[OT] What is the most "wasted" money spent on a gaming item.

[tmaaas]

I will start, I bought a d20 meteorite die at GenCon last year for $100, have I used it--nope, have I almost lost it--yup. Do I regret it, nope but it was a waste.

Hmmmm . . .

I consider the d20 meteorite die I purchased the best value for the gaming dollar I ever made. But then again, it was a gift for my wife (and she really liked it).

 

[Silver Moon]

Many, many, many unpainted mins that'll never see a drop of primer, much less paint.

Thanks, that makes me feel I feel better. I at least got around to priming my 400 or so unpainteds. I have gotten around to painting some prior to a specific uses. In fact, I have about 20 minotaur and beastman minis that I will be needing for this Sunday night's game, which I've been planning to paint for the last month...maybe tomorrow.

 

[Tewligan]

Of all time though, there is no question: Underground is the most useless game I own.

Aaack! Aaack! (Cough, cough) Damn it, TW, you just triggered my gag reflex by mentioning that heap of dook! Man, that was a stinker of a game. I was at a friend's place browsing through his game stuff, and I innocently picked up his copy of Underground and said "Hey, is this any good?" He made a face and said "God, no, it sucks! You can have it if you want." I foolishly took it. He was right, it sucks. I passed it on to another friend a couple of years ago - I assume it's languishing on his bookshelf, corrupting other books that get too close.

Stuff I actually PAID for...hmmm. Diomin was pretty bad, but I got it discounted at Origins, so the pain wasn't as bad as it could have been. Oh, I picked up 3 of the Sovereign Stone hardback books. They aren't actually bad for the most part (although the art in the monster book is AWFUL) - just an expensive whim purchase that I'll never use. I know there's plenty more regrettable purchases in my collection, but those are the first that come to mind.

 

[Uder]

My most annoying waste of gaming money:

Illuminati All-Seeing Eye book cover from chessex that doesn't actually fit any game books I own. I've got my fingers crossed that the 3.5 DMG will be thick enough.

My biggest:

A huge army of squats for 40k bought at OOP auction prices, shortly before Warhammer 40k 3rd edition came out. Here we are years later with 4th edition looming on the horizon, and the designers say "Squats are dead. Deal with it"

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Races of Faerun. The most useless book in existence. On the bright side, it keeps my coffee table from rocking now.

 

[Wormwood]

ARIA.
So many trees gave their lives just to sit on a shelf and suck.

d20 Call of Cthulhu.
Why did I waste money on a book that i *knew* I would never use? I already had all of the background and setting info in my 50 pounds of Chaosium CoC stuff, and I knew the d20 system rules by rote.

E*Tools.
Payware that is actually *worse* than the freeware I already owned. Terrible, terrible waste of money---and what I really hated was the cargo-cult that formed around it ("all you need is Access and some patience and this will be a GREAT program"). Idiots.

 

[Crothian]

I'd say a mint version of Exploration into Barrier Peaks, it was a little pricey. But this year at the Cons I've been spending less then I imagined I would.

 

[Kesh]

You folks with books you never used should send 'em to me. I'll even pay the shipping!

 

[Darrin Drader]

The 'Dune' book at the 2000 Gen Con.
I like Dune but no one will ever play it. But it is a nice item to have in my collection.
Also a set of solid pewter dice.

If you're disappointed about it, you should try selling that one. My understanding is that the number made available is so far below the demand that people will pay collectible prices for it. Maybe some research on E-bay would be worth your while to see how much you can get out of it. Personally have 2 copies in my library - never been used, not for sale.

The most disappointing purchase for me has to be the old Chameleon Eclectic Babylon 5 Roleplaying game. Oh, there's plenty of good information about the station in it, but the game system is a complete trainwreck. What's more is that due to the timing of the release of that book, they only included information from the first season of the show, making it less than useless by the end of the series.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

You folks with books you never used should send 'em to me. I'll even pay the shipping!

Wow, that's real generous of you Kesh, but I'd kinda feel like I was taking advantage of you. And you really, really, really, REALLY don't want Underground. People who've only heard of it think the whole "character dying in character creation" thing is a myth. I'm here to tell you that it actually happened to me. I looked at the character sheet, thought I must have done some math wrong, doublechecked, saw I was right, made a face I can only describe as "filled with loathing", put the book up on the shelf, and backed slowly away.