RPGaDay Question #20

Question #20: What is the best source for out-of-print RPGs?

In this day of PDFs and digital copies, my go-to would probably be DriveThruRPG, since it's often far easier and cheaper to track down an electronic copy of an out-of-print RPG than a dead tree version would be.  Plus, having a PDF means that it's not taking up space on my bookshelves, and my apartment only has so much space, and they already has to share with an extensive collection of Star Wars LEGOs and Transformers figures.

Of course, that doesn't help if the RPG is for a licensed property or if the publisher didn't ever create a legal PDF version of said RPG before they closed their doors.  In that case, I've had pretty good luck with Noble Knight Games in the past.  I've heard good things about Miniatures Market, but I've never used them for out-of-print books myself.

If all else fails, I suppose there's eBay and Amazon, but at that point you're pretty much at the mercy of the sellers, some of whom are quite eager to gouge potential buyers by jacking the prices up to ridiculous amounts.  Then again, you can on occasion find some pretty good deals, such as my snagging a copy of White Wolf's old Street Fighter RPG core rulebook for half off the original cover price and the book itself being in excellent condition.  The thing is you have to go hunting for those bargains on top of needing to be very patient.

Now, while I don't subscribe to the practice of pirated PDFs (or "Yar!" copies as a friend of mine calls them), I suppose if you really must have a copy of that out-of-print RPG and there's no viable legal means available to you, then it is an option.  Again, not one that I subscribe to, though that's more of a moral choice on my part.

Alright, so that's that question in the bag.  Come back tomorrow for the next question.