1998 - Game Publishing Gap? • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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1998 - Game Publishing Gap?
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FormCritic
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:57 pm

In going over my collection, I have noticed a publishing gap....

I have an Excel file that lists title, company, author, stock number and year of publication.

When I sort by year of publication I have an almost unbroken line of publishing back to 1974...the exception being 1998.

Refresh my memory: Was there something going in in 1998 that inhibited game publishing, or is it just that I do not like the items from that year?

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Mars
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:00 pm

FormCritic wrote:Refresh my memory: Was there something going in in 1998 that inhibited game publishing, or is it just that I do not like the items from that year?

The TSR releases are probably pretty limited since this is around when WotC took over. For 1998 there is TSR version and WotC version of that catalog (differing mainly by cover). Isn't this also when prep for D20 started? Most companies probably didn't want to release stuff with the anticipation of an open gaming license.

aia
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:13 pm

Mars wrote:Isn't this also when prep for D20 started?

afaik, it'd be 1999 the year of announcement of d20... :roll:

NetRodent
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:42 pm

TSR released several items in 1998:
Al-Quadim: Reunion
Forgotten Realms: Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves
Forgotten Realms: Calimport
Forgotten Realms: Cult of the Dragon
Forgotten Realms: Demihuman Deities
Forgotten Realms: Demihumans of the Realms
Forgotten Realms: Hellgate Keep
Forgotten Realms: Emirites of the Shining Sun
Forgotten Realms: For Duty and Deity
Forgotten Realms: Kidnapped
Forgotten Realms: City of Ravens Bluff
Forgotten Realms: Fall of Myth Drannor
Forgotten Realms: Villians' Lorebook
Greyhawk: Return of the Eight
Greyhawk: Ill Omens
Greyhawk: Player's Guide
Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins
Greyhawk: The Doomgrinder
Greyhawk: The Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad
Greyhawk: The Star Cairns
Jakandor: Island of Destiny
Jakandor: Land of Legend
Monstrous Arcana: A Darkness Gathering
Monstrous Arcana: Masters of Eternal Night
Monstrous Arcana: Dawn of the Overmind
Monstrous Arcana: The Ithillid

And that's just part way though my spreadsheet.

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
--H.L. Mencken

FormCritic
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:48 pm

Well, that list would explain much....

I have little to no Forgotten Realms stuff in my collection. I could never get into that setting.

I don't have much Al Qadim stuff either. None, in fact.

2nd Edition AD&D....I have a number of items from that era, but they lack the charm of earlier or later publications IMO.

I have lots of 3.0 and 3.5 stuff...also lots of AD&D, OD&D and the like. A good store of Chaosium items and Arduin and that sort of thing....

My attempts to collect 4.0 are not going well. I don't have the basic rules books yet (on back order at Barnes and Noble), I did not buy any of the preview books and I totally missed Free RPG Day.

I don't even have one of those spongy brain things!

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Blackmoor
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:54 pm

FormCritic wrote:I don't even have one of those spongy brain things!

Really that is the best item :lol:

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

g026r
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:59 pm

'98 appears to have been big with regards to the Realms (as listed above) and Alternity. The list I have has a lot of Alternity items marked as having been released that year (as well as a decent amount of SAGA items, but not that many.)

"Reader, Carthegena was of the mind, that unto thoſe Three Things, which the Ancients held Impoſſible, there ſhould be added this Fourth ; To find a Book Printed without Errata's."

copycat
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:06 pm

I don't even have one of those spongy brain things!

I've got two spares, if you need one.

Those who can, don't. Those who should not, do.

guerret
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:49 pm

NetRodent wrote:Greyhawk: Ill Omens

What is this?

g026r
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:05 pm

It's one of the "Adventurer's Guild" items: http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/periodi ... omens.html

"Reader, Carthegena was of the mind, that unto thoſe Three Things, which the Ancients held Impoſſible, there ſhould be added this Fourth ; To find a Book Printed without Errata's."

beasterbrook
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:57 pm

I remember this... TSR was almost dead, and if the biggest name in the RPG industry was strugling when the small guys were in huge amounts of pain..... and CCG's were pretty big for the last couple of years.. everyone was releasing their own version of Magic The Gathering and failing ... and I would Image that computer Games were taking their toll as well...

Brette:)

Being healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Busman
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:12 pm

serleran wrote:
I've got two spares, if you need one.

Damn, I'd take an extra brain. I know there are days I need it.

FormCritic
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:34 pm

serleran wrote:
I've got two spares, if you need one.

Indeed I do, serleran.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Xaxaxe
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:37 pm

beasterbrook wrote:I remember this... TSR was almost dead, and if the biggest name in the RPG industry was strugling when the small guys were in huge amounts of pain..... and CCG's were pretty big for the last couple of years.

That's how I remember it, too. No new stock (or at least very little) appearing in the case of at least one of my local stores.

I think Mark is more right than wrong here. I'll bet if I did an Excel list, 1998 would be under-represented, as well.

gkramer
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:18 am

I have these that have a copyright date of 1988

Lords of Darkness
Dungeon Master's Design Kit
Monster Manual
Unearthed Arcana
Dungeon Master's Guide
The Throne of Bloodstone
Swords of the Iron Legion
Tales of the Outer Planes
Mists of Krynn
World of Krynn
City System Boxed Set (Waterdeep)
Empires of the Sands
The Magister
The Magister
The Savage Frontier
Dreams of the Red Wizards
Ruins of Adventure
Mad Monkey Vs. Dragon Claw
Greyhawk Adventures
Castle Greyhawk
The Orcs of Thar
The Elves of Alfheim
The Dwarves of Rockhome
The Northern Reaches

Gary H. Kramer

guerret
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 11:03 am

gkramer wrote:I have these that have a copyright date of 1988

Great. But it is 10 years away from what was being discussed here...

FormCritic
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:59 pm

gkramer wrote:Mad Monkey Vs. Dragon Claw

I always wondered what this one was about.

I mean...I know it was Oriental Adventures, but what was the monkey so mad about?

Or, was it that the monkey was "mad," as in "completely insane?"

I wonder which one would be more intimidating...a monkey that was merely very angry or a monkey driven to utter madness....

Also, it seems unfair to pit an entire mad monkey against only a single dragon body part. The dragon claw seems like it would just lay there, waiting for the mad monkey to attack it and potentially inflict terrible wounds...upon...itself...?

Of course, the dragon claw could be some sort of delusional mad monkey phantom:

Is this a dragon claw which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dragon claw of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppress'd brain?

Now, for instance, if it was a mad monkey scientist versus some sort of re-animated and vengeful dragon claw, I could see that as a good B movie theme.

Probably over-thinking it.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

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