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A quick rundown on the various sections, and what all those numbers mean!

INDEXES

  • Rulebooks & Sets Index:  Lists the various incarnations of the Dungeons and Dragons rules, from the humble beginnings as pint-sized booklets to the hardcover manuals that persist to this day (albeit now with new cover art and upgraded rules).  Organized in three sections (Original D&D, D&D, and AD&D).

  • Modules Index:  All adventure modules produced by TSR through roughly 1989 (with a few later ones thrown in for good measure).  The first page you come to has the modules organized by module code; click the "By Title" button at the top to sort the modules alphabetically by title.

  • Periodicals Index:  The various magazines and newsletters of TSR, up through roughly 1990.

  • Miscellaneous Index:  Lists those game-related items that don't fit into the other indexes.  Examples: Rogues Gallery, AD&D Fighting Wheel, and the various Campaign sets (Greyhawk, DragonLance, Forgotten Realms, etc).

  • The Rares Index:  Lists all items with a Rarity score of 4 or 5 (see Grading Conventions).  As you can see, a high Rarity score is not necessarily equitable to an item's value (Strategic Review issues), and vice versa (the H series modules are fairly common, and thus not listed on the Rares Index - although they often fetch well over $100 each in mint condition).


INDEX COLUMNS

  • Code:  the code assigned to the module by TSR, if any.  If present, this code is found in the upper left corner of the front cover, and identifies what series the module or accessory belongs to.  Clicking a module code on the index will take you to that item's individual page.

  • Title:  self-explanatory.  Clicking a title will take you to that item's individual page.

  • Rarity:  a value of 1 (common) to 5 (rare).  See Grading Conventions.

  • Page Updated:  the date any information on that item's page was last modified;  yellow  highlighting indicates a recent change.

  • Estimated Values ( Fair / Good / Very Good / Fine / Very Fine / Near Mint ):  estimated value (in dollars) of an item in that condition.  See Grading Conventions.   The Estimated Values are derived from mathematical formulas applied to past eBay sales, with some adjustment as necessary by The Acaeum Valuation Board.  For more information, see the Frequently Asked Questions file.

  • Value Change:  A green arrow () means the values have been recently adjusted upwards; a red arrow (), downwards, by the indicated percentage.

  • Value Updated:  Indicates the month and year when the values were last updated.  Note that a value may show that it was updated in the past month, but no up/down arrow is showing; that simply means that the adjustment (if any) was not large enough to sway the value by a noticeable amount.


DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS

Each item listed on the various Indexes also has a page of further detail, accessed by clicking on the Code (if applicable) or the Title.  These pages have the following sections:

  • General title, author, and trivia.  Self-explanatory.  If available, an "Expanded Description" button brings up a page containing various identification codes, copyright date, author, and a descriptive paragraph (taken unedited from the item cover).

  • Printing Information:  Early TSR items often had distinguishing characteristics between printing "runs".  Happily, these allow serious collectors to discriminate.  Cover scans of the items are either aligned along the right side of the page, or displayed in rows beneath the printing information.  A "Logos" button allows quick reference to the TSR Logos page, while a "Foreign Editions" button (if available) describes foreign versions of the item.  The myriad numbers that TSR used on books and modules, which can further assist in determining a printing's sequence, are defined here.  Also note that the vertical size of TSR modules, as well as the color of the cover, often varied slightly over time with different print runs.  We've decided not to discriminate printings based on these size and color variations, unless they are significant.

  • Auction Commentary:  Commentary on the market trend of the item.

  • Current eBay Auctions:   Links to current eBay auctions for a particular item.  It's not free advertising, as we've chosen not to show individual auction titles -- just a link to basic eBay search results.  While most experienced collectors use tools such as AuctionSieve to find needed items, these links may be an assist to new collectors or casual browsers.  The search results are "geo-targeted", meaning they display results from eBay, eBay.uk, eBay.au, or eBay.ca depending on your location.  By no means should you regard these searches as definitive -- the search parameters are somewhat crude, and there may be auctions that "slip through the cracks".  You should perform your own searches, using your own specific criteria, whenever possible.
     

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