Well here it goes....

I am ready. I am 41 and grew up with D&D and love to read and just get into the books and modules. I find this site just cool as hell, and it has motivated me to take this up as a new hobby. My goal is this: to collect one of each item  within the TSR world starting just building the collection. I then want to upgrade items and keep "one set" for an investment and another one for me to read etc..... so I guess two sets - one gold and the other any condition with consistent upgrades, sales and trades....

Any extras I pick up I will list and sell etc... I have been setting up a budget and have a few questions if someone could help. BTW I have been reading the forums and learning as much as I can. There are some amazing people on here.

Question one - storage. I really want to make sure I do this right, I am not a comic collector or anything else and live in South Florida. I am wondering what is the best way to store the books and modules, boxes, etc... this is probably on a thread and I read the instructions here on the site... still worried about this as I want to protect the items as best as possible.

Second question - I am going to build a numbers (excel sheet) with everything for inventory and notes on what is needed etc... I was curious if someone has done this. I would be willing to pay or trade something so I don't have to type or cut and paste everything in... I can't cut and paste the tables here for some reason. I can do this, but if it has already been done I don't want to duplicate the effort .

I am really pumped about this - and have some time to put into this.... This collection is more for me and just building it seems like a lot of fun and will bring back some great memories....PLUS the factor of the treasure hunt.

Any help on the questions above would be great, and I look forward to working, trading, buying from you.

I have 0 in the collection LOL - this is going to be a blast!

BTW, I would not even take this on, if it where not for the experts on this site. I feel confident in getting to know the material an the judgment of the members here to not get burned too many times! LOL That is all part of it though -

Thank You,

JB

BTW I am going to add Top Secret and Star Fleet Battles to the list as they where a part of our gaming groups years ago!

JB

Welcome aboard.

Rule #1 Have patience.

There will always be another copy coming up of any but the most rare item. Remember AD&D/D&D in its heyday was printed en masse and there is a lot of material still floating around out there. Study sales, ask around, look at all the rpg sites, ebay, rpgmarketplace, amazon, classifieds, resellers (not all are high end, I've gotten some nice deals from dragonstrove recently).

Rule #2 Buy in bulk if the price is good.

Since you are just starting out you may be able to hit a few large lots and really build up the common and uncommon books in your collection quickly. If you have a large budget you may want to check out the Judges Guild lot currently up on ebay that has just about the complete run.

Rule #3 Do Not Spend A Lot On Dragon Magazines

Dragons are common and even low numbers arent going for much currently. The only Dragon mags that are worth putting some money down on are the first ten issues with #1 worth the most and hardest to find, and even issues #2 on up have gone cheaply in the last year. As for any other issues, only complete issues in excellent condition  (and I mean excellent, not excellent considering their age, thats bullshit, damage due to age is damage plain and simple) and even at that only issues 50 and under, though I have found any issues with AD&D/D&D modules or any Gamma World supplements to be in the highest demand for issues over #50. Completeness is worth mentioning again. There were a lot of games in the early issues and many of those are missing or have the pieces cut out or seperated from the mag, and sellers either have no idea or choose not to mention it. If you are going for Dragon mags have extra care and extra patience.

Rule #4 Ask the seller questions. Pin them down on condition and the cost of shipping for combined auction wins. Or theur shipping policy. Also pin them down on how they are going to ship. Doesn't do you any good to buy a shrinkwrapped module in excellent condition only to have the seller toss it in a bubble mailer with no protection. It also doesnt help to budget your buying if the seller hits you wih huge shipping fees.

Rule #5 Have patience

It is the hardest rule to follow so it is worth mentioning again. Buyer need it tattooed on their knuckles so they can see it while surfing auctions and online sale. Their are great finds coming up every week, sometimes every day.

Have fun and watch your budget.

Jason

Personally, for the smaller things (modules and thin supplements,) breaking down some good cardboard to put between items when they're standing upright is a good thing. Or, you could do like what I do and buy those $5 magazine racks and alternate the covers, front to back to prevent curling. Still need some cardboard to stop them from getting all pokey, but it works for me.

Also, storage may be different if you want to actually read and play with the stuff. I do. So, my method is slightly different than someone buying it to make a profit.

I only truly "protect" the things that mean the most to me. Everything else can be replaced.

Thanks for taking the time and understand -  I am actually down in Bogota Colombia right now and get back Monday and look to start going after it.

I would be lucky to get some of the Rares and have a budget for it, not sure if I am "ready" for it yet. Meaning before I drop a grand on something I need to know more then I do now. Don't want to make too many rookie mistakes. I am looking to do this more for fun, but the idea that it can be an investment makes me take it more serious as in storage and always trying to upgrade the collection.

I will have to check on the humidity and I have central air, but it is HUMID in Florida LOL - I am in Ft Lauderdale on the water so it is crazy... again I may be over thinking things.... but soon I want to hunt some rares and I want to make sure I have the right system of protection in place...

Once again thanks - one day I may be able to help and promise I will....

Thank You,

JB

Probably the best advice is to take it slow.  This was mentioned in another thread not too long ago but start by trying to define smaller goals first.

Are you going to collect OD&D, 1st Ed, 2nd Ed, which campaign settings?  Also decide if you want to start collecting different printings?  Believe me a collection can get out of hand very quickly.

You may want to re-evaluate buying RPGs for "investment" purposes.  If this is the goal, then in general you will want to avoid Ebay and try to hit up older game stores or used book stores searching for deals on old stock.  Most of what TSR released was all mass produced so none of it is really rare.  Even in shrink condition a lot of it really isn't very rare.  If you have the budget, you may want to contact the Ebay seller "hamilcar" and do a warehouse visit.  His minimum requirements before were spending at least $1K but he had (and probably still has) a very large selection of TSR D&D still in shrink.  You may also want to check out a recent thread that was tracking some of the prices various items in shrink have sold for lately:

viewtopic.php?t=10038

For figuring out what you should be paying (or what you can get away with paying), watch for completed listings on Ebay.  They have limited the time span for general searches to the last 15 days so its not as helpful as it used to be.  Valuations posted here can also be hit or miss but if you have any questions or want any opinions just ask.

Also, watch out for resellers.  Some like to promote overpricing.  For example, one guy a little while back was trying to sell Dragon magazines in the 40s, 50s, 60s individually for $8-$10 each.  This may have been tempting to fill in a last needed issue but in general you can find bulk lots of these for $1 each or less.  The killer part is usually the shipping.