I'm interested in helping this stuff see the light of day in whatever way I can. It's possible that could include help with the publishing side, as I work at a fairly large publisher.

At the very least, I'm extremely interested in running an article on the book in Dragon. Improv, please contact me at [email protected] to get the ball rolling on that, if you're interested.

I'm definitely in for a few copies of the book if it is ever published. I am dying to read it.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon

invincibleoverlord wrote:After thinking about the items for awhile I think I'm most anticipating the two handwritten pages of notes Marsh later sent to Gygax about the alignment system...  I would have paid a lot less for it if our old friend Harami hadn't snipped in at the last second. I truly only beat him by a few bucks, my snipe/bid was what I paid. Whoooo....close one....Lucky me
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MEWN:IT

*g*. Hey, Mike. Did Paul tell you how lucky??


p.s. *YAY* @ Erik's comment!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5943208875

> "and three new D&D monster/character class entries accompanied by hand drawn illustrations."

Weresnowtigers!    

*lol*  

invincibleoverlord wrote:Harami said:

*g*. Hey, Mike. Did Paul tell you how lucky??

I'm not sure what you mean, Paul said noting to me about this?

I have all the items I won in hand, how about the rest of you guys?

Only just saw your note, Mike. (Last entry on the previous page. Apologies).


Well, I've got a headache, I think...
Tantalising fragments all over the place; a fair number of which mesh into the other auctions.

For example, a copied manuscript letter (7 Mar 76, just prior to the publication of Eldritch) to Peggy [Gemiganani?], which casually starts
"Dear Peggy,
Mystic Rules are special. It's a lot different from either Greyhawk or Blackmoor..."
and then goes on to list the many character rules he's sent in to Gary. (That's in addition to the separate (1976) list of "dungeons" he'd sent to various people; including loads of Elaikases material to Gary).
*
I'm now confused on the precise origin of the Bard, since his "Song Smiths" are one of the incomplete character rules listed (I've got another early typed copy of these mysteriously labeled "Appendix V", in addition to the latest Harpist reworking which was sold under a separate auction).
*
However, Stephen's note to Peggy casually states "... if you have a copy of Bard rules write Gary for Song Seeker (Song Smith) rules and compare and evaluate).
(Does this mean "borrowed"/reworked for SR#6, possibly???)

Judging by the tone of other references to alignment in that letter (apparently not yet fully developed), your manuscript on script on that is probably tail-end 1975 or poss. even early 1976; cutting it rather close to SR#6.

*LOL*. So that's now two reasons I now need to find my copy of that issue; one for the Bard class and the other for the alignment refs.

The latter reason is somewhat "after the fact", now...

What happened with that auction, Mike, is that I put in a minimum bid and asked Paul to compare the text with the version published in SR.
By the time a response arrived, it was only a couple of hours to auction close and I wasn't around.
Had intended to increase my bid depending on how close the match was.

As it was, I might not have done so at all... *shrugs*

What I hadn't realised is that Paul couldn't find his copy either, and had been hunting high-and-low for days! (Thank you, Paul )

===

Anyhow, I got an alignment "freebie".

aside: I don't know when Stephen got his typewriter (Gary offered to give him one free after reading 115 pages of Elaikases manuscript ), but it must post-date (?late 1976) your full manuscript, unless it was done on a different typewriter...
(Would appear to be Stephen's work anyhow, given the consistent typos).


Just the lower third of a page torn off;

"Having finished the Hawkmoon/Corum/Erikose/Elric cycle in the old editions, I'm considering reading the new ones (especially the new Elric stories) [ed: tallies 1976/7?]. A quote from the last of the last books:

... It has sometimes worked for good."
"Chaos is not wholly evil, surely?" said the child. "And neither is Law wholly good. They are primitive divisions, at best-- they represent only temperamental differences in individual men and women. There are other elements..."
...
"All are primitive," said the child.

And thus we have the last, definitive word on alignments from Michael Moorcock who is responsible for the original set up (tho' not what TSR did with it). I thought you might like the quote"


Cute

grodog wrote:That's from the final episodes in the Quest for Tanelorn, which directly sequels the Hawkmoon tales, and wraps up Erekose (Eternal Champion/Silver Warriors), and the whole of the saga (to that time only, of course).  It was published by DAW in 1976 and originally by Mayflower in the UK in 1975.

Heh, heh... I was wondering.
Definitely remember liking that book (but my old SF&F is even more "archived away" here, if that were possible).

Many thanks for checking.

grodog wrote:Michael Moorcock via harami2000 wrote:

*LOL*

grodog wrote:

Steve Marsh wrote:And thus we have the last, definitive word on alignments from Michael Moorcock who is responsible for the original set up (tho' not what TSR did with it). I thought you might like the quote"

Thanks for sharing David!

All of that makes me even more curious as to what's on those other two manuscript pages. (And to whom that letter fragment was originally sent... Am guessing Steve might've just put a bit of carbon paper in there, since I've got one or two other "thoughts" like that in the bundle).

So, did Steve obtain a copy of "Quest for Tanelorn" on import (the UK 1975 edition was paperback, anyhow)...?
It's the way he's using "last, definitive word" there... Difficult to know whether that's reading as being key to his instigation of the alignment system changes, rather than as post-validation.
Would tend to favor the former (albeit without the other potentially useful evidence from SR#6 and the manuscript) and am guessing that letter was typed sometime mid-late '76(?), although none of the dated typed material is prior to early '77, alas.

grodog wrote:Also, in the SR#6 front, I've got the Dragon Archive so if you want a copy of the .pdf, I can certainly send that to you and/or Paul

Heh. Thanks, Allan. I might take you up on that offer, rather than tear open the shrink on that Dragon/SR magazine archive box.
Would've done that, but didn't occur to me that Paul was having the same problem finding the issue in question...

Maybe I should've bought that other copy of the archive at $35 BIN, rather than throwing it to the board!  

Best wishes,
David.


p.s. Another problem I'm having, is that a some of the early fragmentary material reflects Steve's pre-D&D rune-influenced system and how this also appears to have interacted with Runequest for a couple of years after that was published.

Eventually he seems to have thrown his hands in the air trying to tie everything together, not long after he got back in touch with Gary (late 1979?), but am certain this has an impact on the "Planes of Existence" material as being "not just D&D" (in "origin").
He was out of touch with Gary for quite a few years prior to that date, as is noted on the back of Jake Jaquet's "rude letter" about Steve's lifetime Dragon subscription (which I'm very surprised he got back again!).

Am guessing he drifted back towards Runequest again as the Planes material didn't work out (in its current form, mid 1983, and certainly post 1985 when there's a letter to Mayfair Games to reclaim his "Monsters of the Planes" material; TSR presumably having gone cold before then).

Mike <improvstone> would be able to cross-validate most/all the above, I'd expect...

aside, I have spotted Steve's pages:
http://adrr.com/hero/wildhunt/slm022.htm
01 DOC , etc.

Napftor wrote:Gary might be able to answer questions about this project himself.  He's answering questions right now here: Gary Gygax Q&A: part VII

Thanks, Bret.
I do have an account, but don't post over there owing to time considerations (another rift in the space-time continuum to get sucked into ).
Anyone else is welcome to cut/paste as desired, but I thought I'd keep posting here in-line with the original auction and subsequent thread.

Was waiting for Allan, Mike or Mike to add more, but I do have further dating evidence to support the chronology as well as a "teaser review" (in feedback format) from another person to whom Steve sent a bound of the "Plane of Fire" in mid-1983.

The outline RPG system Steve had planned to release in the late 70s whilst out of touch with Gary & co. is fairly conclusive; incorporating one of his various d20/d% combat systems, skill-based advancement, his own rune-based magic system, planar material, etc.
Am still a bit unsure where the "spiritual skills" element falls into that, since it's not mentioned elsewhere and psionics have either been dropped or incorporated into that, despite more advanced proposals for psionics from another one of his earlier character classes- will have to check whether that's one of the pages from his own zines (the majority of the zine pages I've got, despite the auction description) or else might have been published in A&E or TWH (which I'm clueless about...).

grodog wrote:In the USA, collectables sold on eBay are taxed at 28% on the gains---good thing I haven't gotten around to selling anything there yet

The maximum tax rate on collectables is 28% but I would recommend against filing it on a schedule D, it would be better to file a schedule C (Business Income) that way you can deduct the ebay and paypal fees and if you keep a milage log you can even depreciate you car for all of those used bookstore hunting trips.  

Sorry, just got home from work and still have taxes on the brain...

Nah, working for H&R Block until I can decide what I really want to be when I grow up  :)

OK; a little assistance from owners of early A&Es and TWHs would be appreciated!
*
I'm fairly sure the various pages from the two zine sets mentioned below in the Steve Marsh auction were not included in one of the above, for the reasons stated (more certain of the first).
If anyone knows otherwise, plz let me know

1. Cupric Text/Tome of Copper (1977)
- stated to be various installments to complement play in Steve's PBM. (10 copies stated printed; 9 of whom including Mike Gunderloy are listed on the third issue).
Various D&D classes such as philosopher, early speciality mages (acid-based, as revised/used in Gunderloy's DW series), weretigers (of the regular type; stated to date from early 1974 and hence presumably a re-writing from his own RPG system), etc.
(Steve's 1976 list of character classes submitted to EGG would sit well in a "White Wolf" publication list over a decade and a half later )
Other interesting comments about Steve's contributions to Blackmoor, Eldritch and SR being "butchered", etc...

2. (The view from) Elaikases's Tower... (1977/9)
- Is possible to read this as being a subzine within an APA, but reads more as a personal zine, between references to A&E and in combination with his comment on http://adrr.com/hero/wildhunt/slm022.htm

Various other sheets don't fit easily into these categories...
- Would certainly be interested to know whether Steve's "Psychics as a Character Class" was published in A&E or TWH, since this develops upon earlier ideas on psionics. At a guess, this is a personal endeavor since the reverse refers to playtesting with this and other classes noted.
- Plus a second set (1979) of outline rules for Steve's RPG (in draft since 1972-3 (why not 1969?)) which ties in more with the Elaikases Tower material.
- Philosophy of the Spell Point System (1977/8ish). Discussion on various including Vance/Gygax system, hinting at more material from Steve distributed to other people for playtesting.

aside: is Steve's online quote "Do I plan to start work again:? Probably not, but you are welcome to pick up where I left off." an open invitation to approach re. his other material, too?
*
Still swamped IRL, alas...


[ed. re. "Elaikases's Tower"; found another reference which lists both A&E & TWH, so it can't be either. Plus the earliest date 1/1/78 referring to previous issues (non-Cupric Text (?))]