RPG Tidbits from the Grand Bazaar

scribe · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:05 pm Post subject:

Very good points. I did my big purchasing between 1999-2001. Stuff had been going for less than $600 at that point. I am talking about ultra rare TSR items. I was in the group who was willing to spend between $600-$900 for an item. I wasn't thinking it would double to triple over in price in the future, I just had to have the stuff a bit more than the guy who wanted nearly as much. I am sure there were guys who thought we were nuts at the time. Now, it seems paltry as what today might seem 10 years from now. Its the natural cycle. Stuff peaks, drops back into the valley, and then finds a higher peak. On and on it goes.
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tfm · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject:

Yes, there are peaks and valleys, but the problem is time. The RPG/Wargame market for the past 10 years (and probably for the next 10) has been driven by the older collector. When we start to stop buying and begin selling, I'm guessing that the prices will fall through the floor. Once those people with the memories go away, I strongly suspect that the hobby will too. That's why I've been so keen on trying to get younger people excited about collecting.

I'll be honest. I've got a fortune tied up in RPGs/Wargames. I'm not betting that the market is going to keep rising in the long-term. I do this at the moment because I enjoy it and I think that this stuff is worth saving for future generations. BUT, if I don't think there is a long-term sustainable interest in this hobby created in the next five years, I'll either sell everything or donate it to a well-established library/museum. The second option is tenuous because if nobody cares, then the museum crowd wouldn't want it.

The battle to save RPGs/Wargames is now. We've got to get people involved or it's over.
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scribe · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject:

RPGs seem to have a stubborn influence to today's gaming. Not the contemporary pen and paper oriented rpg's so much, but the online games that are living and breathing with undefined parameters in the fine tradition of the original intent of role playing.

I hear what you are saying and even so, there is a good 30-40 years left in this collector group with incomes on the rise. But, I also wouldn't bet against the lasting power of original rpgs as something that is culturally significant in its impact. History won't easily forget this genre that we were fortunate to witness.
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tfm · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject:

You have a faith there that I don't share at the moment. Most of my freshman students have the attention span of a fruit fly. If it doesn't have a button on it, it's boring. The games we've enjoyed over the years seem quaint to minds that are virtually dependent upon Google for research. I really wonder what they would do if the electricity went out for a week. I hope I'm wrong.
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Mars · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject:

The market is an interesting thing to watch and I am curious if it will continue to rise or not. It is still such a small group of people who are willing to pay the price for TSR rares (the $1000+) or even nonTSR rares (say $100+) that a couple people can easily influence it. The prices for items ranges wildly and it is difficult to predict what the sale price of an auction will be. I do find it interesting that even though the US dollar is low in comparison with other currencies that the price of a lot of rares seems to have gone down - intuitively, I would have thought this would increase the number of foreign bidders along with the US bidders to drive prices up.

I end up spending a fair amount of money off of Ebay too but it is difficult to find stuff at garage sales or flea markets. I spent a couple of years trying this but only really ended up with a nice copy of Star Fleet Battles. I have done well at local cons and various stores and would like to go to more of those. Visiting Crazy Egor's store was a good haul. I think there is probably a lot of stores like that with old stock still around. There really is so much stuff out there that even though a few people battle it out from time to time, lots of stuff still goes cheap and unnoticed by the masses.

While the Jousting Knights by Ragnarok went pretty high, London by Night the other week did not:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360047943431

I missed this one too but a nice pick up by Myvyrrian.

Mars · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject:

I think there is more of a shift in gaming to things like the German boardgames. I don't see many people breaking out old wargames but the younger crowd still does pick up a lot of the German style games. I am guessing that at some point these will become somewhat collectible.