The purge (collection talk)

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Neon

Neon

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Yeah... so I have reached an rpg collection saturation point.

Like many here I get sucked into buying tons of new games. Usually I vuy them not even with the intention to play them but to see how the rules work or to see how they tweaked a system I already know in hopes that they somehow incorporate all my house rules into the ultimate edition i've always wanted!!!!! SPOLIER: that game will never be made.

Sometimes I buy them just for the art...

So I have set out to reduce my rpg collection to eliminate as much redundancy as possible.

For example, I have come to realize that I don't need umpteen d20-6attribute-highfantasy-dungeoncrawling games. I'm good with one (yes, I know some of you will say zero is the correct amount). And while some variation is cool, the 5% to 15% nonrecycled content doesn't justify the shelf space they take.

Same with genre. I love cyberpunk, but I don't need tons of unique systems. I just need one fairly robust system and houseruling will take care of the rest.

So with all that being said, has anyone had success reducing their collection? Preferably I'd like to sell rather than donate (to buy more dumb shit). As opposed to board gaming, rpg gamers are ridiculously cheap! Lol Most players have never even bought a single phb, so is there even a secondary market for rpg? What can I expect in terms of cost recovery ? Is it even worth it to sell, or should I just line my coffin with these crisp manuals and have us all set on fire like a nerd viking funeral?

Enquiring minds want to know.

I WANT TO KNOW!
 
I’ve had pretty good luck on eBay, enough to at least break even or make a profit on older stuff. If the system is well-regarded, you will do better selling one book at a time. If it is less-than-well-regarded, you will do better selling in lots of three to five books.
 
thread locked for marital reasons!
I threads like these are allowed to continue it will severely damage my ability to defend my collection against marital incursions. Please dear God stop!!



Oh damn used the wrong color. Ok keep talking.... I guess.. .
 
Bunch said:
[WARNING="Thread locked for marital reasons!"]
I threads like these are allowed to continue it will severely damage my ability to defend my collection against marital incursions. Please dear God stop!!
[/WARNING]


Oh damn used the wrong color. Ok keep talking.... I guess.. .
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At a quick glance I was like "oh shit is this really happening?" Haha
 
I have legit offered to PAY people to take brand new, nearly untouched RPG books and they have refused. So I can say that once I have them, it's hard to get rid of them by any route other than dumpster.

Another factor is that I've learned I need to get rid of stuff quickly. If I don't, I tend to start to justify keeping the item.
 
Gabriel said:
I have legit offered to PAY people to take brand new, nearly untouched RPG books and they have refused. So I can say that once I have them, it's hard to get rid of them by any route other than dumpster.

Another factor is that I've learned I need to get rid of stuff quickly. If I don't, I tend to start to justify keeping the item.
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Back in the 2008-2013 time frame I was able to acquire a lot of AD&D hardbacks for pennies during local swap meets. People were dumping all kinds of goodness. I still have all of it and now when running my AD&D game I can have four or five PHB's on the table for players to use. They can pry these from my cold dead fingers. I am fortunate to have a dedicated large basement space as a Nerdvanna and have no good reason to get rid of anything.
 
I've been thinking about this as well. Ever since moving to pdf only (about ten years ago) I've bought waaay too many RPGs. I also had walls of physical books that I'd collected over the years, but I gave them away to friends and a club up in Dublin. I still have quite a bit in storage too though.

But I'd really like to trim down my whole collection. Maybe just keep about 20 games on my tablet.

I have got an impulsive personality so I buy stuff way too quickly. And most of the time it is not exactly what I wanted (at no fault of the author I'm just weird).

I think that my main focus from now on will be just writing the stuff I want to play and run.
 
Armchair Gamer said:
I've had good experience selling materials off to Noble Knight Games. Which reminds me, I really need to get around to my own purging, either here or with NKG.
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Another option is Wayne's Books. I haven't used either, but would love perspectives from folks who have used both.

One of these days, I'm going to bite the bullet and contact one of these two and see what I can get for a lot of stuff I really don't need anymore.
 
Is it possible to get a sub-forum set up to advertise what used rpg material people want to sell and have a pub swap meet place?

You can probably get better prices from other gamers than you can get from used book sellers.
 
Local Buy/Sell RPG Facebook Groups seem to be the best way to sell RPGs at good prices IME. Individual high ticket items can be sold on EBay or Noble Knight Games but low value items are not usually worth the effort.
 
The two times I did a purge of my collection, I just sold them to my flgs. I didn't get much for most of them, but I thought if someone else wanted them that's better than just throwing them in the bin. I myself have sometimes found stuff in the used book boxes my flgs has.
 
Armchair Gamer said:
I've had good experience selling materials off to Noble Knight Games. Which reminds me, I really need to get around to my own purging, either here or with NKG.
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I did a purge in 2016, taking three boxes of stuff to Noble Knight.

I then spent the next seven years buying new shit to fill the empty spot left by the old shit.

Stupid me.
 
Assuming you even have a used bookstore... In my experience with used book dealers most will give you more in store credit than the cash price. Of course store credit just kind of changes the books on your shelf rather than providing more room.

Vargold said:
I did a purge in 2016, taking three boxes of stuff to Noble Knight.

I then spent the next seven years buying new shit to fill the empty spot left by the old shit.

Stupid me.
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That has always been my fear. No, as long as I have room to walk, I don't see my books going anywhere.
 
Bunch said:
[WARNING="Heretics!"]
The lot of you! Someone's going to gamer hell!
[/WARNING]
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I am a man caught between a science fiction/fantasy book collection, a graphic novel collection, a manga collection, and an RPG collection. There is only so much space in my house, especially after my parents had to move in and we lost two rooms. Naughty parents.
 
Vargold said:
I am a man caught between a science fiction/fantasy book collection, a graphic novel collection, a manga collection, and an RPG collection. There is only so much space in my house, especially after my parents had to move in and we lost two rooms. Naughty parents.
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To be able to repay the people who once took care of you is amazing. You're a good man.
 
Sell...an rpg book...from my collection?

1700252478155.png

But, for me at least, I'm only about 15% oversubscribed on physical games. That is, I have a handful of games on my shelves that I wouldn't likely ever paly or run.

Now, my PDF collection...whew...that's got a lot of cruft in it.
 
gruagach said:
Sell...an rpg book...from my collection?

View attachment 71385

But, for me at least, I'm only about 15% oversubscribed on physical games. That is, I have a handful of games on my shelves that I wouldn't likely ever paly or run.

Now, my PDF collection...whew...that's got a lot of cruft in it.
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Thankfully I never got into pdfs. I can see how some people find them convenient (no physical space, easy to print out and distribute handouts, search functions, a bit cheaper than dead tree versions) but I play table top games to get away from screens.
For a while I did amass a lot of free pdf from drivethrurpg, but I don't think I ever read one from cover to cover and just decided to jettison it all.
 
Neon said:
Thankfully I never got into pdfs. I can see how some people find them convenient (no physical space, easy to print out and distribute handouts, search functions, a bit cheaper than dead tree versions) but I play table top games to get away from screens.
For a while I did amass a lot of free pdf from drivethrurpg, but I don't think I ever read one from cover to cover and just decided to jettison it all.
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I've generally used PDFs as a way to test out games that seem interesting, or to collect cool rpg mechanics or setting bits and bobs that I can use in other games.

When I was professionally employed full time in my chosen (prior) career, I spent an even then embarrassing amount of coin on PDFs of games. Now, I'm on a budget, so I buy maybe two to three PDF games per year, and maybe one physical game book every 18 months (that's based on the past 3 years or so, hard to tell if that pattern will hold).

In terms of selling games, I do think Facbook, maybe eBay, rpg.net does have a trade/sell sub forum or thread I think (it's been a while since I visited there) and the like are your best bets. I think folks already into RPGs are likely the best audience for some small return on initial investment.

I've sold a few things via eBay, and bought a few via eBay, though it's been years.

And, I've sold to my FLGS a time or two, but alas no longer have one within reasonable driving distance of me.
 
There is definitely a used book market. I'd recommend looking into the Facebook groups that deal in used RPGs. It is the better way to get a better price, in general. Maybe you will get a better price on ebay, all depends on if you want to deal with the ebay charges and guidelines. Also, you could try Facebook Marketplace. Possibly some local people would be interested.

Myself, I'm in a reduction period as well. I bought a 10-pack of bankers boxes from Walmart this week to pull books I want to get rid of off my shelves. I'm talking wide swathes of the collection being taken out. I buy too many, and use too few. Plan to reduce several shelves filling the 10 banker boxes. Then I have to figure out how to get rid of them. I have some some on the aforementioned Facebook groups. Don't sell on ebay any longer (stopped years ago). May list some on FB Marketplace. Last option for me is to take them to a local bookstore, where i will get a pittance (or sell to Noble Knight for probably similar).
 
Imaginos said:
Myself, I'm in a reduction period as well. I bought a 10-pack of bankers boxes from Walmart this week to pull books I want to get rid of off my shelves. I'm talking wide swathes of the collection being taken out. I buy too many, and use too few. Plan to reduce several shelves filling the 10 banker boxes.
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Your collection must be impressive if you are culling 10 banker boxes.
Yeah, getting rid of such an amount seems like an uphill battle.
 
Hmmm I've been thinking of jetisoning all my Savage Worlds collection , my GURPS core books hardcovers, all my 7th Sea 2E hardcover books, plus a few random odds & ends, so this thread arrives at an interesting time...
 
We really need to do that Joyeurs Sans Frontiers (Gamers Without Borders) non-profit idea so we can fill a cargo shipping container with purged RPGs and visit our poor gaming relations in Oceania, like Australia (kangaroo not pastry), fabled Mu (plays The KLF), and lost New Zealand (if we can find it). :clown: It might even be a tax write-off, if we do it right.

Any other ports of call that need gamer largesse? :hehe:
 
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In the last 25 years I probably got rid of 90% of my game collection (including large collections of Warhammer 1e, CoC 1st, L5R 1st, Rifts, Savage Worlds, GURPS, Shadowrun 2, Tribe 8, Cyberpunk 2020 and an innumerable amount of isolated corebooks...).

Did I have regrets? A few... But that passed with time and the new shiny came to replace the old... Before also getting jettisoned. I still have a big box of stuff to sell (full of stuff you've seen in the "Tell us about something good that you got recently" thread). Overall my collection has become much tightier but I still love to read and discover new games, I just have zero problem getting rid of them if I find no use for them.

I don't know how things are in the U.S but in Europe, the prices on the second-hand market have risen quite a bit post-covid. So you might even turn a small profit to buy more games you don't need :grin:
 
I've found ebay increasing less viable as an option for anyone that doesn't sell new stuff or in bulk as a retail store.

For sales of RPGs I've found Facebook groups tend to yield the best results.

I'll tend to divide my sales into lots, otherwise your collection will be cherrypicked until you are just left with a bunch of stuff you can't sell.
 
Imaginos said:
There is definitely a used book market. I'd recommend looking into the Facebook groups that deal in used RPGs. It is the better way to get a better price, in general. Maybe you will get a better price on ebay, all depends on if you want to deal with the ebay charges and guidelines. Also, you could try Facebook Marketplace. Possibly some local people would be interested.

Myself, I'm in a reduction period as well. I bought a 10-pack of bankers boxes from Walmart this week to pull books I want to get rid of off my shelves. I'm talking wide swathes of the collection being taken out. I buy too many, and use too few. Plan to reduce several shelves filling the 10 banker boxes. Then I have to figure out how to get rid of them. I have some some on the aforementioned Facebook groups. Don't sell on ebay any longer (stopped years ago). May list some on FB Marketplace. Last option for me is to take them to a local bookstore, where i will get a pittance (or sell to Noble Knight for probably similar).
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List what you put in the boxes.
 
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