One of the joys and frustrations of returning to this blog after so long a hiatus is discovering the topics I've already discussed (sometimes at length) and those I've never really touched upon. A consequence is that I regularly
think I've written about something before only to discover that I haven't. The St. Regis
D&D-branded binders, folders, and notebooks are good examples of what I'm talking about. Aside from
a single post long ago, I never wrote anything else on the topic so far as I can determine. Fortunately,
Wayne's Books has already posted about these products, complete with numerous photographs.
Even so, when I was perusing issue #55 of Dragon (November 1981), I came across this full-page advertisement. There's much one could say about it, but what interests me is the mail-in coupon offer it presents. If you use it to acquire a 3-ring binder, St. Regis will also send you 28 sheets of "gamers graph paper." I wonder if the graph paper in question is in any way different from what was typically available at the time or if it's just an instance of marketing on the part of St. Regis. Does anyone know?
Found images on Worthpoint:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/quadrille-graph-paper-st-regis-455090506
Appears to have had a custom cover with art on it and unless I'm imagining it there seems to be a watermark of sorts in the second image toward the lower left - TSR logo, I think?
Good find, but it's probably not what they sent with the binder: per the ad, that was 28 sheets, and the cover of this pad says 44 sheets. I think the watermark you see in the second image is actually Worthpoint's logo; you can see it better on the first image.
DeleteHi James. Haven't heard of this graph paper. Interesting. James Mishler posted a link in the comments at my post today, there are quite a few of these art pieces, some with LotR themes.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting given Gygax's repeated public claims that Tolkien wasn't a key inspiration for D&D.
DeleteI still have two of the folders -- "Goblin Ambush" and "Ambush at the Bend."
ReplyDeleteOne holds all my classic characters -- even one from middle school ca. 1982-83 -- and several from high school and college. The other I'd been using for current campaign characters -- 5E -- but the pile of notes outgrew the ability of to to hold them.
At this stage, both of them are half tape. One still has the price sticker on the inside -- $0.55 bought at Valparaiso Pet and Hobby (mostly pets, coins, stamps, and models) in Valparaiso, Indiana.
That's where I bought most of my early Judges Guild stuff, too. I still remember buying my copy of First Fantasy Campaign there. Though I bought my first issue of Dragon (#57, January 2982) at B&A Hobbies (mostly trains and models) in Michigan City, Indiana.
The only other source for D&D at the time was, oddly, Hallmark Cards in Marquette Mall, in Michigan City (mostly cards and tchotchkes). That's where I bought my first modules (B1, T1) and the AD&D hardcovers. Ah, memories!
I had no idea Hallmark Cards sold D&D back in the day. I bought TSR stuff at Toys R Us and Kay-bee. I remember when Kay-bee was selling it all off on Clearance, all the prices crossed out in red, and reduced. I bought a bunch of modules there.
DeleteI'm with James, I bought the three core AD&D books and Deities & Demigods at a Hallmark in a semi-rural strip mall. Only place anywhere near me that had them, and our family trips to the mall were infrequent and overseen by adults who insisted I not "waste money" on "toys" they didn't like themselves. I swear, if I had to burn my allowance on toy cars one more time back then I would have snapped.
DeleteAt least they were generally pretty willing to shell out for paperbacks, and generally without paying any attention to what I was actually reading.
Saddest memory of buying D&D modules was randomly checking this tiny little bookstore that had opened up near me and finding the whole D-series there. Only gaming stuff in the place, which was really thinly stocked overall, I probably owned more books than they did. They'd been open about a month and I made the mistake of asking how they were doing when I checked out, and the gal behind the counter (who was probably the owner) started crying and said I was the first customer they'd had in four days. Felt so bad for her - and this wasn't even in the days when the big box book chains were destroying the book trade. They only lasted another month, although I did manage to throw a little more money at them before they went under.
Hayseed farming towns are not a great place to try to run a bookstore.
Still have the binder. Never got the graph paper though
ReplyDelete