Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Collecting: The RPG
Of all the game books that have been sold in the world, it makes me wonder how many of them have actually been used, for the truth is a lot of gamers are collectors. We buy books that look cool -- core books we'll never play, supplements we'll never use, adventures we'll be lucky if we run once. When we're teenagers, we'll save like crazy just to pick up the latest rules supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. When we're a bit older and have jobs, we'll see a title on the shelf with a cool title, neat artwork or just a really wicked concept ... and we'll buy it then and there. After all, because we've never seen it before, we might never seen it again ... right? Or that's the logic, anyway.
Thankfully, many of us either never fall into this trap or eventually grow out of it when gaming drops down a couple of notches on the priority list. As for me, I grew out of it, although I will still on occasion purchase something that I'm never actually likely to use. Still, between Sean and I (the latter being the bigger collector of the two), we have enough games to keep us busy through the next couple of lifetimes.
Our collection consists of titles such as: Dungeons & Dragons (the old Red Box and the four other boxes leading up to the Immortal Set, as well as a handful of adventures); Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition (the core Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, as well as a shitload of Monstrous Compendiums, rules supplements, class and race supplements, guides to developing campaigns, the odd adventure, a handful of campaign worlds and supplements for them, including Dark Sun, Spelljammer and Greyhawk: Out Of The Ashes); Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition (the core books, adventures, rules supplements, the Greyhawk Gazetteer and other materials); a ton of Dragon, Dungeon and other gaming magazines; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness and a handful of supplements and adventure books; Star Wars (both the West End Games d6 version with a bunch of add-on books and the Wizards of the Coast d20 version); Shadowrun and a bunch of supplements detailing different aspects of being a runner; Call of Cthulhu (both a Chaosium edition and the WotC d20 edition); Cyberpunk 2020 from R. Talsorian Games (as well equipment books, a game master's guide, some rules supplements and the Night City campaign setting); Palladium Fantasy and supplements; Rifts and a whole bunch of world books, sourcebooks and dimension books; the GURPS core book and about thirty supplements detailing historical, sci-fi, fantasy and horror campaign settings; Paranoia and a bunch of supplements; Systems Failure; It Came From The Late, Late, Late Show; Marvel Superheroes (both the old TSR boxed set and the new diceless game that Sean has been starting to collect); Cadillacs & Dinosaurs; HOL: Human Occupied Landfill; Big Eyes, Small Mouth; Kobolds Ate My Baby; Ninja Burger; Toon and a couple of add-on books replete with settings for the game, as well as nifty toys to use while playing; Chill and a bunch of supplements (a game I've barely even glanced at, but I bought it, nevertheless); Vampire: The Masquerade and half a shelf full of books for it, including Vampire: The Dark Ages; Wraith: The Oblivion and supplements (a game that's really cool, but it's also one nobody will play with me); Mage: The Ascension (yep, and supplemental books); Werewolf: The Apocalypse (yessirree, and supplemental books); Changeling: The Dreaming; and whatever I'm missing, which there is bound to be at least a couple of game titles that I've neglected to mention here, especially seeing as I was doing most of this by memory.
And I'm not even the worst culprit. You should see The Law's collection of RPGs. Others focus on genres or specific game systems. Logan has every Rifts book ever released, and I believe the count is up around fifty at this point.
Thankfully, I've more or less given up collecting roleplaying games. Occasionally, I'll buy a new game or some supplements or adventures for ones that I do play, but the days when I would pick up anything and everything are over. Unfortunately, there are dozens of gaming books on shelves and stored in boxes that will never be played. Perhaps the biggest joke is I still can't bear to get rid of them.
Thankfully, many of us either never fall into this trap or eventually grow out of it when gaming drops down a couple of notches on the priority list. As for me, I grew out of it, although I will still on occasion purchase something that I'm never actually likely to use. Still, between Sean and I (the latter being the bigger collector of the two), we have enough games to keep us busy through the next couple of lifetimes.
Our collection consists of titles such as: Dungeons & Dragons (the old Red Box and the four other boxes leading up to the Immortal Set, as well as a handful of adventures); Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition (the core Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, as well as a shitload of Monstrous Compendiums, rules supplements, class and race supplements, guides to developing campaigns, the odd adventure, a handful of campaign worlds and supplements for them, including Dark Sun, Spelljammer and Greyhawk: Out Of The Ashes); Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition (the core books, adventures, rules supplements, the Greyhawk Gazetteer and other materials); a ton of Dragon, Dungeon and other gaming magazines; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness and a handful of supplements and adventure books; Star Wars (both the West End Games d6 version with a bunch of add-on books and the Wizards of the Coast d20 version); Shadowrun and a bunch of supplements detailing different aspects of being a runner; Call of Cthulhu (both a Chaosium edition and the WotC d20 edition); Cyberpunk 2020 from R. Talsorian Games (as well equipment books, a game master's guide, some rules supplements and the Night City campaign setting); Palladium Fantasy and supplements; Rifts and a whole bunch of world books, sourcebooks and dimension books; the GURPS core book and about thirty supplements detailing historical, sci-fi, fantasy and horror campaign settings; Paranoia and a bunch of supplements; Systems Failure; It Came From The Late, Late, Late Show; Marvel Superheroes (both the old TSR boxed set and the new diceless game that Sean has been starting to collect); Cadillacs & Dinosaurs; HOL: Human Occupied Landfill; Big Eyes, Small Mouth; Kobolds Ate My Baby; Ninja Burger; Toon and a couple of add-on books replete with settings for the game, as well as nifty toys to use while playing; Chill and a bunch of supplements (a game I've barely even glanced at, but I bought it, nevertheless); Vampire: The Masquerade and half a shelf full of books for it, including Vampire: The Dark Ages; Wraith: The Oblivion and supplements (a game that's really cool, but it's also one nobody will play with me); Mage: The Ascension (yep, and supplemental books); Werewolf: The Apocalypse (yessirree, and supplemental books); Changeling: The Dreaming; and whatever I'm missing, which there is bound to be at least a couple of game titles that I've neglected to mention here, especially seeing as I was doing most of this by memory.
And I'm not even the worst culprit. You should see The Law's collection of RPGs. Others focus on genres or specific game systems. Logan has every Rifts book ever released, and I believe the count is up around fifty at this point.
Thankfully, I've more or less given up collecting roleplaying games. Occasionally, I'll buy a new game or some supplements or adventures for ones that I do play, but the days when I would pick up anything and everything are over. Unfortunately, there are dozens of gaming books on shelves and stored in boxes that will never be played. Perhaps the biggest joke is I still can't bear to get rid of them.
// posted by Chris @ 8:09 AM 
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