Winning bid:
US $22,100.00

You know, I'm a pretty big RPG collector and a D&D first edition, first printing box is my personal holy grail.
This is a sobering reminder I'll never own one...

Wow. Wasn't the previous record for a woodgrain $7,200, just last year? This triples that.

Wait a couple weeks and see if it gets relisted. eBay has a long history of people going cray-cray in bidding then bailing out at the last minute. But it could easily be competing D&D fans from Silicon Valley who cashed in their stocks. When I went to Bay Area cons, I had RPG players who were tech millionaires. Mostly nice guys too. Considering some of the sports cars in the hotel parking lot, $22k on OD&D would not be an impossibility.

Quote from: Xanther;934082Man even if you think OD&D is total crap, the wood grain box edition is a piece of history, of our human cultural heritage.  The fad/success of this RPG opened the door to all others.

Xanther, I am a huge OD&D fan and I've been an OD&D GM during all the decades when it wasn't geek hipster kewlio.

I just love the lolz of agony when hardcore collectors see that you are playing with their idols of worship. Their particular expression of fear, rage, and disbelief is rather glorious if you can capture the moment.

The future of OD&D isn't $22k auctions. It's free PDFs being printed and played with teens at the table in meatspace.

Cool story.

I would make fun of the fact that this went for twenty-two grand, but... 1) It is a genuine piece of RPG history, and 2) the simple fact is that I would have bid on it if I was a big shot 1%er.

Running a game with would be more fun than than riding up and down on Mitt Romney's car elevator.

It's pretty crazy but yeah, if you have the dough, more power to the winning bidder.

I was never a real fan of the OD&D rules; but I do kick myself for not having bought the special re-issue that came out shortly after 5e's release.

Quote from: RPGPundit;935345I was never a real fan of the OD&D rules; but I do kick myself for not having bought the special re-issue that came out shortly after 5e's release.

You can buy the PDFs and feed them through Lulu or use a local print shop.

There is a nonzero number of game collectors who are Silicon Valley jillionaires.  I met one once, and when I said I still had my brown box first edition he went off on "Well I have THIS guy's first edition, and I have THAT guy's first edition," etc.

Which to me is like saying you have the used rubber JFK used when he fucked Marilyn Monroe whereas I have the used rubber I used when **I** fucked Marilyn Monroe.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;935435Which to me is like saying you have the used rubber JFK used when he fucked Marilyn Monroe whereas I have the used rubber I used when **I** fucked Marilyn Monroe.

Brilliant! You definitely get a star for this.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;934185No arguments.

Actually, at a certain wealth level, money just doesn't mean the same.  There are people who can spend a thousand dollars as easily as I spend ten.

As much as I wish the bids were lower so I can afford it, I hope this signals that just because you love D&D doesn't mean you never made that monetary metric of success that many hold so dear.

Quote from: estar;935396You can buy the PDFs and feed them through Lulu or use a local print shop.

You can't print-shop the fancy box, though.

Quote from: RPGPundit;936797You can't print-shop the fancy box, though.

The Woodgrain no but you can probably used gamecrafter to print off a white box.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

Yes they have print on demand board games.

Quote from: estar;936827The Woodgrain no but you can probably used gamecrafter to print off a white box.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

Yes they have print on demand board games.

Why not do what the original printer did? Wrap woodgrain paper around a plain box. Slap the label on it, and there you go.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;936883Why not do what the original printer did? Wrap woodgrain paper around a plain box. Slap the label on it, and there you go.

For me I packed away the OD&D anniversary books and put the original set that I own (Core and supplements) in their place in the wooden box.

As for the general case I throw that out there because not everybody likes to do crafts which is what putting together your own woodgrain would involve. Print on demand is a intermediate step.

Now what I would kill for is a source of the paper that the old judges guild map were printed on. They were parchement with a slight pebble texture. Nobody makes them even in letter size let along 22 x 17.