One of the fun bits (for me) about buying collections and lots off Ebay or the occasional garage sale is the personal notes, maps, dungeons and character sheets that come with it.

Most of the time you can tell that the games were disastrous monte haul affairs or pseudo conan-wannabe hackfests but it's still entertaining especially when you find character backgrounds.

I was just wondering if you guys hang onto this stuff when you get it and if, in a way, this isn't part of the cultural ephemera of D&D collecting.   I mean.. if the modules were Shakespeare's works(high praise) then the notes and sheets of games would be the director's notes for local productions.  That's interesting to me.

If you collect this stuff (or at least 'retain it') I'd be interested to know of any 'gems' you find either humorous or interesting.  But part of me suspects that these things find the bin pretty quickly since there's no real value for us as collectors.

Just to be clear; I'm not talking about published works that sneak into lots, I'm talking about the notes, maps and such created by the players of the games.

Anyone else a D&D cultural anthropologist like me?

edit: corrected the kind of anthro this is...

GamesGuy wrote:Most of the time you can tell that the games were disastrous monte haul affairs or pseudo conan-wannabe hackfests but it's still entertaining especially when you find character backgrounds.

I was just wondering if you guys hang onto this stuff when you get it and if, in a way, this isn't part of the cultural ephemera of D&D collecting.

I have bought a few box sets over the years with extras that people left in.  Most of it has been goofy crap that doesnt interest me.  Such as a character sheet for Bilbo Butthead the Invincible (30th level fighter/mage/thief...had all three weapons from White Plume Mtn. in his inventory) or a made up weapon called Bluerazor (+10 two-handed sword that disintegrates its target on a successful hit).  

The one thing I did find that was worthwhile is a City of Greyhawk box set with apparently all of the DM's campaign notes for the city.  The DM had gone through the booklets and made notes in the margins for all of the changes that had occured in his campaign.  He had lightly crossed out names of important people that had been killed or captured by evil forces, buildings that had been burned down or changed ownership, etc.  It was very interesting to read through.  I eventually bought another set but still have the other one.

I think it's O2 Blade of Vengeance that I have one person's notes on how to add more rules to it such as healing, etc (one of the solo modules if not this one).  I have Verbosh with various notations in the margins and a Castle Book I to accompany it with some names and buildings added.  I believe I've kept all of it, not really read through the stuff though.  I know I've gotten a character sheet or two, nothing overly crazy that I recall.

ShaneG.

I keep all of it in a box. Last time I checked, I had about 3" of stuff. I am not sure why I am holding onto it, other than posterity.

I have found all sorts of character sheets mixed in with boxed sets and inside of books and modules. What stikes me as strange is the number of times players have insisted on writing their character's penis size on their sheets. Talk about fantasy role-playing.  

wavemotion wrote:No, no, no... when they say 8" Dagger, they really mean Dagger

I can't recall as kids ever doing that but kids will be kids.

This reminds me of the current lowest ranking RPG right now on the RPG Geek called F.A.T.A.L. - Fantasy Adventures to Adult Lechery. This 900 page book has highly detailed rules and specific formule for penis size as well as vaginal depth (both of which are covered on the character sheet). To top it off, there are specific girth rules for when a penis is large enough to cause vaginal ripping. No, I'm not kidding. It has been described as the "Date Rape RPG - minus the Dating".

I don't ever recall any sexual situations coming up when playing D&D. The rules didn't even have any guidance on whether races were... um... "compatible". I guess one could infer Elves and Humans as being compatible - hence the Half-Elf. Same for Half-Orc.

-Dave

Heck, my current DM still has homegrown random tables for stuff like that, that he put together back in the '80s. We have female players at the table nowadays, so these have sort of fallen by the wayside (and they were always optional).

"Ready Ref Sheets" from Judges Guild also had some tables along these lines. I don't think there was an actual method to determine penis size, but IIRC there were some pretty goofy tables for picking up women and suchlike. The implicit assumption being that this wasn't a role playing opportunity, but a test of the character's manhood. A sad comment on the state of mind of RPG designers/players at the time. On second thought, it was probably better not to role play that sort of thing among the typical group of the period .

Oh, now you've done it.  You mentioned F.A.T.A.L.  



Only 1d12?  Why not 3d4?  

I always keep the notes and character sheets.

I leave them stored in the box or tucked into the module.  These sorts of things are like historical artifacts.

JohnGaunt wrote:Only 1d12?  Why not 3d4?  

Simple.  Because you can't roll a "1" with 3d4.  A d12 has a lot more comedic potential.   I didn't say we were mature!  

...We must be getting old now though.  My group got together again for a new campaign a couple of years back and it didn't even occur to us to roll the "Manhood" attribute.  

...Then again, I wouldn't have thought 25 years ago that we'd all be playing D&D again in our 40's!!!