Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 4:09 am 
 

benjoshua wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:Brimstone was $500.00 plus shipping/insurance.   8)

So why was Brimstone's price tag so much lower than Eye of the Dragon? Was it because Eye of the the Dragon had some sort of perceived heritage that Brimstone did not? Brimstone being a newly produced product that was a cashing in of the success of the original trilogy? Or was it a change in the economic climate that meant people just weren't willing to pay $1300 for Brimstone, but were willing to pay it the year before for Eye of the Dragon? $1300 to $500 seems to be quite a drop in price point.


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 7:58 am 
 

Eye of the Dragon utilized the original printed covers, which is why the number produced was limited to 32.  Not sure if that was the same case for Brimstone, but, if so, that means there were 50 original covers for it.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 8:48 am 
 

There were technically more than 32 original covers, but I believe the remaining copies were unnumbered and retained by the Hickman's and the four people that supported and funded the Eye of the Dragon module coming to fruition.  The Brimstone cover was "new", but the module was produced from the original vision and details for the cover and module content.

They are both really well done and it's an honor to be able to have them in one's collection.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:57 pm 
 

Did the content go on to make up some of the Dragonlance campaign?


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Post Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 12:52 pm 
 

If I recall correctly -- and I may be misremembering something -- the Hickmans originally planned for a five-module series: Rahasia, Pharaoh, Vampyr, Eye of the Dragon, and Brimstone. They sold Rahasia and Pharaoh to TSR, and Tracy joined the staff. Vampyr became, as you might imagine, Ravenloft (and so a Vampyr module was never produced). Eye of the Dragon and Brimstone remained untouched until the two new modules were created a few years back. Eye of the Dragon has aspects that reflect Dragonlance concepts (uh, dragons), but I don't think any of it was ever used by TSR in an adventure or novel.


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Post Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 12:59 pm 
 

That begs the question, if there was an Eye of the Dragon cover already produced, was there a Vampyr cover produced?


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Post Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 1:21 pm 
 

From the prior conversations on the topic, only the cover for Eye of the Dragon was produced.

I seem to recall that there might have been a mockup for Brimstone, maybe Vampyr too.

  

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Post Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 1:25 pm 
 

dbartman wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:From the prior conversations on the topic, only the cover for Eye of the Dragon was produced.

I seem to recall that there might have been a mockup for Brimstone, maybe Vampyr too.

I'd be interested in seeing that if anyone has a photo.
I remember a flyer from back in the day, but don't recall what was on that either.


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Post Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:57 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:I'd be interested in seeing that if anyone has a photo.
I remember a flyer from back in the day, but don't recall what was on that either.


Here's the link to Melnibonean's post from when EotD came out (which quotes a post from me):  Eye of the Dragon Photos

As far as I know, only covers to EotD were produced back in the day.

I recall the flyer you're referring to, but unfortunately I don't have a copy of it. I think Blackmoor does, since he posted a copy of it once (but the link to that is now broken). I thought it only had EotD on it, but can't be certain.


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Post Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:11 pm 
 

Thanks.
The flyer I remember is on page 3 of that thread.
Sadly it was EotD and not Vampyr that appeared on it.


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Post Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:40 pm 
 

This is the first time i spotted it:


** expired/removed eBay auction **


I would therefore find it rare enough to be mentioned here...


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Post Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 12:24 am 
 

Australian tourney adventure.. pretty sure I have one

Tome of Treasures :: View topic - Silverwraithe Quest (1983)


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Post Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:33 pm 
 

Looks like someone snagged that for a good price.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:41 pm 
 

How about the items from Claymore Games, like Armaron, Dunderhall, Claymore Castle, Eliburn, and Forcetta?  Search engines bring up few mentions. And I have never seen or heard of any set available for sale.  Am I just looking in the wrong place?  Are these less rare than I imagine, just impossible FOR ME to find?  I saw the mapset for Armaron and they are simply splendid!  Someone posted them somewhere a long time ago.

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Post Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 6:17 am 
 

ZardokhasSpoken wrote in Stupidly Rare Non-TSR Products:How about the items from Claymore Games, like Armaron, Dunderhall, Claymore Castle, Eliburn, and Forcetta?  Search engines bring up few mentions. And I have never seen or heard of any set available for sale.  Am I just looking in the wrong place?  Are these less rare than I imagine, just impossible FOR ME to find?  I saw the mapset for Armaron and they are simply splendid!  Someone posted them somewhere a long time ago.

Cheers!

Zardok

I spoke to the guys from Claymore Games before they closed down (mid to late 90's I think), and got a stack old maps and notes from an instore campaign that had run a few years before, and was more like an ongoing dip in and out affair on account of there always being a different set of kids playing. I think they had a regular party with their own characters running on a mid-week evening, and at the weekend they had a different party depending on who was there, using pregens.
Claymore Castle and the dungeon beneath it had full map sets (I believe because there are no unexplained staircases) which were hand drawn and printed on plan printing paper which is kind of yellow with brown ink. 4 or 5 floors IIRC spread over 5 sheets but there was some side-by-side thing going on there too. The castle was few maps on graph paper and a dozen or so sheets of notes. Then there was a binder of campaign maps, notes and characters, and a folder of typewritten draft to go with the maps (Armaron) and some mocked up card covers which had obviously been done on a photocopier indicating that they intended to small press about three different things.

It's been so long since the place closed. I did meet one of the original owners (of the store) again in the early 2000's at Claymore Games (the games convention that still runs to this day) and ask if he had any issue with me redrafting the maps and putting the info I had online. He didn't. I still try to go to CG every year, but last year was clash with something, and this year obviously was a blow out.

So, these are more like a homebrew dungeon, like World of Sarland (which was a set of 10 I think), Pit of Geburah, City of the Revenant or the Hobby Shop Dungeon, all of which appear to have been play tested and planned for release at some point, but none making it to full production. If I meet Bob again I'm sure we'll end up talking shop. Last time I talks to him he was standing manning stall selling wargames figures and decals, but that was 20 years ago.

As regards the others, the Pit of Geburah (Rob Kuntz) notes/draft was published digitally by RJK on his DVD Rom, whatever that was called. The Hobby Shop Dungeon was Kickstarted by Ernie Gygax. No-one ever got anything but the rights were re-sold again to TLG who published it, so Kickstarter backers can go to them for it and learn their lesson. City of the Revenant was a campaign city that appears to have gone through three or four playtests and adjustments, and was to be based in part on the proposed hardback Planes of Existence, being co-written by Steve Marsh and Gary Gygax. Internal politics at TSR seem to have killed the hardcover, ergo no need for the supplementary campaign to support its release. How much within them seeded the evolution of Planescape is open for discussion. Very few have access to the Planes of Existence MS, so they would have to comment if any light is to be shed. The World of Sarland name cropped up again recently, but I suspect it was just coincidence. I also seem to recall discussion of a novel based upon it, however, my research there was primarily discussions with the author as to whether he retained a copy? (At that point he did not. Shame because my copy had a missing page, and each page had about 5-8 room descriptions on it.) Did the author want a copy? (Yes please, so I sent him a copy.) And have you thought about publication? (Not at this time.) I am sure my copies of all of the above (Except PoE which I have never set eyes upon) reside within the collections of others here, even if they rarely visit. God willing, they are all still with us.


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Last edited by mbassoc2003 on Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 9:00 am 
 

Did Armaron come with a map key?  The map I saw indicated it was connected to Claymore Castle and Dunderhall, and had five mapped levels with a tunnel 'to deeper dungeons' iirc.  The maps were simply amazing.  With permission to reproduce these items, do you intend to?  I would love to help!  You have seen examples of what can put together, and in relatively short order if I have an outline.  It's sad to hear rumors of 'so-and-so is working with the author' to reproduce their work, and ten years later we still have nothing.  I redid Trouble at Embertrees complete with new maps for VTT (I ran my group thru it via Zoom this past March) and turned over the pdf to Grodog because he said he was working out details with the author to reprint it and Starstone (which I also have begun to transcribe and re-edit).  That has been over a year now with no word or whisper.   Anyway, point is, the Claymore Games maps are worthy of a resurrection, and I would be willing and able to offer my services.

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Post Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:45 am 
 

IIRC it came with a folder of notes, some of which had been typed out, most of which were still in hand written form. A lot of it was not fully connected, or not apparent what it was referring to. There were a few pages on language and diction for example that looked like they may have had a grounding in Gaelic, but not being a Gaelic speaker, I don't know. That said Tolkien's elvish sounds like its foundations are Gaelic also, and it runs through Irish, Welsh, Flemish and French, which then bleeds nicely into Spanish and Italian, so who the F knows. I'm guessing people just pick sounds that sound somewhat 'foreign' to them and build fantasy languages that way. So a lot of it was campaign setting as opposed to specific dungeon materials.

I do remember that both times I played in it the entrance we used was actually in through the lower level, once by boat to a bandits hideout like Seren Ironhad (although I haven't read it that's just my impression of that module). The other time through natural caves half way up a mountain and then repelling down to a dungeon floor. The castle itself sits on top a huge mountain at the centre of a very flat plain. WHF it does there, and how exactly it is strategic seems to be very illogical, and also whoever occupies it seems to have no bearing on the factions that mine the mountain for its resources. So it steps out of the realm of being congruent and internally logical and into the realms of pure fantasy in that sense. I like the maps because they're part of my teens playing D&D, but like most homebrew, the memory of being out of an evening with friends far outweigh the writing when you look at it in retrospect.

I do still have copies of the maps I'm sure, although I haven't seen them for probably 10 years, and I do still have the digital files also I think. As for the original folder with the original prints, I cannot be sure. I may have sold them during my fire sale about six years ago when I offloaded virtually my entire collection, or I may have passed it to a friend for safe keeping, or stashed it at my parents' house.

I did recently repost one of the maps that I has run through an art package over on Dragonsfoot, but I cant find it now.

Also, it was the process of converting the paper maps by hand into digital maps that got me back into drawing maps again, which was something I used to fill scrap books with at school. So for me producing maps is something I can do with ease. Graphically I much prefer the old school hadn't drawn maps that Dyson Logo among others have held onto. The problem of course is always producing a good quality product, and the maps do not do that. None of the manuscripts I mentioned make for a good product, maybe with the exception of the Hobby Shop Dungeon, but we've all seen what happened when Ernie tried to monetise that.


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 11:37 am 
 

Has Troll Lord released the Marmoreal Tomb?  I cannot find it available anywhere.  I know a beta version was released to backers but the full version still appears to be in production.  The maps I saw for Armaron were very intriguing, and I PMed you a link to a map that seems to be level 3 for something very similar.  So my offer still stands.  If you are interested in recreating the maps, I would be interested in trying to make sense of the keyed notes.  

Cheers

Zardok

  
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