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... the lure of the Dark Side is too powerful not to have a taste of....  

I've been posting here for more than four years, and lurking for at least  as long before I registered, and yet I have shamefully never gotten around to introducing myself.

So here goes…

I have been collecting D&D stuff since the 1980s, but only really seriously since the mid-1990s. I started collecting because I was attempting to create an index of all "official" D&D monsters ever published. (A task I eventually "finished" in 2008.) But by the time I'd done that, I had a significant collection, and it seemed a shame not to continue on to fill in some more of the gaps.

My collecting habits can best be summed up as "any official D&D game products". I'm edition agnostic, so everything from the original boxed set right up to the latest 4e products are fair game. I don't (generally) collect toys or licensed merchandise, something has to have some in-game application to interest me.

While my collection is a bit lacking when it comes to many of the rarer items, it is quite broad. I have very nearly every game product released for 2nd, 3rd and 4th edition, and about 98% of stuff sold for original D&D, BECMI and 1st edition AD&D. I have complete runs of Dungeon, Polyhedron, Polyhedron UK, Imagine and White Dwarf up to #93 (except #1, which I am missing). A notable gap is my collection of Dragon Magazines. I'm still missing about 40 of the earlier issues, something I'm gradually working on.

I live in rural South Africa, in a place called Madibeng in North West province. We named our home "East", just to be able to say that we live in East, North West, South Africa. Yes, I know that's ever so geeky! This places me at a significant geographic disadvantage when it comes to collecting. But on the other hand, I suspect that I can claim to have the largest D&D collection on at least one continent, so there is that. As an aside, I'd like to thank anyone who has ever put a D&D item up for auction on ebay and not excluded my continent from shipping. I appreciate that most sincerely.

I am still an active gamer, hosting D&D sessions once or twice each month. But I spend a lot more time on the collecting side of the hobby than I do just playing. Over the last year I've been working on a series of "Collector's Guides" over on ENWorld. These don't contain even remotely the depth and level of detail available here on the Acaeum, but are (I hope) a nifty short list of products for each D&D campaign setting and edition. (Example: Ravenloft Collector's Guide)

To wrap up, since I first found this site, it has taught me a vast amount about the history of D&D. I've been lucky enough to buy choice items from some of the esteemed members of this community. And once or twice I've even been able to help someone fill a gap in their collection. These forums are on a very short list of places I visit every day. My thanks to everyone who makes the Acaeum tick!

hey guys,
now that i think of it, I've never had the politeness to introduce myself either...

My name's Luca, 39 yo from the fog ridden city of Bologna, Italy...
As for Echohawk, I've joined the forum years ago, albeit not posting too much (i.e. almost never), and i have had the pleasure of doing business with a few of you guys - heck, I even met Doug in person when he came to Italy in 2008 and brought me the scandalously over-priced copy of the Ghost Tower of Inverness i had bought from him..

I started to play D&D when I was 15, and I never stopped since, going from D&D to AD&D, to 3rd ed, 3.5 and recently going back to the retro clones.
I started owning my first modules and rulebooks soon after i begun DMing for my fiends, and the urge to own all the material i wanted to use never left me. In the end, I realized i unknowingly transformed myself into a... COLLECTOR!

Over the years I decided to set my goal as possessing all the published items for D&D, preferrably SW. (don't ask me why, some dayy I just woke up and decided that shiny Shrinkwraps were better than open modules...)
So far, I probably have 80-90% of the publications, and many of them SW.
I also have complete collections of 3 and 3.5 items, most of them 1st prints, but I drove the line at that. No 4th ed. heresy for me.
I just finished to catalog them, I'll make a point to find some time to snap some pictures and post them, if I'll ever understend how to do this

I'm still well behind when it comes to the rares, but I'm trying to catch up... Last year I brought to Italy my copy of the 1st printing woodgrain, Huzzah! )

Thanks for having me in the community, and thank you guys for the never ending well of knowledge I can tap on in these boards
I know that Italy is already represented here by such important figures as Alexander, but if I can be of any help for something just let me know.

game on and ciao!

Hi superkella,

Always nice to have more folks from countries other than Canada and America.  Good Luck with the SW - that's too expensive and fustrating for me to try.

Martin

I need to move to Greenland. It's the only way I'll ever possibly distinguish myself as a collector .

Echohawk wrote:Or Antarctica; the competition for D&D collections can't be huge there  

Except that what you think is a shrinkwrapped copy of Tegel Manor lying in the snow is actually.. the Thing.

dryan wrote:Hi, this account is between myself and my son, mainly because we used his email. He and I have been playing dnd for years, myself since the 70s and him since 3.5 came out.

I had stopped in the 90s but with my sons interest we have run campaigns together and it has really been a bonding experience.

welcome to the forum!

dryan wrote:Hi, this account is between myself and my son, mainly because we used his email. He and I have been playing dnd for years, myself since the 70s and him since 3.5 came out.

I had stopped in the 90s but with my sons interest we have run campaigns together and it has really been a bonding experience.

Another 3.5 player!!!!  


Welcome.