Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) Research

[tfm]

Post general MERP discussion/research here.
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[Guy Fullerton]

I had intended to add info sooner, but real life (baby #2!) has been taking the vast majority of my time. Anyway, here are some tidbits...

I've been collecting printing/edition info for pre-1993 MERP stuff for a couple months. I haven't been measuring or weighing them, except when some of the others involved have done so, but there is a lot of raw data here:
http://homepage.mac.com/guyf/MERP/PrintingEditionReference.html


I've made some observations about identifying the likely year of printing for later editions:

- The trademark symbol on the ICE logo has not always existed, and has moved, but I haven't nailed down the specifics yet. I'm sure an examination of Rolemaster or other ICE products will help.

- Product numbers started to be added to the top-right of campaign module covers around 1985. So if a campaign module was originally released without a product number at the top-right (such as Moria in 1984), then a printing of that module that has a product number at the top-right is probably from 1985 or later.

- UPC barcodes started to be added around 1986. Around 1992, they switched to a different style of barcode; see 3113 The Grey Mountains for an example.

- The font used for the ISBN on the UPC barcode (if any) also provides age clues. The earliest ones use a serif font. Around 1988, they switched to a sans-serif font; see 3900 Shadow of the South for an example. Later in 1988, they switched to a computerized-looking (for lack of a better term) font; see 4010 Mirkwood for an example.

- Somewhere during 1987, they started using a box around the credits on the contents page.

- During 1989, the credits started including ICE Management & ICE Staff entries. I haven't delved into this very much to establish additional chronology based on who is listed.

[tfm]

That's very good work.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to support your research.
_________________
"This is cool."