A homebrew that was eventually published (or self-published)? Is that what we're looking at here?

This is an interesting saga. At the very least, it's got some actual history behind it, unlike one of our more recent laughable attempts to score a quick buck.

I'm sure that this one was a self published effort and ranks just slightly higher than a homebrew - it was at least typed up and has a cover.  Although , in the scheme of things I don't think this one ever got out of Ohio.

I'll have to go back through my Tom Moldvay materials to see if Carl Perkins was someone who did playtesting or otherwise was also involved to some degree (since Moldvay also lived in Ohio):  the name still rings vague bells, and I don't own the Serpent of Me'tal....

I just got his OK to post the entire email so here it is:



from John Barnes <johnbarnes16.AT.hotmail.D0T.com>

to Jerry Eblin <jeblin.AT.gmail.D0T.com>,



cc Carl Perkins <carlperkins.AT.earthlink.D0T.net>,



dateWed, Apr 16, 2008 at 1:57 PM

subjectRE: In Quest of the Hand of Vecna

mailed-byhotmail.com



hide details 1:57 PM (28 minutes ago) Reply





Jerry,



Thanks for directing me to the thread you've had going on Acaeum.  It is really interesting and, you certainly have my permission to post my email to you there.  I will be curious to continue following the thread.



So, you got this module from a guy named Dean in Cincinatti.  Very interesting.  Rings no bells at all, and it still doesn't explain how it reached the general market.  My best guess, is that Bob, who is cited in the copyright informtion posted on the thread, had the originals and put them up on ebay.  Woudn't be unlike him to do it.  Not that I mind, since he was really the chief driving force behind our publishing enterprise and I think he put more money into it than any of the rest of us.  His mother, who is an artist, did the sketch of the hand of Vecna that you have on your copy.  She also did the design for the High Level Adventures logo.  However a completely different person did the artwork for Serpent.



I'm curious about this multiple versions of Serpent being in existence.  The letter I got yesterday was from a person who had only a Xeroxed copy of the original and appearantly without the cover material, though he must have had copies of the map.  I placed an order with Spellbinders last night for the module they are advertising as The Serpent of Me'Tal.  It was 10 dollars and I'm curious to see what I get.  I would be suprised if they are original, but I'll let you know what I get, and if it is authentic or not.



I appreciate your offering to send zipped scans of the module that you have.  I still have my original of the Serpent and Carl thinks he has an original of the form you have.  However, if it wouldn't be too much trouble I would enjoy seeing what you have.  In 10 meg or smaller increments please.



Jerry, I hope that your kids grow to enjoy the game as much as you did (and our group as well).  We had a lot of fun back in the day.  Actually Carl and I still play 2 or 3 times a month (using VoIP) along with another member of our original group and another friend we picked up 15 or 20 years ago.  Carl is working on copying in one of his other modules from the era of the hand module.   I'm looking forward to seeing it.  It was done in quest of an orb of the eternal grand dragon.   A good module that almost killed some of us.



Anyway, thanks for your interest.  I hope this information is helpful.



Sincerly,



John Barnes





(Some email mangling was done by me to keep automatic spam bots from grabbing them too easily - I didn't notice until I did the mangling that carlperkins was cc'd on it.)



Back on the first page, I said something like I don't think we'll ever know for sure which came first unless Carl himself came in here and added his two cents. This is good enough for me. It's amazing that any kind of information can be got on something like this that is 24 years old and printed on a dot matrix printer let alone information like this. I can't thank the members here enough for helping me out with it. Thanks again,



GreyM

Xaxaxe wrote:Must ... resist ... urge ... to be ... big Apple geek ...

[rolls a 1 for saving throw]

Ahem. The Lisa and the Mac were actually contemporary, competing projects at Apple. Steve Jobs, in fact, was kicked off the Lisa team at one point and threw all of his considerable energy behind the Mac project, one of the many reasons that, despite being released second, the Mac ended up easily winning the unofficial "war" between the two platforms.

Wait; where were we? Right: D&D collecting site. Back on topic: I really, really like White Plume Mountain.

Xaxaxe wrote:Yeah, like I'm the first to go off-topic here ... here's some rolly-eyes right back at you:      

I'll delete it; sorry to offend.

Ah...no offense at all Xax.  I thought it funny....in a really uber-nerdy sort of way.  I honestly thought the Apple Lisa was the codename for the Apple ][ GS.

And I never get offended by off-topic stuff unless it is needless arguing.  Guess I should have used a LOL emoticon.  

Xaxaxe wrote:Now if we could just get rid of the periodic attempts by some bucketheads to create value where none exists (see "Realm of No"), this place would be just about perfect.

I've had that one in my eBay searches since it came up here.  Whoever it hasn't tried to offload copies at inflated prices yet.

(Ok, I'll stop getting off-topic.)

g026r wrote:I've had that one in my eBay searches since it came up here.

That's a good idea; I'm glad someone remembered to do it.

Man, that was a poorly played scam. Atari, if you're still lurking, you really took it too far; a little discretion next time might net you an unwary buyer.

The Vecna/Serpent thing, on the other hand, looks reasonably cool. I'm not usually a fan of homebrews, but this one appears to be a reasonably good labor of love that might be worth dropping a few coins on.