Not as salacious (or even as interesting ) as some of the stuff that has been posted here... but this ad is (afaik) the first time I ever saw D&D mentioned anywhere.  It's from the back page of the June 1980 issue of Fantastic Film.  According to the cover, it's "Collector's Edition #8", but I just bought it because it had lots of articles on The Empire Strikes Back (R2-D2 and C-3PO are on the front).  I didn't really know what the ad was about, but for some reason I kept the magazine - still in good nick after all these years!

kevin mayle wrote:
Thanks for that tremendous scan! That's exactly what I wanted.

Yes - very nice, very high resolution scans. I just put the Hobby Shop one as the background on my computer. Thanks, Mars.

sleepyCO wrote:
Remember, 1978 was the midst of the platform-shoe craze; but I agree--she should be wearing black over-the knee or "pirate" boots!      

Well, in 1978 I was ten years old so I wasn't that sensitive about pretty girls' shoes. And I was in Italy, not in the US: we Italians have a very good taste about shoes, you know     I hope my mother never used shoes like those  

Mars wrote:I posted these a while back but maybe its worth posting again.  When I bought my copies of Strategic Review and Dragon 1-6 there was also this bundle of flyers and a note from TSR.  It seems the flyers are from the time during the transition between Strategic Review and The Dragon.  Here's a link to flyers I have:

http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mdtpetri/flyers/flyers.html

Och ya bastard - they look great!  

Very jealous.

seeyouinescrow wrote:Well...I thought this one might go under the radar, but my $40+ bid didn't even register


** expired/removed eBay auction **


Although, the box and contents look fairly minty, I'm guessing the reason for the price is that very interesting Gateway To Adventure.  I've never seen it, and I couldn't locate any record of it on the site here. Has anyone here seen it or know anything about it?

Thanks for posting that. I didn't see the auction, nor have I seen that black cover Gateway before. Very interesting. For posterity, here is the picture from the auction:





Seller's description: "We are also including "Gateways to Adventure" which are 1980 retail order forms and 6 page color catelogue."

Included in auction with a 4th+ Print Basic Set



It looks fairly thick, so there must be a large number of the order forms if the catalog is only 6 pages long.

zhowar wrote:It looks fairly thick, so there must be a large number of the order forms if the catalog is only 6 pages long.

Yes, that's very interesting!  

Found two more in some items I just listed on eBay.
The small digest sized Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine second and third issues from 1977.

30 year old magazines on newsprint have discolored somewhat, but other than that are in pretty good shape (handling and shelf wear).

The Metamorphosis ad appears in the Summer issue and the Lankhmar appears in the fall.

The thing that stands out for me is the price. Just $5 including postage. I am not talking about the "investment" value, but the opposite.

What were they making off MA? Maybe a buck. Lank wouldn't be much more considering the increased production cost of a boxed set. No, TSR was a young company that wanted to make and sell games.

We all like the classic stuff for different reasons. I like them because it seems to me there is more "inspiration" in them. They simply are not products but products of people who truly enjoyed producing these games. Another reason I think 1e, and specifically the early stuff, will never be matched.

I dunno, simply by inflation alone, that $5 Ma would retail today for no less than $17.95... $5 went a lot further back in '77 than it does in '07. Or it would, if the price of games followed inflation, which in general, it didn't, even though cost of goods went up sufficiently.

That 64-page booklet probably cost TSR $0.50 to print, or less even, meaning they still cleaned up BIG on direct sales. Today, a 64-pager of the same quality (color cover, B&W interior) would cost ~$3.00 to print per unit. Sell them direct to consumer at $15.00, postpaid (media mail on that would cost all of $2 media mail, even Priority would only be ~4), and you are still making $10 gross margin, which is $4 more than you would make by selling it to a distributor and through the retail chain...

This is one of the reason that the direct to consumer market has grown; it is tremendously profitable, as compared to going through the three tiers. Of course, in the long run it spells the death of the larger market, but as distributors aren't stocking product anyway unless your company name includes "Wiz" or "Up" in the first word, it is the only way to do business for far too many companies...

The main reason I'm gong through the B&M stores with AGP (when things finally get going) is because I want there to be stores and a hobby in the future... secondarily, I'd rather ship to a handful of distributors than hundreds of consumers direct. Of course, as I've not yet gotten into distribution, we shall see if that is a road I will have to take...