stratochamp wrote in The Future of RPGs as a collectible?:I keep swearing this is the last time I'm going to say this...but I have been saying for, well since the last Millenium, that prices are going to keep going up and up. I need to stop saying it, because I think some people are believing me and consequently I'm having to pay more for things.

Dang! You wasted my plan to destroy a part of my wealth which i used to buy at high prices some rares and aimed to sell for a negligible amount...

Definitely. You were fortunate to get those at the time

I think a major crossroads will come when material gets to the age where almost everyone who played it is gone.

We aren't nearly there yet.  Like many 1E players, for example, I'm still in my 50s.
Give it another 30 years.
A lot of product will be lost as spouses and kids who don't want it and know what it is trash things (or 'temporarily' transfer to unsafe storage where it gets lost or ruined).  So scarcity will rise.
But will demand decline even more?  Less?  Equally?


Some things that are early or iconic will probably remain in demand well - TOEE, first print PHB, etc.

But things that we recognize that a collector or player 25 years younger has zero recollection of, familiarity with, nostalgia for, interest in playing?  What of that kind of stuff?
Who's going to want a complete set of Companions Islandia modules?

I feel like it's going to become rather boom or bust-ish at that point.

ExTSR wrote in The Future of RPGs as a collectible?:Roleplaying
reaches for the better part of us, cooperating instead of competing.
That is a pivotal moment in human society.

We've hit the 50th anniversary. My work is in the Smithsonian and on a postage stamp. There are 100 great RPGs to choose from.

Hell yes this will continue and thrive as a hobby. And thus, the mementos and publications of the first decade, 1973-83, will be desirable for a long, long time.

Hello Frank, I was on the same page however for a part of items this seems not be confirmed by facts... the so called "small print" goodies are less wanted than 10 or 20 years ago... there are some specific items that even don't sell... if everything is correct for the big pilublishers, I see this not working anymore for the small print... have you noticed it as well?

stratochamp wrote in The Future of RPGs as a collectible?:What small print items are you thinking of Axel?

Well i hadn't in mind a precise publisher, i was ref in general to d&d non-tsr publishers... however if you think that when i started collecting prices of wee warriors stuff were by far higher than rpga items, now i see this trend inverted.
Some publishers that are sellingal at more or less flat prices in the last 10/15 years: Midkemia, Dimension Six, Dragon Tree... and many others.
Ciaooo

Our hobby has survived multiple assaults (early 80’s sorcery and satan worshiping accusations, racism allegations, horrible movies, PODs, and 4E). It is still standing.  With the adoption of more e-books vs printed manuals, it will be interesting how that will affect values of physical books, especially ones in nice condition.  Pop culture hits have added a ton of young blood to the collector ranks so I don’t see a complete collapse with the old guard aging out.  With that said, not every book ages well, I just saw Jack London’s iconic, Call of the Wild book, printed in 1907 sell for only $28.

-SKA

Supply and Demand
Other than some natural deterioration the original supply is not going down, and in some ways could be argued that it is going up with the addition of reprints, POD reprints and digital copies.

I believe that what is causing the increase in prices is the increase in demand due to the massive fan growth over the last decade. Also the large increase in folks who used the physical books gaining access to more disposable income.

As the use of physical books goes down and the number of collectors that actually played the earlier products does down I think we will see a cooling of the collecting side of the hobby. I am witnessing a huge shift of the use of tablets and phones at the game table. At some point the desire to hold/display a physical copy will drop. I look at the decline in the stamp-collecting hobby as a loose comparative.

Now D&D /RPGs are more popular than ever so I think things will hold for a while. I personally collect for my own personal enjoyment and nostalgia so I am not worried.