grodog wrote:Like some early products, I'd always been interested in the ads of the games, but never picked them up; CE was one of those for me.  Do you have any good pointers for folks who may want to get started to play CE vs. collect every set (he says naively)?

For just straight play, the Avalon Hill version will definitely be the lightest on your wallet; it is readily available from a number of sources. The downside to the AH version: no expansions or other support from AH, and the components can be a pain in the ass.

For some extra coin, I'd personally recommend getting an edition from Eon. They aren't that rare (they are on eBay all the time) and they've got a "classic" feel to them, including art from old-school artists such as Dean Morrissey.

JohnGaunt wrote:Cosmic Encounter is the game that breaks its own rules (wasn't that the official tag-line for the game?).

"The game that breaks its own rules!" was the slogan for the Mayfair Games version. This is a highly collectible version, BTW, often fetching north of $200 on eBay.

JohnGaunt wrote:IIRC, one Race Card said that you could cheat as long as no other player caught you.

Ah, the famous (infamous?) Filch Wild Flare.

JohnGaunt wrote:I think it recently went OOP or at least back into dormancy.

The boardgame rights have reverted back to Eon, the original publisher (and the same folks who are currently supporting the game through CE Online). I have a very reliable source who says that a new version of the game will be out by Christmas of 2007.

+++++

Okay, sorry for the rambling CE discourse; let's see if I can get back on track here. Any interested collectors are invited to visit this page, which gives a nice breakdown of the complete history of the game:

Cosmic Encounter history page

Aha! You refer, perhaps, to this:



Spending more money on CE



That is known as the "deep box" version, and was one of the few variations that I was missing. Frankly, I probably overpaid a little bit (especially that pricey-ass shipping ).



For a complete Eon version with a halfway sturdy box, I'd say $35 to $50 is fairly typical. Check your boxes carefully; they are often thrashed.



Nice spot, though. I'm on a CE tear right now; who needs Christmas money?

Yeah, I could have worded that better. I meant pricey just in general (especially for someone who buys almost always from U.S. sellers), not necessarily that I think the seller is gouging me. I've ordered from them before, so I knew it wasn't going to be free.

That's not a bad-looking set. Still, it's similar to a lot of the mid-range D&D items we discuss on these threads: is the price unreasonable? No. But could you do $10 or $15 better by waiting for the next one? Quite possibly.

You could do worse, though, too. If you're interested and looking to treat yourself this Xmas ... hell with it, I say go for it.

(I just bought some CE stuff from that seller, too; let's hope he's as solid as the feedback seems to indicate).

Interesting WHFRP lot for UK based people:


** expired/removed eBay auction **




with Empire in Flames...

A rare french item, Amber's tarot illustrated by Florence Magnin.

Prices are always rising high for that.



tarot

What the heck is this?  Selling 10 copies?  Same with three other Dragon Press items?  



Something doesn't seem quite right . . .



http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Dragon-Tree-Spe ... dZViewItem

Ben Ezzell is the owner of Dragon Tree Press and the author/co-author of many of their books. It's his eBay handle and he's shifting his old stock.

Elmore Character Clip Art and Color Customizing Studio™

Over 200 OGL images and software to manipulate them.  Weird but potentially useful.  

. . .  
** expired/removed eBay auction **




FASA Star Trek RPG - Unpunched

. . .  
** expired/removed eBay auction **




A Very Large Lot - Potentially

. . .  
** expired/removed eBay auction **




[Edit: I have a Citizen Games module that I suspect used the Elmore images.  Citizen Games used headshots.]