Miscellaneous Artifacts from my Game Room Remodel

[hentzau]

As I've mentioned scattered here and there throughout OO, I'm on the home stretch of a major remodel of my game room. Cleared everything out, painted, new floor and moldings, LOTS of new shelving. I'm about 85% finished.

I will freely admit, I am a gaming packrat. I have a hard time parting with games once purchased. Now, I am getting better about this. I just made $250 off of a few Warhammer items on Ebay, another 4 auctions currently running, and have 4 tubs of games and terrain that I'm throwing into the Games Plus auction next month.

But I've been enjoying unearthing some of the artifacts of my dim gaming past, and thought I would throw some of these up here to share.

Exhibit A: Lace and Steel



From Wikipedia:

Lace & Steel is a fantasy swashbuckler system with rules for both swordplay and romance, set in a fantasy world that resembles 17th-century Europe, except that civilized centaurs ("half-horses") live side-by-side with humans. A card-based system quickly determines the results of all conflicts, fencing and sorcerous. Characters are generated using a tarot deck. Courtly skills are given equal weight with combat abilities. The game includes rules for sorcery, character honor, and mass and hand-to-hand combat, plus a scenario.

I had a buddy run this for us, and man, was it fun. A swashbuckling fantasy world, with an extremely unique method of combat (you actually fenced using a deck of cards, that was amazingly fun, but unfortunately was a one v one situation that left the other folks at the table sitting around just watching.) After he moved to Madison, this became a grail game for me, because it was from Australia and out of print. I was able to finally snag a copy for a reasonable price (pre Ebay days, boys and girls!) at GenCon about 5 years later. It has since sat on my shelf, probably never to be played again. I saw copies of the second edition going for almost $200 (single volume reprint, no cards). But this is one that I don't think I can part with.

[Isgrimnur]

I smell a forum game!

[hentzau]

I smell a forum game!

Like???

[AWS260]

That cover art is amazing.

[hitbyambulance]

i vaguely remember this one...

[hentzau]

Next up: Dangerous Journeys



Back in the early 90's, I "worked" for Game Designers Workshop doing demos of their product. At the time, I was really into Space:1889 and Soldier's Companion, and that was what I used to run demos of at local cons. Shortly after I started doing this, they contacted me to see if I would be interested in becoming their Regional Demo Coordinator and helping them with a top-secret project. Being stupid and having no kids, I said yes.

Soon I was roped into the world of Dangerous Journeys, the latest RPG brainchild of Gary Gygax. This was to be his magnum opus, to be his 5th Symphony, his Sistine Chapel. And, well, frankly, it was crap. Other than some whacked out spelling of some words, nothing original here. But I kept pimping it out, because they kept me paid in Space:1889 miniatures.

The very first thing I had to do was to run tons of demos of the game at GenCon. In a hallway. But Frank Chadwick (owner of GDW) and Gary liked the reviews they got back from my games, so they tasked me with setting up demos of the game at local game stores along with book signings by Gary. So over the space of about 3 months, I ran more demos of this game than I would like to recall, but on the plus side I did get to know Gary and his wife Gail. His wife was funny, she confided in me that they really liked the sessions I set up because I was "normal". I got an open-ended invite to head up to Lake Geneva some weekend and play in a game that he was running. I never got around to it, because frankly I was now at the point that I hated the game. But in hindsight, why the hell didn't I do it?

These books are unique. I had them custom hardbound. There was a book bindery in my home town that had a process where they would take softcover books and re-bind them with hard covers. They're also all signed by Gary.

[coopasonic]

His wife was funny, she confided in me that they really liked the sessions I set up because I was "normal".

She had no idea...

[LordMortis]

Game Designers Workshop

Ah Traveller, where designing ships and rolling up characters was all of the fun. Playing, meh.

[Zarathud]

Hentzau acts well when making public appearances. My wife also had nice things to say about him that time the Chicago crew saw him perform.

Pretty cool story. A good high school friend's father worked at TSR when it died, but never spoke about it. I found out when we stumbled over a treasure trove in his closet of 20 original hardbound AD&D books (including several Fiend Folios with the Grey Mouser sections) and a ton of classic Gamma World including the Grenadier miniatures line.

[hepcat]

One of my childhood friends was over for our annual holiday get together last Christmas and begged me for an old copy of Champions first edition he found in my basement while we were playing board games. I let him have it...and now I'll probably find out it's a collector's edition worth a thousand bucks.

[Holman]

Next up: Dangerous Journeys

[...]

Could've been worse. Could've been CYBORG COMMANDO.

[GreenGoo]

These books are unique. I had them custom hardbound. There was a book bindery in my home town that had a process where they would take softcover books and re-bind them with hard covers. They're also all signed by Gary.

Very cool story, thanks for sharing.

[GreenGoo]

Hentzau acts well when making public appearances. My wife also had nice things to say about him that time the Chicago crew saw him perform.

Pretty cool story. A good high school friend's father worked at TSR when it died, but never spoke about it. I found out when we stumbled over a treasure trove in his closet of 20 original hardbound AD&D books (including several Fiend Folios with the Grey Mouser sections) and a ton of classic Gamma World including the Grenadier miniatures line.

Grey Mouser was in the original Deities and Demigods, wasn't he? Along with a number of other copyrighted works, like melnibone, Lovecraftian (not sure if this was still copyrighted at the time. It isn't now, I don't think), and maybe 1 or 2 more? I can't remember.

I do remember that someone I gamed with swapped out my original version for the revamped version, and by the time I noticed, he was long gone. That makes me sad to this day.

[Punisher]

Any chance you can post in here or somewhere the stuff you dont want? There may be takers..

[hentzau]

Yeah, the stuff that I'm selling on Ebay I'm selling under this same user name (hentzau). I'm going to be selling off a big lot of stuff over at my FLGS auction next month, I'll throw that out here in a week or so to see if anyone would be interested in any of it. And I'm planning on putting it out there cheap.

I may have a bunch of old Warhammer stuff up for auction soon...not sure if that would be of interest to any one or not.

[Holman]

Hentzau acts well when making public appearances. My wife also had nice things to say about him that time the Chicago crew saw him perform.

Pretty cool story. A good high school friend's father worked at TSR when it died, but never spoke about it. I found out when we stumbled over a treasure trove in his closet of 20 original hardbound AD&D books (including several Fiend Folios with the Grey Mouser sections) and a ton of classic Gamma World including the Grenadier miniatures line.

Grey Mouser was in the original Deities and Demigods, wasn't he? Along with a number of other copyrighted works, like melnibone, Lovecraftian (not sure if this was still copyrighted at the time. It isn't now, I don't think), and maybe 1 or 2 more? I can't remember.

I do remember that someone I gamed with swapped out my original version for the revamped version, and by the time I noticed, he was long gone. That makes me sad to this day.

I always assumed it was about copyright, but apparently not.

From Wikipedia:

For the first 1980 printing, TSR obtained permission from Michael Moorcock for inclusion of Melnibonéan material (from his Elric series of books). The Cthulhu Mythos was believed to be in the public domain, so TSR assumed they could legally use it without any special permission. However, Arkham House, which claimed to hold the copyrights on a number of works by H.P. Lovecraft, had already licensed the Cthulhu property to the game company Chaosium. Furthermore, Chaosium had also licensed the Melnibonéan copyright from Moorcock. When Chaosium threatened legal action, the first printing was halted and the two companies agreed on a compromise: TSR could continue to use the material but must provide a credit to Chaosium to do so. TSR added the credit for the second printing of the book.

The Cthulhu and Melnibonéan sections were removed from the 1981 edition, making it a 128-page hardcover (and giving the original edition a high collector's value).[2] TSR felt its material should not contain such an overt reference to one of its competitors and removed the two pantheons altogether, thus negating the need for the credit. For this reason, the first and second printings have generally been in greater demand by D&D fans and collectors.[7] The credit to Chaosium and incorrect page and pantheon counts were still included in some of the subsequent printings.

For the 1985 printing, the book was repackaged and its name was changed to Legends & Lore.[1][2] This sixth printing featured the name change to avoid potential conflicts with fundamentalist Christian groups such as Patricia Pulling's BADD. Despite the name change and new cover artwork (by Jeff Easley), the interior material was nearly identical to the fifth printing.[1]

[hentzau]

Here’s another rarity...









Wizards of the Coast released Star Wars Miniatures game back in 2004, and I went kind of nuts for the game. I collected the entire first release of the game, which was based on the original 3 movies, but slacked off on collecting when they started sets based on the prequels. The funny thing is, I didn’t actually play the game that much. I probably played about a half dozen times. My primary idea for collecting the minis was to be able to use them for Star Wars Miniatures Battles, which had been released by West End Games several years before that. As many of my plans do, that never panned out either.

Anyway. This oddity is from Great Britain. A company there called DeAgostini had subscription services for collectibles, and Star Wars was no exception. They had several different subscription services for helmet models, die cast ships, etc. They struck a deal with Wizards of the Coast to do a subscription service for the Star Wars Miniatures game, that each magazine would feature a “limited edition” of one of the already released miniatures (the only difference between the general release and these miniatures is the word “DeAgostini” stamped on the bottom of the base), several scenarios, and, of most interest to me, card stock sheets that you could cut out and assemble into 3-D terrain for the game. The first three issues would build out a section of the interior of the Tantive IV. After that, an interior of the cloud city of Bespin.

Through some wheeling and dealing with a game publisher Tommy and I knew over in Britain, we worked out a merchandise exchange, where we would send him some things he was interested in that he couldn’t easily get over there, in exchange for the subscription to the series. Alas, only 4 issues were ever released, due to lack of interest in the subscription.

I'm planning on selling these on Ebay after I take a few better pictures. But I have no clue how much to put out there, there's no (recent) history of them being sold on Ebay.

[Smoove_B]

Holy crap you have amazing stuff. Not that it's helpful, but the Revenge of the Sith starter set (part of the group you slacked off on) is currently on eBay for $120. While I'm no expert, I'm guessing the originals are worth more. I'd think anything Star Wars related - particularly when it's in good shape - is going to get you some $$$.

[hentzau]

Holy crap you have amazing stuff. Not that it's helpful, but the Revenge of the Sith starter set (part of the group you slacked off on) is currently on eBay for $120. While I'm no expert, I'm guessing the originals are worth more. I'd think anything Star Wars related - particularly when it's in good shape - is going to get you some $$$.

I'm going to hang onto all of the star wars figs, despite the fact that I could get some coin for them. I'm planning on investing in Star Wars Legion when it is released, and will use the WotC figs as proxys until I paint up the figs that come with the game (I guess that should be "if I paint them up.")

[Blackhawk]

Wow, that's cool. I have some of the miniatures (the WotC versions) that I bought way back when for a Star Wars Savage Worlds game, along with some of the paper maps. That terrain is great, though.

[Kelric]

Hentzau - sorry for jumping into the thread with my own piles of stuff, but on a similar note I just got gifted 67 copies of Empires, Eagles and Lions (Napoleonic wargaming and history publication) ranging mostly from issue 66 through 118, with #s 1 through 14 of their larger, high-quality magazine from the mid-90s. I also got a similar number of The Courier magazine that I will work through, but EEL is the one I separated out of the piles first. Anyone here interested or know of someone who may be interested? I have no idea what these are worth and ebay isn't helping much, but I'd rather sell to a local than the unwashed masses if possible. I also have a bunch of gaming rules and a few other misc. magazines if anyone cares for me to catalog them.

[hentzau]

Here’s a blast from the past:



Haven’t had this thing out in forever. I popped a couple of D batteries in it and it started right up. Did an inventory, appears all pieces are there. Very tempting to put this one up on Ebay.

[MonkeyFinger]

Sweet! Mine is... long gone.

[Holman]

Played the heck out of Dark Tower!

[hentzau]

Played the heck out of Dark Tower!

My dad, my brother and I played this game to death. I should hold off on getting rid of it until I can get in a game with them.

[Blackhawk]

I just spent some time looking through my stuff. Most of what might be 'artifacts' are just sentimental things. Dragonlance Adventures, the first RPG book I bought, along with the first dice I bought at the same time. A bunch of late-80s, early-90s RPG books (especially 1st and 2nd ed. AD&D, GURPS, Torg, and Rolemaster) that show clear signs of having been carried in a backpack for much of my highschool career. Some of them could be rare, I don't know. I don't follow RPGs as a collector's hobby.

The only item I have that is likely of actual interest is a set of the three original D&D brown booklets from the mid-70s, plus one of the extra books you could get with them.

[hentzau]

Another blast from my childhood. Star Wars: Destroy The Death Star.

[Kelric]

I never knew that existed, and now that I do, I want it.

[hentzau]

It's actually a fun game (for a spinner game.) Huge amounts of luck involved in the game, but you have to move your X-Wing Squadron around the outer ring, then move into the inner ring, then get lined up with the trench, and then make your run down the trench and try and hit the target. Oh, and the death star rotates every turn, and under some of those notches you see on the outside edge of the Death Star are tie fighters, and if you happen to be next to one when it is revealed, you have a 50/50 chance of losing one of your X-Wings. I'm going to get this to the table sometime soon, but I'll modify it to use dice instead of the spinner.

[Blackhawk]

I have very vague memories of having played it once, but I have no idea when or where. It must have been 30+ years ago, though.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, I never saw that before either. After watching The Toys that Made Us on Netflix, was this game one that was released in that first year that the movie came out - because Hasbro had the license but no ability to crank out figures for a year after the movie was released?

[hentzau]

Yeah, I never saw that before either. After watching The Toys that Made Us on Netflix, was this game one that was released in that first year that the movie came out - because Hasbro had the license but no ability to crank out figures for a year after the movie was released?

According to BGG, this came out in 1977, so it does fall into that timeframe.

[Zarathud]

BTW loved the interview with Kenner's lawyer about negotiating the Star Wars license.

[Daehawk]

Yeah, I never saw that before either. After watching The Toys that Made Us on Netflix, was this game one that was released in that first year that the movie came out - because Hasbro had the license but no ability to crank out figures for a year after the movie was released?

According to BGG, this came out in 1977, so it does fall into that timeframe.

Should be a fun watch. I still have my in box Kenner X-Wing somewhere. i hope its ok and not gotten wet. the boxes doesn't have the packing just the box and ship. but it used to work before storing it.

Its the long normal one not the stubby one from later on.

[Holman]

Yeah, I never saw that before either. After watching The Toys that Made Us on Netflix, was this game one that was released in that first year that the movie came out - because Hasbro had the license but no ability to crank out figures for a year after the movie was released?

I feel like Escape from the Death Star may have come first.

I know I had it first, and I was highly attuned to everything Star Wars.

[AWS260]

I feel like Escape from the Death Star may have come first.

That's a name I've not heard in a long time.

I had completely forgotten about that game until your post. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories! Although my strongest memory is that the frigging spinner would always get stuck on "3."

[Holman]

I dug it out and tried playing it with my kids when they were little.

They thought it was fun for a while, but mechanics-wise it's a truly simplistic, stupid game.

[hentzau]

Not an artifact, but a recent thrift store find from my wife:



Didn’t have a globe, and they were asking for $10 for it. She balked, the guy said “$3.00 and you can have it.” She bought it, took it to the van and found $3.50 in quarters in it. Score! One $15 globe later, and I have a D20 dispenser!

[Daehawk]

Got my wife one for Christmas at a Kmart around 1992. Of course after the included box of gumballs were gone she never used it again. Its here somewhere. She stores used Christmas bows in the box. And I never would have thought to stock it with dice. I did consider peanuts briefly.

[hentzau]

So, I guess I was really into Crimson Skies...