The Trove, a major tabletop RPG repository, permanently closed in mid-2021, leading to the emergence of community-led, curated alternatives. Notable replacements include the "Da Curated Archive," which provides links to specific game collections, and community discussions on Reddit to find backups. View a 2021 example of the curated list at Scribd .
In 2022, a group of librarians and TTRPG fans founded the TTRPG Museum & Archive — a legal, curated digital library that works with publishers to preserve out-of-print titles. It remains small but growing, a direct answer to The Trove’s legacy. the trove rpg archive 2021
The Trove was piracy, plain and simple. It didn’t host out-of-print books; it hosted current books. When Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything dropped in late 2020, a high-res scan appeared on The Trove within 48 hours. Independent designers suffered the most. If you made a $15 indie zine on itch.io, seeing it on The Trove the next day was demoralizing. The Trove, a major tabletop RPG repository, permanently
The main domain—thetrove.net—went dark. A message appeared: the site was "closed permanently." No appeals. No resurrection. For many, it felt like the burning of Alexandria. In 2022, a group of librarians and TTRPG
In late 2020, after years of operating in a legal gray zone, The Trove was shut down. The site’s owner received a takedown notice—reportedly from a coalition of publishers including Wizards of the Coast (Hasbro) and others, possibly facilitated by the legal firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, known for aggressive anti-piracy campaigns.