The Focus of your Collection

[Beyondthebreach]

Well, I gave it a snazzy title, but this is, essentially, a "What do you collect" thread. Or, for some of you, a "What do you not collect.

But, I must admit, that I am not even totally sure what some of the other admins on the site currently collect. I remember Ralf collected all AD&D . . . do you have everything yet, Ralf? How about print runs?

Is anyone pretty much done collecting . . . having got everything (or at least almost everything they need?


Now . . . what do I collect? I collect Warhammer 2nd edition. Of course, I have to pay new book price for them (or Amazon's price anyway).

Other than that, my compulsive reselling habits limit my collection severely. I keep saying . . . "someday" I'll collect that . . .but for now, I'll sell it.

So I like to "virtually" collect. I amass scans of everything I sell and archive them . . . I read all kinds of cool (and poorly written stuff) as a lot passes through my hands. I'm at around 12,000 pics right now (most of which are two pics per item though).

This enables me to choose different collections to buy - sometimes with an eye to checking them out. For instance, I have no idea about Earthdawn, so I am currently looking for a nice collection to pick up - read up on and then resell . . .

I intend to collect a whole bunch of stuff . . . someday. But, other than my Warhammer 2nd edition books, the only stuff in my "Permanent" collection is:

- S4 & WG4
- Warlocks & Warriors boardgame
- Fantasy Forest boardgame - sealed (for now)
- Dungeon boardgame
- Wilderlands of High Fantasy
- Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardy, Greyhawk and Swords & Spells. (given to me from bombadil )
- All my original Hardcover 1st edition books from my playing days in the 80's
- Royal Armies of the Hyborian Age by FGU (which was a gift from tfm )
- D&D 3.0 Core books Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. Also the Epic Level Handbook. These were all Christmas presents from my wife and were what got me back interested in RPGs.
- My Castles & Crusades Player's Handbook & Monsters & Treasures book (those these see current use! )
- Also, a few 1st edition Warhammer books


I don't expect the rest of you to itemize, of course, but my list was so short I figured I could get away with it.


So, What do you Collect? What do you still need? What direction is your collection going in the future?

Are you just a collecting packrat?
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"Ah, Blackadder. Started talking to yourself, I see."

"Yes . . . it's the only way I can be assured of intelligent conversation."

[Ralf Toth]

AD&D hardcore. I'm missing:

-all the rares
- Ravenloft / Dragonlance/ Forgotten Realms
- Many non-gaming items, novels, video games, miniatures etc.

I've started collecting D&D also and few, selected Non-TSR items. I am thinking of collecting "Schwarze Auge" and 3.x D&D when AD&D is complete. I have a little more than 1,000 items now.

The latest threads about 2E print runs got me going on that one, too. But I will probably restrict myself to hardcovers. It is perverted enough to own the same book twice with the only difference being the TSR logo.
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Tome of Treasures - #1 resource for collectible role-playing games.

[simrion]

As Beyondthebreach well knows I am a quantity collector as opposed to a quality/specific item collector. I've a few gems in the collection that I've accidentally gleaned through buying lots (meaning groups or items as well as quantities of items ) on Ebay and at local book and game stores. Been trying my darnedest to get a First Print AD&D PH (not even worrying about a TRUE First Print) but the closest I've come are 2nd printings. Much of what I collect specifically are the lesser known oddities of the RPG world that don't seem to command a very high price, lots of indie rpgs and supplements. Examples include the Challenger Series rules set by Tom Moldvay and the Underworld Publishing set of generic rpg rules supplements.

[falstaff]

Well.
I collect only what I really liked in the past (gamewise and that was a lot)
and never had the money to buy in the past :)
Mostly AD&D (1st and 2nd), King Arthur Pendragon, Alternity and so on.
I also like Euro Board Games a lot.
Only bought some 3rd Ed. books because I wanted to play that Ed. and they were cheap
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*Forgotten Realms update daemon*

A notebook. A pen. A camera. A photographic ear.

[Mars]

What do I collect? Sometimes it seems like I collect anything that remotely interests me that I find that is cheap :) I tend to hit the Value Village and Goodwill stores when I get a chance and have picked up about 50 Avalon Hill games, 4 Heroquest boxes, Axis & Allies, Shogun, Space Hulk, Blood Bowl, etc. Basically any board game that looks interesting and is under $4.

Of the RPG stuff, the bulk of my collection is D&D stuff but I do have lots of other that I have picked up relatively cheap along the way. For example, about 3 years ago, I stopped by a bookstore in a town about an 45 minutes away from where I live. I talked to the manager and found out he wanted to clean his shelves of the rpg stuff that wasn't selling or had been there for a while. In the 3 trips that I made there, I ended up picking up over 450 Palladium, 7th Sea, White Wolf, D20, GURPS, Buffy the Vampire Slayer books each for $1. As a consequence of this, I have an instant GURPS, 7th Sea, Buffy, and huge D20 collection. I am however in the midst of trying to sell some of these books off :) Sometimes, it seems like I'll buy anything for a buck - this is also why I have a Torg collection of about 25 books.

I started really collecting D&D stuff about 7 years ago and that branched out into all the other TSR products (other rpgs, boardgames, early supplements, cross stitch patterns, etc) but I think my passion is for the nonTSR D&D stuff. These are pretty much the only items that I throw some real money at :) But I don't have many of the popular rare items such as Wee Warriors stuff because it is just too expensive. I'm happy to wait and find them later - the hunt is at least half the fun of collecting.

I also collect my favourite childhood Sci Fi TV show stuff: Doctor Who. I have a remote command dalek and K9, some bumper stickers, action figures, a near complete collection on VHS, etc. I usually end up chasing my dog around the apartment with the remote command dalek - its good to see the dalek instilling fear into a new generation.

[tfm]

That's a tough question. I'm interested in so many things now that there's not one area that appeals to me, although fantasy role-playing games are still my favorite. I started collecting Metagaming stuff because that's where I started playing. Then I thought it would be fun to collect D&D. I had no idea at the time (having been through only a few modules) what kind of commitment that would be. D&D is the proverbial elephant in the room. Rare D&D is still one of my favorite areas. It's a wonderful experience to open and peruse a new-acquired Ghost Tower or ST1. Of course, that's one of the reasons I don't own a covered Jade Hare--I'd be buying a cover and I just haven't been able to bring myself to spend $1K on a cover. I still enjoy buying rares, even if I have it already. I've pulled back on them for about the past year to give other folks a chance to pick one up easier, but I hardly ever pass up a good price.

The nice thing about our hobby is that there are plenty of collectibles out there. Anyone can get into collecting for very little money. I conceived the Tome forums to address both the interests of the new collector as well as the old. This is about having fun, after all.

Right now there are a few companies that I'm interested in completing-- Wee Warriors, Dave Casciano, Guidon Games, Marshal Enterprises, etc. Mars have saved me a bundle posting Ragnarok stuff--I don't have to buy if it's here already. (Thanks Mars) I know there are collectors out there for each company listed here, so I hope they decide to share their work. It used to be that a collector meant someone who not only got things to preserve them, but to share them with others, like the old saying, "There's nothing a collector likes more than showing his collection." That sensibility hasn't worked it's way into our hobby yet. I can't explain why.

After fantasy role-playing games I started collecting older wargames. Role-playing owes its existence to wargaming, and so it seemed a natural conclusion that both needed representation in any effort that seeks to explore the forces in play when role-playing was born. We are talking about people, not just Arneson, but the plethora of men and women (well, mostly men) whose lives were altered by the advent of the role-playing game. What was the Zeitgeist in 1970 with regard to gaming? Reading through some of the earlier British wargames, I discovered that fantasy was of keen interest to many of the wargamers playing there. At that time, though, fantasy wasn't a serious area for wargaming, which was dominated by historicists. I'm convinced that it was subject of fantasy that led to the formation of the role-playing game. Role-playing was in the works in Britain but the critical mass was achieved here. What happened was nothing less than the creation of a living novel, the effects of which are still being felt.

It may sound odd, but fantasy role-players should take a look at the wargaming scene. DMs especially would find the wargamers' map work to be very helpful and in many cases better than what they can get in role-playing. It's not much work to translate one into the other. The two share so much, after all. I hope that this effort called the Tome of Treasures can bring these wayward cousins together, if even for a short time.
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"This is cool."

[Beyondthebreach]

[Plaag]

Judges Guild (really just about a dozen or so shy of complete), D&D (Most every edition, minus various print runs of course..) AD&D (DL, Ravenloft, Birthright, Spelljammer, Al'qadim are complete thru 3rd ed if not missing an item or two..Dark Sun and FR missing a good portion), got a complete run of Dungeon mags that I'm proud of, then its been other things through the years that I've been told about, Thieves World, Palladium, Talislanta, Earthdawn, Runequest, Rolemaster, etc.
Now I'm not buying much of the older stuff anymore, mainly anything Troll Lords, Privateer Press, Necromancer Games puts out I buy, with a hit and miss for some other things.

I think I'm a pack rat

ShaneG.
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I reject your reality and substitute one of my own!

[Ralf Toth]

[scribe]

Great reading.

I started off collecting by purchasing a couple of lots some 7 years ago. They had all common stuff in it but it was great to get my hands on a bit of it again as I hadn't even thought of D&D since 1988. After a bit of looking around online I found the Acaeum and discovered that some of the items carried some very mighty price tags. After a bit of spectating on the sidelines of ebay and newsgroup I decided to splurge and buy a couple of rares. I was hooked. I stopped buying commons and went full on into rares. Unfortunately, I got in just as prices tripled in just 3 short years. Fortunately, I got in before priced nearly tripled again since I stopped purchasing them. But I managed to buy quite a bit of stuff that could be considered rare both TSR and nonTSR before moving on. The focus of my collecting currently is original illustration art used in the publication of TSR items. I have a background in the arts and TSR illustration is probably what motivated me towards that goal. It is great to see these items up close in detail. Most are much more stunning than the reproduction.
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[scribe]

[Elwood Blues]

Like Scribe we also mainly collect original TSR artwork(check out the art section on this site). We also collect: anything TSR made, Guidon Games, some non-tsr, and various other games we can snag cheap. We still have a few holes in our non-D&D TSR and 2nd Edition AD&D collections(somewhere around 75-100 items).

Shawn

[Ralf Toth]

After all the great reading it would be great to see some pictures of your collections. I will try to make a few pictures of mine this weekend. If anyone wants to post first, please open a new thread for this. And if you need webspace to host them, just email me the pictures and I will upload them to this website so you can link them.
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Tome of Treasures - #1 resource for collectible role-playing games.

[Plaag]

[tfm]

Shane's collection reminds me of Mike's. Mike was collecting everything D&D when it wasn't fashionable to collect anything but first edition. Judges Guild was that way for quite awhile. Gamestores were practically giving it away. Now each has a great collection that speaks to their vision. Each is positioned to say something well.

I only pick up 2nd/3rd D&D or JG when I come across a cheap lot on ebay. I simply can't have anymore collectible pipelines coming in or I'll have to park my car in the driveway.
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"This is cool."

[Chromatic-Knight]

My collection covers all things D&D from TSR and WoTC. I especially like the oddball licensed items from Larami, etc..... Of course I am a print run junkie to boot. I have a current want list of under 100 items I am still looking for. Mostly different printings of common items, but a few higher end items are still on there as well. I will see about posting some pics when I make it back home.

Later,
Mike

[Beyondthebreach]

[Chromatic-Knight]

I'm sure something else will grab my attention. The more time I spend browsing the Tome the more things catch my interest. So far I am maintaining my focus on those few items, and the occasional item I have never seen before - bubble blower anyone?? Only time will tell.

Later,
Mike

[grodog]

I used to be more focused in my collecting, and I'm not really any longer. In the past, I would have said that I'm a Greyhawk collector (and that's still true, certainly), but there aren't many GH items left that I don't own, and some of those are ones that I don't want to own :) Which is fun and all, but kind of takes away the fun of the collecting angle.

I also had a fair amount of non-TSR, and non-D&D TSR from BITD, so I've been working on those. And Grenadier and Heritage minis. And CoC from Pagan Publishing (only missing a handful of titles there). And tourneys, and....

You get the idea

So, I've been trying to be better about returning to focus, and actually leveraging what I've bought over the past 3-4 years, so that I can begin to (finally) sell extras and stuff I no longer need, in order to finance some other purchases (perhaps a 3rd woodgrain, which seems more affordable) (and to make more room in my bedroom and closet...). I'm not succeeding too well, thus far, though, so perhaps a trip to GenCon will help to cure me. Really. It will. Honest....
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grodog
---
Allan Grohe
grodog@gmail.com
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html

Editor and Project Manager, Black Blade Publishing
http://www.black-blade-publishing.com/