With TSR it is no limit, though I don't try to buy the rares/expensive items.

ShaneG.

I manage my TSR collecting habit mostly on TSRs earlier products.
And even then it is almost exclusively Fantasy related.

Wont touch Dragonlance except when there are items in lots that I get and then the stuff gets listed ASAP.
Same for Spelljammer... and Hollow World too.
Sometimes I get things off track in lots I buy on E-Bay or other places, and as stated above, that stuff normally gets sold in lots. (Or so I hope)...

As Plaag stated, I seldom ever get any of the true Rares, though I would love to do so.
I simply cannot afford them and those I do somehow get will normally be sold to help feed the remainder of my collecting habits.
(Like the insanely rare Goldenrod Greyhawk Sheets I recently found hidden in a large E-Bay lot)

I also mainline on nearly anything (Fantasy) in regards to Tunnels and Trolls and Judges Guild.
For many reasons I also Love collecting RuneQuest and Tekumel (Empire of the Petal Throne).

For TSR, I mainly stick with the 1979 - 1983 time frame, mostly AD&D and related publications/items (Dragon magazines from the 30s to issue the high double digits, promotional items from this period, etc.).

I've dabbled in collecting earlier products (OD&D, early Dragons, etc.), and they just don't hold the nostalgic resonance for me that Holmes Basic onward does. Post-1983 you start getting into the kind of TSR products that eventually drove me away from AD&D (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms), post-Gygax stuff mostly, but even some of his late work like Unearthed Arcana or WG6, which I feel lacked the spark that made previous efforts so inspiring. That said, I once had a complete Dark Sun collection (including minis, PC games, etc. etc.) which I sold off when it became difficult to store.

Outside of TSR, I tend to find systems I really like and collect everything I can get my hands on, if the cost and number of items is manageable (in the 10s rather than 100s, Jorune is one example). I tend to shy away from beginning sub-collections which I'd never be able to complete (Call of Cthulhu, for instance), even if I really like them otherwise.

I'm kinda of specific in the things I look for. First it has to be fantasy based and then I lean towards D&D. Below is a list of what I normally collect at the moment:
- Novels: (these are mostly choose-your-own-adventure books)
 + Wizard, Warrior & You (just one book from a complete collection)
 + All Endless Quest series (Includes Crimson Crystal Adventures, Super Endless Quest)
 + HeartQuest (Just 2 away from a complete collection)
 + Fantasy Forest (Need last 4 in the series)
 + Lone Wolf novels
 + Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
- D&D Board games
- Almost anything from the Dungeons & Dragon cartoon series
- Modules/Book that deal with Worldbuilding (Includes pre-made NPC and City modules)
- Savage Sword of Conan comic book series (the colorful grouped ones)
- Various D&D related comics
- Fantasy artwork, including some posters
- Any fantasy/medieval movies & music

I don't normally go after magazines, minis, or modules. As I still run games, I will sometimes go after select minis I need for an adventure and then I will may as many of that type as the modules requires. Not a big fan of this cardboard token crap WotC has come up with. However, it is nice to have some form of identifier for all the monsters than a random mini stand-in.

Noticed a few of you don't care for Dragonlance, I love DL but since my novels were stolen from me years ago, I haven't started up that collection again, but I will someday. I do have some many DL comics and AD&D Modules/Maps.

Still looking to get some of the OD&D boxes like a white box, any print/edition, and the early D&D boxes. I own all the 2nd edition OD&D boxes, which I bought back then new.

I love fantasy and am a D&D lifer (currently DM/Play 4e).

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:
I suspect it's more than a few here who don't care for Dragonlance, but to each his own and all that.

HeartQuest, on the other hand... Hmmm.

DL is poison in my gaming group.  We tried a few of them backin the day and after a while the whistle calls came out....   Whoo Whoooooo...  The telltale call of the Railroad.

DL is way too story based in application that players end up feeling railroaded into what actions they must take rather than what they would like to do...  Hell the first two started with the characters either being taken prisoner regardless of their actions or being overrun regardless of their actions...  not good for my group.

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:For TSR, I mainly stick with the 1979 - 1983 time frame

Yeah, that's the stuff. Once the covers of modules start to look like the cover of romance novels, it loses something. However I also like what was published in the years before I actually started playing, because as a wee child I would look at it in hobby stores & wonder what it was. Plus, during the early 80s the OD&D books continued to be sold in stores alongside contemporary publications. Eldritch Wizardry & GDG&H seemed really spooky to me then. Still do. Someday I'm gonna figure out how to summon that succubus.

The weird part for me is that it varies by collection.  I have all sorts of different rules in my mind, and it varies per line.  A few examples:

Harn - everything.  Every printing and version, every magazine article I can find.

Pendragon - as Harn, except for some recent POD reprints.  No need for those.

Call Of Cthulhu - almost everything.  Magazine articles yes, but later printings not usually.  But later editions yes.  I should just buy the few second printings that I skipped to simplify things...

WFRP - More of a best version approach.  If there is a hardcover and a softcover, I get just the hardcover.  Unless it's a different edition that came out later.

TSR/AD&D is tied strongly to memory - didn't play OD&D back in the day so I don't want it, ditto later material like Spelljammer, but lines I do recall like GH or FR, I want complete through the end of 2e.  But I don't generally need multiple printings of something, unless there was a notable change.

non-TSR "AD&D" - mostly I judge the book by it's cover - if it looks amateurish up front, the inside doesn't tend to be much better.  Of course, the inverse doesn't always hold, so I still end up with some turkeys.

I collect most everything gaming related, but there are some things that just don't get me very interested:

1)  AD&D 2nd Edition items usually hold little appeal for me.  I just don't think of these as being products for adults.  This means that Forgotten Realms, SpellJammer, Ravenloft et al just don't do it for it.  They are for girls in my mind (like soccer).

2)  Items about how cool the drow are.  *yawn*

3)  Schlocky novels about tormented wizards and powerful lesbians.

4)  Call of Cthulhu - never played it - name mispronounced - too expensive.  I preferred Lovecraft when only myself and about two hundred other people in the world even cared about him.

5)  D&D 4th Edition - 3x-4x overpriced - not very good - kid's stuff.

6)  GURPS - no idea why.

7)  Overpriced boardgames.

 WOTC - price/value ratio is just not there. Usually not cool enough outside of the D&D 3.5 core books.  

9)  Superheroes - never was a comics guy.  Prefered the anti-comic known as "Watchmen."  I think Batman is stupid and Superman makes no sense.

10)  Sci-fi - I'll buy it if it's real cheap.  Never played it.  Doesn't grab me.

I do not buy ephemera like buckles, albums, wallets, and that sort of thing.

I do not buy certain publisher works or for certain games, such as White Wolf, WotC 4th edition D&D, and so on.

But other than that, pretty much whatever I can afford and I find interesting which covers pretty much all genres... not a huge fan of "supers" but I have a few of them. Not actively looking for them but I don't pass by a good deal.