Wednesday, October 9, 2019

A Treasure Trove of D&D Books

Welcome Greyhawkers! Those who've gamed with me, met me at a convention or seen stream me on Legends & Lore will know I love to collect old Greyhawk and classic D&D publications. My super best friend forever, Brandi recently joined in this collecting craze when a gracious former co-worker of hers named Patrick, who was also an avid gamer wanted to find a home for his old D&D stuff rather than throw it out. Naturally, me and our friend Jayson helped appraise what was best in this collection for her bookshelf first; including a loving worn AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, Deities & Demigods (second print), City of Greyhawk books and maps (no box), a set of 1980 Darlene Greyhawk maps, many Forgotten Realms books, a mint set Silver Anniversary TSR Collection and the full four volumes of the Encyclopedia Magica. Trust me there was much more, so she is gushing with old school books now.

Of course knowing about my insatiable D&D mania, Brandi gave me anything Greyhawk related and then some. Let's have a look at this wonderful treasure trove of Patrick's. I could tell he was a hardcore Greyhawker by his classic AD&D character sheets, poster maps with holes in the corners from being mounted on the wall, custom hand drawn maps (shown for another day) and a sturdy binder that contained a full printing of Ivid the Undying and more. I am proud to carry on his collection and add it to mine. Indeed, I hope in the very distant future I too will be able to find someone as crazy and dedicated as me to curate my collection.

G2 The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl: Rough shape, original monochrome edition. Never owned this before love it. I could run from this tomorrow.

G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King: A very rough copy that was missing the cover (which means no maps). Never owned this so I'll take it in with love anyways. Patrick didn't have G1, so that's now on my to-do list.

D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth: Another classic monochrome module, in good shape. Again I didn't have this before. More of the Drow series...

D1-2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth: This was a revised edition that combined D1 and Shrine of the Kuo Toa. Already own it, but good shape. Definitely could use this mod someday.

Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits: This purple covered classic was wrecked from years of use and storage. The covers/maps are torn apart, but the book is still in one piece. Luckily I own it. I hope Patrick's game group defeated Lolth to cause this much damage.

L1 The Secret of Bone Hill: This classic Lakofka module was in rough shape and definitely was played through. Oddly Patrick had cut out pieces of the module (perhaps art or flavor text?). This one will have to take a rest beside my copy.

L2: Assassin's Knot: Another in the Lendore Series. Good shape. I need to run this someday...

S1 Tomb of Horrors: This classic module was also in bad shape, and the art inserts were colored (something I did to a lot of my early AD&D stuff as well). Again, I'm sure a lot of PCs died in this one, so I'd like to imagine frustrated players shredded the Tomb in revenge.

T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil: Much like the others, this module was wrecked, wrote in (which means it got a lot of play) and was missing most of the maps. My own copy of TOEE isn't much better. This one can hang on my shelf any day though.

U2 Danger at Dunwater: Wrecked book and covers. Luckily I got a copy of this last year and have recently ran it for 5E out of Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I'll see what I can salvage from this classic.

U3: The Final Enemy: Part three of the Saltmarsh series. This book was in very bad shape and had no covers/maps. Sadly Patrick didn't have U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. I find it hard to believe he had these, but not U1. Wish I had asked him about it.

Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins and Players Guide to Greyhawk: Both these 2E products were in mint looking condition. Well, compared to mine. Clearly Patrick made better use of the early boxed set era stuff like many of us from that generation. Still, these books are a godsend and I will try my best to take care of them for my own Greyhawk research.

Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff: This adventure sourcebook is used, but in about as good shape as my own copy, so I'll gladly have two on his shelf just in case. While he didn't have much Sargent era "Greyhawk Wars" stuff, Patrick did have a lot of the stuff from that era printed out which was available online.

UK4: When a Star Falls: Good shape. Never owned this TSR United Kingdom module, but have others in the series. Can't wait to read it.

B5: Horror on the Hill: Never owned this module, unfortunately this one has a torn cover, but the booklet is in good shape. Would make a good Halloween one-shot.

I8: Ravager of Time: Another module I've never owned before. Rough shape. I own I6 Ravenloft, but what the hell happened to I1-5?

X1 The Isle of Dread (blue cover): Who didn't own this? Patrick's was worn, loving played through and now can reside by my other three copies ;)

B2 Keep on the Borderlands: Speaking of everyone owning a copy. It doesn't get any more classic than this one. This copy was also well used as I would expect. If Brandi were to change her mind and want some of these old mods, X1 and B2 would be no brainers.

B7 Rahasia: This module by Tracy and Laura Hickman had no cover and the booklet was rough looking. A shame because I never owned this one before and it looks fantastic with amazing interior art I've never seen before by Jeff Easley. A keeper nonetheless!

DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor: Patrick and his friends did a lot of Basic D&D evidently and they were no strangers to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor either. This module, which I do own coincidentally, was in decent shape, but with a torn cover. Interestingly he also donated to us, an amazing copy of a Blackmoor campaign hex map that I haven't seen in my life, but I'm sure a lot of my fellow Blackmoor aficionados would be very familiar with. (save for another day)

REF4 Book of Lairs II: This book was in good condition and is a welcome addition to my shelf since I only had volume one.

Lastly, he gifted us with a 2nd Edition DM Screen and Players Option DM Screen, both in very good condition. Both my copies were long since worn to death so this is nice to have even if I don't use screens much these days. Well that's it. Patrick if you read this blog post, you have my eternal gratitude and know that you have left a huge footprint in the Greyhawk community.

9 comments:

The Badger King said...

Weren't I1-5 the original Desert of Desolation series and... Day of Al'Alkbar and Under Illfarne or something? (off the top of my head)

Mike Bridges said...

Definitely don't own any of those. Good call Badger King.

Persimmon said...

I1 was "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" and I2 was "Tomb of the Lizard King." Desert of Desolation was I3-5.

Mike Bridges said...

You're right Persimmon! And what's worse, according to my checklist I own I1, but I must've have misplaced it. Grr!

Mike Bridges said...

Crisis averted, found I1. And I2-4 as well. I need I5 and I7.

David Leonard said...

The Labour of Love to complete the set.
Mine is nowhere near complete but I'm still collecting, God help me... :) To date I do have the following (I'm sure I'm missing a few in this list) (not counting DiveThruRPG reprints):
Basic and AD&D:
Original PHB, DMG, MM, FF, original Deities, UA, Dungeoneer, Wilderness, Oriental; L&L, Manual of the Planes; Dragonlance Adventures, MM2, The Greyhawk Box Set; A1-4; B2,5,11; C1-6; CM1, D1-2 (no monochromes),3; DL1-16; EX1,2; G1-3 (no monochromes); I1-13 (not 14); L1,2; N1-4 (not 5), Q1; S1-4 (not Realms of Horror); T1-4 (3 copies, but no T1, as yet); U1-3; UK1-7; WG4-8,10-12; WGM1; WGQ1; WGR1-8; WGS1-2; X1-5,7. Forgotten Realms Box Set and a number of the Supplements
2nd ed:
Out of the Ashes Box Set; Return to Keep on the Borderlands; Return to White Plume Mountain; Liberation of Geoff; The Lost Tomb Trilogy, Sahaugin Trilogy; Beholder Trilogy; Night Below; Vecna Lives; Slavers; Temple_Tower_Tomb; Ivid the undying (PDF print and comb binding); Iuz the Evil; The Marklands, the Scarlet Brotherhood; ten of the splat books; some Ravenloft.
3rd ed:
The 3.0 core books; Greyhawk Gazetteer; Bandit Kingdom Summary; Return to the Ruins of Greyhawk; Shackled City; Ghostwalk; 11 of the Forgotten Realms silver books. I've begun collecting Path 1 and Path 2 since I've recently discovered they're largely set in Greyhawk. (No Dungeon Mag Age of Worms or Savage Tide hardcopies yet.
4e:
some printed PDFs
5e:
The stuff as it comes out. Not sure whether I'll get the Avernus book (I've never really been a fan of adventuring in the outer planes; there's always been so much to do on the Prime Material Plane). I picked up some Kobold Press stuff, Colville's Strongholds, Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos.
I'm sure most of the people following your blog have as much, if not more. You can't help but have a lot if you've been collecting since the '80s.

David Leonard said...

I forgot to mantion the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover. Yup, got that too.

Mike Bridges said...

Dude that is an impressive collection! Is your boxes for the boxed sets in good shape?

David Leonard said...

They're in excellent shape, near mint, in fact. I bought them when they came out and have always been careful handling them. But I'm like that with novels, too. Sadly, my Greyhawk gold box setting book detached from its cover, otherwise the box set is in mint condition, the maps and books within are wrapped in magazine bags with boards. I read the PDF materials now.