Old ads from old Dragon mags

[kenobi65]

So basically, you have a bunch of D&D players sitting at home rolling up characters and groups, and then selling them over the phone. After having checked the stats on their computer, of course (ah, for the days when 'computer checked for accuracy' made you sound credible!). For the D&D group that either fails to see the fun in creating new characters, or that doesn't see that copying the stats they are told by phone might just take almost as long as just rolling up the characters themselves. And for only $2 per minute!

Maybe they were catering for the yuppie roleplayers, with money to burn and no time for formalities.

(And what if you were playing a different game? Or a different edition? What if you needed a party for your Dark Sun campaign, and got stuck with bunch of OD&D wimps?)

One suspects that this wasn't the set-the-world-on-fire business idea that the creator envisioned.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

So basically, you have a bunch of D&D players sitting at home rolling up characters and groups, and then selling them over the phone. After having checked the stats on their computer, of course (ah, for the days when 'computer checked for accuracy' made you sound credible!). For the D&D group that either fails to see the fun in creating new characters, or that doesn't see that copying the stats they are told by phone might just take almost as long as just rolling up the characters themselves. And for only $2 per minute!

Maybe they were catering for the yuppie roleplayers, with money to burn and no time for formalities.

Or maybe it was read by a woman with a really sexy voice, figuring all the pimple-faced kids who couldn't get a date would call just for a little "fantasy role-playing," if you know what I mean...not that I have any personal experience with that of course.

 

[Scribble]

Wasn't there a 900 number craze back in the day though?

I can remember even Santa had one.

 

[ephemeron]

The dot-matrix-printed ads for Ironhedge -- somebody's tiny-press RPG -- that were in the back of many a Dragon Magazine in the late '80s still stick in my memory. I wonder how many copies sold, and how much all those ads cost. The PDF market has totally changed that sort of thing.

Then there were the ads offering portraits of your PC's (do young and hungry illustrators still offer that service?), and the Dragonbone electronic dice substitute. I kind of wanted one, but since I was a teenager at the time, couldn't stop snickering at the name.

 

[rgard]

Or maybe it was read by a woman with a really sexy voice, figuring all the pimple-faced kids who couldn't get a date would call just for a little "fantasy role-playing," if you know what I mean...not that I have any personal experience with that of course.

Nah, it was probably read by the creepy guy who always plays a hot elf chick.

 

[Scribble]

The dot-matrix-printed ads for Ironhedge -- somebody's tiny-press RPG -- that were in the back of many a Dragon Magazine in the late '80s still stick in my memory. I wonder how many copies sold, and how much all those ads cost. The PDF market has totally changed that sort of thing.

Then there were the ads offering portraits of your PC's (do young and hungry illustrators still offer that service?), and the Dragonbone electronic dice substitute. I kind of wanted one, but since I was a teenager at the time, couldn't stop snickering at the name.

Oh man I totally remember the Dragonbone electro-die thingamabob...

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Get Pre-Rolled parties that are Computer checked for accuracy and Race, Class, and Alignment conflicts, from the Role Player's Character Source Hotline.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

One of my favorite Knights of the Dinner Table strips has Bob and Dave calling a 1-900 **dice rolling** service offered by Hard Eight Games. You call them up, and tell them what type of die to roll (d4, d6, etc.) and they roll it and give you the results. Bob and Dave spent several hundreds of dollars (if my memory serves) trying to get "perfect" rolls.

 

[Fifth Element]

The dot-matrix-printed ads for Ironhedge -- somebody's tiny-press RPG -- that were in the back of many a Dragon Magazine in the late '80s still stick in my memory.

Is it this thing?

http://www.ironhedge.com/

 

[ephemeron]

Is it this thing?

http://www.ironhedge.com/

Wow. Yep, that's it, all right. http://www.empirewargames.com/ has the director's cut of those old ads; now I wonder whether that 640x480 GIF made the rounds of some BBS'es, back in the day.

(And... Ganghedge!? I remember Westhedge and Starhedge, but, ahem...)

 

[Gentlegamer]

I loved those ads from back in the day!

*sniff*