Bracton wrote in Gencon 2014:

Badmike wrote in Gencon 2014:Is there some kind of corporate strategy as to why WOTC had zero presence at this year's dealer's hall despite the release of 5E?

Keep in mind that WOTC was still one of the three main sponsors of Gen Con (along with Paizo and Mayfair), had a big presence in one of the largest gaming halls, and was running (lots of) 5E games all con.  My guess -- entirely without any evidence -- is that WOTC couldn't get their act together in time to reserve space in the location they would have wanted in the dealer hall.  Moreover, they wouldn't want to sell any 4E stuff, and there's really only two things available under 5E -- the Player's Handbook and the one adventure, Hoard of the Dragon Queen.  Both were being sold by many of the retailers in the dealer hall, as well as by WOTC in their gaming hall.  If they have more merchandise available for sale next year, I would expect to see them back in the dealer hall.  Though given how full the hall already was, I don't know how they could be fit in.

This. Exactly this. They only have two books for sale right now, and even at their booth in the D&D hall, they only had some Gale Force 9 minis and some T-Shirts. They just haven't had much to sell lately, and I expect come the next few years, their dealer hall presence will be increased.

P.S. The giant tower of T-shirts has been there for years.

P.P.S. I got to check out the beginnings of the online tools set, and was impressed. When it's finished, it should be a great tool to use.

P.P.P.S. Great seeing everybody there!! Love you guys!!

Zen

Gencon attendance this year was 14% over last year.

Gen Con gaming convention hits record attendance - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Martin

Before an epic summary arrives here are a few of my own thoughts on the Collectibles auction.

I think the auction Friday night is a testimony to the maturity of the hobby and the people who most frequent this website. There were some great items to be had on Friday night and a few found a good home. That said there were some other items that were less than spectacular that went back to their owners.

On the surface the auction was an embarrassment of riches: A true 1st printing Woodgrain, a true 2nd printing Woodgrain and several nice white boxes of other printings including Dave Trampier's personal copy and a shrink wrapped copy in a handmade chest. There were no less than three copies of Chainmail, two copies of the original version of Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and a copy of the nearly impossible to find RPGA artists portfolio. A copy of Dungeon number 1 and Dragon number 1? Yes. RPGA modules? Yes. Friday night's auction, on the surface, had a number of great, rare items in it.

But if you looked a little closer the items lost a bit of luster: The 1st printing Woodgrain was beyond "well loved" and deep into "worn out and spent" territory with a $2000 reserve and both were missing sheets. The 2nd printing was in better shape but carried a $1500 reserve. Bill's copy of Lost Caverns was missing a page and a half while the other had an 8 inch tear up the spine. The RPGA portfolio was missing a plate and had some slight spotting as well as a small stain on one of the plates. While the Dungeon was in solid shape the Dragon wasn't the nicest copy I've seen. We were blessed with two copies of Titan and the glory of one of them caused the second to get no bids when it came to auction before the better copy.

I spoke with Jon Peterson about the Woodgrains and said that the best hope of either copy selling would be for a collector with little experience and more emotion than common sense to buy them. I also told Jon that for the reserves a buyer would probably not see any reliable chance of seeing his investment back for any time in the foreseable future as the condition would put off anyone looking for something nicer. $2000 is a lot to expect someone to pay for something where one of the booklets is in tatters and the others are well on their way.

I'm not trying to be overly negative so if it seems that way I'm sorry. I think the true collectors, the people who live on this board and move in a higher and more rarified atmosphere than most, already have nicer in their collections. For half of what the reserve on the 1st printing Woodgrain was I bought what most people agree was the best copy of Titan anyone had ever seen. Dave Trampier's box set was in a box that while a bit spotty and stained on the surface was as tight and solid in the corners as the day it was made. If you bought that box and put it on a shelf it would last another 35 years.

That brings me to another point: Bargains. If you were just starting out trying to fill out a collection the collectibles auction, and to another degree the rpg auction on Saturday and the miniatures auctions on Friday, were a bargain hunters dream. I bought a copy of Divine Right for $200 in the original shrinkwrap. On Saturday untouched Planescape box sets were going for less than $50. For less than $500 a budding collector could have filled some holes in their collections for a song and really felt great about things. My friend bought a nice Holmes box set and an extra copy of the rulebook to boot.

Lastly I would say that one of the areas we should focus a smidge more on would be early miniatures. I won the Heritage Great Dragon that was in the cabinet for $85. The model, complete and with original flash on all castings, should have gone for much more than that. Gold box Grenadier miniatures went to the miniatures auctions on Friday and I think that should change. There didn't seem to be anyone really moving in that space at Gencon this year and while nature abhors a vacuum I think many of us have focused our efforts on the paper and not the metal side of things.

I forgot two things:

On Sunday my In-laws brought my 10 year old son over from the farm for his second Gencon. This year he lasted about 5 hours before he was worn out and ready to call it a day. Among the highlights was his having a chance to meet Frank and chat with him briefly. Frank was patient and very kind to speak with him and even scribble an autograph and the encouraging statement, "Keep on gaming!" for him. Jack spent the next twenty minutes asking me all about that really nice guy who was so kind to him. That's a nice lead in to my other thing.

I can't tell you how nice the other Acaeum members were this past weekend in welcoming my friend and I on Wednesday night and over the next few days. It meant a lot to meet a lot of you face to face, find out who had won the auctions that the others had lost on eBay, talk about what our passions and our favorite items, etc. This community is made up of some really great people and all of that was on display.

I agree with Jim's (Boredflak's) thoughts on the auction.  It was the best selection of rare items in years, but many if not most of them had issues.  It seemed that the crowd only wanted to buy items in perfect shape.  But then when one did show up (the Titan), there were almost no bids.  Very odd, and disappointing.

And I'll second Bill's comment -- Jim was a great auctioneer, and a very welcome addition to the Gen Con auction team.

Gencon Auction:

I walked into the auction between events Thursday afternoon, and picked up 7 Bill Barsh modules for $5 each. I could just not say no to that...  

Mine was the 1st print Brown Box for sale, and I have to give Frank his due diligence in trying to sell it. Pricy? Yes... but I just didn't want to give it away. Had I realized that a crappy Tsocanth would have sold for $1300 (with an 8-inch tear across the spine), I would have sold my Bartkowski playtest-copy for $2K.

It's weird really... Things that I think won't sell sell, and stuff I expect to sell doesn't (doesn't it always feel like that?). I mean last year I tried to sell a group of common JG mods for $20 and get no takers, this year I add another common mod to the lot and it sells for $60.

I had a bunch of 2nd edition boxed sets that didn't sell (Undermountain, FR Campaign setting, etc.) at $20 each. Last year they were sold at a minimum of $30 each... *shrug*

p.s. I have a possible offer on the Brown Box... I'll give him a few days to think it over before setting it loose...

Invincible Overlord wrote in Gencon 2014:Gencon Auction:

It's weird really... Things that I think won't sell sell, and stuff I expect to sell doesn't (doesn't it always feel like that?). I mean last year I tried to sell a group of common JG mods for $20 and get no takers, this year I add another common mod to the lot and it sells for $60.

I had a bunch of 2nd edition boxed sets that didn't sell (Undermountain, FR Campaign setting, etc.) at $20 each. Last year they were sold at a minimum of $30 each... *shrug*...

Spot on. I am no expert (see post above!), however I suspect that small collectible markets are always going to be quite volatile. There are often too few items and too much emotion (and also sheer happenstance) to allow for more than a rough estimate of prices at best. Sometimes high sometimes low…  

< pssst. the corners on your brown box for sale ... are they intact...? >

Tiamat wrote in Gencon 2014:I found the auction Friday night to be fairly stunning. Probably no surprise, as it was the first time I attended it.
Still I can only agree to you guys, that it was very odd. No bids on halve the stuff offered? I expected more "fights" like the one on the perfect Titan.

If I was buying and not selling, I would have been in on it most definitely...

Every few years, Frank makes an announcement about the Acaeum, and asks for the membership that's there to stand and be recognized.

There would have been over a dozen of us there standing, who already had their Tsojcanths and Brown Boxes already squared away. So like someone said earlier, you've got to find those two bidders that don't have it and get them going...

Invincible Overlord wrote in Gencon 2014:you've got to find those two bidders that don't have it and get them going...

Yeah, my job is to start fights. Friendly ones, tho.

Great to see everybody again.
Hope Palomino worked for all on Wed.

F