Bob Blake Gen Con IX Dungeon Discussion
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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:40 am 
 

McDuff's eBay description got me thinking about this module. Why isn't this considered a true D&D module like the PotVQ or Dwarven Glory etc. The page number version gets TSR distribution like the Wee Warriors stuff. It is a D&D adventure. It states throughout the module you need the D&D box set as well as the Grayhawk supplement to play.

Distribution page:

http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/af ... 2_page.jpg

I have a copy however it's different than his description.

Mine has no cover. It may or may not have ever had a cover. It's bound with three staples where's the pics on the After-glow show two holes punched and held together with those press down pins (I don't know what you call them). It's also 31 pages not 50 like his eBay description. It also has no page numbers all printed on one side.  

Page 1. looks just like this pic except bound with three staples--

http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/af ... 1_page.jpg

Page 2. list of spells

Pages 3 -- 5. 5 nameless pre-generated characters. Looks as though there meant to be cut out and passed out to the players.

Pages 6 -- 8. the scenario for the adventure.

Page 9. materials list / what you need to play, the D&D box set and Grayhawk supplement are both mentioned.

Pages  10 -- 11. designers notes -- talks about the troubles of creating a tournament D&D game, and how the module was play tested at Gen-Con. Nice Stuff!

Page 12. available equipment for the players.

Pages 13 -- 17. rules for D&D tournament play

Page 18. map of the dungeon.

Pages 19 -- 27. room number descriptions.

Page 28. hit sheet, for keeping track of monsters and PC's hit points

Page 29. notes on rule changes for spells.

Page 30. scoring sheet

Page 31. time recording sheet.

Opinions Greatly Valued,
Mike

Link to eBay -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5936933987


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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:50 am 
 

Do we know if Blake is still around?

Or was anyone on the forum at GenCon and played the module?

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 1:00 am 
 

Believe it or not his personal address is listed in those designer's notes, but that was almost 30 years ago. I wonder has anyone ever found a mention of it in TSR literature like the PotVQ black folder version?


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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 2:23 am 
 

You could try it .... it has worked before

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 4:51 am 
 

improvstone wrote:You could try it .... it has worked before


Goto the following link....

post-1896.html

Tracking Bob down might be a bit difficult.

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:25 am 
 

Burntwire wrote:

Thanks for all the info guys  . As he bought these directly from Bob Blake at a GenCon convention(he said the year after they were originaly played) I would have to say that they are pre-publication versions of the red and green cover copies. I think the red and green cover versions were printed in Valpraiso Indiana. These are copies he probably made himself and sold these before the actual publication copies. Maybe I can track down Bob Blake somehow and get confirmation directly from him. Anyone out there know Bob  ?


Foul wrote:

I'd heard that Bob died about two years ago, unfortunately. Foul


:(  R.I.P. Bob

Burntwire wrote:

I compared my copies with the ones on the Non-TSR list. My copies look like the red cover first page scan. Mine were never punched and are not copies of a punched version. Also mine look alot clearer than the scans posted. I think these are copies he sold before he published the Red or Green covers. I would imagine the first editions were the actual tournament modules played at GenCon IX making my versions possible pre-pubs to the Red and Green covers(the same way that the R series pre-pubs worked). I could be wrong and if what Foulfoot says is true the world may never know  .


This sounds like what I have also except stapled. I got mine some years back in a lot of early Judges Guild items and FGU stuff. I honestly never paid much attention to as it's not much to look at. Plus when I compared it to the After-Glow and McDuff's site I thought it incomplete, having no cover. I read through the whole module last night (very well thought out dungeon) and it's all there, so I'm wondering what those extra 19 pages of McDuff's copy have that this version doesn't. Please someone come forward and shed some light on this………..


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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:13 pm 
 

The module wasn't distributed by TSR -- it's simply that Bob had permission from TSR to publish it with a D&D tie-in.  Most publishers in the mid-1970's had permission from TSR... which was eventually revoked in the 1980's, and spelled the beginning of the end for Judges Guild (and other companies).

In any case, that's the reason we don't cover the Gencon IX Dungeons here (wasn't actually distributed by TSR).  Small difference, yes, but without that, we'd need to cover hundreds of additional items.

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 1:59 pm 
 

invincibleoverlord wrote:Mine has no cover. It may or may not have ever had a cover. It's bound with three staples where's the pics on the After-glow show two holes punched and held together with those press down pins (I don't know what you call them). It's also 31 pages not 50 like his eBay description. It also has no page numbers all printed on one side.  

Page 1. looks just like this pic except bound with three staples--

http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/af ... 1_page.jpg

Page 2. list of spells

Pages 3 -- 5. 5 nameless pre-generated characters. Looks as though there meant to be cut out and passed out to the players.

Pages 6 -- 8. the scenario for the adventure.

Page 9. materials list / what you need to play, the D&D box set and Grayhawk supplement are both mentioned.

Pages  10 -- 11. designers notes -- talks about the troubles of creating a tournament D&D game, and how the module was play tested at Gen-Con. Nice Stuff!

Page 12. available equipment for the players.

Pages 13 -- 17. rules for D&D tournament play

Page 18. map of the dungeon.

Pages 19 -- 27. room number descriptions.

Page 28. hit sheet, for keeping track of monsters and PC's hit points

Page 29. notes on rule changes for spells.

Page 30. scoring sheet

Page 31. time recording sheet.



I provided Matthias with the scans he using on his Non-TSR site. Otherwise here is the description of the one I have up for auction:
52 un-numbered one sided pages
Cover
Page 1 Title page
Page 2-3 Designer's notes
Page 4 Materials List
Page 5-9 D&D Tournament...DM rules
Page 10-11 Characters and spell lists
Page 12 Available equipment list
Page 13-15 Scenario for preliminary round
Page 16 Map
Page 17-25 Room key
Page 26 Hit sheet
Page 27 Time record sheet
Page 28 Notes on spells
Page 29 Combined encumberance/treasure/monster kill sheet
Page 30 Title page for Final Round
Page 31 Materials list
Page 32-35 Characters and spell lists
Page 36-38 Scenario for final round
Page 39 Handout
Page 40 Map
Page 41-47 Room key
Page 48 Drawing (another handout?)
Page 49 Hit Sheet
Page 50 Time record sheet
Page 51 Combined encumberance/treasure/monster kill sheet
Page 52 Notes on spells

Mike, does you copy have 1 character to a page?  Mine has 5 characters on one page and then the spell list on the following page(s).

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:33 pm 
 

My copy has 3 pages of character sheets with 2 on the first and 1 on the third. All are nameless

First Character Sheet: Fighter 6th and Dwarven Fighter 6th

Second Character Sheet: The page was printed to high chopping off the top line containing the blank name space, character class, and level. I'm guessing Thief 6th or 7th. And the second character is Mage 7th

Third Character Sheet: Cleric 6th

My copy's spell list is the second page.

Just from looking at you're page list and comparing it to mine it's obvious that the copy I have is only the preliminary round whereas yours has both the preliminary and final round.
Hmmm…I don't know-- it's not a copy from one like yours there'd be black holes from the copier along its left side where the staples are. And then there's the difference in the page order and different number of character pages. I don't think it's a pre-pub. Maybe Bob just made a few this way. I got it in a pile of ancient gaming stuff dating from 75-77. I try to track down the original owner he claimed to have had the stuff from day one. Maybe he knows, but I doubt it he didn't seem to make a big deal about it.

McDuff tell us what you know about the module.


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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:39 pm 
 

invincibleoverlord wrote:McDuff tell us what you know about the module.


Not much more that what I have already stated.  Back when Ousmay was new to ebay I was able to get 5 of this module (3 red, 2 green), 1 Gen Con X Dungeon, and passed on a author proof of Dark Tower.  I passed because it was torn, wadded and had many pen and ink corrections.  I wonder who ended up with it...

Ousmay is no longer selling on ebay but for many years he seemed to have a limitless supply of shrinwrapped JG modules.  I asked him where he got his supply but never received a response.

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:07 pm 
 

He had stupendous amounts of JG stuff. I picked up about 1/3 of mine from him in a killer deal. If I remember correctly, he bought out a gaming store that had a storeroom full.


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Post Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:12 am 
 

Frank ... check you PMs...

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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:22 pm 
 

Funny, no one was interested; I think $200 reserve was fair. I actually sniped a little higher. I'm happily surprised. Thanks McDuff

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MEWA:IT


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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:43 pm 
 

I'm surprised it went at all. $200 seemed quite high.


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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:44 pm 
 

What would you have thought it should have sold for?


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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 9:00 pm 
 

Damaged? Maybe $100 or so. I'm not really much for damaged items. Even then, I would probably pass. In fact, I did. But I think had it started at $1, it would have gone for $80-$110 or so. For $200, you can get a Misty or Dwarven, which will retain its value and have a much broader selling market if and when you decide to let it go. I usually look for long-term value in addition to collectability, which is why I tend to pass on a lot of things.
I'm not saying you shouldn't have bought it, everyone has their own tastes in collecting. It IS rare, no question about that. But I look at it the way I always look at purchases: Another one will come up. Always does.


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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 9:28 pm 
 

I know I was turned off by the price tag.

I would like to have one, but it is not a must have. I probably would have been in up to around $75 or so - I would not go to $100. I can better spend a $100 on a just a couple items that may have better collectability over the long haul. In this regard, I share Dead's opinion.


And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

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Post Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:37 pm 
 

It's a damaged copy which really depresses the value.  I would not mind paying $200 and more for a nicer copy.  It's like the 3-hole punched Tsojconth; that kind of damage makes the item practically worthless to my eyes.  As bbarsh said, it might as well be ripped in half at that point.

  
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