What will be 'tomorrows' Woodgrain/ Tsojconth/ Fazzle?
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 2:54 am 
 

I'm sure the present grails will increase, but as to any "new" items entering the list, I just don't see it happening. Let's say Dungeon #274 was as rare as Fazzlewood, for example. Which will go for more? Obviously Fazzle, because it is HISTORY that makes rares worth more.


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:55 am 
 

Deadlord is right about the history.  The more I think about it, the more it seems clear that there can NEVER be another Tsojconth or Fazzlewood.  Dungeons & Dragons may stay popular for another century, but there can never be another "beginning".

Same applies to all collectible fields:  Never again will there be "tobacco" baseball cards, never again the beginning of Super-Heroes in Marvel comics, never another first  "Hess tanker truck" or whatever.

Tomorrow's Tsojconth?  Well, it is still out there. . . it just doesn't exist yet (or no one knows it does).  It would have to be something different -- something brand new and unknown that becomes legendary.

Role-playing games already exist -- there can never be another beginning to them.  Another game system would have to be developed -- perhaps somehow related, but it would have to be obscure and not mass produced.   That "new" system would then need to grow into a vastly popular and enduring icon of our culture with fans that continue on and rediscover their affection for it.

A somewhat later example would be Atari 2600 -- video games have endured and we all know how popular/common they are today.  It has created a legacy that traces back (in part) to the Atari 2600 system of the 80's.  Unopened/unused "heavy-sixer" Atari 2600 systems usually fetch around $350.  And there are some very rare, very obscure cartridges that can gather up to $1,000.  These were the "garbage" cartridges -- Atari let just about anyone (it seems) develop and sell games.  A couple oddball, unpopular "junk" games are now the rarest and most valuable of them all. . .  Just because there are enough video game fans who want a complete collection to pay out the ass for them.

So. . . just buy everything that comes down the pipe and keep it all MINT -- you should hit the "jackpot" on something (but not enough to make up for all the cash you spent on the worthless junk  :D  )


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 10:14 am 
 

Yes there can be another beginning!  If we look to the silver age of comics when comics we re-invented, that can be considered a new begining.  We speculate that D&D will remain popular and robust but it still may slip away and have to be reborn.  It almost happened when TSR went broke!

This is a very young hobby by collectable standards.  The rares are worth great cash for being published so recently in the past.  Game collecting is still in its infancy, just watch what happens in the next 10 - 20 years.

If you need a recent example, some of the small press stuff like the Necromicon and Recent Goodman modules sell at a premium.

Will there ever be another uber rare, maybe not, but in an industry this young it would be impossible to predict. :!:


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 1:17 pm 
 

If you use comics as an example (and it is a good one), you basically support my theory. Yes, comics were somewhat reinvented. Yes, there are recent issues that are worth a lot of money. But no, no comic will ever be published now or in the future that will be worth as much as Action Comics #1, or Amazing Fantasy #15. Historically, with any type of collecting, the first items produced are worth the most, whether it is Coke bottles, electric trains or RPG's. The reasons are easy to pinpoint. Let's take D&D, and jump 40 years into the future. At that juncture, woodies would probably be worth $10,000, but 3rd edition stuff would be worth a few hundred at best. Why? 1,000 first print woodies were printed. Right now, anything that WoTC decides to send to print is going to have a six-digit print run. And if it does well, it gets another six-digit run.
So 40 years from now, if I am a collector, am I going to pay big bucks for 3rd edition stuff, or am I going to pay big bucks for a woody?
Another consideration is that old modules look and feel old. That in itself makes them appeal to collectors. Compare a newer comic book to, say, Avengers #1 and what is the difference? Modernized art, different paper, etc. The newer comic LOOKS new, and therefore is not nearly as desireable to a collector.
Nope, no holy grails in the future.


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