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simrion
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:14 pm

Nice nab and thanks for sharing FormCritic. I've a few sets of these and Reloaded as well. Definitely want to run them sometime. Wish the creators released their original which (I believe) they created for 1E

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Grug Greyskin
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:39 pm

FormCritic wrote:
<Rappan Athuk rant>

Your thoughts?

Powell's had a copy of R3 on E-Bay for around $45 not that long ago. I see it on the Amazon page as well.

Great review of a great set of modules. FWIW, the scale is clear on each map, and the vary from 5ft, 10ft, 15ft, 20 ft, 25ft, 40ft, 50ft, and 300ft per square, depending on the level. Not that confusing, just allows larger levels and spaces to be fit on one page.

Perhaps blasphemous, but I think Rappan Athuk is the greatest MegaDungeon ever produced, and RaR is my favorite RPG product of any edition.

Badmike
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:39 pm

Grug Greyskin wrote:
Powell's had a copy of R3 on E-Bay for around $45 not that long ago. I see it on the Amazon page as well.

Great review of a great set of modules. FWIW, the scale is clear on each map, and the vary from 5ft, 10ft, 15ft, 20 ft, 25ft, 40ft, 50ft, and 300ft per square, depending on the level. Not that confusing, just allows larger levels and spaces to be fit on one page.

Perhaps blasphemous, but I think Rappan Athuk is the greatest MegaDungeon ever produced, and RaR is my favorite RPG product of any edition.

IMO Undermountain is better, but for me RA is a close second. Interesting that these two are reallly the only true Megadungeons professionally published for D&D, as much love as our community has for this style of adventure. Very sad Castle Greyhawk, El Raja Key or another "name" from back in the day never got published.

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FormCritic
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:04 am

I would say that Rappan Athuk is a modest megadungeon. It is 15 levels, but the books themselves amount to only just over 200 pages including brik-a-brak.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 2:47 am

RAR may be 15 levels deep, but there are some 36 levels in it?
I don't think we'll see supplies of R1 and R2 disappearing anytime soon. There are thousands of the things in circulation, and a lot of people don't buy, either because they want to secure R3 first (to be sure of completing the set) or they want RAR. Add to that the horrifically bad presentation of R1, the maps are abysmal, and you have a product that most people will stay away from. Especially seeing as the PDFs are freely available online, and people can see what they'd be buying.

R3 and RAR will continue to be good investments, RAR particularly so, but both are close to their medium term stable prices. Abysthor has risen steadily over the last six months, but will also plateau at a simialr level to R3.

R1 particularly is hardly even worth it's cover price in the quality of it's production.

FormCritic wrote:Only thing is, it's in shrink, dang it!)

So you could be sitting on one of the missing golden tickets, and even though you can't collect, that golden ticket would be worth a fair bit of money.
There appears to be no decernable difference in value between a mint in shrink and a mint without shrink RAR. Provided they are stored well, there is no reason at present not to be able to shift RAR without shrink for $200+ and no reason to believe you'd do any better with the shrink on. So I'd suggest unwrapping and finding out what signatures are on the slip of paper inside.

Current values would appear to be...

Rappan Athuk 1 - Mint - $5-7
Rappan Athuk 2 - Mint - $8-10
Rappan Athuk 3 - Mint - $40-50
Rappan Athuk Reloaded - Mint - $170-200
Tomb of Abysthor - Mint - $50

As always, the presentation of the auction has a bearing on the price.

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

Last edited by mbassoc2003 on Fri Aug 21, 2009 3:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

FormCritic
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 3:07 am

Enlighten me about the slips of paper inside Rappan Athuk Reloaded?

And aside from the maps lacking grid lines, what is so bad about R1's production values?

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 3:18 am

Inside RAR, there is a little slip of paper, a certificate of authenticity as it were, signed by Bill and Clark, but, five are signed on behalf of various creatures and deities from within the modules, and those signatures were attached to claimable prises (dinner and a trip to GenCon with NG, a lifetime supply of free NG product, etc.) As I recall, only two were ever claimed. The remaining 3, whilest now unclaimable as NG are no more, would be worth something as a collectors piece in of themselves.

The cartography for R1 is up there with EGGs Hermit is that it's poor quality hand drawn crap, that was not even tarted up for the module but just scanned in in low res and pasted into the printer's file. Thankfully, they redrew the maps for RAR and set the bar quite high. They must have found a decent map maker at some point in the company's development, because much of the later stuff is presented really well.

FormCritic wrote:..., what is so bad about R1's production values?

Maybe it comes from me being a designer that I pick up on these things. Maybe the general reading public don't notice quality in layout, design, artwork and typesetting. You can see it in a lot of the early works of companies. Take a look at PPP's CotSK and see what jumps out as obvious things you could do to improve the presentation right off the bat.

That can be the case with a lot of the early stuff from companies. It's just that when you have a series like that, it's really obvious and a bit of a let down. Paper and cover quality is very noticable in some of their other products of the time, but when you consider TLG were banging out Crusader on a laser colour photocopier at the time, it's not as bad as it could have been.

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

Gnat the Beggar
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:14 am

FormCritic wrote: .....Fans of the series know that R1 and R2 are still relatively common on Ebayâ€¦although their price is likely to creep up in the near future as supplies dwindle. R3 is a bit more of a challenge. There are usually copies around, but the price has crept up as high as the $100 range in recent history. Copies offered for $35 have been available on Ebay and on Amazon, but I just couldn't pay for that.
.....
When we got home I decided to check Amazon just one more time. You never know! What I immediately hit was a new copy of R3 on Amazon for $15. I could not hit the instant purchase button fast enough.

Here's the link for the other copies hiding there. Go get em!:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ition=used

As I type, there are four other used-like new copies of R3 on Amazon for under $15, one for $18 and others ranging up from $30. It's a good moment for a D20 Acaeum guy or gal to BIN those babies while they're there!

.....
Your thoughts?

THANKS for the link to the Amazon sales.

I had a full set of RA 1-3, and had R1 and R2 for another, but like you, I was reluctant to pay $40 or more for the second copy of R3.

I just bought R3 on Amazon for $14.95 plus $3.80 shipping.
Sweet....
Now I will have two sets of Rappan Athuk and now some day I hope to obtain a copy of Re-Loaded.

I agree with your R-Rating assesment of the series too.
I like the story line and the series as a RPG, but I will not DM the grandkids through them.
Too graphic for young ones.

mbassoc2003: I agree with you about the low quality in the mapwork of the original R Series Module R-1 (Dont have the RAR book).

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carrejo
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:53 am

thank you for the heads up, just ordered a copy myself.....still on the look-out for a decent copy of RaR...

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:59 pm

Gnat the Beggar wrote:mbassoc2003: I agree with you about the low quality in the mapwork of the original R Series Module R-1 (Dont have the RAR book).

The whole mapset was recrafted. Much more professional. It was also expanded with a vertical section showing the relationships and links between the levels and sublevels, and the wilderness above was added. Altogether, the module set was revisited, corrected and repolished, into what is one of the best products ever to have been released for 3/3.5E. Deffinately one of the top five must haves of the past 10 years, along with CZ:UW et al.

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

FormCritic
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 3:36 pm

I'm glad you guys are snapping up those copies on Amazon.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 3:46 pm

Problem with Amazon is there is no way the seller or the buyer can tell each other what condition the book is in. Used could mean written in or surface damage to the cover, water damaged or whatever.

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

FormCritic
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:26 pm

All four of the copies for under $15 are gone...so Acaeum guys must have moved in fast.

There is still a copy for $29.95...which beats the copy at Powell's City of Books even with $3.99 shipping.

I would be interested in hearing if any of the other four copies arrive with problems. I have not had a problem with an Amazon purchase yet.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

astenon
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 1:55 pm

mbassoc2003 wrote:There appears to be no decernable difference in value between a mint in shrink and a mint without shrink RAR. Provided they are stored well, there is no reason at present not to be able to shift RAR without shrink for $200+ and no reason to believe you'd do any better with the shrink on. So I'd suggest unwrapping and finding out what signatures are on the slip of paper inside.

Based on your suggestion I removed the SW, only to find Bill & Clark's signatures... I feel so violated.

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 3:35 pm

Ah well. Along with 994 of the rest of us.
Still, they remain to be found.
You're damn lucky to have found a copy. Where'd you get it? eBay?
I'm giving serious consideration to buying and stock piling RAR. It's a great product.

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

FormCritic
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 3:37 pm

I know that I certainly like the box!

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Mars
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:14 pm

I had a copy in shrink that I bought last summer. I stared at it for a little while but wanted to know if it had the golden ticket as well so I cracked it open.

astenon
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:51 pm

mbassoc2003 wrote:Ah well. Along with 994 of the rest of us.
Still, they remain to be found.
You're damn lucky to have found a copy. Where'd you get it? eBay?
I'm giving serious consideration to buying and stock piling RAR. It's a great product.

I got it from my LGS a few weeks ago, where- no doubt- it had sat since it was ordered!

... No, he didn't have any more!

If you do go to Game '09 in Manchester, maybe I'll sell you mine.

The Acaeum Forums • Collecting General - Non TSR

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