2y ago

How many RPG books are too many?

I just had a moment where I downsized my RPG book collection. Do you ever weed out your collection? I find myself becoming a bit of a headless chicken, sometimes more interested in what the promise is that a book might hold, rather than diving in deep into the ones I already have. This superficial engagement with many books I find very unsatisfying. The books I cherish most are the ones that I have really sunk my teeth into, and I have a feeling that there is still a lot to discover in some of those that I haven't revisited in a while. Master the tools you have, rather than acquiring ever more barely used tools. Just wanted to air my thoughts, quite happy right now with my smaller collection of things I really cherish.

16 comments

Never enough. When I die I want my kids to be burdened with wondering what the heck to do with dad's dozens of boxes of rpg books.
- My completely stuffed bookshelf agrees with this.
- hehe

I sold off some of my books before, ones that I hadn't used or even looked at in a while.
I regret it so hard.
Ignoring the sentimental aspects (which is significant for me), if I decide I want them back I now have to pay probably double or more what I sold them for.
I will probably never sell anything again unless I have multiples of it.
- I had a similar experience selling off older books, minis and the like. I still have - and continue to get - tons of new books but I'll always miss my old 3e and pathfinder 3rd party books as I have no clue where I'd even find those anymore.
  100% agree I'll never sell any of them again. Worst case I buy another shelf for the basement and move them downstairs.

I’m super-cheap so I have 5: from D&D i have the 3.5e and 5e PHBs, and Xanathar & Tasha which were gifts, and i have the PF2e CRB. (I do have a lot of PF2e pdfs though.)
I don’t know how people built characters before the advent of tools like DDB and Pathbuilder/Nexus that auto-incorporate all the content. I can’t imagine hitting higher levels as a spell caster and having to flip through multiple books to figure out my next spells; I had a hard enough time with 2 books for a non-PHB subclass 5e barbarian. I just bought the subclass on DDB and it’s transparent what the source is.
- yeah, I agree with your approach. My collection is maybe 20 books total, but I run 1-2 games a week. 5e core books + tasha & xanathar, plus some adventures (3), monsters (2) settings books (2). Outside of 5e there is Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder 2e+Bestiary, and DCCRPG + a handful of modules. I recently ran a third party module that drew on a lot of books, it was a nightmare to DM.

Do you organise your collection? My digital collection is mostly unorganised so I rarely look at them. I keep my bookshelf tidy and organised and I find that my books are more eye-catching. If I'm having a slow day I'll just pick one up and read a couple of chapters. Eventually you end up reading your entire collection.
- I have both organised, but I just deem my physical collection "real". I only play the games & adventures I own physically. My digital collection is mostly cheap humble bundle stuff that I browse around in for fun or for inspiration for preparing my next session, just stealing small things here and there.

I try to limit myself to only especially nice books these days. If I just want to read the rules a pdf does the job done. So if its taking up shelf space is going to have to look nice and be useful. Aside from that, as long as I'm keeping in my entertainment budget there isn't really such thing as too many.

I only consider it too many when it becomes a burden. If you're spending a fortune on Zine Quest but struggle to pay your grocery bills that month, maybe it's too many books. If your book shelves are all full and you've run out of space in your home to add additional book shelves, maybe it's too many books.
And of course, i f you yourself feel like the engagement with most of your collection is unsatisfying, then too, maybe it's too many books. It might sound stupid and like a stereotype, but ask yourself "does this book spark joy?" If yes, it's not too much. If no, get rid of it.
Personally I have quite a large collection - about as large as I can go, as I actually reached the point where I'm literally running out of space in my home. But my pile of shame is tiny thanks to me GMing 2-3 game sessions a week, so I'm still getting joy from over 90% of my collection.

Trying to keep most of them digital at this point, a sin I know. But it allows me to have a ton of them and be able to search through them easily. Some of them I haven't event opened, but I'm sure a time will come when I do!

That's tough for me because I love collecting and reading rpg books. Yes, I'm incredibly boring. I have numerous books from different genres, and many editions of some of those. The older the series, the more interested I am in acquiring and reading it. There are some that I have read through repeatedly; like my Pathfinder 1e CRB. Others have gotten one solid read through followed by occasional perusing. I get the reasoning that too many is just too many to deal with, but I've just come to accept that this is my hobby now.

The only way you can have too many RPG books is if you're physically unable to store them in your home or apartment.
I get where you're coming from but I refuse to part with the books I've collected over the years, even the ones I don't use often or never made it to the table. The only games I've parted ways with were either games that were stolen from me or physically disintegrated due to heavy use + poor construction, and in almost every case I regret not replacing them immediately. Some of them are long out of print and can't be easily acquired anymore, which is going to be even more common in the future with so many games being published only via Kickstarter fulfillment or as a PDF.

I've almost certainly go too many books, but for me RPG books are two things:
Something I do or plan to use the actual contents of. Whether that be rules, tools, or adventures.
Physical objects that are nice to look at and hold.
Happily the indie RPG scene is very good at making books that cover both of those categies. I will once in a while go through the collection and give away books that I both don't think I'll ever use, and also aren't nice enough as objects to be worth keeping around.
I also have a number of magazine bins filled with zines, which I love but also desperately needs to be pared down.
Also because I will take any opportunity to share a shelfie:
Desk RPG shelf of "close to hand" stuff (and also tall books because they don't fit on the other shelves).
Ancillary bookshelf of RPG stuff:
- Ah, the Haunted Almanac, a person of taste I see.

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