This is purely a mental exercise.  Which books give you the most enjoyment and value?  Which books are must haves, for you?

Hmmmm.......

White Box - Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
AD&D 1E Monster Manual, PHB, and DMG.
AD&D 2E PHB.
D&D 3E Manual of the Planes.
D&D 3.5E PHB, Spell Comp., and Magic Item C.
D&D 4E Manual of the Planes.
D&D 5E PHB, DMG, MM, Volo's, and Xanathar's.
Tome of Beasts for D&D 5E.
Pathfinder Bestiary, Monster Codex, and NPC Codex.
Dungeon Crawl Classics.

So, 20 volumes made the cut; and a little more than 20 didn't.  What would make it back on to your bookshelf?

I did consider this as a mental exercise but to be honest I was just trying to work out where to buy another book shelf and/or more floor space for piling up books so yeah sorry.

Everything would stay. I bought a house just so I could have a library and office.

Requiried:
The Fantasy Trip - In The Labyrinth
The Fantasy Trip - Advanced Melee
The Fantasy Trip - Advanced Wizard
GURPS Basic Set 3rd Edition
GURPS Basic Set 4th Edition

Desired:
GURPS Magic
GURPS Low-Tech
GURPS Martial Arts 4e

Wanted:
GURPS Bestiary
GURPS Compendium II
GURPS Thaumatology

Would be nice:
GURPS Vehicles
GURPS High-Tech
GURPS Space (last 3e printing)
GURPS Tactical Shooting
Palladium Compendium of Weapons, Armor and Castles

OD&D.

Never!

Ok. In order from Deathgrip to Nice To Have.

2nd edition AD&D PHB, DMG and MC.
Dark Sun boxed set.
Psionics handbook.

...

Rifts core book, Vampire Kingdoms, Conversion book.

...

Deadlands, Mekton II, Cyberpunk 2020

...

Everything else.

I have 2 book cases for RPGs, the big one in the bedroom is the one for not-in-current use, so I only have to look at the living room one to see what I'd keep.

All my 5e D&D stuff including 3rd party (Tome of Beasts, Fifth Edition Foes, Primeval Thule & supplements), plus Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords, Inner Sea World Guide, and several AP issues I'm using in 5e. Also my Paizo flipmats, The Midlands for LFRPG, Labyrinth Lord & Stonehell Dungeon, and 13th Age is on the shelf more because I just bought it & would like to keep reading it.

Edit: I'd drop the 4e Essentials stuff on the living room shelf that's too small for large format books, and add my original 1e AD&D stuff from the bedroom. Could never leave my 1e DMG, it's like The Bible for D&D!

Core 1E books + Tome of Adventure Design is what gets used.  Everything else that's not a module are memorials to curiosities that didn't take.

EDIT - if keeping books for campaigns I play in, as opposed to DM, than AS&SH would definitely make the cut.

Quote from: Razor 007;1110446If you had to narrow down your RPG bookshelf, which books would make the cut?

Mongoose Traveller
GURPS sourcebooks
Serenity RPG with BDH handbook
The Morrow Project
AD&D 1e

If taken to the extreme:

White Box - Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
AD&D Monster Manual.
D&D 3.0 Manual of the Planes.
Pathfinder Bestiary, Monster Codex, and NPC Codex.
D&D 5E PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, and the Dungeon of the Mad Mage Map Pack.

There.  10 Books, and a Map Pack.

Every edition of D&D and White Wolf. Any rpg based on movie property such as Star Trek and Star WArs. Mainly rpgs where I know I can find players and DMs easily.

Assuming 10 books, currently probably as follows.

RQ2 corebook
BRP corebook
Barbarians Of Lemuria corebook
CyberPunk 2020 corebook
Fading Suns 2nd Edition Corebook
WFRP 2nd edition corebook
Star Wars (d6 system) 2nd edition revised and expanded
Legend of the 5 Rings 1st edition Corebook
The Black Hack 2nd edition
LotFP

SWADE
The Black Hack 2e
Stars Without Number
Codex of the Black Sun
Nova Praxis
Godbound
Savage Rifts (6 books)
Rules Cyclopedia

The barest essentials would be
SWADE
The Black Hack 2e
Stars Without Number

If I'm being honest -

I'm keeping all my D&D 1e/2e stuff. All my Savage World's stuff. All my FFG Star Wars stuff. Talisl...

you know what? I'm keeping everything. Fuck this game.

Mainly just my GURPS 3e and 4e collection. It's compact enough to fit in two milk crates.

Quote from: tenbones;1110524you know what? I'm keeping everything. Fuck this game.

I like that attitude!