[Abe Sargent]

Some of these books have been made free online, and The Castle Guide and Necromancer’s books are some of them, as are many others. Check those if you are interested in getting some free coin.

For 1st Edition Supplements, the Fiend Folio and Monster Manuals have nothing on the ones we’ve already discussed. I would stay very very far away from the Dungeoneer’s and Wilderness Survival Guides. There are too many intricate rules for crap you will never want. They are chaff. The Manual of the Planes is the first of its kind and very dry. It’s good for the Astral and Ethereal planes, but gets lost afterwards. I don’t like the names of many of the Outer Planes (Happy Hunting Grounds, seriously?) and the Para and Qusi Elemental planes are not only dumb sound (A plane made out of salt?) but also poorly conceived (Why is the border between elemental planes of water and air, a plane of ice?) Dragonlance Adventures is very good for that specific world, but otherwise has little to offer others, unlike Greyhawk Adventures, which is rife with awesome.

Stay away from the awesome looking Draconomicon from the Realms. It looks way better than it is, but the specific Secrets of the Magister is good, but spends 50 pages on the history of the position, which is really annoying for everyone. The Seven Sisters is a perfect a balance of fluff and new, but the spells are in the Wizard’s Compendium, so you already have them. Basic rule, if it’s a supplement by Ed Greenwood, it will be really useful, but also tend to have a lot of story and such. He also wrote the All Things Magical Volo Guide.

You might want Chronomancer if you want Time Mages. I have it, but I don’t use it. I have Time Travel and other concepts banned in my world. You can speed up yourself or slow down your foe, but you can’t move from one time to another.

Some books you already have in this collection, such as Tome of Magic and Pages from the Mages. Don’t get them. There is a series of Historical Supplements that give you the ability to add Viking, Celtic, Roman, Charlemagne, Crusades, Greek and the Elizabethan age with A Mighty Fortress. I have the Charlemagne, Fortress and Viking, and they are each long on story and history and short on game mechanics. I don’t know if that’s true for the rest of the historical supplements, but it is of those. The highest rated one by folks is A Mighty Fortress, because it covers the next age after most D&D worlds, so that’s nice. It also adds guns. You’ll note the very Euro-Centric aspect of these supplements, and there is nothing here that I would find particularly interesting. Now, imagine a Mayan Campaign, or one set in ancient China or places in Africa like the Axumite Empire – that would be cool. They have a high value on the secondary market compared to most supplements of the time, because they are different than The Complete X’s Handbook, you know? (Vikings and Celts seem to be cheapest, Fortress, Rome and Crusades are most expensive.)

Some of these books can be pretty cheap. You want Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical? Less than $10. The Seven Sisters and Secrets of the Magister are $5 each. Fighter’s Handbook is $5 new and less than a buck used. Bard is 5 bucks used, Thief is $3 used, and so forth.

Depending on the volume, the Spell Compendium is between $8 and $25 per volume. Player’s Option books are in the $5 range each. Monstrous Manual is a simple $3.50 used. Even Oriental Adventures is in the single digits used. DM’s Option High Level Campaigns is 5 bucks.

Except for the Magic Encyclopedia, and the two Spell Compendiums, none of the rest of these sourcebooks are more than 10 bucks used on the secondary market. Most are in the $5 or less range. The Handbook and DMs Guide are also very cheap as well. Greyhawk Adventures is $4.25 used, and so forth. There are D&D and AD&D items which have really appreciated in value, but none of these are in that boat. Most vendors charge between 4 and 5 bucks shipping and handling, the Amazon price seems to be four for most vendors. That means you can get most of these for less than ten dollars with shipping. That’s a pretty good deal considering how useful many of these are for gaming. If you can find someone who combines shipping for a bulk lot, then you are really decreasing a massive part of the cost.

So many books, expansions, and more have been printed in 1st and 2nd edition territory that I still haven’t read many. My collection, which includes two milk crates of just Dragon and Dungeon magazines, is six milk crates in size. That’s four milk crates of modules, monster manuals, rule books, various supplements and more. I can still pick up a rulebook or two for cheap and keep exploring the game, because there is always something new to pick up.

Planescape really holds its value well, so don’t expect to pick up most PS books as cheaply as you can other product. TSR really out published in the early to mid 90s, and they saturated the market with product, splintered their lines, and began to go bankrupt as a result. That means you can find numerous overprinted items that don’t have demand even today, and lots of good stuff for your campaign.


End Guide