An answer from The Man Himself

Quote:
(Originally Posted by Mars)  
We have been trying to sort out the printing history for the Volume 1 and Volume 2 Kalamar books. I think we have surmised that the following versions exist:

2 editions of the books as follows:

1st Edition: Volumes 1 & 2 sold in a ziplock bag with maps, hex overlay, comment card.

2nd Edition: Volumes 1 & 2 sold in boxed set with maps and hex overlay

Volumes 1 & 2 also sold individually with loose wraparound colour covers

Were Volumes 1 & 2 also sold individually without the wraparound colour covers? There seems to be lots of these books around - I think too many for them all to have lost their loose colour covers along the way.

Appreciate the help!

[Quote ends here]

as Jolly said, this is correct, basically. (we also sold flat, unfolded poster maps, and some heraldry of the various Deity symbols)

A few points you miss re: funding. We published the Monty Python and the Holy Grail CCG in 1996. That funded everything for the next 3 years-ish. We obtained funding from a bank loan (believe it or not), based on our business model, license and business plan.

Jolly came on board and we used the CCG money to print KoDT and by issue, I dunno, maybe 10-12 KoDT became profitable. It funded the Kalamar Quest books and new comics (KoDT Illustrated and HackMasters of Everknight...also Avalon). All that together funded the 3e Kalamar and HackMaster 4th releases, which in turn fueled K&C for several years.

Hope that helps.

I'm missing a couple too, but different ones, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they're all in the same general ballpark.



Except maybe the map set.  That I think is probably harder to find.  If it helps, you can see one here:  
** expired/removed eBay auction **

A complete answer from DSK:  http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/showthread.php?p=913645

So, pretty much as we had surmised.




Text, if you don't want to click...

Given the interest from the other thread, I thought I'd save some time and let you know what's what.

The first printing was supposed to be 2000 copies. The maps were done first (2000 of each poster map -- 1000 pairs folded and 1000 flat). We only had 500 covers available and began selling it at origins 1994 in San Jose Ca. The dark grey heavy stock cover, 2 books (Sourcebook of the Sovereign Lands and Mythos of the Divine and Worldly) packed in a plastic bag with two maps and a hex grid overlay (alternatively, at the con, one could purchase the maps flat and rolled in a cylinder instead to avoid the creases). Only a few of those went through distribution, most were sold that summer direct at Origins and then GenCon.

That fall we printed ~5000 boxes (the burnt orange cover of the ranger facing off against the stone giant) and another 4000 or so maps. We also re-did the layout and reprinted the books (still 2 volumes), this time with a less expensive sepia cover. This was the boxed-set.

Around 1996-7 we began selling the books individually, but they didn't have a color cover so we printed a 2-sided 11x17 poster with a cover for each book and shrinkwrapped it over each volume. This allowed us to sell them individually for a cheaper entry point than the $30 boxed set. The Sourcebook of the Sovereign lands had the maps with it.

A couple of years later (2000-1) we revamped the books, added in a city book that Lloyd Brown submitted (this became integrated into the main text) and some other features to make the 3.0 hard back campaign setting D&D book. By then we were sold out of the originals (other than a few copies of overflow that didn't match -- we had extra Vol 1s and not enough Vol 2s to make matched sets any more).

After 4.0 D&D came out we made the 4.0 PDF product (which, of course, incorporated the Atlas).

Personally, I'm most looking forward to the next version...

Hmm, thought this was settled, but this is the box set with 1st print books, instead of 2nd.  I guess some must have been left over to be used in the boxes... maybe?




** expired/removed eBay auction **

But (in theory) if Kenzer had extra 1st print books laying around, and threw some in boxes when they were assembling them, would that be a Frankenstein?

Says it has maps.  May be able to see one in the lower corner of the second picture (still in the box).

Mars wrote:Hmm.  Quite possible then - makes me want to crack open my shrink box to check it

Zip it!!!

I won this boxed set and received it today. And it is a different print.
The box itself is the same as the 2nd print. However, maps included do not have the mention on bottom: "The kingdom of Kalamar is produced blah blah blah". The bottom is blank. So at least two different prints for the map, which leads to 2 different prints for the boxed set. BTW, the greyish books have been included in the 1st print of the boxed set.

I have a sheet reproducing the back of the box, but with "Welcome Friend, to a riveting realm of high fantasy" on top of the sheet (which is not written on box). And no hex sheet is included.

I have 1100-1107, 1109-1113 and 1115, but no 1108 or 1114. I have never heard of Death Isle.