Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Dan Chisarick]

Absolutely.  I try to keep everything as immaculate as possible 
(unpunched, uncut, unfolded, no stains on the disk label or manual, you 
get the idea) but still play the game (bye-bye shrinkwrap).  For 
collecting purposes I'd consider a signed copy as a "variant".  Its an 
original issue item with some limited-edition or hard-to-come-by extra. 
 The one quirk of that analogy is that the quantity of those items in 
existence can increase at any time so long as the author is still 
alive.  There will never be more than (I think CE or someone said 
5,000)  pins in the first few copies of Battletech, more Ultima cloth 
maps, etc.  Though Microscopic Space Fleets seem to be in high 
availability...

While Mt. Drash itself could probably be considered 'exotic', a signed 
copy would probably be 'unique', especially if it was personalized.  
The best of both worlds is to have a spare copy.

That said, is that offer for "Wasteland" many moons back still good?  
Anyway, these all come to mind as titles I've lost entire weeks on:

Moebius (Greg Malone)
Castle Wolfenstien (Silas Warner)
Legacy of the Ancients (John or Chuck Dougherty)
Sword of Kadash (Chris Cole)


On Jan 8, 2004, at 3:16 AM, John Romero wrote:

I have an interesting question for you guys....

Would you consigder a classic game more valuable if it was signed by 
the
author?

If so, and you'd like your classic Apple II games signed, I might know
where the author is and could persuade him to sign em. :)
I have a few old Apple II games signed by their authors and I've gotten
some nice reactions from them....
- john

The goal of the works of a genius' existance lies only in itself.


-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Chisarick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 2:51 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value
I saw what I think was a re-packaged Doriath in the last 2-3
months but
other than that, zip.  "Black Magic" for the Apple was the
first Apple
game I bought off ebay.  That was 2+ years ago, and I might have only
seen one since then.  Superb game.  Does not take long to
beat.  Tower
of Myraglen has a puzzle where you can only enter a certain passage
(rather early in the game too) at midnight.  And that's
midnight on the
computer's system clock :)  The first day I played it it
happened to be
near midnight, and I walked right in.  The next day I couldn't figure
out how to get in.
On Jan 6, 2004, at 8:56 PM, Brian the Fist wrote:

Not to pick nits, but the "true" piece of art is the game code
itself. The extras -- manual, cloth map, etc. -- are what make it
collectable, but the art is the entire package, which includes the
game.  What good is the manual if you can't play?
Perhaps I wasn't clear, I meant 'art' in reference to art
collecting
mentioned earlier.  Thus I was being quite literal - I collect 'box
art'.
On the other hand, there are some games I have been searching for
for years and have not seen EVER on eBay (or anywhere else), even
once, thus making them even more rare than Akalabeth or Mt. Drash
technically.
And
when I come across one like this by some rare fluke, I may get it
for as
low as $10 (maybe no one else wants it, who knows).
Like what, out of curiousity?
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software
Investments
Plus.  Doriath was also incredibly difficult to find (an
excellent C64
game if you've never tried it).  Got both cheap, but not
until several
YEARS of searching eBay weekly.  Also Tower of Myraglen and
trolls and
Tribulations.  Another C64 title, Spirit of the Stones, and
Savage by
Rainbird/Microplay/Probe were also cheap but hard to find
(not as hard
as the others though).  Also Talisman by Polarware.  Might
and Magic I
pre-box version (was just sold as a huge manual with map
and disks).
While I may have seen an odd loose disk for one or two of these, I
rarely saw one appear complete and as soon as I did, I
grabbed it and
no one else seemed to want them

Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of
searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend
version), Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose
disk once..),
Dungeons Dragons and Other perils (XLent software),
Fraktured Faebles
(American Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in
Thunderland
(Micro Lab), Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before
Infocom bought it), Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh
Sword of Mendor (Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most
Synergistic
Software early games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On
Target), Troll's
Tale (Sierra), Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail
of hard to
find games, Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There
are very few
references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers
list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was
being made?
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?  Maybe
I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not
exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than
Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...
--
----------------------------------------------
Howard Feldman, Author of The Search for Freedom
A Computer Fantasy Role-Playing Game
Visit its Homepage at http://bioinfo.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman/


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