1985 TSR catalog • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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1985 TSR catalog
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blackdougal
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Location: Texas

Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:50 pm

Really stoked to have picked up an '85 catalog recently and thought I'd share. Not everybody's thing, but I'm sure that some others out there get as geeked out over mock ups and unreleased items as I do. Click for larger pics.

Master Rules mock up:

Journey to the Rock and Castle Caldwell mock ups:

X11 Blackheart listing, Savage Coast and UK8 Blade of Vengeance mock ups:

The Earthshaker mock up:

CMACC Book of Marvelous Magic and Master Player Screen mock ups:

Castanamir mock up:

To Find a King and Bane of Llewellyn mock ups:

Temple of Elemental Evil mock up:

DM Screen and COA1 Lankhmar mock ups:

D&D / AD&D Battlesystem, including Dragonlance and Greyhawk scenarios:

Unreleased Proton Fire game:

Anybody know what this was supposed to be?:

Conan RPG mock up:

Listing (but no pics) for unreleased Indiana Jones items:

Unreleased Star Frontiers Battlesystem game:

Unreleased Player's Guide and Parent's Guide to D&D:

"Unearthed Arcana" mock up:

Mister Yuk
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:47 am

Very interested, thank you for posting

aia
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:19 am

Simply charming!
Pls note that red arrow balck shield was supposed to be B10 and not X10!
The silver box with the image of CM2 is far more effective than the final choice imho...
Lastly, i have never heard of the B11... I had always thought that the B series should have continued with one or more more of The Companions modules (i believed that islandian campaign was selected by tsr to bridge B modules towards X modules).
Ciaoo

aia
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:22 am

Ps

...and UA with that cover (full art!) would have been the best cover ever!

grodog
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Location: Wichita, KS, USA

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 6:21 pm

Thanks Adrian!---I'd not seen the ToEE mockup cover before!

Allan.

Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
Greyhawk, grodog Style

Editor and Project Manager, Black Blade Publishing
https://www.facebook.com/BlackBladePublishing/

Sir Kill Alot
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:02 am

Has any of these mock-ups made it out into the wild or are they just Photoshopped? Some of them look like they are actually card-stock. I'm curious if Frank has them all in 'box' of his.

-SKA

red_bus
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 4:20 pm

aia wrote in 1985 TSR catalog:Ps

...and UA with that cover (full art!) would have been the best cover ever!

My thinking too. Much better.

Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!

stratochamp
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Last Visit: Jul 04, 2026

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:02 pm

Some, at least, of the mock-ups have made their way in to collectors hands. I had the 2e Players Handbook mock-up among others. One of the FR mockups was actually a Top Secret book with a cardstock FR cover pasted on.

Shrink is not a condition

dbartman
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Last Visit: Aug 05, 2026
Location: Ohio, The land without sun

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:05 pm

Sir Kill Alot wrote in 1985 TSR catalog:Has any of these mock-ups made it out into the wild or are they just Photoshopped? Some of them look like they are actually card-stock. I'm curious if Frank has them all in 'box' of his.

-SKA

Lol - these were from an era when Photoshop didn't exist!

SimperingToad
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Posts: 1382
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Location: My Pad

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:52 pm

Sir Kill Alot wrote in 1985 TSR catalog:Has any of these mock-ups made it out into the wild or are they just Photoshopped? Some of them look like they are actually card-stock. I'm curious if Frank has them all in 'box' of his.

-SKA

It was a common practice to make mock-ups from cardstock or similar material that would 'hold a pose' for photographic purposes like this. When I was doing this type of thing (not long after that time frame), we did paper cutouts or full sheets that would be pasted onto the board.

Art of dragons doing what dragons do. Site of a friend. Dragonstuff

Sir Kill Alot
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:42 pm

Lol - these were from an era when Photoshop didn't exist!

Very true, graphic design was a very manual process prior to 1987.

-SKA

MadCatUSA
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Location: California

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:56 am

Sir Kill Alot wrote in 1985 TSR catalog:
Very true, graphic design was a very manual process prior to 1987.

-SKA

Can confirm! I was a Commercial Art student in 1985 and making layouts was a LITERAL "Cut and Paste". We would take sheets of art, apply a tacky wax to the back, cut it out and paste it to a layout board with the text. The "art" was in figuring out how to make it all fit into the smallest area possible.

muaddib5
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Location: Wisconsin

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:00 pm

blackdougal wrote in 1985 TSR catalog:Really stoked to have picked up an '85 catalog recently and thought I'd share. Not everybody's thing, but I'm sure that some others out there get as geeked out over mock ups and unreleased items as I do. Click for larger pics.

Master Rules mock up:
[ Image ]

Journey to the Rock and Castle Caldwell mock ups:
[ Image ]

X11 Blackheart listing, Savage Coast and UK8 Blade of Vengeance mock ups:
[ Image ]

The Earthshaker mock up:
[ Image ]

CMACC Book of Marvelous Magic and Master Player Screen mock ups:
[ Image ]

Castanamir mock up:
[ Image ]

To Find a King and Bane of Llewellyn mock ups:
[ Image ]

Temple of Elemental Evil mock up:
[ Image ]

DM Screen and COA1 Lankhmar mock ups:
[ Image ]

D&D / AD&D Battlesystem, including Dragonlance and Greyhawk scenarios:
[ Image ]

Unreleased Proton Fire game:
[ Image ]

Anybody know what this was supposed to be?:
[ Image ]

Conan RPG mock up:
[ Image ]

Listing (but no pics) for unreleased Indiana Jones items:
[ Image ]

Unreleased Star Frontiers Battlesystem game:
[ Image ]

Unreleased Player's Guide and Parent's Guide to D&D:
[ Image ]

"Unearthed Arcana" mock up:
[ Image ]

I love seeing all the mock-ups!

Home - Gen Con Wisconsin 1968 2002

cabala
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Last Visit: Jul 22, 2021
Location: Denver, CO

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:04 pm

These are awesome, thanks for posting! The mock-ups and unreleased items are definitely neat to see. Star Frontiers Battlesystem would have been interesting.

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