Monday, September 28, 2015

What Is Your Holy Grail Item?

As gamers I think there is a little bit of a collector in us all as well.
After all we all came into this hobby at different points so different things were "rare" or "must have" to us at different times.

Well I finally picked up one of those items I have been searching for for a while.
The AD&D 1st Ed Monster Cards.


I know these have been on eBay many times.   BUT these were still in their shrink wrap.


Yes I opened them.  I am still much more of a gamer than a collector.

Each one of these is a little work of art, it would be a shame to not enjoy them.

This collection was always one of my "Holy Grail" items.  Not because of it's significance to the game or even my own games, but because of the rarity.

I would pass by these little decks in the bookstores back in the 80s and think to myself "oh I'll get those next time."  then there wasn't a "next time" (lessoned learned there kiddies).

For the longest time I never could find these.  Plus I wanted to get a complete set of all four and I wanted to make sure they were in good shape.

Well these came along and I couldn't say no. Not after all this time.

What is your "must have" item? What have you been searching for to complete your collection?

10 comments:

Greyhawk Grognard said...

SPI's "War in Europe". It was a monster game that literally took weeks to play.

D&D-wise, I honestly can't think of anything I absolutely *need*. That end of my collection is pretty much complete.

Justin S. Davis said...

Sweet find! My Monster Cards have suffered through many moves, and the sets are scattered across unpacked boxes.

You've inspired me to hunt them down!

Reese Laundry said...

Nice. I had them all back int eh day, but unfortunately they were sold off along with everything else in my gaming collection back when I gave up the hobby. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So much basic & 1E stuff gone...

In any case, my grail item? I've seen pics of a digest-sized book version of Mentzer Basic that was published in England. That would be so sweet. I'd settle for a PDF even, just to see it.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

The Mentzer Basic book is nice. Very cool to have it all in one book.

JB said...

For the longest time it was a copy of the original hardcover version of Warhammer's The Lost & The Damned, but I managed to get one (at outrageous price) a couple years back. Maybe a 1st printing of Chainmail? Just to see the differences.

The only thing I'm really on the prowl for these days is a complete copy of EverWay, but I do know where I can get my hands on one. Any of the (two or three) printed supplements for Christian Aldridge's Maelstrom game. That's about it.

Fuzzy Skinner said...

The D&D Rules Cyclopedia, AD&D 2e Dungeon Master Screen and Master Index, and Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game probably wouldn't be too hard to find in new or like-new condition, but they would be expensive. For now, they're strictly on my wish list.

In terms of things I might never get, the Japanese three-volume digest-sized version of the Rules Cyclopedia (which might get mistaken for a manga at first glance) would be an amazing addition to my small collection; but that's all it would be, since I don't read or speak Japanese. There's an article with pictures here: http://mystara.thorf.co.uk/jrc.html

(Also: sorry if this posted twice, due to a browser crash; feel free to delete the first one if it went through.)

Keith Sloan said...

Dragon Magazine #1 - it's the only one I don't have!

Tim Snider said...

I've achieved many of my goals: a full set of all Endless Quest paperbacks, a good condition copy of Mayfairs' Encounters, all of the books for the Bakshi Wizards RPG, etc. I guess I'm still looking for the original Pacesetter Chill Master screen and a nice condition copy of Chill 1e Isle of the Dead. (Mine is falling apart from overuse.)

JB said...

Oh, yeah...the EQ books. I picked up a bunch of them a year or two back and would love to have a complete collection.

For the kids, of course!
; )

Charlie Warren said...

The original version of THE PALLADIUM ROLE-PLAYING GAME with the black and red cover. Mine was "permanently borrowed" years ago...