, and a ratty, beat up, copy of Codex of Erde).

I used to have a "one year rule" stating that if I hadn't played or read an RPG product in over a year, it went on the chopping block. Now, realizing that I'll probably never again play anything other than current edition D&D locally, I've pretty much switched to PDFs exclusively, as the only players I can find for anything other than current edition D&D (or WoD) are not local to me.

 

[Koloth]

Moving seems to be the catalyst for anyone who becomes discerning with books (of any kind) and choosing when the buy physical vs digital.

It was for me. Kept most of the RPG stuff but boxes of magazines kept for many years found the recycle bin. Several shelves of non-RPG books got donated to the local Friends of the Library sale. Hundreds of VHS tapes also got culled. Mostly Star Trek stuff. I had binge watched them a few times but with DVD/Blue Rays a thing, time to let go of the earlier tech. Still prefer physical print books over pdf but can't ignore the ease of having most of the PF1, a bunch of PF2, and Mongoose Traveller stuff on my iPad. (Thank you humble bundles). Still working on the crates of Reaper KS Bones minis.

 

[aramis erak]

So this is just for physical ttrpgs.

How long do you hold onto a game book you don't like before unloading it somehow?

Not sure yet, have a few that are over 40 years....
I've sold on only a few, and those were purchased solely for a one-time read.
Only two sold on that I wanted to run but didn't: Dune (LUG version) and Rhand: Morningstar Missions.
I should have bought several copies of LUG Dune...

 

[sevenbastard]

I have never got rid of a game book, but I created a pile last month of things I should sell mostly duplicate DCC modules I have, pathfinder 1e modules i read and didnt like, and some Mongoose Conan stuff i will never use.

If I can actually get rid of it? TBD

 

[Velderan]

I typically hold on to everything I buy for a specific system until I move on from actively playing the system. For example when I stopped running 5e I unloaded all the random “this could be useful” 3pp I bought over the years that just never saw use, as well as WotC books that sounded interesting when I bought them but then ended up not being something I liked upon further reading. In the event I ever decided to run 5e again, I have a trimmed down collection of books that are proven to be things I would use.

 

[GreyLord]

Apparently forever. I still have the OD&D box...

Or if we go later...I still have the original AD&D books, the BX books (I think I only have the expert box, the basic box long ago having bit it), BECMI, more sets of AD&D books, Star Frontiers, Gamma World (1e, 2e, and I think 4e), etc...etc...etc.

I never toss them. The worst I do is if I run out of space, pack it into a box and put it into the attic/storage.

If someone knew what they were doing they might be able to make a nice little pence off of my collection when I die, but I expect they won't and some liquidation business that gets rid of old people's stuff will sell it for pennies on the pound.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I cut my entire physical library when I moved from Kansas to Texas. If I had kept them, along with my board games, I would have had to make multiple trips back (around 12 hours) just to get everything and it just wasn't worth it once I realized that I hadn't cracked open most of them more than once or twice.

 

[kronovan]

I'm careful to only purchase print books I've researched and those I know I really want to hold in my hands. I generally only buy books the players need at the table and occasionally my players gift me them. So, any phsyical books I own have to be essential for players, or something I want to read in the shade on a warm summer day - excellent content, nice artwork, nice layout. There isn't a book on my shelves I haven't at least browsed, with the majority having been read cover to cover. I've become tablet savvy to the point that reading digitally is 2nd nature - can't think of a print book I have for which I don't own a digital equivalent.

I rarely participate in kickstarters because I live in Canada and exchange rates and shipping costs make them cost prohibitive. I'm down to 5 ft of shelving for both my TTRPG, miniature books, and setting books for vidoegames and novel series. Storing board games and miniatures are a bigger problem; gave my entire BG and minis collection to my kids 3 years ago, but somehow managed to accumulate 20 BGs since and rebuy 2 battalions+ worth of Battletech minis. I have a 6 shelf, narrow bookcase for BG storage and that's all I'm allowing myself. I've got space for one more and that will soon be occupied by a gaming buddy's recently published BG. So, if I want to add a BG after that, somethings got to go.

If there's a book or BG I don't want it goes to my sons or daughter. If they don't want it and its valuable, recent and in demand, I try to sell it at a local CONs resale tables. Failing that, it become a house draw for a game session, or a give away.

 

[Fenris-77]

I lived on Baffin Island in Canada for more than a decade, and shipping to there is New Zealand bad, so my actual dead tree collection is quite small and has just games that I find inspirational in various ways (writing, design, art, whatever) or the couple of games I design for and run on the regular. Everything else is PDF.