I don't want to be a D&D collector

[Sunderstone]

Im guilty too!

Lately, I find myself buying two copies of things I like or would like to run eventually. I currently have two copies of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, City of the Spider Queen, The Vault of Larin Karr, and several issues of Dungeon.
My reason for doing this is simple. One I use as a Traveling version, if it gets marked up, stained, torn etc. I'm ok with it. The other is for my ....."collection".

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I, like Ankh-Morpork Guard, don't write in my books because there's no good reason to. The closest I come to collector behaviour (aside from buying everything I might vaguely like) is storing my books in magazine racks, which I do for neatness and space as much as anything else. It's also nice to have one holder with the three core rules (and Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, since it's a variant Player's Handbook) in it, one with Eberron, Ghostwalk, Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft products in it, et cetera.

 

[Ed Cha]

I'm a collector of 70s/80s RPGs, mostly TSR, Judges Guild, and random stuff, but I also keep all my other books in mint condition. I always think I'll sell them some day, but I never really do.

I do regularly get rid of newer stuff I don't want. In reality, I often get books just to see what they look like, read a few pages, look at the art, and determine it's not what I expected and then re-sell it. I just can't invest the time to read something that immediately looks boring and/or poorly-written or made.

Also, I don't write in my books because I rarely actually use them. I read them, like books, instead.

 

[Whimsical]

I still have many of my old Star Wars figures. They are scratched and worn. Some are even marked with magic marker. But now adays, I refuse to buy any Star Wars figures because I couldn't bring myself to open one and "ruin" the collectability.

There's actually a short movie called Figure Club which deals with this very topic. Check it out.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I like to take care of my books. They represent a large investment for me and I'd rather not mess them up. Even though I've penciled in my 3.5 PHB a bit.... But they all stayed in nice, almost new condition. And that's not because I think I can get a boatload of money off them later on. It's just that I like to take care of a book I spent $30+ on.

 

[Glyfair]

Henry said it all. Your 3.0 D&D PHB is never going to be worth anything. Even the 1e PHB can be had for less than $10 on eBay and it's been around for over 20 years. You will not retire on your D&D RPG collection's value and there are very, very few items that are worth much over cover price.

So, yes, you are crazy

It's the unusual, niche items that end up being worth something. The collector's edition PHB might be worth something extra, eventually.

The World's Largest Dungeon, I think, has the best chance of being a collector's item, of current d20/D&D products. It's highly priced, which will keep "the masses" from buying it. At the same time, it's getting very good reviews and appears to be a very solid product. I can see it being one of the sought after items 20 years from now.

 

[KnowTheToe]

My dog keeps chewing on my books. Makes it easy to get over the cherish the book thing when the binding is chewed off and half of the cover is mangled

 

[Dagger75]

I'm about to make some Star Wars collector cry.

I bought a bunch of those Micro Machine Star Wars figures, you know Storm troppers, scouts and such, mint condition unopened boxes.

Well I opened up, have marked the bases and use them for star wars games. I actually allow other people to touch them with ungloved hands and move them around. My kitty cat likes to pick them up in her mouth and run around the house with them.

I used to think all this D&D stuff was collectible. Then I noticed everyone had the same stuff I do so I have no problem writing in my books.

 

[thalmin]

My dog keeps chewing on my books. Makes it easy to get over the cherish the book thing when the binding is chewed off and half of the cover is mangled

You REALLY should try feeding your dog.

 

[der_kluge]

There's actually a short movie called Figure Club which deals with this very topic. Check it out.

That was a good little film.

I never understood the mad dash to buy all those new Star Wars figures when there are just *so* many of them.

Star Wars figures from our past are collectible because everyone PLAYED with them. Mine are in a box in storage, and they are all quite thoroughly played with. They're not worth anything. Most of the guns are missing, and all the vehicles I had are all broke. I wouldn't trade the fun I had playing with them for anything.

If anyone thinks that these new Star Wars figures are going to be worth anything in 10 years they've got another thing coming. I did, however, purchase a Leia-Jedi figure that was only available from the magazine. I figure it's value could only go up, since it's probably fairly rare.

D&D books on the other hand, won't go up, although try to find a copy of Death in Freeport, and see what they sell for on Ebay.