"This is a Cheap Hobby"

Yesterday was the point where I came to unpack and sort all my RPG materials for shelving. And it was the point where I was, once again, reminded of one of the pernicious lies that is told about the RPG hobby: that it is a cheap one.

Now the thing is that RPGs can be a cheap hobby - provided you buy the core rulebooks for games you actually play regularly, and nothing else.

But the moment you move beyond that your price-per-use drops way off. Core rulebooks (for games you actually play) are used very extensively, and thus justify just about any price point. But supplements, settings, adventures? No, no, and no.

Worse than that, it would be nice to think that making the additional investment in any of these things would result in a better at-table experience. But for the most part this simply isn't true: rules supplements tend to complicate what should be a pretty simple game, often with very little pay-off. Added character guides provide more character-building options... but the ones that will see use at the table are the ones most likely to break your game.

Which leaves settings and adventures, which should be safer ground. But good luck finding the good ones - buying sight-unseen gives you very little chance of hitting on anything worthwhile, while good RPG reviews are nigh-on impossible to find, especially now that the edition wars have turned review sites into a terminal battleground between fanbois and h8rs.

(For their part, publishers of course advertise their latest wares as "must have" items. Of course they do! But for the most part, a fairer labelling would be "avoid!")

And so I once again found myself unpacking hundreds of books, many of which have never seen at-table usage, most of which will never again see any at-table usage, and I found myself marvelling at the waste of it all. I've spent many thousands of pounds on books over the years, including more than £1,000 on Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes alone (and many people have spent way more than I have), and most of what I have to show for it is back-breaking piles of paper of no residual value.

But, hey, it's a cheap hobby, yeah?