afoolandhis$ wrote:Well, I certainly hope your instincts are right, David, as they often are.
harami2000 wrote:Wish I could tie that in with Sotteraneo's "missing $10.00"/"missing starburst" set, but the colors ain't right.
afoolandhis$ wrote:harami2000 wrote:Wish I could tie that in with Sotteraneo's "missing $10.00"/"missing starburst" set, but the colors ain't right. Yeah, this one is intriguing, to say the least. You mean the colors of the covers, right?
FoulFoot wrote:Since the theory is that the same printing plate was used, but now it's dirty (accounting for the splotchiness of the dots), then it follows that the unfoldered version came second.
FoulFoot wrote:Agreed, it is. I encourage everyone who has a copy of the folder / folderless version to get a magnifying glass (or a microscope) and take a look at the halftone grid. At the moment, we're working with a sample of only three elements.Foul
FoulFoot wrote:** I changed the subject line of this thread to more clearly identify what's going on here **Alrighty. I sat down and waded through this thread again, and promptly gave myself a headache. The new sequence, as best as I could determine:First. Black folder. Offset printed with gray grid on maps. The "quality" print, printed in El Segundo, CA at Judy's cousin Jerry Wellfonder's print shop. Either 18 or 24 total pages (some copies have double-sided pages, others have single-sided). TSR (who was the distributor) was replicating occasional missing pages of this print on their in-house photocopier; these replacement pages will show copier streaking on the lower right corner of the page.Second. Bagged Yellow-Covered (no artwork) version. Offset printed with gray grid on maps. This offset printing, however, is of slightly lower quality than the First print's; under magnification, the halftone dots that comprise the gray grid on the maps can be seen as splotchy and/or not uniform in size. Our theory here is that the Second print copies were run off the same (but now dirty) printing plates as the First print. However, due to cost reasons, a black folder was not produced for this print run. Either 17 or 24 total pages (some copies have double-sided pages, others have single-sided). We have not spotted any TSR-photocopied replacement pages in this print.Third. Bagged Yellow-Covered (with artwork of a tower) version. Photocopied, with black, jagged grid inside the rooms. Produced at an unknown print shop in CA. Due to printing costs, this third printing featured a yellow-paper cover (with artwork) instead of the expensive foil-stamped black folders they were getting for a big discount at Jerry's shop. Many copies of this print were distributed by Lou Zocchi, and some feature his sticker on the copyright page. 13, double-sided pages.Fourth. Bagged Yellow-Covered (with artwork of a tower) version. Photocopied, with no gray grid inside the rooms. The "Bella PotVQ". Appears to also have been photocopied, but the copier was set too light to pick up the gray grid at all. Unknown where this was done, but due to the age of the bag and other indicators, was probably done in the 1970's as opposed to recently. 13, double-sided pages.Further comments welcome. Please let me know if anyone has a copy that does *not* fit into one of these prints.Hopefully you'll hear back from Kerestan/Morno on this, IO, so we can get some further insight....Foul
mud2guard wrote:Thanks for this, its very helpful. My copy ebay item 5176120768 fits thisthird category - it has grid lines on the maps. The grid lines are fairlyclear and consistent on most of the map pages, with the exception ofthe players map for level 5 where the grid lines appear fainter.Note that the seller here bought the item new in the UK in the 1970's. I'd be interested to know if all these versions were available new in both the US and UK, or just the former.
DnDGeek wrote:...or at least type up the text, like I do for every module I run and make it all available here, if there's interest.