Rebecca's awesome

So, a weekend ago I was wurfing at school ("wurfing": sorta work, mostly surfing; worth coming into school to surf sometimes because my screen there is so much bigger.) And before I come home, Rebecca drops me an IM that I should check out one of the charity shops she passed by, because it's got a bunch of D&D mapping stuff.

It was a treasure trove.

Clearly someone was clearing out a lifetime collection, because the "Save the Children" shop was selling books (AD&D Unearthed Arcana, Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, v.1 (second edition, orange spine) Players Handbook, v.1 Monster's Manual II, v.1 Fiend Folio, v.3 Players Handbook), lead figures (I'm guessing at least a hundred, mostly Grenadier AD&D, but some others too; almost all of them are very charmingly stored in old matchboxes), and the aforementioned mapping tools: Games Workshop's Dungeon Floor Plans 1,2, and 4, the last two in their original boxes and provably complete. Also, a Judge's Guild booklet w/maps for a variety of boats. And some transparencies with hexes printed on them -- I dunno if the original intent was to overlay them on maps, or for projecting onto a screen.

I'm going to return most of the books tomorrow, since I've got them already, except for the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and the v.3 Players Handbook, which I'll keep. The v.3 PH is mostly for reading about the "old" rules so I can carp about how much better the "fixed" 3.5 version is. :) The DSG has the supa-cool perspective mapping advice and templates in the back (remember the crazy castle map in Ravencroft?)

The Dungeon Floor Plans are basically a lot of 1" tiles, intended for you to cut out either singly or in strips or chunks (most of them have been) and laid out as a map. So, for example, you cut two strips of flagstones, and voila! Ten foot wide passage. Put a door at the end of it, with some grass and trees outside, and there's your dungeon entrance. They recommend putting it on a black background, so the untiled space gives the impression of solid wall. Set 2 has room details (statues, tombs, pits, stairs), water, and grass & trees. Set 4 has rough tunnels and mine accessories (carts, rails, wheelbarrows).

The whole collection was 35 pounds. I'm not sure how best to leverage these things, but they're freakin' sweet. And my appreciation for Rebecca, in particular her willingness to aid and abet my dungeonphilia, cannot easily be expressed in words. :)

Click here to return to Fantasy - and not the X-rated kind home page