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.

  • 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: