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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2018 10:50:17 GMT -6
I have my white box books. The box was heavily used and I eventually pitched it, after many different tapings of the sides. Even as a kid I pondered the collectors edition notice on the cover -- how does it get to be a collectors edition and how did they know ahead of time?
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Post by murquhart72 on Sept 14, 2018 15:58:45 GMT -6
I got a couple OCE boxes for about $60 each from eBay years ago. Since then I've sold one, kept one to look through here and there, and otherwise use various compilations or "single-volume" copies from Lulu or such. Here's a pic of my current OD&D collection (not including reprints, etc.):
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 14, 2018 15:04:44 GMT -6
Yes, but I didn't acquire it until about 15 or so years ago, so it wasn't the first D&D I started with. The first TSR product I played was DUNGEON! in the summer of 1979, and the first D&D I played was Holmes Basic in 1980 or 1981, and the first D&D I owned was Moldvay Basic which I got for my birthday in July 1981. I got the Expert set later that summer, and in fall 1981 played AD&D with kids at school and bought some of the books and modules real cheap and converted to AD&D which is still my favorite system today. I didn't get my white box set and all the supplements until around 15-20 years ago on eBay when I began collecting all of the old gaming materials I always wanted back in the day...
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Post by doublejig2 on Nov 14, 2018 17:41:01 GMT -6
One set is a table copy, one is a keeper, and the third given to one of my children who is now a gamer. Hehe, no offense, please. Nothing about a little bit of tradition. - My point here is more about keeping things real: I was born in '82. Many of the older gamers here were, well, already gaming back then. For those, to own founder-era games is quite normal; for a guy like me, it's "spending a lot of time and money on ebay". So, I'd rather not pretend that I have this super-duper access to oldschool stuff - and while this is the business of irrational spending, I don't see myself crank out more than, what, a hundred bucks, for any sort of gaming supplement, like, ever. Like, "not", on principle. The price of a mint-condition White Box is, what, 2.000 $ at this point. I am not spending that, even for my dearest hobby. ...Not that I mind if others do, of course, but 2.000 bucks, that's ten stocks from Berkshire Hathaway for my retirement fund. - I'd rather do the latter. Like, seriously. Prudence is always well received. But how can you be sure the mint-condition White Box (lovingly cared for) won't outperform the 10 Berkshire Hathaway stocks? Interesting choices.
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Post by dizzysaxophone on Nov 15, 2018 0:04:02 GMT -6
I have a set of third print lbbs, but I do not have an original box. I made my own woodgrain box a number of years ago though!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2018 3:48:42 GMT -6
Prudence is always well received. But how can you be sure the mint-condition White Box (lovingly cared for) won't outperform the 10 Berkshire Hathaway stocks? Interesting choices. Hehe, I named Berkshire Hathaway in particular because their stock is around 200 bucks, right now, so it fit well for my example. - Now, collecting physical goods - and RPG memorabilia, in particular - as a financial asset, I think is too risky, or, to be blunt, pretty misguided. On a personal, philosophical level, I think any adult person who owns a 20.000 $ toy collection would need to reassess his or her priorities; but that's just me. On a practical level, I think that the assumed value of collector's items (except for high-end art) is too volatile and the direction of that market is generally too insecure; much like with real estate, it's not the individual seller, but the individual buyer who sets the price. Nominal value and market value are not necessarily related there, and that's the real problem: To find that person who is willing to invest a month's or a year's salary in a book or a box can be quite hard, especially with items that are rare, but do not hold any obvious recognition value. Say, the White Box will always net in good money. But "Dwarven Glory", for example, will always go for dramatically less - and, in time, most people will not necessarily understand the reason for its value, any more. Also, collectors' markets usually hit a pretty low ceiling, pretty fast - meaning that you might make a couple of good deals, but you cannot reasonably assume that you will be able to reinvest in the same market with the same margin of profit at a higher level: Let's say, we find a true unicorn, and one of you here owns THREE White Boxes that he or she somehow really manages to sell for a mind-boggling 5.000 $ each. Where do you go with that money, then? - Buy one mint-condition 1st print of "The Hobbit", for a whooping 15.000 bucks?! And from there, where? If you already own collector's items of similar value, good trading. But if you don't, and think about getting into this (general "you" addressed here), bad idea. - Again, the key is not in finding an item of high nominal value, but in finding an interested buyer. My personal impression would be that the RPG collectors market, like the comic book and comic strip market before it, are really generational phenomena: As soon as the pop culture relevance of the items in question begins to drop - which is usually connected to something as simple as a line being discontinued by a company, etc - then the prices take a steep drop; at least for the stuff that was available through retail tends to plateau. Look, say, at the wargaming market: Most older stuff changes hands for less money than even modern RPG books will cost. TLDR - personally, I think it's nice to have the stuff, but it's certainly not a moneymaker, unless you have some really rare stuff - and the general perspective of such a "market" will go down as soon as the current generation of collectors retires. - Now, mind you, this is not a statement about how I personally value these things; it's an assessment on the market.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 15, 2018 5:34:13 GMT -6
I don't know much about collecting, but I know that the baseball card market collapsed a few years ago and some friends of mine complained that super-valuable cards had the price fall drastically. I assume that the same could happen in the RPG collecting market, particularly with printing on-demand. Much of the value in RPG collecting traces back to scarcity, and I assume that many folks would be just as happy with a replica as an original.
I guess my thought is that if a person is just investing in RPGs to make money they might want to sell soon while prices are high. As Rafe noted, this stuff may be highly generational and I can say that my kids enjoy 5E a lot more than OD&D.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 15, 2018 10:14:07 GMT -6
I had a similar conversation with my grandmother once, and I thought she was going to disown me. She spent a lifetime collecting antique dolls and I told her that she ought to sell off most of her collection because she was the only person in the family that understood its value and the only person in the family who would know how to contact buyers who would actually pay a decent price for her collection. You might guess how THAT went over. I've always told my kids which books in my collection have the most value with the hope that if something ever happened to me they might get something out of them. I'd rather that they get something rather than having my stuff get pitched or donated to Goodwill.
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muddy
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by muddy on Nov 16, 2018 9:42:56 GMT -6
I'd rather that they get something rather than having my stuff get pitched or donated to Goodwill. When my dissertation advisor passed it was in a fairly remote part of WV he had moved to to write, with no students or colleagues nearby. Many valuable books were tossed in dumpsters, original copies of works from 1700's etc. It was quite sad.
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Post by robertsconley on Nov 16, 2018 11:56:17 GMT -6
Just curious how many people on here actually currently own an Od&d box set. Things like S&W or pdfs don't count, Thanks I bought a boxed set back in the day (1981) but the box got smashed up and only kept the top. When the reprint came out, I shelved the reprint books and replaced them with the actual books including the copy of 3rd edition Chainmail I had.
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Post by robertsconley on Nov 16, 2018 12:03:14 GMT -6
I don't know much about collecting, I follow the guys at the Acaeum enough to understand the ins and outs of it. But I am not really interesting in collecting for collecting's sake. My goal for the past ten years is to obtain complete and pristine copies of the stuff I had back in the day particularly boxed sets. All mine got beat to hell and thrown out. For example FASA'S Star Trek the Roleplaying Game 2nd edition SPI's Dragonquest 1st edition GURPS 2nd Edition Boxed Set Holmes Basic D&D (the printing with the dice and B1 module) Plus a few I didn't have but wish I did like Moldavy/Cook B/X D&D The Fantasy Trip Thieves Guild
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Post by asaki on Nov 17, 2018 9:51:32 GMT -6
B/X can be pretty cheap on eBay if you keep watching, certainly seems to be much cheaper than other editions. I got mine in lots, so I wound up with a Basic box and a few adventure modules (I really wanted the original X1), plus an extra copy of B. Got some other books from a comic shop.
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Post by doublejig2 on Nov 17, 2018 10:47:17 GMT -6
When I was 9 years old I purchased X-Men 94 mint condition for $15 and 95-115 for another $15. I sold the lot when I was 35 (but not 65) for $1000. The truth: a retirement investment is for the long haul. That's the main game. Whatever gets you there.
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Post by doublejig2 on Nov 17, 2018 16:28:40 GMT -6
Nah. Just got lucky that one time.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2018 17:43:05 GMT -6
I have the WotC reprints as well as a 7th print copy of Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes since I wanted access to the Hyborian and Melnibonian pantheons.
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Post by Falconer on Nov 17, 2018 20:25:01 GMT -6
Did they remove them from the 8th printing?
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Post by Malchor on Nov 22, 2018 9:30:03 GMT -6
You left out an option, "Had a copy and let it go." Thank goodness PDFs POD are now available. Even if I still owned that set (with a copy of Chainmail 3rd edition! both purchased together at a wargame shop around 1981–2) I would likely not want to use PDFs now anyway.
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Post by Malchor on Nov 22, 2018 9:43:31 GMT -6
B/X can be pretty cheap on eBay if you keep watching, certainly seems to be much cheaper than other editions. I got mine in lots, so I wound up with a Basic box and a few adventure modules (I really wanted the original X1), plus an extra copy of B. Got some other books from a comic shop. It amazes me how short the life of B/X was. Holmes was out from 77-81 (with some people reporting they bought or were given a Holmes set as late as 82) and Mentzer basic was out in 1983.
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Post by Zulgyan on Dec 4, 2018 15:38:32 GMT -6
I own the original booklets (no hobbits printing though) and the supplements separately, without the box.
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Post by thegreyelf on Dec 11, 2018 14:51:18 GMT -6
I have a 5th print white box, plus all five supplements (including Swords & Spells). I used to have two such complete sets, and an OCE set, but I sold one complete 5th print to my buddy Tim, and the OCE set on eBay when I needed cash. I also own the WotC collector's set, and I've made what I consider to be a nicer set than the WotC one, from PDFs and artwork that a gent did around these parts many years ago, and gave me the thumbs up to use on my own sets, which you can see here: www.facebook.com/jason.vey/media_set?set=a.10215594961019119
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Post by ddt58 on Feb 2, 2019 2:08:20 GMT -6
Second print woodgrain, and an OCE.
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Post by scalydemon on Feb 4, 2019 20:41:41 GMT -6
Second print woodgrain, and an OCE. Well, then if that's your 1st post here on ODD74 boards, then this place should suit you.
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Post by ddt58 on Feb 6, 2019 2:36:09 GMT -6
I started playing right around when Greyhawk came out. Took a few decades off. These days I mostly play 5E with my son.
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Post by angantyr on Feb 8, 2019 16:57:11 GMT -6
I have a 6th or 7th print OCE (need to check the details). I picked it up in the early-mid 80's along with a white box of Tractics. It was a used book shop and they had a stack of the things. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN..... (Similarly, another used book shop in the area had several copies of Chainmail - a late print with the coil spine - in stock. I /think/ I got a copy of Swords & Spells from them, though (again, could have picked up extras). Finally, our local Kay-Bee shop had multiple copies of the 1st/2nd prints of Deities & Demigods, at like 4.99 or 5.99 apiece!
ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!
I need a time machine...
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Post by murquhart72 on Feb 8, 2019 20:19:13 GMT -6
^^^ Don't we all angantyr, don't we all!
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Post by Wet Biscuit McGlee on Mar 2, 2019 7:46:27 GMT -6
Nyet, tovarisch! The closest I come is PDFs and a copy of the S&W boxed set.
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Post by talysman on Mar 2, 2019 15:14:52 GMT -6
Sort of. We had a white box set as part of our D&D resources back in high school. The box fell apart ages ago, the reference sheets and whatever else was in the box as extras are gone, but I still have all the booklets.
Similar thing happened to my Holmes set. I lost the geomorphs and monster/treasure assortment, and the box fell apart. Still have the dice, which are very very worn down and not really usable (the d20 is practically a blank sphere.) But back in the day, I bought a clear vinyl cover for the Holmes rulebook, and although it's worn and the pages are about to come loose, it's still intact.
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Post by Malcadon on Mar 3, 2019 3:49:19 GMT -6
Try to contain your jealousy as I brag about by fancy box-set set.
Put me down as: "Sorta; cheap print-out booklets, roughly trimmed and bound, thrown into a simple brown corrugated mailer-style box marked "UTENSILS" by a permanent marker."
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Post by thebadgamer98 on Mar 11, 2019 17:40:17 GMT -6
I've got Greyhawk and Blackmoor, hope to get my hands on the 3LBB's one day!
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