Hello everyone. I am 37 years old and I started playing D&D (and AD&D) around 1982, if memory serves. Played several years, then (this will sound familiar to most of you) the group broke up due to "life". I did play again for about a year in the mid '90s....but again "life" interfered. I no longer play pen and paper D&D, but do enjoy the occasional computer D&D game, such as the Baldur's Gate series, etc. Most recently I discovered Neverwinter Nights, and have been having fun playing through some of the old pen and paper modules that have been converted over.

As far as collecting goes, I gave away most of my stuff from the '80s   , and then in the 90's, when I started playing again, I got the fever to replace everything I used to own. I did this, and more.....much more. The collecting fever hit me hard and I bought extensively from eBay, online resellers such as the Sage's Guild, Dragon's Trove, etc., and rec.games.frp.marketplace. "Life" interfered again, and I have not done any buying since around the time 3rd edition first came out.

Recently, I have gotten the urge to resume my collecting and hopefully complete my 1st edition AD&D, and perhaps early D&D collections.

The Acaeum is a wonderful resource. There was nothing anywhere near this good when I was collecting in the mid '90s. Kudos to the webmaster!

Good stuff in my collection? Well, nothing really rare, like many of you seem to have. I have all the pastel AD&D 1st ed modules (I think), and most of the colored ones. I have all the 1st ed hardbacks (but not all printings) with original covers, including the Deities and Demigods before they edited out the Cthulhu mythos.   I tend to focus on Greyhawk, and I have all the Greyhawk specific stuff (WG series, box set, folio, etc.), up to when 3rd edition came out.  I have a white box "OCE" original D&D set, as well as the supplements for it. I also have a good amount of 2nd ed stuff, most of which I suppose doesn't have much collectors market value yet.

What are my goals? Well, first of all I want to finish getting any 1st ed AD&D modules that I may not have (TSR stuff only, for the moment). I also may attempt to complete my collection of "B" series basic D&D modules. I will be keeping an eye out for some real "rares" to add to my collection, such as an orange B3, and some of the tournament modules like Lost Tomoachon, etc.

Well, I seem to have gotten long winded, as I often do. I look forward to participating in these forums and talking to you people who share my weird hobby.

Name: Byron
Age: 32

Starting playing back in 1979.  Got the DMG for my birthday.  My Mom said the worst present she ever bought me.

I didn't like reading until I got that book and it was tough reading for me back then.

I don't have anything truly rare.

The thing I enjoy most is getting a stack of AD&D stuff, and looking through the maps, notes, and character sheets that people had filled out long ago.

I've managed to get everything that was available back then that I wanted but couldn't buy.

Haven't played in a very long time.  Just buy now and read the stuff.

Greetings,

I'm 32 years old and I first started playing D&D, with the Basic set then out, in about 1980, I think, when I was 9.  But it might have been a bit before or after that.

I never played all that much until hitting college in the late 80s, early 90s.  Then I was playing 1E AD&D quite a lot.  I also got into 2E when it started - then I moved and didn't play for a long time, not until 3E came out and then I found a new group (and some from an old group) and was playing again.  Now I'm on another pause while working full time and in law school.

I never really collected anything - I just sort of picked up a large amount of 1E, 2E, and now 3E material as I went through life... along with some other game systems like RuneQuest, Paranoia, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, etc.  The only other serious gaming I did was Shadowrun - I have everything ever published for that one.   Loved that game, but haven't played it in a while either.  (Never really played, just ran it).

Ah, but on to collecting - I was a kid on vacation in LA with my parents when I ran across something I had never heard of before - a GAMING magazine, with all sorts of goodies in it!  Yes, it was Dragon Magazine, issue 63!  I'll always remember that cover.  It had the 'Bandit' NPC class.  I was so excited I started looking for other issues and at a different store I found issue 62.  When I made it home I immediately subscribed and that started with issue 64, which continued through 89.  Then I was out of it until college, when I subscribed again.  At that point, it was into the 100s and I decided I wanted to fill in the issues I missed.  That I managed to do, and in the process, I was at an old used bookstore and I noticed something I had never seen before - The Strategic Review, the last issue.  I knew that predated Dragon, so I asked the guy there if there was anything else like that, and he pulled a box out of the back filled with old Dragon Magazines, going back into the teens, with a handful even older than that, including Issue 2.  It filled in everything up into the 50s.  I told him to hold it, I left, went to an ATM, and got a few hundred out and bought the lot.  And after that huge purchase, he decided to 'throw in' the magazine I found that led me to the Dragons, The Strategic Review, for free!   That was it - I vowed now to get every single last issue of Dragon that I didn't have.  It took years, but eventually I did it.  

So I have a complete collection of Dragon magazines, including The Strategic Review issues.  Oh, and I also have every issue of Dungeon magazine as well.  

Aside from that, I don't think I have anything of that great a value.  My 1E stuff is all stuff that came out in the 1979+ era, though I do have several copies of PHB 1E, some of which are from earlier printings.  And Dieties and Demigods, with Cthulu, which I first heard was 'rare' but subsequently learned was not, but since it was all after I had bought it originally when it came out, it didn't really matter.  

I have some friends who have a bunch of the older stuff and they collect as well, but they don't have the magazines.  

I do enjoy collecting, but only certain, limited things.  I like old D&D stuff, but I probably won't collect it with anything like the fervor of the Magazines.

I do have a bunch of miniatures - most of them from very old sets - I have painted them and continue to do so when I have the time - I find it relaxing.  It is fun to paint minatures I've had since I was 9 years old (unpainted, of course).  

That is probably too much information...

G'day.

Looks like I fit the mould - mid-30's, started playing in early high school.  Several years ago, stopped playing due to a break up of my long-term group due to interstate shifts and shifiting priorities.

I'm trying to recover much of a collection which went missing (near-complete 1st Edition and Forgotten Realms) in a house move interstate.  Hurting the wallet, but coming on.

I'd be keen to hear from Canberra (Australia) locals who might like an occasional game.

Steve C

Sorry about deleting my inititial introduction but I'm back...

I'm Jamie and am in my thirties like almost everybody else.  

I started playing in the late 70's and haven't played since the mid 80's.

I'm now a collector who is looking for first prints in great condition of all the original ad&d hardbacks, especially a true first Players Handbook.  Right now my favorite piece is a first print Monster Manual only in good condition.  I have a small house and am trying to keep only the cream of the crop.  

I do resell items that I tire of or the flotsam and jetsam that come in big lots I sometimes buy.  I don't really consider myself a "reseller" but I do occasional snap up something just for resale.  My wife hates this hobby and an occasional windfall keeps her happy.  I recognize some of your names from bidding and am happy to have found this forum.

I have been using the Acaeum's pricing index for a few months now and would like to thank the sites admin for all the hlpful informatin they've compiled!

Name: Dave
Location: Seattle
Age:29

I began collecting in 1990, and I still collect what I can here and there. I am an X-WOTC employee, so I have some interesting items.

I play D&D and Star Wars with a group including Kate Grubb and Steve Miller.

This site is great! Keep up the great work.

Hello everyone,

My name is Scott and I live in Milwaukee, WI.

I'm 31 years old and have been playing and collecting games for about 17 years.  I got hooked at the Gen Con 19 Auction and have been collecting ever since.

I mainly collect Gen Con related stuff and TSR games.

Name: John
Age: 31
Location:  Brick, NJ

Greetings,

Like most people here, started playing back in about 1979-80 with the basic D&D set from my brother.  Always been more of a player then a collector, but I've started to collect some of the early OD&D stuff.  I'm mostly interested in the LJN line of toys, stuff like that.  Still play, mostly 3.5 Living Greyhawk, but occasional break out some of the 1st AD&D modules.

Including tourneys.