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

[Scribe]

So, lets pretend you are downsizing, in a major way, like, going from a house, to a single bedroom, maybe even studio apartment, or a tiny house.

You are a discerning geek, and you love your various games and media. You'll have a TV/Computer, likely internet, but it may be that you are offline and using things like DVD's, assuming such things even exist anymore, as I do not know the last time I bought one...anyway.

What makes the cut, what is on your geek Mount Rushmore of product? Go over 4 if you like.

Examples would include for me.

LotR
Dragonlance: Chronicles/Legends for nostalgic reasons.
The Matrix 1
Shadowdark

What comics/books/movies/tabletop or paper games, do you think are either foundational and still hold up, or represent a 'peak' representation of the craft?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I used to have over 150 RPGs in my collection, and I HAVE downsized. I’m at maybe 70 now.

If I had to cut it down further, I’d for certain keep:

1 edition of HERO (4th or later)
D&D 3.5Ed
Space:1889

After that? It’s a question of Traveller, Paranoia!, Deadlands and RIFTS.

There’s others I’d cry about losing, too.

But the thing is, with HERO, I’d be able to approximate almost anything else I’d want to play. Maybe poorly, but still…

 

[Reynard]

This is not a theoretical for me. I am moving house and eliminating 90% of my collection.

What made the cut were the games that really spoke to me. Maybe it was pure nostalgia, or maybe it was something that made a major impact on me.

I kept all my Basic, 1E and 2E D&D core materials. I am sure I will want to refer to them again someday. But I let a huge amount of extraneous 2E stuff go because none of that is really "2E" to me. The core is fine.

But I did keep certain game core books. All Flesh Must Be Eaten. SWADE. The One Ei g 2E. Certain games need their core rules intact to use them in the future.

 

[TiQuinn]

I’m just gonna stick to TTRPGs for my answer:

2e Player’s Handbook
Forgotten Realms Grey Box Set
Call of Cthulhu (7th edition)
Ravenloft Box Set

My optional 5th would be the 5e PHB.

Those would be the biggies.

 

[overgeeked]

For me, the only real essentials are dice. A set of regular game dice, a set of the DCC RPG Special 7 dice, a brick of d6s, and a set of Fate dice. Played and ran so many games over the decades that’s all I’d need to keep playing.

 

[Blue]

I have gotten rid of so many "just nostalgia" games. I'm a packrat by nature, and when the rare urge to purge does strike me, I go full throttle.

Right now, I'd keep: the RPGs I'm playing/expect to play within the next year. The published games/supplements by personal friends - that's more than nostalgia, that's just rude. Especially as one of them has passed. My AD&D 2ed Aurora's Goods book.

Okay, while not technically RPGs my box of 1980s Battletech and 1980s Star Fleet Battles have survived all the purges, as well as my childhood Lego brick collection.

 

[Scribe]

For me, the only real essentials are dice. A set of regular game dice, a set of the DCC RPG Special 7 dice, a brick of d6s, and a set of Fate dice. Played and ran so many games over the decades that’s all I’d need to keep playing.

I wish I still had that kind of memory!

 

[Reynard]

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.

 

[Hex08]

I've downsized before and over time bought more games although I am not near where I once was.

If the target is four games I would miss it by one but I would keep:
Pathfinder 1E - I no longer run the game but one of my players picked up the GM duties and I am still the go-to rules guy so I would need the books
Savage Worlds - currently the game I primarily run
Call of Cthulhu - I haven't run it in a long time but would eventually love to again
Castles & Crusades - When I have the itch to run a D&D style game this has been my go to for quite some time
Blades in the Dark (I think) - I own it, Band of Blades and Scum and Villainy and have yet to run any but I really want to. Each has it's appeal but I think Blades in the Dark would win out

 

[Hex08]

Okay, while not technically RPGs my box of 1980s Battletech and 1980s Star Fleet Battles have survived all the purges, as well as my childhood Lego brick collection.

I've carried around a copy of Starfleet Battles for decades and can't remember the last time I played it. I loved the game though.