Tszii wrote in Is it Stranger Things?:Have prices on the vintage items only gone up in the last couple of years? Or have the been steady for some time? Did Stranger Things kick this off? Ready Player One got me in the mood to buy a copy of Tomb of Horrors which lead to my now collecting a little. Yep, I'm new. But am I the last drop of rain too?

Most of the collectors that I've encountered on this site were collecting TSR D&D long before Stranger Things.  However, after Stranger Things was released there was definitely a higher-than-usual demand for Grenadier Demogorgan miniatures.

I have been unloading my extras on Ebay for a while now. In the "old" days I used to buy up large lots around town, keep what I thought I needed and either sell the extras (if it was worth it) or box them up for later.  Stuff I could not get around town I picked up on eBay or through friends on this board.  I accumulated thousands of items doing this.

What I have noticed is a large price increase since Stranger Things was released; modules (like Lankhmar, Spelljammer, Ravenloft etc) that were virtually unsaleable a few years ago are now getting fairly good prices $20+. These items, even in shrink, were worthless before.  Other things like 1st ed items, almost all vintage boxsets and especially the rare items have all seen massive increases.  Sets like Night Below ($100+ even in bad shape), Greyhawk, Basic sets etc. are all going up and up.  Big increases in the 1st ed hardcover books $30+ if they are in good shape; I used to give these away because they were so worthless.  (I used to have 32 1st ed players handbooks at one point accumulated solely through buying lots).

I think the release of 5th D&D has also had a big impact on the vintage market as well.  So many people are rediscovering D&D with this new concise ruleset, it is very good and many in there mid forties and older are rediscovering D&D and going back to find there favorite older items.

I've been selling online since 1994, and one thing I've noticed is that sales tend to go up when a new edition is released. Cultural events/touchstones like Stranger Things certainly don't hurt.

Mike B.

Blackmoor wrote in Is it Stranger Things?:I think the release of 5th D&D has also had a big impact on the vintage market as well.  So many people are rediscovering D&D with this new concise ruleset, it is very good and many in there mid forties and older are rediscovering D&D and going back to find there favorite older items.

This was it for me, and also at least 2 other people in my regular FLGS gaming group. We all came back for 5e, but also are collecting items from our early gaming days and attending old school cons like NTRPG. So I think the resurgence predates Stranger Things by a couple years but of course some additional exposure on the show doesn't hurt.

All good points here. I am one of these new collectors that have gotten into this field and purchase lots of things on Ebay driving up prices no doubt. For me personally, I am new to the collecting game and only have been doing it for the last few years and it was caused by the release of 5th edition. I have always played D&D/AD&D off and on my whole life since the late 70s, but right around 2nd edition, I stopped going to conventions (used to go to small conventions at the Anaheim Sheraton back in the day, Orcon or Gateway?). I stopped playing in organized play at the local shops and just played at home with some friends and never had a clue that these books could be worth something. Only when they released 5th and the buzz of it having that slight feel of the older versions did I have interest in checking it out and went to the local gaming stores here in Austin, Tx.. I started to run into people that were telling me the boxes and boxes of old books I had amassed and held on too all these years were worth something. So for me personally, it was 5th edition that really spring boarded me getting into collecting. Otherwise I would still be playing at home, continually destroying some of the valuable items I have through continual use without any clue whats going on in this collecting world.

Even this site, The Acaeum and the existence of NTRPG was from a local gaming store that I started playing 5th edition. Which funny enough, I dont play anymore as we went back to AD&D and BECMI D&D playing at home. LOL.

--Thor

Doubt it's any one thing. There seem to be a number of factors hitting at the same time. Stranger Things and new media exposure, release of 5E, and I don't doubt the re-release of licenced PDFs all coming about in short order. Probably something else I'm missing as well.

Excellent additions SimperingToad and Scalydemon and I'd like to add my voice to Thor's that also especially this site, because I wouldn't be collecting today if it wasn't for the hard work done by the people on here. Plenty of people want to moan and groan about how The Acaeum isn't realistic on values or what not, and maybe it isn't (though when I figure in condition and throwing out obvious 'fantastic scores', the values DO seem to be pretty close a lot of the time). Having a site like this to give you a "Collector's Guide" to buying has been all important to me.

I took my sweet Mother out to dinner tonight and mentioned the popularity of 5th edition, she has almost zero knowledge of D&D other than that I played and she's been watching Tabletop on TV (she likes Wil Wheaton). I stated, I wonder if the popularity of 5th Ed. has to do also with a backlash on Online Video gaming. She said "Well duh, playing at a table with your friends is always going to be better than playing with no one". I said that it isn't really like that, you're playing with people all over the world sometimes. She said "It's still not the same, it's all of the extra stuff while playing that matters".

That said, I think we've done a small disservice to to Tszii though and not had an answer to the last part of his question

Tszii wrote in Is it Stranger Things?:Yep, I'm new. But am I the last drop of rain too?

That's the million dollar question, and I've wondered about that too.

I brought it up at my Auction a few weeks ago with some of the big buyers there (Coin and Bullion collectors), people that I know drop $20k, $50k to $250k or more a year on their "Hobby". I intentionally tried to be vague about it - D&D as "old games", Minis were "old lead soldiers, like the old Napoleon ones that you paint yourself". They thought it was all very interesting but ultimately said that it really depends on what amount of time you're talking about. In a hundred years is anyone going to care about it, probably not. But a shorter amount of time, what really matters is if there are constantly new collectors coming into the hobby that see value in what was produced before.

That's where I wonder a lot too. I don't think you can go wrong with buying iconic items in high grade. But I'm skeptical if shrink will matter much at some point in time (no offense to you wonderful shrink collectors out there). But will the bottom fall out of mid to lower grade items? Not as long as people keep wanting to play with them. What about non-iconic TSR or the other companies during that time and after? I see lots of love for other companies and gaming systems online but will that be true in another 10-20 years? I think the answer will have to do with the quality and usefulness of the individual item or how highly it is regarded then by those that collect in the future.

Old lead Minis though. The Lead is always going to be a problem obviously and Scale Creep. I also see a lot of bad mouthing of designs, with new buyers of Minis referring to them as "the bad old days of Minis". I really don't see it though myself, there's crap obviously in the old Minis design-wise. But I really see a lot going on with some of them, they're like art to me - They evoke a feeling of what "old school" is. I don't think in the future someone is going to look at some Masterpiece Painting in a Museum and say that's crap because it's not photo-realistic or looks enough like an Anime character. Bah, I collect Minis for me anyway. I'm really not concerned with their value over time. (Cop out answer, I know)

I think the answer is even easier: inflation.

The money supply has more than tripled over the last nine years, and much of this added liquidity is going into assets. The DOW has literally tripled over this time - sure, companies are increasingly using inputs at their lowest cost (tech, globalization, all that stuff), but profits have not tripled over this period. Not anywhere close. Home values - same thing. Rents have not increased at nearly the pace of the value of the home. In fact, even homes you can't run cash positive are appreciating. Why? Home prices should be falling. In some parts of the country, and in other countries, you're earning more money by home appreciation than you are in your job. You used have to work an extra job or extra hours to afford a house. Now, it's the other way around- to make some money, quit your job and buy a home and live off the appreciation. Backwards economy, and that inflation also translates into this hobby.

If you follow Critical Roll, you'll notice that for their 2nd campaign, they changed their Opener to a riff on 80's tabletop. To me, they are tapping into the same sentiment as Stranger Things. CR has a massive fan base, so yes I can see these influencing each other and popularizing the game overall and raising awareness of the older editions.