Winnowing The Shelves

[woodwardiocom]

My RPG shelves are packed full, so I spent some time winnowing this weekend.

• I kept Alternity: Dark Matter, as it continues to be a lovingly detailed "X-Files-ish" setting.
• But I decrufted Alternity: Tangents. It's a fine little book about alternate-universe gaming, but I also own Torg, Champions In 3-D, and GURPS Infinite Worlds, two of which are in systems I'm a hundred times more likely to play than Alternity (since I no longer own the Alternity core books anyway), and all of which cover the ground nicely.
• I own both Champions 4e and Hero 5e, and was seriously thinking about ditching 5e. Its improvements on 4e are incremental, and the Champions book commits to being about superheroes, which is the only thing I'd use Champions/Hero for anyway. Then I flipped through Hero 5e, and was reminded of what an excellent job they did with the organization and presentation, with bajillions of informative sidebars, worked examples, and such. So, I kept it (as a role model for my own writing, if nowt else).
• I faced a similar dilemma with my copy of FUDGE, since I own several Fate books. I eventually decided that there was no reason I would ever choose FUDGE over Fate, and decrufted it.
• I did keep "Another Fine Mess", however, since it's a delightful adventure, trivial to adapt, and takes up negligible shelf-inches.
• I seriously considered decrufting all my Exalted 1e books (core book, Sidereals, Dragon-Blooded, Autocthonians), but I flipped through a few of them, and started smiling (not just at the baroque skill organization, either). Hard to imagine I'd ever play Exalted, but if they make me smile, they can stay.
• And the last thing I decrufted was Rogue Trader, the recent Warhammer 40,000 RPG. I like "trading" campaigns, but Rogue Trader has a weird hodge-podge system, some fundamentally flawed assumptions about play mode, and the moody art alone couldn't save it. (The one thing I did like about its system, the grid-style character creation life-path, I can remember without keeping the book.)

All the decrufted books have gone onto my giveaway shelf, for those who visit my home.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I went through that kind of choices before our move a couple of weeks ago. Now all of my rpg books, and C's copies of books I've written or contributed to, fit onto six shelf feet, with a little open space. Naturally, roughly half of that is GURPS.

I've kept a number of books for historical interest, including the original three little tan books for D&D and my copies of En Garde! and Superhero 2044. I've also kept some that I've always wanted to run, even though I've had no luck finding players: Ars Magica, Exalted, Wraith: The Oblivion. On the other hand, I might conceivably run something again in Mage: The Ascension or RuneQuest II, and Big Eyes Small Mouth is actually rather likely.

My sentiments on one thing are precisely the reverse of yours: There is no reason I would ever choose FATE over FUDGE. I still have my copy of FUDGE, and C has the presentation copy I gave her. . . .