formcritic wrote:Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home

ashmire13 wrote:
Now that's something I'm still looking to pick up and keep missing on ebay, so you can wait your turn on that one...    

Fill your boots on that one now Phi, I just picked a copy up for 99p!    

Welcome/welcome back, Eric.

Hi everyone, I wanted to introduce myself.  I'm George and I live in California.  I'm a 41-year old man that still wants to feverishly capture my youth!

I got introduced to RPG's in the late '70's with the 1977 boxed set, followed by AD&D 1e, followed by "other RPGS," such as Arduin and Gamma World.

I really enjoy collecting things, although my wife's impassioned disinterest in my collection keeps it somewhat in check.  

Over the past couple years, I developed a pretty decent collection of Micronauts, remember the interchangeable robotic toys from the '70's and '80's?  They were my favorite toy as a child.  Baron Karza and Force Commander bring back fond memories!

I would now love to embark upon a D&D collection.  I have such fond memories of my playing days, and it just makes my heart feel good (no other way to put it) to hold a vintage Monster Manual in my hands..

My other hobby that I've devoted extensive time to the past couple years is collecting and painting minis (exclusively Lord of the Rings).

Only other interesting "factoid" is that my middle name is Aragorn.  So, yes, my parents were Tolkien fanatics.  (Although I recognize that the creators of D&D say they weren't particularly influenced by Tolkien).

Now I have two questions:
1) Why does it seem like every EBAY posting either (a) goes for about twice the price that is listed in the Acaeum site, OR (b) is very beaten up?

2) The only way I could register for this site is through my work email - which isn't ideal.  But my only other sites are gmail, hotmail, and yahoo mail.  And Acaeum wouldn't let me register with these web-based mail.  The instructions say to use a "personal" email.  Does anyone have an example of what is meant by a "personal" email?

Thanks!
George

Thanks for the info - and nice to virtually meet you!

As for your questions (and someone let me know if I'm straying from the topic at hand):
1) Advice for rookie painter: use the web, you can get a lot of excellent tips & techniques!  Also, use good paints and water them down a bit so they will run into the cracks/creases better.  Make sure you use a good primer.  I personally use black primer because I can let the primer act as borderlines and shading in certain cases.

2) I personally like to use Vallejo paints.  I like the dropper bottles and the color choices.  (I find GW paints to be a bit "garish")

3) To prep raw metals, clip off any extra bits, then file down any rough edges, then wash them in mild, sudsy, warm water, and then prime them.

4) To get into TINY places, either use a TINY brush    or use slightly watered down paint and let it "flow" into the nooks.  This takes practice.

5)  To make the paint stay, I use a Matte spray primer.  Just make sure you spray completely out of the wind, otherwise the wind will clump up your spray and get clumpy bits on your mini.  I use GW matte spray, but I'm sure any brand would work fine.

I don't want to engender ill will by getting too far off topic, so let me know if I should be messaging you instead - since this isn't a collectorish topic.

Geo

Hi, I saw your post in the classifieds, but I was wondering whether you're looking for the manuals as actual first prints, or 1st editions.

From time to time we post items we see on Ebay in the "Interesting Items Currently on Ebay" thread. For instance, there is a 1st print of the Monster Manual that we've seen on Ebay currently, but there's a general consensus it's overpriced right now, especially in its condition.

Where are you located in California btw? There's a couple of gaming stores I could point you to in southern California (Los Angeles and Ventura) and another one towards San Jose.

Thanks for the painting tips.
I will surf the web for more stuff.
In this thread it is OK to stray for a few posts on other topics.
In fact, on this forum we tend to stray often and if it gets out of hand someone will say so.

gvaughn1 wrote: By the way, any good tips on collecting?

I.e.:
-Quantity vs. Quality - which is more important?  If you had $500, would you rather get one awesome product or 10-15 lesser products?  I supposed it varies.
-Completeness - do you prefer collecting complete sets of certain product lines, or just collect the items that most appeal to you?
-Usability.. do you like to actively read and use your collected items, or do you store them away in mylar to be untouched?

George

As for collecting advice.
As for each question you asked at the end?
There is no standard answer...

But it is easy enough in general.
Collect whatever YOU want to collect.
Whatever interests you at that time?
No other advice that I can give you will help you more than that.

What comes next?
If all I had was $500 and I wanted some items I could go through, read for a while and maybe even use in a game.
I would likely start with trying to obtain some mid-condition Adventure Modules.
Perhaps a single listing with several TSR Modules all in very good or better condition.
Something like that might run from $65 to $125 (possibly less or more), depending on conditions, which modules were in the lot, and how many.
If you can obtain a couple of those types of larger lots, you would have a decent start to your collection with just a few purchases.
BUT do not do that with overseas lots.
You will spend more on shipping than it would be worth in many cases and ask the US sellers of largeer lots to ship by Media Mail...
(I would of course never suggest doing that for expensive items though)

Another good thing about larger lots is that if anything in that lot does not interest you, you can re-list it and get some of the money back to use for buying something else later on.
MANY of us supplement our collecting habit (addiction) by enticing others to join us in the collecting habit (addiction) ...    

I like your classified ad with a wanted list.
That was an excellent idea for a start and you should get some responses soon from that post too.
I will look in my shelf for anything I might have that I can offer up for your collection.
Some of the items on that list will make your $500 leave your wallet very fast though.

Hello all.

The infamous Thork N Hammer, Esquire, has finally managed to scale the walls of The Acaeum. I am here.

I'm an old fart, with very little hair left on my head, but lots of adventures under my belt (both as player and DM) and many more rioting to escape from my pen(I like to write adventures...go figure!)

So, I hope I don't incite any riots while I'm here.

See ya all 'round the boards.

George and Robert, welcome to the sanctum!

ashmire, bbarsh, and everyone else - thanks for the warm welcome!

George