Original Ed Greenwood Forgotten Realms Adventure • Collecting Appraisal • The Acaeum

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Original Ed Greenwood Forgotten Realms Adventure
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Bracton
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:20 pm

So now that I finally registered and have been looking over The Acaeum website and seeing what's out there, I decided to open the old boxes and see what I have. Lots and lots of stuff, most of which is worth about a buck a piece. Except . . .

In 1984, at GenCon 17, Ed Greenwood ran an adventure he called Into the Forgotten Realms, for 10 players. (I'm pretty sure that this is before there was anything published about the Forgotten Realms, other than what Ed wrote in The Dragon Magazine). I saw the entry in the catalog, signed up and got to play. At the end of the game, Ed gave each of us a copy of the adventure. About eight typewritten, single-spaced pages, with maps and a couple of pages with the pregenerated characters. Unbelievably, I kept my copy. The staple is a bit rusted, and the first page has come off. Otherwise, it looks pretty much as it did 24 years ago. I have no idea if anyone else has a copy of this. I suspect that this adventure was the basis of a FG module, but I don't know enough about those to know for certain. (It involved an exploration into the School of Wizardry in Myth Drannor.)

Now, to be clear, I have absolutely no desire to sell this. But, since I've got it, I was wondering what others thought it might be worth. Any ideas?

"Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

gyg
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:46 pm

I am supremely jealous!

Sounds like it might be the bones of one of the adventures from the original box set IIRC - Halls of the Beast-tamers or some such.

As to value - couldn't even begin to guess - somewhere between $1 and $1000. I love the Realms but I'm certainly no expert, particularly on rarities such as this.

So - do you remember the game - what was EG like as a DM? - Enquiring minds want to know.

(and, cos I'll not forgive myself if I don't ask - any chance of seeing a copy of it, for my own personal interest - in any form whatsover, at all, pretty please!)

I'm generally not envious of much stuff that gets mentioned on these forums, but this is definitely one of those times!

Carl

You can never have too much of something you didn't need in the first place.

Bracton
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:02 am

Ed was a lot of fun as a DM. He made a real point of saying that the goal was "role playing", not to see how fast (or destructively) we could race through an obstacle course. Each of the characters had some personality notes, and we were expected to play accordingly. Back then, at least at GenCon, that was not a particularly common approach.

From the first page of the adventure, it looks like we also scored each other at the end, and awarded best player/second best, etc.; but my recollection of the details on that point are a bit hazy. (Perhaps because I may have been unjustly denied my rightful recognition?)

Kind of hard now to believe that someone like Ed would have simply put an adventure into the GenCon catalog, to play with whoever signed up.

I'll be at GenCon this year, so, if there is interest and if I remember, I'll bring the copy along with me.

"Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

Badmike
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:27 am

Bracton wrote:So now that I finally registered and have been looking over The Acaeum website and seeing what's out there, I decided to open the old boxes and see what I have. Lots and lots of stuff, most of which is worth about a buck a piece. Except . . .

In 1984, at GenCon 17, Ed Greenwood ran an adventure he called Into the Forgotten Realms, for 10 players. (I'm pretty sure that this is before there was anything published about the Forgotten Realms, other than what Ed wrote in The Dragon Magazine). I saw the entry in the catalog, signed up and got to play. At the end of the game, Ed gave each of us a copy of the adventure. About eight typewritten, single-spaced pages, with maps and a couple of pages with the pregenerated characters. Unbelievably, I kept my copy. The staple is a bit rusted, and the first page has come off. Otherwise, it looks pretty much as it did 24 years ago. I have no idea if anyone else has a copy of this. I suspect that this adventure was the basis of a FG module, but I don't know enough about those to know for certain. (It involved an exploration into the School of Wizardry in Myth Drannor.)

Now, to be clear, I have absolutely no desire to sell this. But, since I've got it, I was wondering what others thought it might be worth. Any ideas?

Hey Bracton;

If you make it to Gencon say hi to the other Acaeum members....we'll be at the auction every night!

Ed's module "Into the Forgotten Realms" first appeared in Dragon Magazine #95 (March, 1985); apparantly he worked out the kinks as a tournament adventure before submitting it for publication. It also appeared in a altered form in the first Forgotten Realms boxed set in 1987 as a short introductory adventure.

Too bad you didn't get Ed to sign it; even so, this is a very cool piece of history...the first module ever published in the Forgotten Realms. Good thing you didn't toss it!

Mike B.

"THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT WHY i DONE WHAT i DONE THE MORE i LAUGH" Cougar
"The Acaeum hates fun" Sir Allen
"I had a collecting emergency" Nogrod
Co-founder of the North Texas RPG Con
http://www.ntrpgcon.com

killjoy32
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:15 am

brac: yeah come and say hi to us guys at GenCon....we will prb all be having dinner at some point, so you should try come along and get involved in the merriment.

by all means bring the adventure along, we would prb all be interested in having a look-see!

and yes, do NOT sell it. this is one of them so-very-cool items, that becomes a cornerstone in your collection. think how privileged you are to have it. one of only a very few! if you DID sell it, there are some collectors here, who really like this kinda thing. admittedly, sometimes they dont sell for an awful lot, but if its what folk like, then it will go for a goodly sum. bearing also in mind, it has a real nice history behind it, so it stands pretty well there. as its not greyhawk related, that might have a bearing on value, but even still, a very cool item!!!

Al

Everyone is entitled to my opinion

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MDS 2008 - Stage 6 - 1km from the finish...some thoughts - YouTube

copycat
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:23 am

It is a nearly unique item, so the value is not possible to judge - it depends on who is interested, and why. Some people get gaga over the Realms (I don't) and simply "have to have everything." I would imagine it would sell, if sold, for around $300 plus of minus another couple hundred, based on who throws in their credit card. After all, the condition is not Aqua-minty-fresh.

Those who can, don't. Those who should not, do.

JZavoda
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:34 am

serleran wrote:It is a nearly unique item, so the value is not possible to judge - it depends on who is interested, and why. Some people get gaga over the Realms (I don't) and simply "have to have everything." I would imagine it would sell, if sold, for around $300 plus of minus another couple hundred, based on who throws in their credit card. After all, the condition is not Aqua-minty-fresh.

It sounds very cool inded. Honestly I prefer items that have character, notes in the margins, character sheets filled out. I'd love to find those old DM's adventure logs filled out, and filled out character sheets.

Hang onto this (and put it in plastic, especially if you are handing it around for others to look at it).

Bracton
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:30 am

Thanks for all the feedback. Pretty much what I thought. I'll bring it to GenCon with me -- and I'll be at the auction each evening too.

But I won't sell it. Just pulling it out and looking at it again brought back great memories.

"Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

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