Dave Arneson's Personal RPG Collection For Auction

renau1g · May 4, 2012

Incenjucar said:
I hope this doesn't mean that the heirs are in any kind of financial trouble.

Sadly, it appears it's not even his heirs that are going to get any money from this.

"All these items were once written, crafted or owned by Dave Arneson, gaming legend and co-creator of D&D. But when Arneson died in 2009, his personal archives and game collection become lost. In 2011, they were found, in an abandoned storage locker in Minnesota"

"“An unforeseen turn of events” is how Paul J. Stormberg, founder of The Collector’s Trove, an Omaha-based online auction agent, described how his company came to auction the items. “The management of the collection apparently became too much for Dave’s heirs to handle and they abandoned it in a storage locker.” The storage facility’s owner tried to contact the heirs to no avail, leaving the “fate of the collection in the hands of others.”

Then, “like an episode of Storage Wars or Auction Hunters,” Stromberg said, “the owner of the storage facility followed the business’ standard protocol of auctioning the locker’s contents.” A local auction company won the bid and took possession of the collection, but its “enormity and eclectic nature” baffled them. They finally contacted Michael Cox, owner and operator of an online gaming store called The Dragon’s Trove."

GeekDad Exclusive: Auction Preview of D&D Co-Creator's Personal Collection and Archives -- Game's Secrets to Be Revealed | GeekDad | Wired.com

Gentlegamer · May 4, 2012

This should be in a museum!

I'm not kidding.

qstor · May 4, 2012

Yeah Duke should do something good and add it to their collection

The Escapist : RPG exhibit at Duke University

Mike

Loonook · May 4, 2012

Morrus said:
There are about 10,000 items in total, and the series of eBay auctions will begin on Sunday, May 6th.

A set of lead crystal goblets etched with Arneson’s family heraldry.

[*]A model ship made of metal.
[*]Arneson’s locked briefcase (contents unrevealed).

Sounds like Arneson may have left behind a few items of importance... But I have to say that these three items should be carefully monitored... I mean, you come across that sort of thing with a bunch of texts discussing magic and mysticism, you start wondering... .

Slainte,

-Loonook.

GX.Sigma · May 5, 2012

Gentlegamer said:
This should be in a museum!

I'm not kidding.

Reminds me of this:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrq0w2m1Zh4]Indiana Jones WKUK - YouTube[/ame]

Holy Bovine · May 5, 2012

Jupp said:
While I will certainly try to get my hands on some of the items I really would prefer if there were some kind of RPG museum that would gather the most relevant items to be preserved and shown to the interested public. Given the history of roleplaying games I was always wondering why such a museum does not exist already in the US. RPGs had such a big cultural impact in the States. One wonders.

These kinds of things cost money. Lots of it. And trained personal to maintain the collections against damage and time. It isn't that big of a mystery why it hasn't happened.

Mark CMG · May 5, 2012

Morrus said:
Arneson’s locked briefcase (contents unrevealed)

I wonder if he packed a lunch.

jmucchiello · May 5, 2012

This has to be the most depressing news article I've read on this site in a couple years. The fact that the money is just going to some nobody's pocket... The fact that many of these items will most likely vanish into some "collector's" private stash... Ugh... Nothing about this article is good news.

Dungeonosophy · May 5, 2012

Tom Servo said:
A lot of that stuff ought to be in a museum or archive.

I agree. Especially the unpublished manuscripts. I feel kinda sad that these are going to be scattered to the four winds. Too bad the Arneson Estate doesn't cherish Blackmoor as Christopher Tolkien did Middle-earth.

We need an Tabletop RPG Museum and Archive somewhere, with one priority being to gather Gygax's and Arneson's manuscripts.

Dungeonosophy · May 5, 2012

Holy Bovine said:
These kinds of things cost money. Lots of it. And trained personal to maintain the collections against damage and time. It isn't that big of a mystery why it hasn't happened.

It's not a mystery, but the same is true for the many other authors or fields of interest which do have a devoted archive and museum.

Would the Game Manufacturers Association and WotC (in the name of the RPGA) step up?