Hey guys;



Thought I'd chime in, as I've been buying, selling and trading AD&D online for about ten years, I've come across a few bits of info.  First, scarcity and rarity is not always reflected in price.  There are quite a few items I only run across a couple of times a year that go for nowhere near the price they should on Ebay and other venues.  Like the aforementioned Planescape, a lot of it has to do with the quality and/or usability of the item to a new generation of gamers.  Besides the very obivious examples already mentioned and covered here (Jade Hare, etc), here are a few perhaps not so obvious rarities or maybe future rarities:



Warriors of the Grey Queen:  A second edition Greyhawk adventure that was a seperate insert in I believe Pyramid magazine #50 (please correct me if I'm wrong!) a few years back. You used to see these on Ebay fairly often and they went for $15-$20 or so.  I just checked, and not only are none available on Ebay now but none have sold in the last 30 days there.  Usually thats a pretty good barometer on scarcity, but for all I know a bunch may pop up over the weekend.  Still, I've never seen a copy not in the original magazine as an insert...because of it's size, no outside price, format, I think it's overlooked quite a bit.



Atlas of the Forgotten Realms & Atlas of the Dragonlance World:  I don't know if these officially qualify as 2nd edition, but neither was reprinted and both feature the beautiful Karen Wynn Fonstad maps.  I sell these for $25-$50 each when I get them in, in ANY condition.  They are hard to find in NM or unread condition.



Waterdeep or Krynn Trail Maps: Just almost impossible to find still folded, without pin marks, or in the original folders. I rarely find these in sellable condition. Plus they are really huge, and look impressive on the wall! I do see these on Ebay a lot but mostly they have been folded back into the cardboard holder and have some flaws like creases, tears, holes, etc.



I think more items that came out in 1996, right before TSR went out of business for several months, should be given more attention.  The North boxed set is hard to find and commands high prices, but not many know the Netheril boxed set came out during the same period and is just as hard to find.  It just doesn't seem to get the same kind of attention. The Rod of Seven Parts set (1996), however, seems to pop up pretty often, obviously it had a much higher print run than either of the above items. The Polyhedrons around this time had really, really low print runs, at the time they were almost impossible to find (I didn't get my last few copies in the mail even) and are the hardest to find in the entire run.  I think the RPGA are sold out of these as back issues now.



Ok, so L3 Deep Dwarven Delve is officially a 1st edition adventure. But it was only available in the Silver Anniversary Boxed set released in 1999, which means you had to lay out $50+ to get this ONE item you didn't have in the set (the other items being reprints of older more common D&D modules).  For awhile these were all over the place as people tore apart Silver Anniversary sets to sell these seperately, and many who wanted this one item just bought it off ebay instead of buying the entire Silver Anniversary set....but years later they are getting scarcer to find on Ebay and other outlets.  Speaking of which, how many more years before the boxed set itself complete with all the modules and such climbs in price, since many of these were bought, opened, and the contents sold piecemeal? The box is kind of flimsy, also, and easily gets bent or falls apart.



Neverwinter Nights: The ORIGINAL computer game boxed set, not the 3rd edition version.  I still have mine with the disks, instruction book and Neverwinter Nights travelogue.  How many people actually saved these once the original game went offline?



Mike B.

I dont understand Kuo. You dont think the Play By Mail or Gazeteer are 2e or are you smoking something funky these days?

D'oh, got the 2 mixed up...  yeah, its Hogunmark I was talking about.



Yeah, have to admit, that is probably what that auction was.  I should have at least saved the picture of it.  I forget whether I sent the guy a "is this legit?" email or not, or whether I got a response.

I think what Dave is saying is that Jade Hare is neither first or second edition because Jade Hare is for the Dungeon and Dragons game system and not part of Advanced Dungeon and Dragons system (either first or second edition).



The Acaeum states that the Jade Hare is "Compatible with the D&D Basic Set." That would put it squarely outside of the realm of first or second edition.



-PD

Aha. I suppose that eliminates the Fast Play promo items from the list too. I never understood why there was a perceived need to keep 2 similar yet different rules lines. We always used to hack the hell out of the rules anyhow!



Perhaps is better to refer to this era of TSR instead of just 2e? Or do most guys see AD&D and D&D as distinctively different?



Later.

Adam

nev wrote:They made Dragonlance phone cards?!?! :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3140833542

Nev

Yep, British Telecom made them (2 pound value). When  buying the novel Dragons of Summer Flame you would get 2 pounds off. I've bought one on eBay quite a while ago. The offer would expire in june 1998. I'lll scan it later and add it here...

Most of the 1995/1996 TSR prints were a low run? Than I figure the list should include the following:

The Complete Barbarian's Handbook (1995)
The Complete Ninja's Handbook (1995)
Forgotten Realms Spellbound Boxed set (1995)
Forgotten Realms Hero's Lorebook (1996)
Forgotten Realms Faiths and Avatars (1995 - shows up quite frequently on eBay)
Ravenloft A guide to Transylvania (1996)
Ravenloft Death Unchained (1996)

And how about this one?

Spelljammer Complete Spacefarer's Handbook (1992)

It's a blue-covered handbook, but for both player and DM alike. I have only seen a few of them on eBay...

Cernunnos wrote:The Alternity Fast Play rules were available in Dragon...  I forget what number.

The Alternity Fast Play rules booklets are available free for download at Alternity.net .  There are two booklets, a Player's Book and Game Master's Book.  The contents of each of the booklets is nothing more than a reprinting of chapter 1 from each respective book, with the exception of the character templates.  At least one setting has been created for the fast play rules, a RPG conversion of the TV show Cleopatra 2525.

There are some who swear by the fast play rules over the full rules set, and to some extent I am inclined to agree.  But I also have the PHB, GMG, and Star*Drive setting, so if I want more, I've got it.

I'm hearing that the Planescape "Faction War" product is fetching upwards of $50 on auction. I suspect fewer than 6,000 copies were printed, as it was one of the last second edition products and the game was _not_ doing well at the time.

--Erik Mona