What's the coolest OD&D item you own?

[Rengate]

I'm assuming that most of us are collectors to some degree- I know I am. So I'm wondering what the most interesting thing in your OD&D collection is. Maybe a Gygax-autographed copy of "Greyhawk" or a really obscure third-party book?

My friend, who was part of TSR from the early '80s until the end, just yesterday gave me a copy of Chainmail that he's had in his collection forever. It has a label on the front that reads "Property of TSR Editing Department." And it was free, which makes it even cooler!

[ffilz]

In one sense not very special, but I would have to say that my coolest OD&D item is my copy of Judge's Guild's First Fantasy Campaign signed by Dave Arneson (I did impress the Zeitgist Games folks when I brought it to GenCon to be signed).

I also have an Adventures in Fantasy boxed set signed by all the authors and artists.

Frank

[foster1941]

I've got a very late printing (with a paper instead of cardstock cover) copy of Greyhawk which I bought from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop c. 1987 and got autographed by Gary Gygax while playing with him at a con game in 1988. This was the first OD&D item I owned (other than Best of The Dragon vol. I, I suppose) and, being young and foolish and not recognizing the idea of collectability, I used and abused the heck out of this booklet and made a ton of notes in it -- before I had a copy of the OD&D set I used this, BoTDv1, and the Holmes Basic Set to reverse-engineer my own OD&D rules. It's got lots of sentimental value, but I don't use it anymore because the paper cover is too flimsy and I'm afraid it's going to fall off -- I've got another copy with a cardstock cover and zero sentimental value that I picked up a couple years later and use as my reference/play copy.

[Finarvyn]

I don't think I have much that is "collectable", altough my (really beat up) edition of the little brown books has "hobbits", "ents", and "balrogs" in it, which were edited out of later editions to become "halflings" and "treents".

[calithena]

You just bought it from me, Rengate - it was that copy of Booty & the Beasts!

My EPT boxed set and thrashed old copy of Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes with big pencil 'X's' drawn through all the gods we had managed to kill are pretty cool too. If anyone wants the EPT it's $200.

[Rengate]

calithena said:

You just bought it from me, Rengate - it was that copy of Booty & the Beasts!

My EPT boxed set and thrashed old copy of Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes with big pencil 'X's' drawn through all the gods we had managed to kill are pretty cool too. If anyone wants the EPT it's $200.

Yeah- you're right. I lied before. Actually, the books you sent hadn't arrived when I posted the question, so I was telling the truth at the time. Let's see- rare D&D book with Erol Otus' autograph and original artwork drawn on the inside... priceless. Thanks for that one!

[Melan]

Why, my Revised City State of the Invincible Overlord book and the accompanying maps. I could run a campaign for years without resorting to any other supplemental material (of course, the same goes for the Wilderlands, but that's split up among four sets plus the World Emperor package).

If we are talking pure rules-utility, Ready Ref Sheets it is.

[murquhart72]

I don't know if it counts, but I have several sets of the old, school dice used in the seventies. I think they're the kewlest addition besides my white boxed D&D

[meepo]

themattjon said:

I don't know if it counts, but I have several sets of the old, school dice used in the seventies. I think they're the kewlest addition besides my white boxed D&D

That works! Old school dice that can kill a man if need be are great. I like the lead minis too! Safety be d**ned!

[Finarvyn]

I forgot my copy of First Fantasy Campaign by Judges Guild. That's one of my favorite oldies. (I also have a copy of EPT, but it mostly just sits in the box.)

[tgamemaster1975]

Adventures in Fantasy boxed set.

[coffee]

Hello, all.

I just got my coolest OD&D item last night, while visiting my local Half Price Books. It's Dave Arneson's "Gamemaster's Index", an index of all the OD&D products from Chainmail through Issue 7 of the Strategic Review.

And I got it for 48 cents!

[Rengate]

coffee said:

Hello, all.

I just got my coolest OD&D item last night, while visiting my local Half Price Books. It's Dave Arneson's "Gamemaster's Index", an index of all the OD&D products from Chainmail through Issue 7 of the Strategic Review.

And I got it for 48 cents!

That is cool. Those never turn up anywhere- at least I never see them. I bought mine new back in the old days and that was the last time I saw one for sale.

[grodog]

foster1941 said:

I've got a very late printing (with a paper instead of cardstock cover) copy of Greyhawk which I bought from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop c. 1987

Trent, you should post a thread about your copy on the Acaeum: there are a few folks over there who are trying to get info about legit copies of such books provided by TSR.

[grodog]

rengate said:

I'm assuming that most of us are collectors to some degree- I know I am. So I'm wondering what the most interesting thing in your OD&D collection is. Maybe a Gygax-autographed copy of "Greyhawk" or a really obscure third-party book?

That's a tough call. Probably the lot of six levels of Greyhawk Castle sold by Rob Kuntz a couple of years ago.

[foster1941]

grodog said:

That's a tough call. Probably the lot of six levels of Greyhawk Castle sold by Rob Kuntz a couple of years ago.

Heh, yeah I'd agree that's a pretty good one!

[crimhthanthegreat]

coffee said:

Hello, all.

I just got my coolest OD&D item last night, while visiting my local Half Price Books. It's Dave Arneson's "Gamemaster's Index", an index of all the OD&D products from Chainmail through Issue 7 of the Strategic Review.

And I got it for 48 cents!

I would love to have a copy of that. Shame it is not for sale as a pdf.

[coffee]

Hey, Crimthan, the guy at the store said he had a bunch of old-school stuff he'd be putting out on Sunday. I plan to be there. If they have another one, do you want me to pick it up for you?

[grodog]

Where do you live coffee?

[coffee]

grodog said:

Where do you live coffee?

I'm in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota (suburb of Minneapolis).

[Thulean]

The only older stuff i own at this time is a copy of JG gencon dungeon 9 and a few modules.

[crimhthanthegreat]

coffee said:

Hey, Crimthan, the guy at the store said he had a bunch of old-school stuff he'd be putting out on Sunday. I plan to be there. If they have another one, do you want me to pick it up for you?

Absolutely! That would be great!

[grodog]

grodog said:

foster1941 said:

I've got a very late printing (with a paper instead of cardstock cover) copy of Greyhawk which I bought from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop c. 1987

Trent, you should post a thread about your copy on the Acaeum: there are a few folks over there who are trying to get info about legit copies of such books provided by TSR.

Speaking of which: www.tomeoftreasures.com/tot_features/worthless_treasure.htm

[ffilz]

Oh, one more interesting thing I have is the May 1974 issue of Wargamer's Digest which had an article by Gygax on D&D and is probably one of the first references (though I found a reference to a review of D&D from The Courier, but no date other than 1974). I have several other Wargamer's Digest issues that have early D&D or Chainmail stuff in them (sadly, I don't seem to have the issue with a Tekumel article). I'm thinking of scanning some of the D&D adds.

Frank

[rogatny]

I'm trying to think...

I actually don't have anything that can be considered all that rare or outlandish. I've got a copy of the third volume of the Arduin Grimoire that may or may not be a pretty early copy. It also might be a munged up printing from five years ago.

My most prized OD&D possessions are my Judges Guild stuff. Particularly the CSIO and Caverns of Thracia. They're not early printings, rather the printings from 80/81, but considering I've had them since they were hot off the presses, and actually bought them at the Judges Guild HQ in Decatur, Illinois, I think they're pretty cool.

My family actually has a lost, possibly apocryphal OD&D product, that I've never actually seen. My father says he has a photocopied version of the original rules somewhere. He swears he still has it. We've both half-assed looked through his wargaming stuff and not been able to find it.

We did find his copies of Tractics, Don't Give Up the Ship, and his two copies of GDW's Napoleonic miniatures game, Fire & Steel (in which he's listed in the credits as a playtester and miniature painter), one opened and the other still in shrink. However, since he has piles of the old chit based games from Strategy & Tactics (all neatly tucked away in boxes for for SPI's old Lord of the Rings war game - how he got literally about a dozen empty boxes, I don't know - and yes, he does have at least two copies of the game itself) and we've never thouroughly gone through them...

[grodog]

ffilz said:

Oh, one more interesting thing I have is the May 1974 issue of Wargamer's Digest which had an article by Gygax on D&D and is probably one of the first references (though I found a reference to a review of D&D from The Courier, but no date other than 1974). I have several other Wargamer's Digest issues that have early D&D or Chainmail stuff in them (sadly, I don't seem to have the issue with a Tekumel article). I'm thinking of scanning some of the D&D adds.

Frank, I know of a few OD&D articles from various wargaming mags, mostly via Paul Stormberg and/or eBay auction searchings. I listed them @ www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_sources.html

I'd be happy to hear about others that I should check out.

[grodog]

rogatny said:

I actually don't have anything that can be considered all that rare or outlandish. I've got a copy of the third volume of the Arduin Grimoire that may or may not be a pretty early copy. It also might be a munged up printing from five years ago.

RA, You should be able to ID it via the pages @ www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/afterglo/rpg/nontsr/grimoire/index.html

rogatny said:

My family actually has a lost, possibly apocryphal OD&D product, that I've never actually seen. My father says he has a photocopied version of the original rules somewhere. He swears he still has it. We've both half-assed looked through his wargaming stuff and not been able to find it.

If you have the chance, make the time to make a concerted search effort: you'll not be disappointed! I eventually re-found my lost RJK and EGG letters from 1987-88, and am happy that I kept at it. Plus, think of the wonderful D&D research opportunity that you'd have And, naturally, if you and you father decided to sell it, you'd make a mint (I'd guess at least $6000, likely more).

rogatny said:

We did find his copies of Tractics, Don't Give Up the Ship, and his two copies of GDW's Napoleonic miniatures game, Fire & Steel (in which he's listed in the credits as a playtester and miniature painter), one opened and the other still in shrink. However, since he has piles of the old chit based games from Strategy & Tactics (all neatly tucked away in boxes for for SPI's old Lord of the Rings war game - how he got literally about a dozen empty boxes, I don't know - and yes, he does have at least two copies of the game itself) and we've never thouroughly gone through them...

If you want help IDing some of the games, I'd be happy to help where I'm able

[rogatny]

grodog said:

If you have the chance, make the time to make a concerted search effort: you'll not be disappointed! I eventually re-found my lost RJK and EGG letters from 1987-88, and am happy that I kept at it. Plus, think of the wonderful D&D research opportunity that you'd have

I'm most curious to find out what printing of the rules it is. As of 1973/1974 my father knew the right people (the guys that would eventually form GDW and JG) and was an active gamer, so it could be a really early hobbits/balrogs/ents version when Gary and the rest were struggling to make enough copies in their basement to meet demand, hence the photocopy. (If it was a couple years later and the actual copy was available at the time he was introduced to D&D, I'd like to think he would have bought the set.)

And, naturally, if you and you father decided to sell it, you'd make a mint (I'd guess at least $6000, likely more).

I think you might have missed the "photocopy" part of my first post. Still, if we could verify the printing and where he got it from, it might be worth a little something.

[grodog]

I guess I thought you meant that you had a copy of one of the two pre-publication manuscripts that were circulated vs. a copy of the rules. If the latter, that could potentially still be interesting, and may still sell for up to $200, perhaps (afterall, who could buy a woodgrain for that? ).

[rogatny]

grodog said:

I guess I thought you meant that you had a copy of one of the two pre-publication manuscripts that were circulated vs. a copy of the rules. If the latter, that could potentially still be interesting, and may still sell for up to $200, perhaps (afterall, who could buy a woodgrain for that? ).

Now that's an interesting idea. I've always just assumed they were copies of the boxed set. However, it would have been the right time frame, and Dad might have been travelling in the right circles, to have a pre-pub manuscript. The fact is, I'm not sure that Dad would have had enough interest in D&D to know the difference (a photocopy is a photocopy, right).