Hurricane Harvey

[Whill]

So the other admin of the Facebook Star Wars group is from Texas, and he lost his entire WEG Star Wars collection to flooding from Hurricane Harvey, the same hurricane that totally destroyed my dad's home in 2017. He also has family that lost their homes like my dad. He's tried to slowly rebuild his collection, but since 2015 these books have had "collectible" pricing so it hasn't been easy. He said he didn't have a replacement for R&E yet and I had an extra in good condition, so I sent it to him. I mailed it before the winter storm hit, and while it was in transit he lost power for three days and water for five days. After nine days in transit he received it in good shape today.

I'm not posting this to brag about good deeds because Karma knows what I do. But I do hope I can inspire others.

A couple weeks ago a guy on Facebook shared a "shelfie" and I couldn't help but point out that he had three copies of some books and suggested that he give the third copies away to those fans in need (He had several doubles too but I didn't mention those). He got upset and took offense because why would I tell him to give his hard earned property away? I'm like, ok by "give" I also mean to sell at a fair price. But why would one hard-earn third copies when they already have two copies? I can understand double copies easier. There are very few books that I have doubles of, because one copy of them is in bad shape so that is the reading/playing copy while the other is for the "collection." (I have more books that are literally falling apart but they are my only copies.) He indicated he acquires copies of books he already has to barter with for books he doesn't. It is true that there are still a handful of books he doesn't have in his collection.

My point of view must be informed by my "complete collection" privilege. I've owned the entire WEG SW line since 2008. Since then, I've been happy to see others complete their collection. Before 2015, when I found cheap copies of R&E for $5 to $15 at Half-Price Books I would buy them to give them away. Yes, give. I've given several copies of R&E away to my players who didn't have a copy. And to a GM whose original copy was stolen by a former player of his. And a GM who had 1e and some 2e books but not a 2e core. And a GM who didn't have any WEG books but was interested in playing the game. I couldn't tell you how many copies of R&E I've given away. Seeing people with multiple copies of WEG books triggers a knee jerk reaction in me because they are keeping someone else from owning even one copy. Since 2015, demand has been high for these books so most of them are not cheap anymore. But I totally didn't think about someone using extra copies to barter for ones they don't because I didn't complete my collection in that way. I can only hope that when he does complete his collection, he then sells any remaining extra copies for no more than what he paid for them, to help fellow WEG RPG collectors out.

Also a couple weeks ago, a guy joined the Facebook group just to sell his books because he hasn't played the game since the 90s and didn't plan on ever playing it again. But the prices he posted were outrageous. He wasn't just trying to help fellow gamers out. He looked for the highest prices he could find that they were on sale for and matched them. Sadly, he had some buyers. The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook is a great book but it is not worth $150. Or, it shouldn't be. But I guess it was worth it to someone who needed that book to complete their collection. Sad. It took a couple CPs to make my willpower roll to resist telling the guy what I thought of his greedy prices.

You can see my sympathy is for the people who want a full collection and are still trying to complete it. I guess I'm just a grognard who still hasn't truly accepted the fact that this game is long out of print. I never had a complete collection while the game was in publication, and even worse, when I was down on my luck in the 90s I actually sold a lot of my RPG books/games (sold for pennies on the dollar), only to later re-buy stuff in this century and complete the collection. So there are several books I have bought more than once (including my own original copy of one book). In my idealism, I feel all WEG SW fans should be able to have a complete a collection (and only pay fair prices).

I'm still grumpy that Half-Price changed any WEG Star Wars to collectible pricing. They may not be the only ones, but I believe they were driving the market. On the verge of the Middle Earth movies, I saw a sign hanging up in their buyer area that instructed employees to get Tolkien books or anything related to Middle Earth on the shelves immediately. I saw the same sign hanging up in 2015 when hype was building for new Star Wars movies. And then suddenly I stopped being able to buy copies of R&E to give away.

Anyway, I despise hypocrisy, so the guy I mentioned with the triplicates made me feel like a hypocrite with my extra copy of R&E. I practice what I preach, and who is more worthy than a WEG SW fan who lost his entire collection through a natural disaster? The moral of the story is: If you are in the position to in some way help someone complete their WEG SW collection, please do so. Thank you.
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[Whill]

This week, a guy in the Dead RPG group on Fb shared a picture of him having 13 copies of his favorite RPG (DC superhero game from 1989). I just happen to have picked up a copy of the game this weekend (while waiting on the offer to sell stuff at Half-Price Books this weekend) because I already had a supplement for that game but not any core game book of any edition for it.

Anyway, when I saw 13 identical copies of the same book, my knee-jerk triggered. Maybe it is not rare and expensive like R&E now, but still, 13 copies?! I can see 1 and a backup, or multiple with an offer to give it away to help spread the joy of his fave game. The extent of my rationalization could even go to one for every player that might play the game with him, but I doubt even after the pandemic that he will ever have 11 or 12 players for a in-person single adventure. In his OP, he admitted to just buying every copy he came across without playing the game in years and no plans to play it. He himself said he had a sickness, so I agreed with him. Hoarding is a real sickness that deeply infects the people of materialistic cultures. And buying up every copy of a long out-of-print game (this was the first DC RPG by Mayfair, the one before the WEG DC game) can lead to driving the price up. There is just no reason for one person to take that many copies out of circulation. Other people want the game too! He didn't get mad though. He warned that he was going to post more pictures of his RPG collection and did. The rest of it is similar with multiple copies of many books and games. It's just disgusting that when he goes someday all those games are probably just going to be thrown away by a less nerdy surviving family member.

Am I alone at not wanting fellow gamers to be impeded with ownership of a dead game they want? Am I the only one that thinks 13 copies of a one game is way too much for one person? If so then maybe I just need to shut the hell up and grumble about people getting off my lawn.
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[DougRed4]

FWIW, I pretty much was nodding and agreeing with everything you wrote.

I get trying to complete a collection, but hoarding is actually a step beyond that and an actual mental illness.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green