Hunting the Dragon: Collect Dungeons & Dragons
The Italian situation
There are no particularly rare products in Italian, the most valuable pieces are the Base Box Set 1, the famous Red Box translated by Edizioni Giochi, whose value is around 150.00 Euros. Often and willingly it is an affective value for those who started playing with that box and are pleased to have it as a souvenir. Even the Master Set 4 Box, the Black Box, has a fair value that is around 150.00 / 180.00 Euros. Another valuable piece is the Atlas of the Orcs of Thar whose value is around 180.00 Euros. The atlas was one of the latest products of Editrice Giochi and it is not so easy to find it complete due to the numerous cardboard tokens present.Of great value is the material relating to Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 which more than for collection is purchased to play. Several manuals easily reach 100.00 / 150.00 Euros, such as the famous and highly sought-after Draconomicon.
The american situation
regarding the material in the English language, the discourse changes dramatically, with a few historical pieces that reach into the thousands of dollars of value. Here I take a look at only printed materials related to Dungeons & Dragons, and for accessories, gadgets, games, etc, I will propose an article in the future. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list but only some examples of the pieces more refined and special .Dungeons & Dragons Woodgrain Box
The Holy Grail of all collectors is surely the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the so-called Woodgrain Box . When Gary Gygax decided to publish his work had not a lot of money and print a game was not a small thing. Managed to find some funding, addressing his friends Don Kaye and Brian Blume, but, at least initially, this did not allow him to achieve a professional job 100%. Decided to print three books, Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, Underworld & Wilderness Adventure, containing all the rules for play, and put them in a box. Print professionally a box is not a small thing and means the initials not his health allowed. Then decided to buy the boxes “generic”, to print on sticker sheets for the graphics choice, and appiccicarli hand on the boxes. Gygax made it with the help of his friends, in the basement of his house. It is said that of these there were produced about 1000 copies and give life to the first edition, called by the collectors the Alpha Printing . Followed by several reprints of the box, each one different from the first one for the small details that make vary the price considerably. It is not always easy to assess the printing of a Woodgrain Box at that time, the assembly job was not professional and there are no inventories of what was printed and in what amounts. It is likely that some versions overlap each other, and the materials have been exchanged between a print and the other is creating some confusion.I do Not want to dwell too much on technical details, but let's say that if you want to buy a Woodgrain Box, it would be advisable to get it assessed by an expert. The price can vary from approximately $ 13,000 for the Alpha on and off up to 6,000 Dollars for a next print .
Palace of the Silver Princess Orange Version
it Is one of the most controversial in the history of Dungeons & Dragons. The module was commissioned to Jean Wells who produced the adventure in total autonomy. The adventure came printed on the table of Gary Gygax, and Kevin Blume, to that point, one of the two is the second of the sources, which you reference, was furious with the result, and sent to be pulped the entire production . In the course of time has tried to understand exactly why he made this decision: some suggest that the illustrations were not to the height or too osée, some say that the writing was not that great, and that contained parts that could be considered vulgar. Be that as it may, the whole production was destroyed except a few copies that were saved, even here, in a mysterious way. The adventure was then completely overhauled by Tom Moldway.the result was The famous green version, which contains some illustrations that are different and a rewriting and reordering of many parts of the text. The adventure overhauled is now also available in Italy with the title of The Palace of the Princess of the Silver .
the value of The version Orange is higher than the 6000,00 dollars, while the green version is easily over $ 25.00.
Up to the Garden Path
This module is particularly rare and is one of the few that has not been produced by TSR US, but by its English counterpart, the TSR UK. It was printed in limited edition, we're talking about 600 copies , on the occasion of the National Garden Festival 1986, which was held in Stoke-on-Trent and Games Days RPG, which was held in the same period of time at the Royal Horticultural Society Hall in London. The authors, Graeme Morris and Mike Brunton , used the maps of the National Garden Festival for the setting of their adventure which has a decidedly humorous.You think that at the time they were sold a lot, and the scraps have been pulped. The copies that still remain are sold around 6,000 Dollars .
Rahasia
it Is one of the earliest adventures ever produced for Dungeons & Dragons. The authors are Laura Hickman and her husband Tracy Hickman , which then become very famous by devising the setting of Ravenloft and Dragonlance. The first dedication of the adventure is published by Daystar West Media, a small company owned by the same Hickman. The rights were then purchased by TSR, which then published them for the RPGA, Role Playing Game Association, which was responsible for promoting organized play tied to D&D. later released an expanded version of the adventure designed for the Dungeons & Dragons Red Box.version Daystar there are very few copies. Tracy Hickman does not remember exactly how many were printed but it seems that they were about 200, and those sold, maybe less. This makes it a piece very rare. The ratings hover around these figures:
Rahasia (Daystar West) 2000,00 Dollars RPGA1 Rahasia TSR 1000,00 Dollars B7 Rahasia TSR 60,00 Dollars
character Sheets
Some of the rarest pieces of Dungeons & Dragons consist of the blocks of the Cards of the Characters . You have to consider that initially, the TSR did not believe much in the accessories related to D&D, including the adventures. Gary Gygax did not think that someone interested to buy sheets pre-printed with the information of the Characters when one could simply take a white sheet of paper and write on it all! And so imagined that the Dungeon Master would have written their own game worlds and adventures without the need of somebody who did it for them. He was wrong, but it is for this reason that some of the first products of the “official” D&D are produced by publishers and third parties, such as the small publishing house called Wee Warriors . Were the canons that were often distributed by the same TSR.In the course of the years, the TSR will be the protagonist of various pulls and spring with these third party companies, ritrattando often and willingly his permission to produce official material for Dungeons & Dragons. Always remember that D&D was a game at its dawn and that no one foresaw the success that would have had, and the resulting collections. There are several versions of the character Sheets, produced since 1975, and the price, depending on the print, can go from $ 200,00 up to 4,000 Dollars .
The Jade Hare
This short adventure, 8 pages, just, written by John Nephew was given as a gift in 1992 for who made purchases from Mail Order Hobby Shop, the point of sale to match the TSR. Being free, it is possible that many buyers have thrown away, making it very valuable. Another discriminant is the cover : there are very few copies that have it. The why is still a mystery, but most were shipped to customers without. The author, interviewed in this regard, did not even know existed a version with the cover! The value from the version without the cover is around $ 300.00 , the version with the cover is approaching quickly and easily to $ 8,000 .the Quest for the Fazzlewood
Quest for the Fazzlewood, John and Laurie Van De Graaf , is the case of another adventure published by a publishing house, the third, and then reused by TSR. The adventure was used for the tournament of Wintercon VII del1978 and then published with a small print run of 300 copies by the Metro Detroit Gamers. After the adventure was published, expanded and revised, by TSR as adventure Expert The Gem and the Staff , arrived in Italy with the name of The Gem and the staff. Quest for the Fazzlewood can easily reach to the 3000,00 dollars while a copy of The Gem and the Staff can get to $ 20.00 .Chainmail
Chainmail is a booklet which contains the rules for wargames fantasy written by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren . The idea was initially developed on some magazines of the sector, and then take the form of a booklet produced by the publishing house Guidon Games . When Gygax and Don Kaye founded TSR will print again Chainmail under the name of their new company. The volume is considered to be one of the main sources of inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons but, as usual, some are not agree. Be that as it may, some common elements are evident, as the lighting bolt, the fireball and lots of monsters, and then the volume has a value considerable . The Guidon Games there are at least two prints: the first easily reaches 3000,00 dollars, while the second 1,000 dollars . Versions of TSR are much more common and can reach the value of a few hundred Dollars.If you are a fan of the D&D volume Dungeons & Dragons-Art & Arcana: A Visual History is a must in your collection. You can buy it at this link on Amazon.
