Topic: Collecting Games
Lift high the black flag of doom. I won my eBay auction. I'm only out 5 bucks or so but the principle of the thing gets my goat. I really had earnestly swore off browsing for shinies. Still, at least I'm getting something interesting: Pantheon, Robin Law's contribution to Hogshead's New Style Line rpgs. I believe I only need one more game to complete my set, De Profundis, the Call-of-Cthulhu-as-epistolary-novel RPG. I've always been a little cool on getting De Profundis. As my buddy Pat puts it "I can go crazy without the help of an RPG feeding my sick fantasies". That may not be a verbatim quote, but it's close enough to make the point.

Also on the eBay front that copy of Tom Moldvay's Seren Ironhand eventually sold for $39.22, well out of my price range. I guess I'm not the only Moldvay fan out there. Considering the general opinions I've heard on his Lords of Creation rpg I really wasn't expecting a big fight for an old module of his.

Topic: Collecting Games
Well, I got outbid on one of the two items from Thursday's moment of weakness. I'm still in for minimum on the other item, a total committment of a fiver and change. Today I searched eBay for the two items I need for my "Android Dreams" article: White Wolf Magazine issue 10 and the old Gamma World module Epsilon Cyborgs. I came up empty on both. Maybe I should just post an incomplete first draft here to my blog and then finish it for my main website when I can lay my hands on this source material.

Fell off the wagon today.
Topic: Collecting Games

I allowed myself to be egged on by a nostalgic thread on RPG.net, resulting in me surfing over to eBay and bidding on a copy of Arms Law. If that wasn't bad enough, I then clicked "view seller's other items" and bid on a copy of one of Hogshead's (the old Hogshead) New Line rpgs. I'm only out about ten bucks if I win both auctions, but I'm still kicking myself for this moment of weakness. I suppose harping on myself won't do much good. I just need to try harder tomorrow.

Well, poop.
Topic: Collecting Games
Looks like someone else is more serious than I am about acquiring Tom Moldvay's Seren Ironhand. I can't justify more than ten bucks for an old module that is probably well written but maybe not even really compatible with D&D. Best of luck to whoever gets it.

(Of course, I'm seriously considering buying the Wraeththu rpg at full retail sight unseen. I'm not sure why I think Moldvay's adventure is only worth $10 but I can stomach the idea of dropping $40 or $50 on an rpg that may be an utter bomb. Maybe it's cause at least I'd be getting a brand new shiny book. Maybe it's because I like to root for the underdog.)

Topic: Collecting Games

So one of my longterm automatic eBay searches finally panned out this week. After looking for over a year and half, a copy of an old third party module has come up for auction. I don't know much about the adventure, other than it was authored by one of the unsung heroes of the hobby, Tom Moldvay. As I type this bidding is up to a whopping two bucks and a quarter. Maybe I can walk away with this puppy for cheap.

The Hard Truth About Collecting Stuff
Topic: Collecting Games


(Shamelessly ripped-off from Lore Brand Comics. I heartily recommend reading the entire archive.)

This is it.
Topic: Collecting Games
Today I received my copy of The Ultimate Adventurer's Guide, the lone supplement to World of Synnibarr. Once I leave feedback that concludes my last outstanding eBay transaction. I'm now going as close to cold turkey as I can muster. I no longer visit eBay to browse the rpg section. I'm leaving four or five longterm searches open, but that's it. Until one of those searches kicks out a result I'm done eBaying.

Topic: Collecting Games
More struggles with overcoming my urges to bid on too many games over at eBay. I followed a link on a non-rpg related page that led to a fellows auctions and he had some Different Worlds issues going for cheap. And he was listing them in the general magazines section instead of the games/rpgs department. I had those DW issues on my watch list for about a day before deleting it. Harder was the bloke selling a copy of SenZar. Minimum bid was more than I had hoped and he was in Britain, so I eventually decided that if I wanted the game that bad I should just buy it at retail from the one store I can find that has a copy. I don't really want to pay retail for SenZar though, especially now that I have World of Synnibarr for my over-the-top rpg needs. I'd prefer to find a much cheaper than retail copy on the eBay, so I dumped this one from my watch list but kept the email search open. I backslid a bit by adding another email search to my list, but its one of those long-term searches that may go a year or more without returning any hits. The new automated search is looking for a particular pre-TSR Erol Otus product.

Topic: Collecting Games
Well, I got roped back onto eBay with all my chit-chat about gaming magazines. I had my eye on one of the issues of Dungeoneer that I need. And I also had the old SPI Dallas rpg on my watch list. But I scored a small victory by not bidding for a couple days and then finally deleted them off my watch list. Even better, I'm visiting eBay less often than ever.