Spelljammer Boxed Set Sells for $91 on E-Bay!

[CanadienneBacon]

Nothing to do with the campaign derailed it. More, at the time we had a table of military gamers and had trouble with continuity at our table due to player turn-over. Coupled with the general lack of available 2E players and, well...you get the picture.

From my perspective as a player, the first book did drag quite a bit. It seemed as if we spent our time mucking about with hardly anything to go on, visiting then re-visiting the same places time and again, all the while hoping for clues that never really materialized. I remember thinking that we needed to either be luckier or we needed more direction. I am normally a DM, but since I was a player in that campaign I faithfully avoided reading the boxed set. I therefore can't really speak to whether these perceived issues were design flaw or my spouse being a sub-par DM. Still, ye olde husband's enthusiasm both then and now for Night Below continues to make it tempting to play. Again. Sigh.




When is 4E going to be here, again?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

And, I will just say that despite its enduring popularity, the time when I DMed The Rod of Seven Parts, I found it to be wretched. Horrible, in fact. All the worst kinds of railroady and waaaaaay out in left field, as far as the background went.

I will never waste my time running or playing Ro7P again.

 

[Agamon]

Yeah, 2E stuff I sold here last year for about $100 in my pocket (it wasn't even worth listing on eBay), would now easily sell on eBay for about $2000. I don't get it.

I think I'll save my 3E stuff for the 5E announcement.

 

[jdrakeh]

Nothing to do with the campaign derailed it. More, at the time we had a table of military gamers and had trouble with continuity at our table due to player turn-over. Coupled with the general lack of available 2E players and, well...you get the picture.

There are a lof of those same issues here, as well (with four military bases and the Air Force Acadamy, we get a lot of temporary fixtures in the local gaming community).

From my perspective as a player, the first book did drag quite a bit. It seemed as if we spent our time mucking about with hardly anything to go on, visiting then re-visiting the same places time and again, all the while hoping for clues that never really materialized.

The good news is, I don't think it's just you -- after reading Book I, my first impression was that there were far too many 'red herring' adventures (i.e., adventures that have absolutely nothing to do with later installments in the campaign). Books II and III are better overall, IMHO, though they still seem to have a fair number of 'padding' encounters designed to give the PCs things to kill in order to power them up for later events that actually matter.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I don't think it would be too hard to re-fit the padded parts for more meaningful encounters. Goodness knows that there are some wonderful monsters out there in 2E.

 

[Glyfair]

Yup. Not only did every single Spelljammer and Dark Sun item sell first time up without having to be relisted, the Spelljammer boxed set went for US $91.

It's an aberration. These things occasionally happen. Indeed, if you look at the closed listings on eBay the next highest auction of the box set went for only about $60, and that included 12 Spelljammer supplements. Next down the set with 3 supplements went for about $25. Next down we have one that went for $9.95.

I have a set I'd love to get rid of. However, it's really not worth the time and effort to put up with the standard going price of the box sets (especially since one or two of the things are likely missing).

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(curious look)

Anyone know what a mint copy of the Jade Hare would likely go for?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

It's an aberration. These things occasionally happen. Indeed, if you look at the closed listings on eBay the next highest auction of the box set went for only about $60, and that included 12 Spelljammer supplements. Next down the set with 3 supplements went for about $25. Next down we have one that went for $9.95.

That doesn't sound like an aberration at all. Based on what I saw the rest of our considerable collection go for (the $1.99 to $4.00 range), I'd say that sounds pretty darned good. During the period of time that we were selling, we'd do the happy dance if something went for ten bucks.

That our set fetched $91 is up there, I'd agree. But the data you collected on other Spelljammer items for recent sale on e-bay coupled with what I experienced over the last six months of selling, seals it for me that these Spelljammer/Dark Sun/whatever setting boxed sets are hot items. People seem to want them. My original point was that I was and am still quite surprised by that! I thought folks would go for T1-4, the 1E Forgotten Realms boxed set, or the Ro7P boxed set more than they seem to have gone for Spelljammer and Dark Sun.

 

[Glyfair]

That our set fetched $91 is up there, I'd agree.

That was my point. It's not a $91 item, really. It's probably about a $15 item.

I thought folks would go for T1-4, the 1E Forgotten Realms boxed set, or the Ro7P boxed set more than they seem to have gone for Spelljammer and Dark Sun.

I think it's partially the rarity issue. Spelljammer was a pretty niche item, so there were fewer out there (let's not discuss how many were probably sitting in TSRs warehouse when WotC took over).

I have a friend who collects Batman comics. At one time he had a complete run of Detective Comics back to the first appearance of the Martian Manhunter. He told me it wasn't the expensive, key issues that were hard to find. It was the issues in between that weren't notable. They weren't valuable so there was little reason for someone to go out of their way to sell them. When they were on shelves there wasn't demand, so once a retailer go rid of them they weren't in a rush to get more. That meant that he was willing to pay much more than the "going rate" when he did manage to get a copy.

I expect that a lot of D&D items are like that. Find the hard to find, unexceptional items and the completists and nostalgia hounds will pay more to get them.

 

[Neil Bishop]

(snip) Also I just realized that I literally have 853 pounds of books I should know because I'm expecting to move next year and have begun repacking them in water resistant containers, and have to weigh them so I can spread out the load on the floor.

I was about the same... but now have significantly more. I moved things back from Singapore to Australia in 2002... and discovered that I had over 400 kgs of stuff! Oh well, I learnt my lesson. I keep all hard copies in Australia in my house which basically exists to store things and I have practically everything as a PDF file on my portable hard drive so I rarely have more than a few hard copies in my Singapore apartment at any time. After all, I never know when I might want to move again.