Completists, what mod themes do you dislike but buy anyway?
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:51 am 
 

I've always been a completist when it comes to things I have a passion for. So it is with my D&D collection (far from complete as it is). In my endless quest to seek out the books and (mainly) modules I am missing I can't help but notice certain examples that really give me a warm feeling inside. We've all discussed that, though. Then there are those modules that I have to remind myself "I'm working on completing a collection so I have to buy it" - this is what interests me!  :D

Personally, aside from collecting I want this stuff to also actively use in gaming (very carefully, of course!), and I just have no interest in the "group of fantasy characters gets transported into a future dimension and fight robot gods with jet packs" genre of D&D module. There are a group of them from what I am seeing that have this ongoing theme of fantasy and sci-fi overlap. I wonder, am I the only one who this theme failed to warm?

What modules have others picked up simply to add to their collection versus to play or because it gave them that nice warm feeling (ie, you wouldn't have gotten it otherwise)?

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:31 am 
 

This is an easy one: Dragonlance. Once, in a fit of completionist frenzy, I picked up a few of the DL module series ... and then I was reminded of how bad they are. I mean, you can almost see the railroad tracks that the party will be forced to travel. Plus, the whole "hippie" feel, the fact that Elmore does absolutely nothing for me ... well, you get the picture. Bleh.

I unloaded them all on eBay and counted myself lucky to get any money for them. Never again — I'll just have to do without a "complete" collection.

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:17 am 
 

Gotta agree with Dragonlance. Although Birthright puts up some stiff competition. But for different reasons though.

DL was early enough for me to play. And OMG what a crock. All aboard the cliffhanger express.

BR was something I knew nothing about until I started collecting. But it leaves me with no desire to read it.

I'll proabably hang on to the DL stuff for now for some reason I can't quite figure out.  But BR is going on eBay in the not too distant future.

  

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:36 am 
 

I was 15 or so when the DL series came out.  I bought it because of the cover art.  I quickly found that it was little more than a book turned into a module with very little freedom accorded the players.  I hated it from then on.  I have the first 7 mods.  I have refused to pick up the others.  

I also do not care for the SciFi stuff.  With the exception of the Temple of the Frog.

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:47 am 
 

Howdy,


I don't own any FR items, save I3-5, I14, N5, OA1. I don't own and refuse to own AC11 (I just pretend the series end with AC10). No Dragonlance, Darksun, Birthright, Ravenloft, Planescape, or SpellJammer (save Greyspace). The only 2nd edition or 3rd edition items I have are for Greyhawk or RPGA freebies. I also don't collect the GAZ series nor the DD or DDA series. I don't collect the Masters or Immortals D&D sets, although I do have modules M1-5 but never, ever, IM1-3.


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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:51 am 
 

I'll join the chorus on DL.  

But another one I've never liked much is Ravenloft.  Yes, I6 is a great module, but as a campaign setting it leaves me cold.  Does anyone really play the setting itself as a continuous campaign?  If I want horror, I find Call of Cthulhu much more compelling.  And players get pretty peeved when the DM announces, "A mist is fast approaching, and voila, you're now in Ravenloft."  Groans are then audible all around the table with the refrain of not again...

On the flip, I'd rate Dark Sun the most underrated setting with Al Qadim a close second.    

But as for the original question, yeah, I'm a completist and collect them all because I'm a D&D junkie.   :wink:

  


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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:51 am 
 

I really, really, really don't much care for the sci-fi crossovers. These I really do avoid.

Nor DL. Nor Ravenloft, save a couple exceptions. I'm also not big on modules that require player mapping of insanely complex mazes, labyrinths, etc. In the past, I handled super high-level and immortal characters on a strictly custom basis, so I stray from thngs aimed at them, too.

And, while I don't much care for the supermodules of any variety, I will grab them due to their value and as a playing tool to preserve the individual units.

But...for the question, I will only pick up the aboves when they come in lots containing something else I'm interested in or at a cheap rate where I can flip them easily. I figure they'll eventually fill in the holes I don't much mind having without me trying.

  


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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 1:26 pm 
 

An interesting point/thought about being a completist, is the different levels one can try to obtain (you are a 7th level completist). :D As mentioned above, there ARE certainly D&D areas I don't buy or collect at all, like Spelljammer or Planescape. My Dragonlance module collection ends at DL13 or so, and will not go into the DLA, DLF DLBS... subsubsub module series. Still, I plan collect as much as I can within those constraints as possible, and would certainly aquire stuff I have zero interest in if I got it super cheap or nearly free, etc. Still, I suppose that makes me a lower level completists, or at best, a specialist completists or something. Hehe. Are there collectors here that are working on getting one of everything D&D ever made? I guess that would be an immortal level completist.

btw, glad to know there are others who just don't enjoy the sci-fi cross over in fantasy... mabye that was a 70s thing?

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:48 pm 
 

I have a number of Judges Guild modules in my collection that are only marginally better as modules than as scratch paper.  Come to think of it...one Judges Guild module was actually sold by Judges Guild as scratch paper!  (Fantasy Cartographer's Field Guide).

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:18 pm 
 

A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.

Like my 4 copies of each of the "A" series, showing the clear differences in the 4 printings.

This requires plenty of shelving.

  


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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:24 pm 
 

ExTSR wrote:A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.

Like my 4 copies of each of the "A" series, showing the clear differences in the 4 printings.

This requires plenty of shelving.


"Shelving"?

Frank I'd imagine you have housing for your collection at this point...!

(Said with envy!)

  

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:04 pm 
 

A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.


I couldnt agree more  :D

4 copies of each of the "A" series


4 :!:  Please do update our info.
*adds more lines to my want list*  

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:08 pm 
 

Well, there are certainly different levels of being a completist.  I am a product completist, but I dont think that I will ever fall into the balck hole of being a print run junkie for all products, I have seen what it does to people *coughs*  "CK"  *coughs* and so I dont want fall into that abyss. :wink:


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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:14 pm 
 

chromaticknight wrote:
ExTSR wrote:A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.

I couldnt agree more :D

Amen to that, y'both; but don't forget any constant varieties, too!

So that's somewhere around 17 sets of OD&D books, then?
(And a few spares for future rechecking of printing points, as required).

Plus 50 supplements (afaik).

  

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:37 pm 
 

ExTSR wrote:A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.

Like my 4 copies of each of the "A" series, showing the clear differences in the 4 printings.

This requires plenty of shelving.


Ahhh, but do you have all of the editorial versions too? :wink:

  

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Post Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:16 pm 
 

DragonLance. I was as hyped as everyone else when they came out. I am glad someone agrees with me on the hippie angle.

Ravenloft. I only own I6 and I10.

I also think Dark Sun is way under-rated as is Al Quad. They both have some great story lines and excellent scenarios.

I am not a printing junkie, though I prefer 1st prints. I limit my collection to everything (basic/expert, etc) D&D, OD&D and (first ed.) AD&D.

Since I don't collect 2nd Ed. stuff, I am off the hook when it comes to all those crappy campaign settings that never should have been i.e. Ravenloft.


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

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

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Post Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:53 am 
 

Excellent points about the print versions, I had forgotten that angle!

It's amazing how much alike many hobbies are at the root level. Take stamp collecting for example. Some people collect every stamp ever printed by xyz country, and I mean every single one, from the first to the most current (stamps were first used in 1840, so that's 166 years of stamps in some cases to collect). Some people only collect certain eras, or only certain topical stamps. There are those that collect varieties in printing (...yeah, but do you have the blue #2 3 cent Washington WITH the overlapping lines and offcolor dye??) and so on. Condition is paramount with stamps as with D&D as with just about anything, of course.

I hope to collect the various print varieties of the items I mainly collect as time and money allow.

I agree, btw, that Dragonlance is so hippy it makes me want to puke. Funny, that aside, I have undyingly fond memories of reading the first three books...

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Post Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 6:56 am 
 

dbartman wrote:
ExTSR wrote:A true Completist doesn't just have a copy of a module; he has a copy of each printing.
Like my 4 copies of each of the "A" series, showing the clear differences in the 4 printings.

Ahhh, but do you have all of the editorial versions too? :wink:

Only the copy with the editorial changes for the 2nd print A1, sorry. :(
(5180859798; $41)

=
In answer to the thread's question; yes, another vote for Dragonferdelance [no surprise!]. But I'm not exactly looking to break the bank to pick up the others I'm missing: worth a lil' bit to read/browse and possibly pick up a few snippets, but would've driven the players crazy to have played.
Would probably add Ravenloft to that list, but I don't do 2e, so managed to cut at a sensible level (to me) for the genre...


(@jpipes: 1840-1940[/46]: and as with D&D, condition can be of importance, not paramount importance, IMO. A larger percentage of American and German collectors appear to be condition-freaks, though... Besides, an Afghani tiger with its head ripped-off is merely over-zealous, not actually a fault :))

  
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