Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:19 pm 
 

beasterbrook wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:
I don't track what I spend.. plausible deniability

Brette:)

... or an instinctive mechanism to avoid depression?
I look back at buying City of the Revenant in 2005 and the intervening 15+ years, and sometimes I ask myself what the F have I been doing all this time, and what have I actually achieved with my expended effort? I just know I'll find this thread again in another 15 years and realise I'm still expending time, money and effort doing the same things.

I came across more for the list...

The Golden Spire - A four page free adventure from Beast Entz circa. 1986. I know of 2 copies.
Byrony Royal Herald - A d20 Wilderlands inworld 'zine from James Mishler
The Snowcrystal Odyssey Series of Dungeons by Fantasy Aids Unlimited
The Warwick Supplements from The Warwick Working Party - I've still never seen a picture of Supplement 2
The World of Nimolae
Uncle Ebeneezer's Will from Metro Detroit Gamers

and maybe...
Pitfall by Inner City Games Design
Pegasus #14 from Judges Guild


This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.


Last edited by mbassoc2003 on Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:25 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:... or an instinctive mechanism to avoid depression?


..no more like avoiding an epiphany that I spend too much on my "hobby".. I could be retired by now! :roll:

Brette:)


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 10:27 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:I came across more for the list...

The Golden Spire - A four page free adventure from Beast Entz circa. 1986. I know of 2 copies
The World of Nimolae
Uncle Ebeneezer's Will from Metro Detroit Gamers
Pitfall by Inner City Games Design


I have those! :)

Some others to ponder:
- Mercury Fantasy/Games: prepub Spider Mother
- The Tome of Mid-Kemia booklet
- Fluffy Quest (two editions/versions)
- EPT’s Mitlanyál two-volume set (pre-pub?)
- RPGA Fist of Emirikol die and rules sheet

Allan.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 1:21 am 
 

Allan I thought Tome of Mid-Kimia was sort of a listing of their house rules as opposed to an RPG publication? I have a copy of the Palladium guys house rules like that from about 30 years ago.
What do you mean exactly by Lair of the Spider Mother "pre-pub"? Are you referring to an editorial copy or an earlier version that was released to the public?
When you mention Mitlanyal "pre-pub" are you referring to the 30 copy printing of it? I believe I have Dave Arneson's copy of that.
I have all but about five of the items listed so far in this thread, but I bet the numbers for Brett and Mark are similar.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 1:39 am 
 

Oh yes, to get back to Dead's comment agreeing with me "about the old days". I mentioned when I joined the Acaeum how things got passed around. I was not in that club of course since I had been trying to get one of every FRP paper-based item published (in English) for over 20 years before I joined the Acaeum. I was mentioning that I witnessed this activity in others. Most people were not in a buy and hold until death mindset. Items started to push into four digits however, and since most folks could not tie up thousands (let alone tens of thousands or more) on their hobby this encouraged items to move about. Prices are up across the board, some of which is sustainable and some of which is not. While I have not been surprised at the rising prices of super rare items, I have been surprised at the way modules covered in plastic (aka "shrink") have doubled or tripled in price lately. I think some people care more about the quality of the shrink wrap than the quality of the underlying item.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 4:56 am 
 

I've been surprised by the rise in prices of what I would consider merely common non-TSR items. Such things as the five Gamemaster publications, the Complete Dungeon Master series, etc. These used to max out at $20. Or things like Seren Ironhand which would max out at $50-$70 and would probably now hit $150-$200.

I don't know whether that is eBay's forced move into the retail sector and their destruction of the small hobby seller, or greater awareness of the products of yesteryear brought about by the quality of the OSR and discovery of how easy and open products were to be converted to OSR and 5E rulesets, or depreciation in the value of the dollar and the increases in overheads. I'd imagine its a case of all of the above.

I have this general feeling that less visible product from eBay is being picked up by collectors on the site, and there seems to be fewer newer collectors and/or less excitements about collecting than there used to be. eBay has built itself into a shop window where resellers polish their products and display them to say, 'look how good a shop I am', but have no real intention of selling to anyone, rather they are there to complete with other sellers to have the best shiny products in their catalogue. The nature of online retail with books is that they take up so little room that you do not need turnover to maintain the image of a successful online reseller. You just need the time to polish your image and enough churn to pay your fees (or enough residual income from elsewhere), and you can maintain your standing and cross your fingers waiting for the muppet who has $2K to blow on something he could have bought 10 years ago for $400.


This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:32 am 
 

Badmike wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:sadly, many collectors still fail to communicate to relatives the actual worth and scarcity of what they are holding, or the relatives left holding the bag simply don't have the time or effort to get the value of the collection by selling it piece by piece. I guess the upside (?) is that instead of being locked away some of these beauties get out to the general public this way.


Mike B


Oh, I beg to differ, Mike. My wife knows the value of everything I own down to the penny; in fact, she has a permanent indentation of Lincoln's head impressed on her right index finger.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:48 am 
 

dbartman wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:If someone is interested, you could try reaching out to Melnibonean or Stratochamp to see if there are any copies left.  It's been a while since anyone has inquired.


Could either Melnibonean or Stratochamp update this thread on these products (Eye of the Dragon and Brimstone) availability or in unavailability?   8)


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:59 am 
 

Is there a picture of Brimstone anywhere?


This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 5:22 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:Is there a picture of Brimstone anywhere?


Here are mine:

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:37 pm 
 

Who’s got one in vg or vg+... or Fine except for some highlighter?

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:40 pm 
 

Scott may have a copy or two of Brimstone left.
I have an extra copy of Eye of the Dragon, but I have no intention of selling it. We didn't make them to profit, just to break even.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:46 pm 
 

What about Chevalier, the precursor to Chivalry & Sorcery, by Simbalist & Backhaus?

  


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:20 pm 
 

stratochamp wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:Allan I thought Tome of Mid-Kimia was sort of a listing of their house rules as opposed to an RPG publication? I have a copy of the Palladium guys house rules like that from about 30 years ago.


It's a small-scope publication (60-100 copies is what I think that MP folks said) of the setting info/intro, and house rules/interpretations of what D&D means to them.  Your memory's correct, Bill.  Details at probable non-TSR discovery - The Tome of Midkemia

stratochamp wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:What do you mean exactly by Lair of the Spider Mother "pre-pub"? Are you referring to an editorial copy or an earlier version that was released to the public?


Yes, I bought a dot-matrix version of Spider Mother back at the Northeaster Con in North Jersey where I played "Treasure of the Dragon Queen".  It was definitely commercially available prior to the printing of the final digest booklet; details at non-TSR update on Mercury Games

stratochamp wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:When you mention Mitlanyal "pre-pub" are you referring to the 30 copy printing of it? I believe I have Dave Arneson's copy of that.


I'll have to look to see the limitation on it, Bill.  I had the EPT boxes out recently so should be easy to confirm :D

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Post Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:21 am 
 

Thanks for the reminder in that Mercury Games thread. I forgot that I won those other two Mercury Games items (and the other unpublished items).


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Post Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:39 am 
 

stratochamp wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:Thanks for the reminder in that Mercury Games thread. I forgot that I won those other two Mercury Games items (and the other unpublished items).


De nada. I’m still interested in checking those other unpublished Mercury manuscripts out sometime, once we can get together post-COVID. I corresponded with them a little after the con, and my friend Alex did some art for them for a project that was never published. I may still have a photocopy of that piece, come to think of it.  I’ll have to look for that too, now ;)

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:33 pm 
 

Eye of the Dragon and many other rares listed by same seller:

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:55 pm 
 

Out of my price range already. Lol.
Besides, if it landed on my desk I'd scan it.


This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

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