In Quest of the Hand of Vecna?

Posts: 74 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:29 pm

Long time lurker but finally got something I'm not sure on and thought I would go to the experts:

I recently received a module called In Quest of the Hand of Vecna! by Carl D. Perkins and I can't find anything about it. I found it listed on one website but it was just for the copyright notice. Just wondering if anyone has heard of this or not and if so, any ideas on what its worth?

It is in a zip lock bag similar to the ones I've seen for Tamoachan. The insides looks like they were printed on a dot matrix printer, but it has a full wrap around cover (white) with name of the module, the creator (Carl D. Perkins), the company name (High Level Adventures) on the bottom right, and a graphic of what I can only assume is the Hand of Vecna. The back of the cover has a copyright notice and an address in Toledo, Ohio.

I'll try to get some pictures of it up in the next few days but just wanted to see if anyone knew about it. Thanks in advance,

GreyM

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:45 pm

Printing date? Picture?

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:53 pm

Carl Perkins also wrote the nonTSR D&D item called Serpent of Me'tal. I don't recall his name related to TSR in anyway though.

Posts: 74 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:59 pm

I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow for this. If I remember correctly, it has a 1984 date on it, but I may be wrong. I left it at work where I was going to take some pictures of it. Thanks for the quick responses,

GreyM

Posts: 827 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:42 pm

sounds good GreyM not seen Smile

any background on that??

Posts: 2938 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:05 pm

Rings no bells to me, definitely interested in details, especially if there are any ties to Greyhawk Very Happy

Posts: 74 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:09 am

I put some pictures up on photobucket...if any other sites are preferred, please let me know and I'll upload them there

I have resized these to 800x600 but I have the higher quality jpegs on my computer if anyone wants them.

Thanks again for any information you can provide

GreyM

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm136/GreyM_photos/

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:40 am

Looks like a standard homebrew, Grey.

Posts: 74 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:03 am

Thats what I was initially thinking when I saw the interior pages, but back in the day, we (my friends and I) never went through all the trouble of putting a wraparound cover and/or copyrighting one of our modules.

I guess thats why I'm a little confused. The cover was not printed with a dot matrix like the interior is. Back in 1984 (the copyright date), I don't think the laserjet family of printers were introduced yet so it wouldn't have been a home user printing out the wrap cover. That combined with the copyright notice and it (the copyright) actually showing up on the Internet 20+ years later is why I brought it up here.

I guess someone could have put the wrap on at a later date now that I think about it but I guess I probably never will know for sure. Thanks for the insight,

GreyM

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:47 am

Hmmmm... now that is interesting. In flipping through my copy of Serpent of Me'Tal, I can find all of the text pages except the one mentioning the hand. Also, I don't have those map sheets.

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:50 am

cover more like set by hand for uneven author details and clean stars. laser ok for 1984 or 1985 if printed after copyright but laser for then low resolution + expense for business or university. borrowed using latter here Wink

front cover logo roughed as are maps. gives genuine appearance + better than homebrew with details but not finished test or limited distrib would have liked pricetag + more even on cover wear against internal even if serpent of me'tal not much advanced in presentation from this. would buy as such if seen
thank you for details + scans Smile

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:52 am

+1 or more if connection of details noted from mars. must type more fast ^^
should have bid $10 more on that Laughing

Posts: 7612 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:08 am

quite a cool item though. i love stuff like this.

Al

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:20 am

In my opinion they are too close to be coincidence so I am wondering if it was originally created as Vecna, then TSR found out (or it was submitted to TSR?) and put a stop to it. It was then reworked a bit into Serpent? This is complete conspiracy though - Serpent may have been reworked into Vecna for all I really know.

The cover of Vecna does seem familiar though.

As far as production quality goes, there are 2 versions of Serpent that I have seen - one is more of a manuscript version that is a bunch of loose pages - the cover page of this does appear to have been printed using something better than a dot matrix printer. The interior pages are some reproduction of a dot matrix copy though.

The other version of Serpent seems to have higher production values: better art (at least on the cover) and multiple colours too:

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:38 am

oops should have searched me'tal on http://bulk.resource.org/copyright/hids/hid_16/hid_16729600-16729899.t xt ;>

Code:

|||||||||||||||||||| aTXu000163104 /d1984-06-112usco aTXu000163104 a(DLC-CO)TXu000163104 aDLC-COcDLC-CO k1984 04aThe Serpent of Me'Tal. cCarl Perkins, John Barnes & Robert McCarren c1984 cmost text: Carl Deloine Perkins;cediting, revisions, and additions: John Phillip Barnes;cediting, revisions & final statement: Robert Kenneth McCarren. aSheets. aNew Matter: additions. aPreexisting material: In quest of the hand of Vecna. 1 aPerkins, Carl Deloine,d1964-eauthoreclaimant 1 aBarnes, John Phillip,d1964-eauthoreclaimant 1 aMcCarren, Robert Kenneth,d1964-eauthoreclaimant 0 aIn quest of the hand of Vecna aTXu000163104bB Non-dramatic literary workcTXe1mBpUNPrN aDAH aDCSUe8404038 00673nam 2200229zi 4500001000900000005001700009008004100026017003800067027001700105035002 5001220400019001470460009001662450048001752490023002232690009002463000 01000255700005000265709003600315917006600351953000800417991001800425 16729638 20070614043142.0 070614e19840611xx...

good work mars Smile

Posts: 74 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:40 am

Mars,

If you would like, I will take pictures of each of the pages so you can compare them to your copy of The Serpent so we can narrow this down more.

Rakeesh,

Can you translate that page for me into "common"? Razz

That is the only page I can find that has the In Quest Of the Hand of Vecna on it.

Everyone,

I can say that 90+% of the pages in this are the fanfold type paper as I can see/feel the perforations on the top/bottom. A few of the pages (one is the picture that ends with garud the Hand.) including the maps are what appear to be xerox's.

Just let me know and thanks for all the help,

GreyM

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:43 am

GreyM wrote:

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this or not and if so, any ideas on what its worth?

might as well answer Wink

from price lost on last serpent of me'tal auction would guess $75-100 + probably top end as would be bidding again to read if listed
imo if have something like this better to keep + not sell if enjoy having + reading as will be unlikely to replace. great find GreyM + thank you vm for sharing Smile

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:49 am

GreyM wrote:

Rakeesh,

Can you translate that page for me into "common"? Razz

That is the only page I can find that has the In Quest Of the Hand of Vecna on it.

would have to find new oclc access but bombadil or anyone academic side could do so easily. a bit garbled by whatever process but says serpent of me'tal based on in quest of the hand of vecna
no need for more scans in public imo as is copyright material ^^
@mars i like your conspiracy Smile

Posts: 74 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:08 am

I have removed most of the images from my pictures post since it is copyrighted...just left a few so people can see what I am talking about. I'll leave them all on the photobucket site for awhile.

Thanks for everyones help regarding this. Now I just need to figure out if I want to sell it or not. Its not something I would normally keep for my collection (TSR only).

Thanks again,

GreyM

Posts: 74 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:37 pm

Just wanted to let everyone know what we have found out so far (through PM's and off site queries) regarding this.

Someone has contacted me and said he vaguely remembers playing something like this back in a tournament/con in the area. He said he can't say for 100% though. He may just remember the name Vecna and he's actually remembering something else. I don't know for sure and neither does he.

It appears that it is highly related to "The Serpent of Me'Tal". With Mars doing the work, he has compared most of the two adventures. They seem to basically be the same adventure with some name changes and basic room redesigns, etc.

Which came first?....I don't think we will ever know for 100% certain, but thanks to the copyright page in Rakeesh's post, it appears that "In Quest of the Hand of Vecna" was first. Along with some things that Mars pointed out "doesn't look like it was completely finished" such as diagrams and maps, and with one of the last sentences in the "In Quest of the Hand of Vecna" adventure...and I quote...."...I apologize and owing to the limitations of time, I am presently unable to expound further. Use imagination and fit it to your own personal campaign..." I feel that it was probably first before it switched names to "The Serpent of Me'Tal".

And all this fits together into the Mars conspiracy theory regarding the name change Cool

Other than Carl D. Perkins popping up and letting us know for sure, or someone that was around him a lot back in 1984 does, I don't think we will ever know 100% which one came first. I just wanted to let everyone know what we've found out so far. Anyone that might have more information, please let me know.

Thanks again for everything guys,

GreyM