Ummm, yeah, he slipped his copy into a filing cabinet and left it there. And, according to him, it's been "packaged tightly" to account for the new smell..... by Kinko's?
Too fishy for me. I don't get much into prepubs anyways.
Stormie, are you in for this one?

I have no idea if it's authentic but the guy has run up a decent score on his feedback (324) with no negatives... It would seem to me that amount of work and time would preclude someone from faking ON PURPOSE.  Not to say he might have been duped years ago and innocently carries on the dupe.

Or it's legit... or is a legitimate 'pirated copy' from the days of yore when getting something photocopied WAS pirating it and perhaps was the best way to get the item distributed for a legitimate con.

The real question is in content.  Are there any differences in this copy vs the 'Known' R-1/RPGA-1?

Arrrgh... Confound Ebayers and their incomplete descriptions!

Just email him...  he's quite pleasant, and I'm inclined to think that he's legit.  He was quite active on the RPGA scene in the early years.

If you've ever had to deal w/ RPGA before, they can be complete tightwads when it comes to money (they have to be...  they are ALWAYS underfunded by TSR/WotC).  I'm guessing that this is a spare copy they threw his way rather than whip up a totally new one.  It could be something like a "draft" that got accidentally sent out.
It's also been what, 13 or so years?  He could be getting his Cons mixed up.  Like I said, have you emailed the guy and said "I think you are a fraud, prove me otherwise or the gig is up."?
Also, from my research, quite a few Con modules got alot of play elsewhere from where they first premiered...  look at the current RPGA module schedules, its why they usually use the term "first run" now to denote a premier.
If I had any money, I'd bet that this puppy is legit.

Hmmm. If it is "just a tourney copy", then I imagine it is rarer than an actual numbered pre-pub, and worth more.

burntwire wrote:This is just a Tourney copy. It isn't a Pre-Pub. He is just being a little misleading using the term "Pre-Pub", although it was produced prior to the published version.

Wait a second, I get a little confused here. If this is not a pre-pub version, why do we call the R1, R2 and R3 "pre-publication"? Page Not Found

Weren't they used in these tournaments? Or were they just sold during the tournaments, but not actually used?

For what it's worth -- and I haven't been contacted by the seller, or anyone else, to attempt to verify the module, so I'm only going off the information on the auction page -- this is a tough call.

The biggest points for this being a genuine article are:

A) Seller has a very good, extensive feedback rating.  He could be deciding to "cash out" on one big scam here, but not very likely.

B) The module is not an identical photocopy of a pre-pub.  Anyone who was going to create a fake, or even just photocopy a genuine module, would at least get the cover page correct.

Without knowing more about it, or seeing some detailed scans, my feeling is that the module is exactly what the seller says it is.  It was given to him from a source at the RPGA, to be run as a tournament adventure at "Muscacon".  It is a pre-publication version of the pre-publication.

Now, the issue of how much it's worth is a completely different story.  It is probably a generic photocopy, and obviously has neither an original signature nor a serial number (the two things which make the pre-pub R modules collectible, and verifiable).  It would be, in fact, identical to R7-10 Dwarven Quest, which is just a photocopy.  How much would you pay for R7-10?  Or even better, how much would you pay for a genuine original D&D manuscript, which itself was just a photocopy?

A very difficult question.  If you could prove the photocopy was made in 1974... but then, we start to degenerate into silliness.

Bottom line: caveat emptor.  Buyer beware.  I believe this item is a genuine article, but it's value to the collecting community is highly subjective.  As a interesting piece of trivia, certainly, but as a centerpiece of your collection -- not so sure.

And you can be damn certain that the second module like this to surface will be met with a healthy dose of skepticism that it was run off last week at Kinko's.  

Foul

P.S.  Frank Mentzer would be a good source to contact about the existence of this, btw.

AD&D R1 To The Aid Of Falx RPGA OOP! RARE!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 09504&rd=1
7 days with no reserve.  Current bid is $9.99.

Good assessment, Scott, except for one thing. This is a POST-pre-pub. Since it mentions being used at the other Cons, it had to have come out AFTER the Cons.