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Post by Zenopus on Nov 1, 2011 20:59:35 GMT -6
From the copyright registration records in the Office of Copyright searchable database. The electronic database starts in 1978, so any product registered earlier is not included (possibly OD&D; Geomorphs Set 1). I stopped at 1981; in 1982 there's a big increase in licensed products, and I have declining interest in the dates at that point. 8) These come with the caveat that the records are self-reported by the register and may not be 100% accurate. TSR Publication Dates Through 1981  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2011 21:06:22 GMT -6
Neat, thanks.
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Post by kent on Nov 2, 2011 4:09:11 GMT -6
The Giant Modules G1, G2 and G3 were all published on the same day?
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Post by coffee on Nov 2, 2011 4:19:37 GMT -6
The Giant Modules G1, G2 and G3 were all published on the same day? Yes. I believe they were tournament modules for GenCon that year. |
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Post by Zenopus on Nov 2, 2011 5:22:29 GMT -6
Yes, kent, according to the registration records they were. They each have a separate record but for brevity I put them on a single line because the dates were identical. But note the registration date - 1983 - five years after the fact. It's possible that TSR didn't keep accurate records and backdated them all to the same publication date. One reason I posted the list is to see if anyone spots any inconsistencies with other known information.
Just spotted a typo. The original printing of the Monster Manual should be 12/28/77 per the database, not 12/18/77.
The 12/28/77 date is consistent with a Gygax column in Dragon where he wrote that the MM wasn't available until after Xmas that year.
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Post by Zenopus on Nov 3, 2011 5:29:33 GMT -6
Irbyz (aka harami/faro) left a cautionary comment on my blog about these dates, which I'll post here:
In The Story of TSR, Ryan Dancey wrote (when discussing B2) that the TSR records from back then are "not as clear as they could be"...
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Post by jmccann on Nov 9, 2011 23:10:09 GMT -6
Where is Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes? I have some questions about the veracity of this.
It would be interesting to go back through old SRs and The Dragons to figure out from the announcements when they appear to have been published. I suspect Spells& Swords was not that early (although my memory of that time is pretty hazy, I think we were pretty clued in about when things were coming out and spent a lot of time at hobby and game shops).
-- edited for spelling
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 10, 2011 5:44:31 GMT -6
Where is Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes? I have some questions about the veracity of this. Perhaps it was never published? (That makes my copies worth more, right?) The general dates seem to be fine as best as I can remember them, at least in terms of publication order, but knowing how TSR operated I agree that the exact dates are probably questionable. SR and Dragon may or may not be reliable sources, either. I seem to recall placing a pre-order for the third volume of the Star Probe / Star Empires trilogy and finding out later that it wouldn't be published. (I assume I got my money back. After all this time, who can remember. Maybe the company owes me $5 or $10 from the 1970's.  ) |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2011 8:00:00 GMT -6
Where is Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes? I have some questions about the veracity of this. Perhaps it was never published? (That makes my copies worth more, right?) The general dates seem to be fine as best as I can remember them, at least in terms of publication order, but knowing how TSR operated I agree that the exact dates are probably questionable. SR and Dragon may or may not be reliable sources, either. I seem to recall placing a pre-order for the third volume of the Star Probe / Star Empires trilogy and finding out later that it wouldn't be published. (I assume I got my money back. After all this time, who can remember. Maybe the company owes me $5 or $10 from the 1970's. ) With interest! |
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Post by Zenopus on Nov 11, 2011 9:23:16 GMT -6
Where is Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes? I have some questions about the veracity of this. I don't see G, D & H in the database. It was either registered before 1978 or never (an author still owns copyright even if the work isn't registered. See here). I wouldn't be surprised if many of these are off by a few months due to poor record keeping at TSR. Just use the list as a starting point for further research. Deities & Demigods has a 11/1/80 publication date. This doesn't seem right to me for the 1st printing - I was under the impression it was available at Gen Con that year (in which case it should be 8/80). It wasn't registered until 10/15/85. It's listed as being 128 pages, so this registration is for the non-Cthulhu version. So the 11/1/80 date is possibly for the 3rd printing when the Cthulhu mythos was removed; the Acaeum lists the 3rd printing as still being in 1980. Those early supplements were registered way after the fact in 1983, some 7 or 8 years after publication, and I'd imagine that the TSR records were worse the further they went back. Tim Kask's Foreword in S&S is dated 7/22/76, so they may have picked a date around then (possibly when the manuscript was finished?). It's also hard to know what date a publisher picks as a "Publication date" for copyright records. Date the manuscript is complete, sent to the printers, back from the printers, out for distribution, or available in shops?? |
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Post by jmccann on Nov 20, 2011 23:50:38 GMT -6
I have just been going through old SRs and TDs for other reasons and noticed a GDH ad, so I noted the date and then looked for the first ads for Swords and Spells and Eldritch Wizardry.
* EW is advertised as "Avaliable May 1" in Vol. 2 No. 2 of SR, April 1976.
* GDH was advertised "It's here" in Vol.1 No. 2, August 1976.
* Swords and spells is advertised "NOW AVAILABLE" in Vol. 1 No. 3, October 1976.
So it looks like the EW pub. date is definitely wrong in the registration. I searched the db for several variations of the GDH title and could not find it. S&S could have been published in August and only advertised in October given the long lead times of a print magazine, so it seems likely that that date is not very far wrong if at all.
-- edited to put the date of SR 2 #2
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