Mars wrote:It seems to me that the small press stuff was the early interest, then moved into AD&D later.  The WGR1 is the second print, etc so that 1st edition modules were skipped.

With that run of Abyss somewhat underpinning the earlier timeframe and a couple of other items "on the side". Does look almost like two totally separate collections, both more-or-less unused, as that is: but why buy so many hex sheets, pads, etc. if not playing? Strange indeed!

Mars wrote:The Black Vial, Weres

+1

Mars wrote:Also interesting that the city this lot was found in is the same place that SimperingToad picked up a Pharaoh from about a month ago.  Time for a trip to Saskatchewan.

Someone's game shop did a bulk purchase bitd, eh?

TheHistorian wrote:That's weird.  I wonder if there were some for sale at a con there thirty years ago, or if a couple friends each ordered copies.

Or the latter?
(Did Saskatchewan have cons in the early 80s? *jk*)

No luck in tracking down a copy of any of the tournament adventures though.  Kelly Sturch passed away a while back and Dan Hatchen has spent the last many years trying to clear his name.  I even tracked down the person who bought the store after Kelly passed away but got no response

Still hopeful that one day more tournament modules will pop up out of Saskatchewan.

Great find, Mark!

I noticed Vial right away. Blows Pharaoh away in rarity, I think.

I could not get the pics to laod fron page 95 of Marks Haul.
Might be my browser, but I do not know.
Anyone esle having trouble seeing those pics?

Strange but it did load the pics this time.

One word.

thanks a true haul, irrespective of any rarity, only an amount of items I'd dream of! Congrats Mark

RaisedFromTheDead wrote:I noticed Vial right away. Blows Pharaoh away in rarity, I think.

to the degree that most of us are familiar with The Black Vial, it's because of it having been listed in heroic worlds. I want one too, for that very reason. I was going to Gencon when that item was released, and never saw it. I was shopping at many great game stores around the country and never saw it. I doubt it is very good (though i could be wrong, and will be happy to hear a review from mark). having said that because my want list is at around 150 items that are getting increasingly hard to find, if one came up on ebay i'd pay up for it. but nowhere near what i was willing to pay to get my pharaoh. having been written by hickman, AND given that there aren't many left,  it is understandable why it commands a high price. black vial in that sense to me is closer to a home brewed item: possibly poorly done, limited distribution, no fanfare other than it's heroic worlds listing. we occasionally pay too much attention to mediocre work that some guy produced 50 copies of in his basement in 1979 and sold at 3 London (or L.A.) game stores. while it's fun to ferret out these (mostly) stale nuggets, they really don't constitute a meal. all of this having been said, yes, i'd love to convince mark to sell it to me...

Excellent haul, Mars.  Much envy.

Mars wrote:
The two main cities in Saskatchewan (Regina and Saskatoon) had a couple really good game stores back then.  One was called The Wizard's Corner
The Wizard's Corner was also advertised in Dragon Magazine a number of times too.

Oh wow.  I lived in Saskatoon '80-'83, and that was where I discovered D&D.  I went to school about 5 blocks east of Wizard's Corner, and I loved the place to bits.  Was the owner called Kelly? I remember him as a scary old dude (probably a venerable 30 years old) with a straggly moustache, reading Cults of Terror behind the counter where they displayed the painted minis.  For a while there he got practically every nickel I made by way of allowance and lawn mowing.