Hi Everyone... Many years ago I was here ALOT... when the kids were young.  I was 'jonoakes' then 'gamesguy' then fell off the planet for a while starting a company, raising kids and having no time for collecting (and pretty much completing 90% of the collection I wanted to build).

Well, last night Grodog came over to my house, showed me some of his stuff and got the old fires burning again.  Obsessing over little details in 30 year old maps, looking at my woodgrain and trying to figure out if it's 100% 1st ed or a hybrid.   It was good times and made me want to stay up last night reviewing my collection.  

Anyway, I thought I'd re-register.  I don't have access to my old Emails to reactivate my account so I'm creating a new one, but I'm really an old-timer.  

And just for fun, here's my gaming bio...

Started Playing when I got the 'blue box' in 77 and was hooked.  Ran several failed attempts at B1 with friends, finally met a 'real DM' who showed us what to do and played solidly every week until '85, then off to College where it was sporadic.  Gaming after that was start/stop as locations and jobs changed but I've always considered myself an active gamer.

Collecting didn't start until the late nineties when I discovered Ebay, and then by chance the Acaeum (when someone linked to the Acaeum as a reference point in their auction).

I initially was mostly interested in 1st Ed published stuff the mainstream monochromes and source books.  I collected alot of 2nd edition stuff along the way, which, IMHO is mostly drek, but still worthy.

I completely ignored 3rd editon/3.5 because I just didn't like what I saw.  Interested in 4th but haven't sat at a table with it yet.

I'm noting that right now is a good time to pick up 3e stuff since it seems to be plentiful and cheap but wondering if it's even worth it.

What fires me up that's 'odd' is I love getting old homebrew dungeons, character sheets and adventure notes.  Weird one-off stuff that sometimes gets tossed into lots on Ebay because the person selling it doesn't know or care about it.  I find that fascinating.  Most of it is unintelligible garbage, but sometimes you get a glimpse of what that group was like, or an iteresting idea or seeing what influences were guiding them.  It's like CSI:D&D.  I also like old indpendent published stuff.  The grotty coarse black and white trades made up on some desktop publishing software and printed at the local copy shop.  Can't get enough of that.

Also, art.  I have not collected any original art personally yet, but it's an area I'd love to get into.  Even just cataloging digital versions of all the art in the RPG universe would be great.

So, enough wind bagging about me... Glad to be back.. I hope I can stick it out and not get pulled away by work and other things.  I'm really glad the Acaeum is still here.  I have been popping in and lurking every now and then just to make sure it's still going strong.  You guys rock.

-Jon aka Nada

P.S. Now.. who wants to bring me up to speed on what I missed?  

Binibren of Bristlebane wrote:
Thanks Overlord and everyone else for the friendly greetings.

I haven't played EQ in years (1999-2001) but had some great memories playing that game. How long have you been playing?

I've been playing my cleric since November of 1999. Hey... 10 years on EQ now.

I refused to follow the herd to WoW.

corum wrote:Thanks for the hint about Dragonsfoot. If it's a board solely devoted to AD&D 1st Ed, instead of lumping everything from ODD to 4 Ed in one board, I should like it there.

Dragonsfoot has a "1st Edition AD&D" forum.

Knights and Knaves Alehouse (404 Not Found) also has a "First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" forum.

snorri wrote:Hello, dear forumers

I'm a D&D player since 1984, and still own most modules of the classical line, plus a few AD&D material - both in French and English. As many french players, I studied more english in D&D than at school.
Being a curator of archeological collections IRL, I'm impressed of the carefulness and knowledge of forumers about conservation issue. I currently lack the money to make my small collection better - not to spek of the shipping issue from USA to France, but it's still among my future plans. But I'm interested on historical questions about OD&D and Chainmail, so I hope I could ask some questions I have about obscure points of differences between editions.

You've come to the right place Snorri!  Welcome!

Mike B.

snorri wrote:Hello, dear forumers...

Salut snorri !

Northwest wrote:Hi everyone. My name's North, I just turned 40 in November but ealier this year I had a strong renewed interest in returning to the hobby. My son is almost 8 and came home from school the other month asking about D&D. It sort of snowballed from there and I find myself perusing eBay quite a lot lately. I'm so glad to have found the Acaeum. It looks like an awesome resource. Thanks for providing so much info on the hobby!

Welcome Northwest.  Beware catching D&D Collectoritis!  A highly contagious condition which can leave your less money in your bank account and more stuff in your closet!  

Hey Guys...

I'm Dave Bernazzani and I'd classify myself more as an RPG player rather than a collector. But since I have piles of RPGs (and lots of TSR stuff) I guess I qualify for both.

I grew up a child of the 80s and got my basic D&D set around 1979. I'm sure we didn't play quite right - but we had a blast! I remember a couple years later there was some scare from the Church or parents about how D&D was some sort of corrupting influence. My Mom asked my Dad to sit in with us one night when we were playing. After about an hour, he got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. My mom asked him "well... what's it like?". He said, "I'd rather they be interested in girls, but it's harmless!". Heh - I got the Governor's Pardon and could continue to play!

I sold off a lot of my material in the late 90s... I sold a slew of it to Eric Pass (from Canada) who I see listed as one of the contributors here. Maybe some of my old books are scanned here!

I pick up material as I can at thrift stores and yard sales. Not just TSR stuff but for all RPG lines of any kind. I'm one of the architects of the RPG Geek (which is gaining me tons of new friends here!) and I organized the Unity Games list and Event (Unity Games - Official Website) - a volunteer effort to pull together boardgamers and related enthusiasts from the eastern MA area. We have our big Unity Games 16 event coming up next month and are expecting 300+ in attendance!

--
Dave Bernazzani
[email protected]

JohnGaunt wrote:Welcome, wavemotion.  Your new website has already been the subject of one thread before your arrival.

Thanks John... please call me Dave.  I saw the thread back in July just after I contacted Scott ([email protected]) to express interest in having members of the Acaeum help with the pre-1990 D&D content on RPG Geek. The thread didn't look like the friendliest of places to jump into the middle of and I had a growing punch-list of things I needed to get done before the site launch. As with everything in life: priorities. My second visit to the Acaeum (earlier this week) has gone quite smoothly. A few folks who have lost my initial respect but overall quite a knowledgeable and passionate group.

I spent years and years on Usenet in the mid 1990s so the flame retardant suit has seen its fair share of use. It's beginning to look downright shabby now!

-Dave

Hi, I guess it's time to introduce myself since I've been using your expertise a bit for a couple of months and I believe I've also sold an item or two to some of you. Thank you!

My name is John and I'm from Elmhurst outside of Chicago.  I started playing D&D in 1978 when I got out of college.   I was never a very good player but I loved being a DM (bad at that too) and reading D&D modules and related materials.  I preferred modules that weren't published by TSR  and would spend hours with my buddy going through the bins at Lyle's Hobby Shop (a good old fashioned hobby store)  looking for interesting items.   The few that I didn't throw out or lose I'm now selling here.  

My only claim to fame would be co-writing three, and a bit of a fourth, RoleAids supplements back in the 80s.   My writing parner Lauri was determined to become a D&D author after we played in a  tournament one year at the Chicago Wargamers Convention.  Being bad players we were unable to solve a puzzle at the start of the adventure that I think required knowledge of computers.  We couldn't do anything until the DM got frustrated and let us take over some droids and use them as an army to finally make some progress.   She was incensed and thought the scenario was stupid.  Droids?  When I pointed out that the game was written by a published writer she decided we could do better.  I don't know if we did or not.  Some things were pretty good but when I look back at some of it I think "did I write that garbage."   One funny thing about our first rejection.  When we offered Deadly Power to TSR they said, among other nasty things, that it was Judges Guild quality.   That amused me because if it weren't for Caverns Of Thracia I don't know if I would have gotten addicted to D&D.

I stopped playing and collecting around 1990 because with a child and other interests I just didn't have time.  Then I stumbled on this site and I couldn't believe how much some of this is worth so I had to find and start selling my stuff.   It's brought back a lot of great memories and I've even found things that I had long forgotten about.    Unfortunately I'm also starting to get the itch to start collecting.