an untimely vampire attack that I suffered at the worst possible moment

Ed, make sure to read up on Van Richtens Guide to Vampires next time another vampire attack occurs. I find the book incredibly useful.    

edmud wrote: If I were more computer/internet savy I would make a site like McDuff's.  Any advice on that would be appreciated.

You could buy my Wife's book, everything I know about HTML I learned from her  

Page not found | Franklin, Beedle & Associates Incorporated

I have been collecting votes and lists via private messages and emails since I originally posted this topic. As of today nearly everyone asked has sent me his nominations. If you haven't been asked and want to participate in this poll please do not hesitate and send me a private message with your nominations.

I will post the complete list of Grand Masters in a week or so, probably next weekend. Despite my original intentions, I'm also gonna post the number of received nominations.

There will be some surprises, but mostly we will see the names we already suspect.

Happy collecting!

edmud wrote:Hi,
My name is Ed (Ebay: edmud)

I have been away from collecting for about two years now due to hmmm . . . complex family matters.  But  just before I disappeared from the collecting scene I had a list of Chris' collection and if I recall he wanted about $50K for it.  I would say it was very complete and of high quality.  The problem for me was that there were only a few rare items that I was still lookig for at the time so I couldn't bring down his whole collection.  

Yes, Chris and Rhea are good friends from TX.  I would like to get back in touch with Chris, Rhea and Bad Mike if possible . . . fellow collectors from the great state of TX.  If any of you guys read this, this is Ed in Japan still in Japan but coming home soon.

I would say that Rhea probably has the most complete game collection out there judging from what he told me.

Ed;

Give me an email man!  Good to hear from you again.  I was wondering how many items you were away from completing your collection.....

    I would not put myself in with the greats listed, but I do have a complete collection of every commercial D&D product (and all related systems like Ravenloft, Spelljammer, etc), including everything released by TSR such as Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Gangbusters, Boot Hill, all of them.  Including complete sets of all the mags.  Then again, everyone on that list better have at least that to even be included I'm thinking, so no big whoop there. I have a very short list of what I don't have, and it's the usual suspects, but frankly I'm not going to sell my soul for an ST1 or Lost Tamoachan. (I always collected to play and read and then sell, not just to collect). I also have a complete Middle Earth, Judges Guild, and many other systems like Thieves' Guild, The Companions and Midkemia (I love obscure game systems).  The rarest item I own is the issue of Conquistador with an original EGG Greyhawk story (I recently printed the story to Greytalk with EGG's permission).  The only other one of these I've ever heard of is owned by EGG himself, and he doesn't have his copy last I heard (could be the rarest Greyhawk related item ever?) Also, I have a complete set of the computer games first put out by TSR back in the early 80's....Frank Mentzer once told me that they were soon recalled due to errors, I know he has a few and says they are extremely rare.  But other than that, I probably only have volume, not value.  I spend an ungodly amount just to store all the stuff, and since downloads have become available, I've gotten rid of most of my doubles and extras, as long as I have one original and one on computer disc I'm fine with that. Nothing like the extra 6000 or so items Rhea says he has....!

     I will say, however, I am jealous of Rhea's stronghold in that HE GETS TO DISPLAY HIS GOODIES!!!!  My wife has mumbled something about "over her dead body" many times when I trot out my redecorating ideas for my new office in the new house...so my goodies continue to sit in the 50+ boxes in my warehouse..when I know in my heart that great Erol Otus/Elmore/Caldwell cover art needs to BE DISPLAYED! Dammit a B3 orange is made for a frame!!!!

   BTW I would nominate Mentzer to the list....if he doesn't have it, his knowledge seems to be encyclopedic when it comes to editions, print runs, etc.  Also, I sold a ton of stuff to Matthias back in the 90s, so I know for a fact he must have a boatload of goodies, including a huge run of hard to find small print run and indie gaming mags that I sold him during that time. Then just write in the usual suspects.  I think we all know who they are.  

Mike B.

Ralf Toth wrote:Mike, reading through you post again a question came to my mind: Just how large is a complete AD&D collection? By large I mean size. How many cubic foot would you estimate?

You really should work harder to convince your wife that she allows you to display selected items somewhere (probably your working room?). It's so sad to hear from all those die-hard collectors that they have their complete collection sitting in dusty boxes in dark warehouses. Good for the collection, bad for the collector's pride ...

That's actually an interesting question. Presently I have 50 some odd magazine boxes full, but that is everything, including other game systems. I suppose the D&D stuff is half that?  Maybe less.  Anyone else have some storage stories concerning how much space it takes up?  My wife would love to park the car in the garage someday, is that what that large room is for?

  At this time, I have some items displayed, and all kidding aside, I'm trying to find a few nicer items to put in my office when we move into the new house that won't make it the geek-nerd-fanboy paradise it is now.  Right now I have the original D&D white box, most of the Grenadier Dragon series (painted, but not by me!), Dragon magazines #1-#10, and all the TSR reference books for 1st and 2nd edition displayed on my desk shelves.  Most of the more valuable stuff is in storage. On the walls I have the backside of the TSR trivia challenge poster (the one listing all the TSR products published up to 1996, an invaluable reference), many of the posters from various TSR sets (such as the Dragon mountain cover poster above my desk), and a huge collage of Dragon and Dungeon magazine covers that came off damaged copies of the magazines (My group has had a running discussion for years if the chick about to put an arrow into the giant skeleton on Dragon #126 is going to get the shot off....).  The rest of the space is filled with bookshelves which actually is where most of my nicer non-D&D stuff resides (Arkham house books, Weird Tales mags, etc).  Does anyone else have some cool setups?  Despite all my suggestions, my wife still won't let me turn a room of the house into a "D&D paradise" that I envision...but I'm still young....

    I'm trying to think of some way to display some of the nicer items, but I'm worried about A) Light damage, and B) handling damage in case someone thinks they would like to start flipping through a copy of RPGA1 that's sitting on a shelf.  If any other collectors have some items displayed, how have you solved these problems?  Actually, the light problem is the one I worry about most, because the items can be sealed in nice frames and put on the wall to be looked at but not touched, but after awhile they will become damaged by sunlight I would think. Is there a way to "tastefully" display module covers of monsters getting slaughtered by adventurers? Any suggestions?  I'm also thinking about displaying some of the cooler Weird Tales mags I have, but once again I don't want to expose them to too much light.

Mike B.

Are these people still the Grandmasters?  It seems like a lot of new items have been added in the last few years.

improvstone wrote:Totally off topic and really a question for Foul....

How can Edmud have 0 posts?

I suspect it has to do with the fact did some sort of server switch about a year and 1/2 or so ago.  I suspect that the post counting mechanism is reading as zero becasue of the fact that the mechanism in the board that tracks that is pointing to the wrong place.


<edit> Actually it looks like it was about 2 years ago now:

viewtopic.php?t=1629

faro wrote:Safe to say non-TSR has come quite a way since then although William, Frank and others (as noted) were presumably doing their best to hide from the glare of publicity... (Not as well as some other people did, apparently!).

Yes, definitely, nonTSR has come a long way.  Even now, it seems like every month I seem to find a new item or two that I never knew about.  

I think Frank sent me a list of some of his stuff.  I wonder if William has ever created a list?  I need to do this sometime too.

bclarkie wrote:From what i can remember reading, Mike Kuo was also a big Non-TSR collector as well before he bailed out of the game completely several years ago.

*nods*. He was "runner-up" on that "fun poll".

(And never did manage pick up any of those LoTR-themed games in that final splurge sale of his, either. A very interesting list that was...).