The Price of Nostalgia

One topic that crops up frequently is the cost of game rulebooks, modules and materials - especially the second hand market for items long out of print.  With the recent resurgence in gaming popularity, prices for the iconic products of the 70s and 80s are on the rise.  This will also be due to the fact that many of us who cut our teeth on early editions of D&D in particular are now in our 40s and 50s, with secure finances and therefore cash to spend, and a need to satisfy those fuzzy warm nostalgic urges to recreate the feelings of our youth.

When I was about 30 I threw all my gaming stuff away, after all, I was never going to need it again was I?  Most of it was damaged, written on, well used, as it had been with me through my impetuous teenage years, followed me in a box to University, and then sat in my parents' garage gathering damp.  I dumped it all, felt slight twinges of pain at the time, but soon forgot about it.

Until about 5-6 years ago when the urge to play again resurfaced.

Since then I've slowly been rebuilding my collection of 1E and 2E AD&D books, mostly through Ebay.  I go through phases, watch the auctions intently, buy a handful of items, and then forget about it for a few months, then repeat.  What has become very evident in the last year is the alarming rise in prices - not just the asking prices (greedy sellers have always been there trying to rip people off), but in final auction prices.  I bought my 1st edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide and Unearthed Arcana for a total of about £20.  To repeat that now would be nigh on impossible.

But it's still possible to get a decent deal.  As long as you don't succumb and pay what the greedy sellers are asking.  Be patient, set limits.  It seems we are blighted by the existence of a number of people who have spent a while buying up supplies of available items, sitting on them for a while, and then listing them for resale for vastly inflated sums. Something is only worth what somebody is willing to pay, not what someone else wants to sell it for.  Remember that mantra.

So, in an effort to help people avoid being ripped off, and in what might be a futile attempt to contribute towards keeping prices more sensible, I intend to keep a page updated fairly regularly here detailing UK Ebay auction prices for B/X, 1E and 2E items. I hope somebody finds it useful.

PRICE LIST - 1st Edition AD&D