As I have gotten older, free time is at a premium. I have over the last 5 years sold off at least 75% of my gaming collection. That said I still have over 30 different games/systems(I count generic systems like Gurps as 1).

I would love to play all the games I have but I do not have the time. Not to mention there are a few games I would love to still pick up and play but have not since I do not have time to play what I already own. So I am again looking to see if and what I should get rid of and what games I want to keep. What does not help is I moved last year and have not gotten a new game group together. It looks like I have some good leads for a group but they are all rpg newbies and will be looking for me to decide on what game to play.

So I am in the fun position of trying to figure out what I want to play and what I will need to do so as well as figure out what games in the future I think I will have time for.

Why did I post this rant, I am not sure but maybe talking things through out loud, so to speak, might help me sort out my thoughts on what games/systems that I want to keep/replace/use/lose.

Of course you should keep ! Throw out everything else, especially .

Well, I'm a hoarder, too. But if I won't get a good deal, I'm not likely to sell a system that I might be using some times in the future, or one that provides some inspiration. Even if it's likely that I'm never going to play it, some systems are still worth owning. Even if it's just for nostalgia.

I've sold off or traded in about 99% of the RPG products I've owned. I still pick up new games and check them out, but after a while I'll trade them in and check out something else. I've moved around a lot in the past few years and I've found the less stuff I own, the better. This was one of the biggest incentives for me to rid my collection of things I won't ever play (or won't play again).

Another thing with me lately is that I find it's harder and harder to get people to try new or different systems. In the past (over 15 years ago) most gamers I knew were open to just about anything. Now, with exponentially greater options available, people seem more likely to only want to play certain things. Some only play D&D, shunning everything else, some only play D20 variations, some only play games with dice-pool systems, some won't play supers, some won't play sci-fi, and on and on.

Also, I've been trying to get some non-gamers into the fold as people start getting married and want to incorporate spouses into the mix. There are other friends, co-workers, board gamers and such who I'd like to draw into my group. A lot of newbies are intimidated by game concepts that are too out-there, really crunchy games, and games with extensive volumes of rules and supplements.

Time is also a factor, and I like to keep games short (3-4 hours) and preparation time to a minimal. I want to spend more time playing than preparing, and I want to do as much as possible during the time I do play.

Now, combining all of the above has led to my current state of affairs. Right now I'm trying to focus on a few games/systems only. Mainly at the moment I have classic unisystem games like Witchcraft, AFMBE, and Conspiracy X and a simple generic game, Savage Worlds. The unisystem games give me lots of options for modern horror, espionage, urban fantasy and allows me to play campaigns similar to a lot of other games/systems/settings (like Cthulhu, World of Darkness, Spycraft, Dresden Files). The system is pretty simple and straightforward without too much crunch.

For the more extreme games I have Savage Worlds. This is my fallback for fantasy, space opera, and others. Character creation is easy, the rules are simple, and prep time is minimal.

At my age it's a lot easier to focus on one or two game systems which become second nature after a while. Using too many different systems means I won't remember a lot of the rules and spend a lot of time looking things up. By using more generic games, I can cover a lot of ground genre-wise without the need for separate games. With not-so-crunchy games I find it easier to bring in new players, or players of different systems.

The point of all this is not the particular games I play, but the types of games. I like the idea of being able to run almost any type of game I wish with the same rules. I like keeping the "required at the table" books to a minimum. I like games that flow smoothly and quickly, where NPCs and such can easily be generated on the fly and combats don't take up the majority of a session.

So there is my take on my own personal gaming midlife crisis, which may or may not relate to what you're going through.

I finally learned, after a long line of regretted decisions, that you should never throw out ANY RPG material if you can avoid it.  Unless you have to because you're moving or something like that, just keep EVERYTHING. Even if its a gamebook you hate, even if its something you are sure at this time that you will NEVER have a use for, you never actually know when you will end up wanting it for some reason.

RPGPundit

I've kept 1 or 2 RPGs for every Genre and a single generic one.  That's trimming down from over 300 (actual systems, I also got rid of thousands of supplements) and have never regretted it.

IMHO the only game worth having is one you are actually playing, or going to play (others opinions may vary).

That said, the most important thing to do right now (IMHO), is to find out what game you want to GM that you actually have players for.  It doesn't matter if you really want to run Paranoia when you only have people who want to play D&D, for instance.  Then focus on that game and don't let your mind drift until you get tired of the campaign.

Quote from: RPGPunditI finally learned, after a long line of regretted decisions, that you should never throw out ANY RPG material if you can avoid it.  Unless you have to because you're moving or something like that, just keep EVERYTHING. Even if its a gamebook you hate, even if its something you are sure at this time that you will NEVER have a use for, you never actually know when you will end up wanting it for some reason.

Agreed.  Much better to sell it.  Or wait for that crazy person who thinks they HAVE to have something in your collection to offer you mad cow crazy money for it, unless you don't have the space and can't store it.  Then, whatever you do, don't go to a hobby shop to try to sell it.  You'll be lucky if you leave the store with your sphincter intact.

I have sold some things to stores but most of it I sold online as I get better value for it. Keeping everything is something I could do but do not see the need. I have enough rpg stuff to fill 4 large bookcases still and not using more than maybe a quarter of it.
Now of the the stuff I sold there maybe one or two games I have wondered about if I should have kept but not enough to say I really needed that. Though the cash I have gotten for my games have been nice to put back into the hobby or into another hobby or for that matter use for other things I need.

I used to be a hoarder and a completist but I found most of my stuff I was not using nor going to use. I seem to be very much like GoOrange in my position in life. I have a family, other things to do and gaming though one of my favorite hobbies is not the end all of my life.

I disagree with Pundit, though it is true you may never know if you will need a particular game or supplement but then there is a good chance you may never need it as well. So how long do you wait or keep something you probably do not need or will use. Do I not sell or get rid of a tire that does not fit my cars due to the fact that, you never know I may get a car that can use it. There are times to clean house and have a garage sale of things you do not need. The same, I think, goes for gaming material. There are times to go through and clean out the excess. I mean do I really need 10 or more different systems for playing fantasy? where 1 or 2 or even 3 would be sufficient.

I am almost at the point of having 2 or 3 different generic/universal systems to use plus maybe one or two dedicated systems for couple of genre I really like.

Several years ago, I sold off hundreds of books - GURPS, Palladium, CP2020 (the entire line), all kinds of miscellaneous stuff. The only ones I regretted were the Blue Planet 2e books, which I parted with grudgingly because I need the money, and I've since replaced them.

Now, I own precisely four mostly complete game lines:

Exalted 1e and much of 2e
Jovian Chronicles (everything)
Tribe 8 (everything)
Blue Planet (mostly everything)

I have a few oddball games lying around that I didn't want to get rid of - Mekton Zeta, Teenagers from Outer Space, BESM 2, Cybergeneration, HG 1e plus some assorted books that I couldn't sell. The only new games I've picked up in the last few years are CORPS (very cheap, used), The Shadow of Yesterday (free download) and Spirit of the Century (which after reading the SRD I happily paid for).

And you know what? I still have no time toplay really, even with a slimmed down selection. I could throw a Tribe 8 game together with complete newbies in one night with no real prep work - no time. Ditto for JC. I'd love to play Blue Planet, and I want my Exalted game to get moving again. But no time. Now, realize when I say, "No time" it isn't that I don't have free time. Obviously I'm posting here right now. It's just that available blocks of time I have are incompatible with getting four to five adults together in the same place, at the same time, for 4-6 hours of gaming. I've looked into various ways of playing online, and all of them require prep work that prevents me from simply playing. I can't plop my books down on a friend's table and say, "We're playing an RPG tonight" when playing online. Especially since my systems of choice are non-d20, with most of the options out there I have to either ignore large swaths of functionality or learn how to do customizations.

Quote from: RPGPunditI finally learned, after a long line of regretted decisions, that you should never throw out ANY RPG material if you can avoid it.  Unless you have to because you're moving or something like that, just keep EVERYTHING. Even if its a gamebook you hate, even if its something you are sure at this time that you will NEVER have a use for, you never actually know when you will end up wanting it for some reason.

RPGPundit

Truth.

Unless one is desperately short of cash, one can always sell the stuff when one is 80, slowly turning into a vegetable and as such terminally gaming-impaired.

I mean, right now I am playing 2300AD, of all things. Not in a million billion years would I have thought I'd ever get to play THAT. But there it is.

Wil, you're trying and failing to get a weekly group together, right? Have you considered monthly?

I used to rarely part with books, including game books. I have got better at doing so, as a result of livnig in a country where books in English were generally just passed around and exchanged with other English-speakers.

I still hoard a bit, but one area of marked improvement is in buying game books - I no longer buy them just for the sake of it, and instead I have to be fairly sure I'll either use the book or at least enjoy reading it.

I don't particularly regret buying all that RPG stuff when I was younger but seriously, was I EVER going to run the D6 Men in Black game?

Quote from: Pierce InverarityTruth.

Unless one is desperately short of cash, one can always sell the stuff when one is 80, slowly turning into a vegetable and as such terminally gaming-impaired.

I mean, right now I am playing 2300AD, of all things. Not in a million billion years would I have thought I'd ever get to play THAT. But there it is.

Wil, you're trying and failing to get a weekly group together, right? Have you considered monthly?

For the books, I abide by either Sturgeon's Law (95% of crap) or the much more lenient 80/20 rule. That's how I weeded out what I didn't want and I truly am happier for it. With the exception of the Blue Planet books I don't regeret selling any of them.

Actually, I have a group and we've been unable to even play monthly for several months. It's a lot of different factors, some of them I hope will be solved once we move into a new place (which will also be much closer to two of the players, but further from the other two - but I think it will work out).

I used to be a collector - games and books would sit on my shelf, looking good and little else.  I was in Pundits camp of "there might be a useful idea in there". But the time has come and seeing as how 2/3rds of my collection has sat in the loft for over a year I thought it was time to concentrate on what I used rather than what I might use.

Ok just to give you an idea of what games I have and am considering getting rid of or keeping.

This is just what I have in my bedroom, in my office is more games but I have not gone through and wrote down all of them. PDF that I list are in printed form as I have a bunch of pdf games on my harddrive as well. There are about 3 boxes of stuff in the closet from what I can tell. I am still unpacking from my move almost a year ago.

I am just listing the game (not all the supplements as for some I have near complete sets)

LOTR
Runequest (mongoose)
Arrowflight
Everquest
Castle & Crusades (boxed edition)
D&D (RC)
D&D 3.5
HacknSlash (fudge)
Hercules and Xena
Iron Gauntlests
L5R (2nd and 34rd)
Santa's Soldiers
Bloode Island
Terra Incognita
DCU (WEG)
Price of Freedom
Star Trek (decipher)
Serenity
Jovian Chronicles
Heavy Gear
Mecha Aces
MIB
Shatterzone
Star Ace
Space Nova ][
Battletech/Mechwarrior
Fudge
D6(3 books set) (WEG)
Colonial Record