Over the years, I have acquired much in terms of gaming. Like many of my fellow geeks and gamers, I am a collector at heart. I love pen and paper RPGs and have ever since I started playing AD&D back in the day. This was years before d20, the OGL, and the SRD did a lot of damage and killed off or forced many a gaming system away from sight and I found myself fascinated with other systems and, any time I tried something or was playing a bit of another game, I picked up the core books at the very least.
There were times that the collection grew... and other times were it shrank but my fascination with various systems remained.
Over the past couple of years, I've sold a lot but still have shelves of gaming material that I was determined to keep. As I try and cull the collection, opportunities to pick up new or older interesting things keep on happening.
One thing is clear though, given where I am in my life and the few instances of spare time which I devote to a few hobbies and past times, I will never be able to play all that I have and nor do I have the inclination to.
I arbitrarily decided that I need no more than 12 systems on my shelf (make that shelves).
Sounds simple enough right? A top 12 list with the theoretical notion that I can have / run a different game each month in a given year.
Actually it isn't and I don't have a list yet. I've found a way to 'broaden' my list somewhat too thanks to the exception.
Example: Castles & Crusades is on the list but I quickly made the rationale that other versions of D&D and even a couple of retro-clones and even Amazing Adventures can be lumped together in a D&D-type category to support C&C since I tend to use that stuff pretty interchangeably (or can if I wanted to).
So, that's a lot of stuff.
Then there are all the other games I have. Some don't take up much shelf space since it may only be comprised of a book or two but I have many that qualify. Some stuff is pretty damn cool even if I will never play or run that particular game.
Take Rolemaster for instance. I have had exactly one opportunity to play about 15-20 years back and it was a fantastic experience and I had a lot of fun. I haven't played since but I came across the Avalon Hill Deluxe Box Set about 5 years ago (second hand) and picked it up without hesitation. I'm fairly certain I will never have an opportunity like that again (though you never know) and I'm certain I won't run it. However, I like it. I've looked through the books in the set countless times and I am fond of the original system (the Basic system that powers Call of Cthulhu and other Chaosium games) which is part of the reason I hold on to it I suppose.
Despite the nightmarish character creation stuff, I have a copy of Rifts (Ultimate), the newer Robotech books, and the TMNT game books by Palladium. I've played this stuff on and off though I expect I won't be playing them again.
Middle Earth Role Playing is probably the worst offender. It was one of the first games outside of AD&D / D&D that I played. I got a box set and traded it a few years later. When Role Master Express came out, I tracked down a copies of some of the old MERP books again but they remain unplayed.
Generally speaking, I have stopped buying new games but I still managed to pick up a few titles at Gen Con because... well... it was Gen Con. ;)
I'm still thinking about trying to create a top 12 list. If it gets created, it may even push me to do another large culling from my gaming collection. But a top 12 is hard.
Would any of you have a similar issue in creating this kind of list?
M
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