As I've made clear on many occasions, I don't think much of game collecting for its own sake. I'd much rather that games be in the hands of people who'll actually, you know, play them instead being locked away in a climate controlled room somewhere so that they can appreciate in value. That said, I have a number of older games in my possession I'm very proud to own, chief among them being an original Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set that's in very good condition and that I acquired for surprisingly little money. I'm also happy to own a complete set of the LBBs + four supplements + Swords & Spells that I use while playing my Dwimmermount campaign.
So, what are your greatest gaming "treasures?"
Original Deities and Demigods, original Thieves World from Chaosium, Carse and Tulan, also by Chaosium, the Cities book, also by Chaosium. Most of the other stuff I can take or leave.
ReplyDeleteCreeks and Crawdads. What a whacked-out game and hilarious to read. Bought it off the shelf at our FLGS in Ithaca back in 1983/1984 or so. Never seen it since.
ReplyDeleteI also managed to pick up the Dragon archive before the prices shot through the roof. Got some good, usable stuff out of that, and printed up my own “best of” folders. Had a great time recently running the players through The Fell Pass.
* LBBs plus all supplements. My first exposure to this part of the game was the Greyhawk supplement which I saw at a friend's house in Jr. High during an all-night weekend gaming session. Some of the ideas in it were just so... weird. But cool. I especially liked the "monster combos" at the back of the book. Seeing this book made me want to buy all of the other ones to check them out. Took me about 23 years to eventually get them all.
ReplyDeleteNever actually played them as written, but I used a ton of ideas, especially from the supplements, in my 1E and 3E/3.5E games.
* Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set. Mine is in bad shape, having been purchased for little money off of Ebay. I really just wanted to read it and hopefully incorporate some of the background material into my own homebrew campaign. I never intended to play it "as is" but mainly wanted it for idea fodder.
* Metamorphosis Alpha The "original" booklet version. This was pure adult nostalgia and curiosity at work. I actually bought this after I started reading your blog a few months ago. I remember an article in my Best of Dragon, Vol. 1 called something like "What Color Is Your Mutant" which was basically random tables used to figure out the physical appearance of humanoids in MA. The article had some very vague, but very intriguing comments about sort of "barbarian tribes on a lost spaceship." I read that article about 27 years ago and have been intrigued ever since, but I never saw the game anywhere and I was loathe to pay so much for it from Ebay. But, alas, I finally succumbed to my curiosity. Again, I never purchased this with the intent to play so much as just to read it and hopefully grab some ideas to incorporate into another game some day. It helps that I have also recently started running a group through S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, which has a similar tone to MA.
The black plastic Steve Jackson game boxes; specifically One Page Bulge and OGRE. I believe they were $5(US) each in 1983.
ReplyDeleteLet's see. Various AD&D hardcovers - but they are all re-acquisitions. Probably my oldest and most treasured RPGs would be my 1e CoC boxed set, 1e Star Trek the RPG, The Traveller Book hardcover, 1st printing Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes (a real lost treasure of the rpg world) and 2e Runequest hardcover.
ReplyDeleteI have a 1987 reprint of EPT but I bid on a good condition complete EPT box set at a local con auction a few years ago. The bidding got up to $150. It was down to myself and one other bidder when I noticed I was bidding against Peter Adkinson, then head of WotC....
My OD&D LBB boxed set (still have the dice that came in it - or did I just buy those at the same time?) plus all the supplements. My TSR EPT boxed set, sadly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. My Unearthed Arcana, bought at GenCon 1985 and signed by Gary. My WFRP 1E from 1986 and my 2E Call of Cthulhu boxed set. I'm sure there are others, but those are what jump to mind at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMy original AD&D 1ed hard-covers (original art) and Traveller Book. I'll never give these up -- too many hours of fun.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm a compulsive* game collector, but I'm also saddened that most of the games I collect will remain unplayed. There is usually something to reccomend any game, or at least something to spark an idea, but sadly there are not enough hours in the day. Not that I keep any games under glass, which will have collectors curse me. But then I'm not going to get rid of them in my lifetime so I'm not really worried about the monetary value of them.
ReplyDeleteThe most valuable stuff (to me) is the stuff that's been hardest to get, which is usually the non-English language games, such as the Croc edition of In Nomine Satanis and Magna Veritas, and the Multisim editions of Nephilim (all of them) and Agone. I've even got the Aventyrsspel edition of Kult (and several supplements that were never translated into English by Metropolis) and I don't read Swedish. But at least the French and Spanish stuff is being slowly translated by me (unfortunately it cannot be redistributed).
A lot of the garage press games that appeared in the early 80s are also interesting (they've been replaced by PDFs these days). Stuff such as the Phoenix Games edition of Bushido and several early UK SF games that came out about the same time as Traveller. Speaking of which, the early gaming APAzines were really enjoyable (stuff like Trollcrusher and Underworld Oracle).
But there is no way I can say that any game is more valued by me than any other. I want to play all the good stuff. Although I do have a lot of stuff from the early years of the hobby. [I recently alienated one of my original edition D&D sets to get it signed by the cast of Tripod vs the Dragon because I thought their show captured the essence of the game so well. Relax, it was only the 6th printing...]
[* Although I do prefer new stuff to getting a new edition of old stuff, especially if I'm not actively playing it. So I'm not quite as compulsive as I was in my youth. And now I prefer PDF, because of the ease of storage, utility, lower cost, and lack of freight costs (which effectively double the cost of acquiring games for me).]
Thee Moldovy Basic/Expet box sets with the Otus covers, 1st edition Gamma World Box set, all the Hargrave written Arduin Grimores including a very rare 1st ed AG 8 which has a write up of the Cult of the Crimson Kiss that's was omitted from later editions. The D&D Cyclopedia. First dozen Microgames like Ogre and Rivits. But it's my personal gaming material that I created over the years that means the most.
ReplyDeleteMine is still the DungeonMaster's Index, by Dave Arneson (which I got him to sign, by the way). I found it at Half Price Books for 48 cents!
ReplyDeleteComplete index of OD&D, supplements, and The Strategic Review 1-7.
First edition Dungeon Master’s Guide (with the City of Brass cover) and first edition Nobilis (the “little pink book”).
ReplyDeleteI believe my collection of Traveller LBBs is complete (short the one that was issued with Azhanti High Lightning). Finding Mayday and Snapshot recently was a high point as well. If I could somehow come across the original alien modules I don't know what I would do with myself!
ReplyDeleteIt's not particularly old -- or very rare, I'd imagine -- but I'm quite fond of my Games Workshop hardback edition of Call of Cthulhu.
ReplyDeleteMy 1st edition booklet version of Metamorphosis Alpha is the oldest thing I own, but my absolute favorite thing I have which is near and dear to my heart is my very well worn 1st edition of the original version of Toon that I got signed by Warren Spector at a convention. My friends and I played the heck out of that game back during middle school. Those were some good times.
ReplyDeleteMy first Gen Con programme, signed by Gary Gygax
ReplyDeleteA pristine box set of the Prefect game for Renegade legion. Prior to my picking it up on ebay earlier this year, it had never even been opened. All the counters were still in their frames and everything. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd edition Monstrous Compendium, in mint condition and most of the 'expansions', for about $20! : )
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I seem to have more copies of the Moldvay Basic box set than one person really needs to own. I'm not sure how that happened, but I love every one of them.
ReplyDeleteMore recently, I finally got my hands on a sixth printing of Palace of the Vampire Queen. To be honest, I would've been happy with scans or photocopies of it. I just wanted to read the thing after having played it at last TotalCon, but apparently PDFs of that module simply don't exist, legally available or otherwise. I ended up watching eBay for months and finally got a copy that wasn't too steep, but still more money than I've ever paid for any other gaming book.
While I think there is something special about owning original copies rather than simply printed out scans, I still intend to use every item I acquire.
I have four (five, really): my original Holmes boxed set (which I got when I was about 8; fair condition); my Melee & Wizard boxed games by Metagaming; my original Deities & Demigods (with Cthulhu & Melnibonean mythos), and; my GURPS Alternate Earths (3e) for which I was a playtester.
ReplyDeleteTFotH
I'm more of a completist than a collector, and all of my games are theoretically there to play, I just haven't gotten around to playing all of them yet. Anyway, my particular notable items:
ReplyDeleteComplete set of D&D Hollow World setting books
BECM+Wrath of the Immortals boxed sets
20th Anniversary Call of Cthulhu (fake green leather with red Elder Sign on cover)
25th Anniversary GURPS Traveller signed and numbered hardback (especially since I got it for 10 bucks at a convention in pristine condition)
MERP 2E hardback, and all the books I've managed to afford for that game
Nearly complete collection of 2E D6 Star Wars, including all 15 Adventure Journals
Complete runs of In Nomine(SJG), Transhuman Space, GURPS WWII, Conspiracy X 1.0, Unknown Armies
Ogre Battlesuit (little old black plastic box) autographed by Evil Stevie
and then all my Tunnels & Trolls stuff.
Finnish language Red Box. Much maligned for it's creative translations and at the time dismissed as not a game for adult tastes it was for many the starting point to the whole hobby.
ReplyDeleteNothing particularly rare, but I treasure: AD&D 1e books (especially the Monster Manual which I bought at age 10), For Faerie Queen & Country (odd Amazing Engine Victorian setting which I find very inspiring), all four volumes of the AD&D 2e Wizard's Spell Compendium (collected gradually from eBay).
ReplyDeleteSeveral WFRP 1e pieces.
ReplyDeleteOf all the games I've parted with over the years, I've always held on to these pieces. The rulebook (softcover, though I'm pretty sure I owned a hardcover version at one time), Warhammer City (Middenheim), and parts I and II of The Enemy Within campaign: The Enemy Within and Shadows over Bogenhafen,
I had a secondhand Greyhawk boxed set, but the map was a photocopy, stuck together with stickytape. Then I found the original Greyhawk folio with a pristine map for $6. I was so excited that my head exploded. True story.
ReplyDeleteNot really a collector, but I would have to say my D&D Rules Cyclopedia, which I received as a Christmas gift in 1991. And it's still in VG condition (& apparently is fetching insane prices right now...). I cherish it above all other books, having weathered my decade-long hiatus from the hobby (& subsequent selling of all of my other game material).
ReplyDeleteAfter my RC, I would have to say my AD&D1E set (PH, DMG, MM, FF - all original covers [re-purchased]), my AD&D2E set (PH, DMG, MC - all original covers [re-purchased]), as well as my collection of D&D Endless Quest books (1-36 - which I've kept since I was a wee one).
I don't have anywhere near the D&D collection as most, but each piece is treasured.
-1st printing of Deities & Demigods
ReplyDelete-Games Workshop printing of CoC rules (hardback)
-Silver Anniversary box set of D&D w/ L3: Deep Dwarven Delve
-World of Greyhawk 1980 folio
-module U1-U3
The last for are "special" because I found them quite by accident.
I was in the Navy MANY moons ago, and was stationed in Tenn. for training (yes, there was a naval air station there). Anyway, we had 4-man rooms, just like a college dorm. From what I remember, we had a kinda desk/study area for each guy. One of which was not being used by anyone. Don't remember why, but I decided to use it for myself. Checked all of the drawers, and lo and behold, there they were. I knew the other guys weren't gamers. I asked about it and they were cool with it.
*1st ed. AD&D PHB, although technically it's my brother's collection now since we split up our gaming stuff on the understanding that I kept the minis and he kept the books!
ReplyDelete*Armies of Antiquity for Warhammer Ancients Battles, mainly because it is signed by the author and I am mentioned in the "thank yous" on the first page.
*All my Grenadier AD&D minis, and Heritage Dungeon Dwellers, along with the rules and maps from the Caverns of Doom and Crypt of the Sorcerer games Heritage put out in 1981 or so.
*World of Greyhawk folio, although that too is my brother's now (I do get visitation rights on my old books, thank goodness!)
*Best of Dragon, vol. I. It opened my eyes to Original D&D and pre-AD&D gaming. Although I started AD&D before DDG and FF were out, I never got to a real gaming store until much later and so I had no idea what was in the LBBs or how gonzo OD&D was.
These are all mostly just valuable to me, but not in "collector's" condition any more. Altohugh I only use the minis regularly, they all have a special place in my collection of stuff.
A hardbound copy of Castle Falkenstein. I treat it like a treasure because I'm afraid the thing will fall apart if I'm too careless with it (like my previous soft-cover version).
ReplyDeleteAlso: My original AD&D hard-backs (though they are really durable), Warhammer FRP 1e (love that book), first edition Vampire the Masquerade, and my newly reacquired B/X boxed sets.
My treasures are:
ReplyDelete1) The Dieties and Demigods with Elric and Cthulu (all the more treasurey since I bought it completely by accident)
2) A complete collection of ALL the Star Wars D6 RPG products, including all of the Adventure Journals.
3) A complete collection of all the Star Frontiers rulebooks (boxed sets) and adventure modules.
4) My original B/X Rulebooks from 1979-1980. Nothing special about them except for the fact that they're the things that got me into the wonderful world of gaming- and they still have notes and even 'colorings' I did in them. It...seemed like a good idea at the time.
Well, my original white box and supplements (including Chainmail), of course. My Greyhawk is signed by Gary Gygax, which is nice. (Also my AD&D DM Screen is signed by Erol Otis.)
ReplyDeleteMy original edition of Metamorposis Alpha is a favorite, and I also have the Heritage Star Trek RPG, which never got played for obvious reasons, but which made it with me through all my moves.
Also "Killer" by Steve Jackson (original cover), and a copy of the IFGS Live-Action Roleplaying rules from the late 1980's, back when "Dream Park" had just come out and someone actually started up an IFGS. I still also have "Beyond the Sacred Table" by the folks who did Arduin Grimoire.
Original Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. The Rules Cyclopedia I bought for $1. All of my 1E D&D books.
ReplyDeleteBut I am a collector of role-playing games. Most of which have never been played nor will they ever be played. I have them because I like knowing I have them. I do use them as reference. I have a lot of them. Some 60+ feet of shelving dedicated to RPG boxed sets and books. It beats collecting spoons.
This one's easy, Moldvay and Mentzer basic sets (Otus and Elmore covers) I've had since I was a kid and signed by none other than Arneson himself a little less than a year before he passed.
ReplyDeleteAround last Christmas I walked into my FLGS and picked up a sealed Moldvay box set for $30. Oh, and ended up getting it at 30% off that. Can't bring myself to tear it open.
I also bought a banged up Star Frontiers box set off ebay that I have a great deal of fondness for.
But the biggie, is the Dungeon! board game I bought off ebay nearly 4 years ago, which started this whole mess in the first place--and yes, we've played many hilarious games with it since then!
Plaintiff's Exhibit P-1 from the "Steve Jackson Games vs. the Secret Service".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMine would be a 1st printing of ICE's The Iron Wind. VF+ condition. I've also got a pretty nice monochrome cover 1st ed Champions rule book, and a Justice Inc boxed set in really nice shape.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is too sentimental, but when I was given my parents collection of 1e books and modules, I also ended up with my father's hand-written modules that he DM'ed for their group. It is fun to go back through and think about the PC's who ran through them back when I was young enough to be playing with toys at their feet during the game. I've also learned more about adventure design from reading them, as he was thorough in his notes, mentioning the reason why certain traps appeared, and what the monster's motivations were. I also ended up with weird things like character sheet print outs made on early Apple Macs and xeroxed with that purple ink they used back in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't "official" books, but that's the part of my collection I'm most proud of.
The only RPG stuff that I collect is M. A. R. Barker's Tekumel. My most treasured piece in it is my 1975 Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set which I bought about 15 years ago for about $70.
ReplyDeleteHmm, treasures, my treasures are definitely not necessarily in collectors condition, however, I definitely have some items I treasure:
ReplyDeleteOD&D boxed set and supplements (box in not so good shape, books in very good shape)
RuneQuest 1st edition (taped spine, now signed by Greg Stafford). 1st edition Cults of Prax.
First Fantasy Campaign (decent shape, now signed by Dave Arneson)
Traveller 1977 boxed set plus supplements.
If I was forced to reduce my gaming stuff down to fit in a single box or some such, I would take all of this stuff (plus perhaps a few other bits), plus my collection of Burning Wheel books and some dice.
Oh, I might also add 1st ed. Chivalry and Sorcery to my treasures (spine virtually destroyed). This one is questionable, I'm not sure I'd ever play it again, but this was like the 2nd or 3rd RPG book that came into my life (my best friend got it for Christmas, I used it and beat the hell out of the spine, and eventually bought it from him).
Oh, I might also toss in the composition book with my hand copied set of spell descriptions for Cold Iron, plus a few reference charts for the game. Though again, not something I'm ever likely to play again, but this game dominated 6 years of gaming in college.
This list doesn't cover the bulk of my gaming life (AD&D, Fantasy Hero, and Arcana Unearthed/Evolved are missing). I guess if I had a bit more space I might add Arcana Evolved, D&D 3.5 DMG, and D&D 3.5 MM. But more likely I'd add more RQ supplements to fill out the box.
Frank
Two things:
ReplyDeleteThe Corgi Books edition of Dragon Warriors, for all its quirky, yet realistic/believable, European, down-to-earth handling of fantasy and myth.
The small, ~20 page primer for Lüdinn - City of Myth and Illusion.
The latter needs probably some explanation because I never met even one person who remembers this thing:
Lüdinn was an AD&D2 campaign that was played at conventions (I saw it at Gen Con in the nineties). It was built (literally) around a huge model of the city that lent its name to the campaign. Narrow streets, bridges, city walls, towers and a cathedral--most of which had detachable roofs and floors--, a dwarven undercity with rail tracks, lighting and flowing water... it was amazing.
At Gen Con the makers sold a 20 page (or so) pamphlet that had campaign info, maps, and character generation stuff that seemed to be modeled after the RPGA Living City/Raven's Bluff character primer of that time.
That pamphlet was ... strange. It was a weird mixture of early DTP formatting, hand-written portions, and crude-but-impressive illustrations (and badly-scanned photos). That booklet was made of pure and unadultered gonzo-ness - the Endrow (sic!) world map was a crude sketch showing a view "from orbit", complete with a spikey drow(?) spaceship.
I never experienced the gonzo-ness of Arduin Grimoire; I have seen the brown books at game stores in the eighties but for some reason that excapes me I never even considered looking at them. But through this Lüdinn stuff I at least can imagine what must have been the draw of Arduin.
This xeroxed booklet is definitely one of the most cherished treasures of my RPG collection--despite the fact that I personally abhor settings that mix fantasy and SF in such a way, this booket is a testament to the sheer fun the Lüdinn people had with their campaign.
Mine would have to be the Necromancer Games version of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Granted, Amazon is now selling it for 7 times what I bought it for, but the emotional value is really what makes me treasure it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not ashamed to say I like collecting for its own sake. The hunt is sometimes the sweetest.
ReplyDeleteSome of my dearest finds are The Enchanted Wood and The Dark Tower, both by Paul Jaquays. My quite expensive but complete set of Horror on the Orient Express is also quite something.
Well, I'm sure that I fall into your collector category, James, but here are my highlights :D
ReplyDelete- the wonderful memories from gaming and publishing games over the past 33 years, with my brothers, many friends made from gaming (and met in person, at conventions, and online), and now with my two boys Ethan and Henry
- my folders of PCs; my version of Castle Greyhawk's maps and keys; my favorite Chessex d20 (bronze-coated plastic with black numbers); my expansion maps and keys for S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth; my as-yet-unpublished PC classes based on shadow magic, necromancers, gates, and illusionist variants; my painted Grenadier, Heritage, Superior Models, Ral Partha, and Otherworld miniatures;
- my various playtest notes and feedback from working with Pagan Publishing on _Delta Green_; my copies of all of the books I've published, helped to write or edit, or contributed to over the years, including _Delta Green_, _The Unspeakable Oath_, _Blue Planet_, _Heaven & Hell_, _Swords of the Middle Kingdom_, and _Dragon Magazine_
- a number of original Rob Kuntz manuscripts, including six of his original dungeon levels from Castle Greyhawk; Black Blade is going to publish all six, starting with _The Machine Level_, and is working with Rob to produce a DVD collection of original manuscript scans
- the _Tome of Mid-Kimia: Land of Darkening Shadow_ - the original homemade version of the Midkemia rules and setting as detailed for OD&D, written and self-published by Conan Lamot and later published by Ray Feist and Steve Abramns
- Tim Kask's Kwalishar Ruins megadungeon (which I'm going to scan over the holidays so that he can work to publish it if he so desires)
- a binder of original character sheets from Steve Marsh, including Illisio Morningstar
- proto-2e PC sheets used in the c. 1982 TSR in-house playtest for _T2 Temple of Elemental Evil_, including a variant single-classed bard
- numerous other early books/games, including a 3rd printing OD&D woodgrain boxed set, _Warriors of Mars_ (signed by Gary), early issues of _The Dragon_ signed by Gary and Tim Kask, and such
Allan.
Jerry said... [i]Creeks and Crawdads. What a whacked-out game and hilarious to read. Bought it off the shelf at our FLGS in Ithaca back in 1983/1984 or so. Never seen it since.[/i]
ReplyDeleteOh. My. God. Creeks and Crawdads made the list ? And from Ithaca ? Dear heaven, what a small world. See...I wrote it. Thirty some years ago. A-mazing.
Anyway, without a doubt my 1975 LBB+suppliments set, my first print traveller set, my first edition EPT (never run, but read cover to cover several times)and some early JG stuff. Plus Metamorphosis Alpha, Original.
For semi-obscure, we have The Fantasy Trip + the original modules (Melee and Wizard). All heavily used, and still being used.
Complete set of 1e Monster Cards
ReplyDeleteA set of the LBBs (no supplements) including the stats for balrogs. Wow...and I just scored extremely low on an on-line "nerd test." Obviously, they did not test me on RPG knowledge!
ReplyDelete; )
So much to choose from! My original Holmes Basic that started the whole thing, a pristine set of the original AD&D books, a complete set of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, all the 1E TSR modules, my World of Greyhawk folio. For Boardgames, the SPI games Swords and Sorcery, and War of the Ring. I'd also throw in there Dark Tower, an original (wood blocks) Risk game, and Magic Realm.
ReplyDeleteStill, probably the best thing I have are several binders full of junk from my first D&D campaign. All the stuff my friends and I came up with over the years is priceless to me.
I treasure my original World of Greyhawk Folio with Darlene's maps, my original Cthulhu by Gaslight boxed set, my first edition Deities and Demigods complete with Lovecraft et al.'s "misappropriated" intellectual property, my Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death Victorian era horror boxed set, and my copy of d20 Call of Cthulhu.
ReplyDeleteFirst printings of the Dungeon Master's Guide (i.e., with the yellow and red striped fabric spine inlay) and dungeon master's screen. I treasure that, plus my 1e Player's Handbook and Monster Manual. All are worn from much use back in the day. I wouldn't trade them for mint copies of the identical product.
ReplyDeleteMy first set of dice from the second eddtion gamma world circa 1983. I had played D&D with my brother but didn't get my own dice until I got this as a gift. I don't roll them anymore, but i love looking at them and remembering the good times. Also the red felt bag my mother sewed for me to keep my dice in.
ReplyDeleteAh, I almost forgot. Dice. I have the original dice that came in the boxed set. Those brittle, misshapen, hard plastic dice. I treasure these greatly. I've wondered how to best preserve them for posterity. Encase them in some sort of clear resin, turning them into a paper weight? Dunno. Anyone have any ideas on this?
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards RPG. I've never played it, because I'm the only person I know who's seen the move =/
ReplyDeleteMy own original box set of EPT from 1979. I just reunited the box with the rules and maps after finding the box, uninjured in a closet. Plus a first edition Book of Ebon Bindings from 1978.
ReplyDeleteMy original editions of GDW's Bunnies and Burrows and Starships and Spacemen. And Lou Zocchi's Superhero 2044.
My Silkscreened Cardboard (Pre-Avalon Hill) copy of Tramp's Titan: the Monster Slugathon
A near-complete collection of Chaosium RQ2 boxed sets (including the original Arkham Horror) I found at a thrift shop literally yards from my home in 1998. $3 each.
ReplyDeleteI'm fond of my collection of Mentzer R-modules, too.
At first I thought you were asking for the treasures that we don’t actually use. Most of mine have gotten actual use and have been inspirational and many continue to get actual use or continue to be inspirational. But as you list the LBBs that you use with Dwimmermount, I suppose that isn’t the case. My most treasured? It’s always hard to pick favorites. Today I will pick...
ReplyDelete* Arneson’s Adventures in Fantasy
* Arneson’s The First Fantasy Campaign
* The 1e DMG
* The 1e D&DG (yes, the one with those mythoi)
* The Greyhawk folio and boxed set
* AD&D monster cards
* Galloway’s Fantasy Wargaming
* Mythic Europe (an Ars Magica supplement)
* The Thieves’ World box set (with Traveller stats)
* Moldvay’s Lords of Creation
* Buck Rogers High Adventure Cliffhangers and the War Against the Han campaign
* Stafford’s Prince Valiant Story Telling Game
Hmm...5 out of 12 are 2nd-hand acquisitions.
1) The d20 (0-9 twice, handcolored blk/grn) that came with my very first hobby game (Star Fleet Battle Manual, gifted to me in April 1980). Other dice have come and gone, but this one has managed to stay and now has a place of high honor.
ReplyDelete2) TFT MicroGames set, gifted to me by my first game master.
3) Heritage Trek, second printing (screencap cover)
4) The nth iteration of my very first character's sheet. (Honestly, I couldn't say how many times I wrote, re-wrote, re-laid out that page.)
@Kerry: "They've killed Fritz!"
My sentimentality index must be a little low, since I sold several commonly listed things in a sweep a few years ago (EPT, my 1976 or so original, without box, and original MA for example), but what I kept was my original (4th printing) LBB D&D and its supplements, En Garde!, LBB Traveller (1st printing), and my original AD&D books (just the MM, PHB, and DMG, all 1st printings--the rest had been sold off in an earlier cleaning sweep.) Having started in this in early 1976, getting 1st printings of a lot of that stuff didn't feel like a big deal...
ReplyDeleteOh, and for what it's worth, I still have a selection of the original Metagaming Microgames, in little plastic envelopes (as issued before the boxes), including Melee and Wizard, but the large size TFT books were sold long ago.
ReplyDeleteI own a number of RPGs imported from Japan. In addition to the ridiculously cool artwork (some of which is NOT anime/manga influenced at all), some of their games are just full of interesting concepts and rules we don't see here very often outside of the indie game market.
ReplyDeleteAmong my most prized possessions are a Japanese language reproduction of the Traveller LBB box set as it first appeared in Japan (mine is from the 25 anniversary celebration), the Japanese cyberpunk/space opera RPG Metal Head and an original artbook/gamebook of the game Wares Blade (basically D&D with mecha).
While I have a good number of old games, magazines and fanzines, I think my original and highly annotated edition of the City State of the Invincible Overlord would be the thing that I would run out of the house with in the event of a fire.
ReplyDeleteI have a 1st edtion players handbook of my best friend who pasted away in 1992, while serving in the army. He was part of the U.N. peace keepers when all hell was breaking loose in Bosnia. It's worn and 2 pages are missing , but I would'nt sell it for all the gold in the world.
ReplyDeleteFavorites:
ReplyDeleteJudges Guild modules - Dark Tower, Tegel Manor, Wilderlands, etc
Necromancer Wilderlands of High Fantasy box set
Stormbringer 1e boxed set
Ptolus
1st Ed DMG, 1st printing
LBBs
LotFP box set
Dwarven Forge cavern and ancients sets
My favorite part of my collection would be my possibly complete collection of the early MERP modules. I was lucky enough to earn some credit with ICE for some rules content and used it to get everything they had at the time.
ReplyDeleteAm lucky enough to have a goodly mix of assorted Shadow World, Harn and Dragonquest stuff as well. Of the latter, the Harn Pilot's Almanac and Dragonquest's Enchanted Wood are my favorites.
Wow. This one is super tough. My original B\X and AD&D1st books from ’81 are probably the most sentimental. I bought a LOT of games in the ‘80s (Traveller Deluxe w/all books and supplements, 1st edition Pendragon and Cthulhu, Lords of Creation, Behind Enemy Lines, MERP, Rolemaster, Shadow World, all the TSR rpgs except Star Frontiers, etc, etc) and wouldn’t give up any of them.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the ‘90s, I only got to play a handful of times per year, at best. So, I got my RPG jones by collecting various games that had always intrigued me. My idea of “collecting” would make many shudder. I have no issues using anything I buy, no matter how rare. I also have no qualms about tearing the shrink-wrap off of a 20 year old game.
The mid ‘90s were a heady time on Ebay. You could get some seriously awesome deals During this time, some of my memorable gems were: RQ2 and RQ3 sets, tons of the original Harn stuff, MERP books (especially Lorien), all of the Loremaster modules (especially Cloudlords of Tanara) Kabal, Thieves’ Guild, lots of Tekumel stuff, Heroes of Olympus, Fury of the Norsmen, and many more.
Ironically, I may have picked up one of my all time best buys/finds just today. I scored a 5th edition OD&D box set with supplements 1-3 for $80. The box is in poor condition, but the books are in good to very good condition.
Hopefully, they will arrive by the Friday after Thanksgiving. I have an old friend from middle and high school coming to town. We get together a couple of times a year to play wargames and rpgs. We are starting an OD&D Hyborian Age campaign using Chainmail combat. It would be cool to have the real books rather than pdf print outs!
That'd be the copy of _Gods, Demigods, and Heroes_ signed by Kuntz, Ward, and Kask, and also with "Property of Luke Gygax" and "Ernie is King!" written in it.
ReplyDeleteYou really should go to GaryCon.
My Villains and Vigilantes book. The dynamic art of Jeff Dee brought it to life for us. The V&V system can easily breakdown, but it was so much fun. I still have my original V&V book. We had hours and hours of fun.
ReplyDelete* My brown-box OD&D, signed by Dave Arneson.
ReplyDelete* Playtest copy of Ars Magica from Lion Rampant.
...and a bunch of other stuff I bought when it was relatively new and I had no idea it would end up being collectable.
Oh yeah I forgot! I have the original playtest copy of Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek, The Next Generation RPG. It has a few minor differences from the released version and I sometimes get confused between the particulars of the two.
ReplyDeleteMagic Realm!
ReplyDelete@Adam: I dunno...that Luke character Fireballed me in Kask's dungeon at Garycon!
ReplyDelete1st Print of Holmes Basic F-115R never been used.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as high profile as others on here, but I want to show some love for WEG Ghostbusters with the ghost die...
ReplyDeleteI have everything published for Nobilis, with a duplicate copy of the Great White Book. I've had many other treasures over the years, most of which I sold. Of course, I traveled at least 75% of the time from 1993 until 2007 for a variety of employers. It wasn't too hard to pick over every local game shop.
ReplyDeleteBragging aside, I also really treasured my Runequest Compendiums--until they finally came out in PDF. ;)
A copy of Games Workshops realms of Chaos Volume 2, The Lost and The Damned. I had a copy of Vol. 1 but didn't buy the second one. It took me years of searching and bidding but I finally picked up a copy several years ago.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I'm a collector for collection's sake, but my brother recently picked up an excellent-condition copy of white box d&d (old enough to still speak of 'hobbits,' but not old enough to have a horseman on the cover of men & magic) from the give-and-take at the dump, and, full knowing what he had, gave it to me instead of selling it. I've already got a copy (thoroughly used, like most of my collection), so the new one is, I suppose, in my collection strictly as a collectable.
ReplyDeleteAmong my most prized possessions are a Japanese language reproduction of the Traveller LBB box set as it first appeared in Japan (mine is from the 25 anniversary celebration)
ReplyDeleteI am deeply envious. I love the way a lot of Japanese translations of English RPGs are presented and getting my hands on that version of Traveller would be awesome.
I picked up Lords of Creation in the box at Gen Con this year. After college I got rid of my entire RPG collection, and I'd been kicking myself about that particular title ever since. When I saw it at the booth, I screamed like a girl.
ReplyDelete