Upper Works review?
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:24 pm 
 

. wrote:Quantity that sells is in my interest to stay low as I am an investor.

Runs contrary to the ethos of gaming though, as the majority of these end up with people who will either not use it due to rarity or not use it as they are just investors/resellers. Be willing to bet that of the hundreds sold, only 10-20% will be plaid with, and less that 40% will ever be read.

That's a damn shame, and one an official PDF would remedy.


Well, count me in the 10% list then.

I read EVERTHING I buy.
Unless its SWed, in which case I either already had one opened, or plan to soon.
Well,  almost never buy SWed items anyway so that does not matter much and seldom affects my choices.

I hope to play with everything (Gaming related) I buy too.

And I will either PLAY with my only copy of Upper Works or PDF the stuff and then play with the PDF copy.


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Post Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:45 pm 
 

serleran wrote:.... had they not gotten it out in some form, it may have been impossible to get it out at all.

And we must all be grateful of that.


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Post Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:50 pm 
 

I stumbled onto two copies.  I opened one, which I'll read, and hopefully use.  The other I'll hold and look to trade for something else juicy that I want.

  


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Post Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:40 pm 
 

I finally got a copy of the UW (thank you Rakeesh sah Tarna) so I'm a bit late chiming in.  This is a great product.  Best I've seen in years.  I'm glad to have it.

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Post Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:05 pm 
 

Rather than start a new thread I just though I would hijack this one to point everyone to a very interesting article by Gygax that mentions the original Greyhawk Castle.  James over on his Grognardia blog points to this old European Wargaming zine called Europa:

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/oldzi ... opa6-8.pdf

Be patient as it is a little slow.

Anyways this is from April 75, and Gygax's article on running a campaign is found on pages 18-20.  Related to this thread is that he describes the original 13 levels of Castle Greyhawk as it existed at the time.    I was just wondering since I don't have Upper Works if anyone could comment on a comparison.  Is there anything mentioned by Gary in the article that bears any resemblance to Upper Works?  For example it is mentioned that lvl2 contained a "Nixie Pool" & "a Fountain of Snakes", so is there anything like that on lvl2 of Upper Works, or on any level for that matter.


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:11 pm 
 

The problem with comparing Upper Works is that it's only the first (storeroom) level of the dungeon and the castle structures.  There are hints of things in the lower levels but there is no concrete evidence that all of the things from the original campaign would have been included.  

The Castle of the Mad Archmage project that was being done at Greyhawk Grognard might have those things in them (I've downloaded it in its current development but don't plan on reading through it until it's complete).


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:24 pm 
 

The info in the Europa article aligns with the materials I've read about the original Castle Greyhawk, although there are several new details in there that I hadn't read before (yay! :D ).  

The first level in Upper Works also matches the original level 1 map pretty well:  it's larger, but is pretty close in design to the original level 1 map, just made a bit less boring (Gary commented in some of his pieces that the original level 1 map wasn't a really good design, and I agree).  

So, based on that, I'm hopeful that the other level maps would have been at least clearly-based on the originals in some cases.  Pure speculation on my part, of course....

Ak'Ptui wrote:I was just wondering since I don't have Upper Works if anyone could comment on a comparison.  Is there anything mentioned by Gary in the article that bears any resemblance to Upper Works?  For example it is mentioned that lvl2 contained a "Nixie Pool" & "a Fountain of Snakes", so is there anything like that on lvl2 of Upper Works, or on any level for that matter.


The Upper Works only includes level 1 of the dungeons, Stephen.  Level 1 does include a room with a giant snake, but not the fountain of snakes, for example.  A few details were mentioned in Upper Works about deeper levels/side levels, but I'd have to go back to remember what they were (I probably mention them in my review, or at least I hope I did:  that'll be a lot easier to read than the box set over again ;) ).


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:56 am 
 

I am surprised there is so little trade in CZ and the accompanying products. Maybe it's ust what can be searched from the UK, but there seems to be little movement or resale in this campaign setting. Is it because everyone is sitting on what they've bought?

I've got CZ9 East Mark Gazetteer and CZ11 Moat Gate. ANyone know how much these are worth?


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:23 am 
 

I think people are sitting on them, in part because of apprehension about what they're really worth after that insane burn-through of a buy up.


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:39 am 
 

We've seen plenty of movement with CZ:UW. I'm just surprised the other products don't crop up that often. Especially seeing as the print runs are likely in the thousands. I'll take a look on Amazon, but their priced don't tend to be that accurate.


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:11 am 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:We've seen plenty of movement with CZ:UW.


By that you mean in the UK?


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:25 am 
 

What I mean is there have been enough copies of CZ:UW selling since Xmas last, that I can estimate the value in the market. Currently the market value of CZ:UW is sitting somewhere about the $165 mark. This explains the stock on Amazon, NKG and the odd auction that crops up, not moving or being bought.

If you want to sell CZ:UW, put it on eBay at $150 and it'll sell within a few days. But I haven't been able to monitor enough of the other CZ products to assess value.

There are too many CZ:Yggsburgh's on the market for it to become a collectable any time soon, however, it being the CZ campaign setting, and realistically, the core work for that campaign setting, it seems to be safe to assume it will not drop below $20 (unlike much of the hardbacks WoTC put out).

But the gazetteer, districts and the likes seem to have no predictable market value. CZ:EMG is listed on NKG at $55, on eBay at $49 and on Amazon at $999. But there are no past sales. Similar tale with the Districts, and I'm still looking for a copy of CZ:DC. Would just have expected a higher volume of sales, unless the product line is of such a quality that those who bought copies do not wish to get rid of them.

I also suspect that eBay UK now filters out large numbers of auctions just to be bloody minded.


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:46 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:What I mean is there have been enough copies of CZ:UW selling since Xmas last, that I can estimate the value in the market. Currently the market value of CZ:UW is sitting somewhere about the $165 mark. This explains the stock on Amazon, NKG and the odd auction that crops up, not moving or being bought.

In case you missed an Amazon copy that sold last month, you can add a data point at $189.99.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:24 pm 
 

There really doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in the other books aside from UW.



I picked up another Yggsburgh and Dark Chateau just the other day for $21.50:



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0162893850



The other books sell for similarly dismal prices but don't really come up all that often.

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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:36 pm 
 

I missed that one.  :(
Only really interested in DC though.


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:55 pm 
 

JohnGaunt wrote:In case you missed an Amazon copy that sold last month, you can add a data point at $189.99.


I've sold 5 copies through private sales from $130 to an acaeum member and $190, $190, $210 and $215 to non-members during the last six months.

  


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:48 pm 
 

Mars wrote:There really doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in the other books aside from UW.

I picked up another Yggsburgh and Dark Chateau just the other day for $21.50:


** expired/removed eBay auction **


The other books sell for similarly dismal prices but don't really come up all that often.




Arggghhhh... I was going to bid on this one but was travelling for work.  Glad to see it is going to a good home. :)


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:13 pm 
 

I bet I could sell them at that price and make a tidy profit.


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