Defunct games section?

[Zulfikar Zaban]

To whom it may concern, 

     I was just searching around the Chaosium website, looking for old, out of print Chaosium games. I know there are several titles like Ringworld, Elfquest, Stormbringer. I just wish there was some kind of record on there, for posterity, and for my undying curiosity. Anyway, just a recommendation. Thank you Chaosium, I love what you do, Zulfikar Zaban

[Bill the barbarian]

57 minutes ago, Zulfikar Zaban said:

     I was just searching around the Chaosium website, looking for old, out of print Chaosium games. I know there are several titles like Ringworld, Elfquest, Stormbringer. I just wish there was some kind of record on there, for posterity, and for my undying curiosity. Anyway, just a recommendation. Thank you Chaosium, I love what you do, Zulfikar Zaban

Sounds like a great idea and I hope you get your wish. In the meantime, a trip to rpggeek might satisfy your yen. And I agree, great company and crew, eh?

[Ethereal]

On 2/13/2021 at 6:42 AM, Zulfikar Zaban said:

To whom it may concern, 

     I was just searching around the Chaosium website, looking for old, out of print Chaosium games. I know there are several titles like Ringworld, Elfquest, Stormbringer. I just wish there was some kind of record on there, for posterity, and for my undying curiosity. Anyway, just a recommendation. Thank you Chaosium, I love what you do, Zulfikar Zaban

Might Try Waynes World. https://www.waynesbooks.net/

 

They have a list of books and games with brief synopsis of various games.

 

[Bilharzia]

On 2/13/2021 at 2:42 PM, Zulfikar Zaban said:

To whom it may concern, 

     I was just searching around the Chaosium website, looking for old, out of print Chaosium games. I know there are several titles like Ringworld, Elfquest, Stormbringer. I just wish there was some kind of record on there, for posterity, and for my undying curiosity. Anyway, just a recommendation. Thank you Chaosium, I love what you do, Zulfikar Zaban

Old, out of print, and licenced. They could put PDFs up on DTRPG like a lot of older RPGs from the 80s which are already available, but all these you mention are licenced to an author which they have little hope, or no interest in renewing for re-issuing.

[Rick Meints]

On 2/13/2021 at 9:42 AM, Zulfikar Zaban said:

To whom it may concern, 

     I was just searching around the Chaosium website, looking for old, out of print Chaosium games. I know there are several titles like Ringworld, Elfquest, Stormbringer. I just wish there was some kind of record on there, for posterity, and for my undying curiosity. Anyway, just a recommendation. Thank you Chaosium, I love what you do, Zulfikar Zaban

What exactly are you looking for? A list of product names and numbers? The actual physical product to buy? Pictures?

Stormbringer RPG

2101-Xp1 Stormbringer 2nd edition (has cardboard figures and fold-out character sheets)
2101-Xp2 Stormbringer 2nd edition (has no figures, but has book of character sheets/charts)
2102         Stormbringer Companion
2103         Demon Magic
2104         Stealer of Souls
2105         Black Sword
2106-X     Hawkmoon
2107         The Shattered Isle
2108         White Wolf
2109-H     Stormbringer 3rd edition (GW version)
2110         Stormbringer 4th edition
2111         Rogue Mistress
2112         Sorcerers of Pan Tang
2113         Perils of the Young Kingdom
2114         Sea Kings of the Purple Towns
2115         Stormbringer 5th edition

[Zulfikar Zaban]

On 2/15/2021 at 8:28 AM, Rick Meints said:

What exactly are you looking for? A list of product names and numbers? The actual physical product to buy? Pictures?

 

 

Stormbringer RPG

2101-Xp1 Stormbringer 2nd edition (has cardboard figures and fold-out character sheets)
2101-Xp2 Stormbringer 2nd edition (has no figures, but has book of character sheets/charts)
2102         Stormbringer Companion
2103         Demon Magic
2104         Stealer of Souls
2105         Black Sword
2106-X     Hawkmoon
2107         The Shattered Isle
2108         White Wolf
2109-H     Stormbringer 3rd edition (GW version)
2110         Stormbringer 4th edition
2111         Rogue Mistress
2112         Sorcerers of Pan Tang
2113         Perils of the Young Kingdom
2114         Sea Kings of the Purple Towns
2115         Stormbringer 5th edition

I'm not looking to buy them, but I would like to see the covers and the years released. Kind of a retrospective catalog. I know it's perhaps superfluous, but I am just curious of the history.

[g33k]

On 2/16/2021 at 9:10 PM, Zulfikar Zaban said:

I'm not looking to buy them, but I would like to see the covers and the years released. Kind of a retrospective catalog. I know it's perhaps superfluous, but I am just curious of the history.

Rick Meints (above) is probably the most-complete collector of all-things-RQ-and-Glorantha -- he was a "superfan" and (at Moon Design) a publishing licensee, before he joined Chaosium -- but even he doesn't have everything.  His nickname was "Mr. Suitcase," for the suitcase full of rare & desirable materials he used to show up with, at 'Con events.  He's also the author of "MiG," the Meints Index to Glorantha, which is the definitive work on those publications (he's currently working on an update).

But Rick's project(s) doen't even touch the CoC line... let alone the other lines, lost to the mists of licensing and history alike.  Still, he's clearly The Guy for this, with the chops to handle it.

I kind of agree that a "visual back-catalog" is something the fandom would appreciate.

OTOH...
That's a lot of work for Chaosium (who are already VERY busy with existing projects!) only to produce something that isn't going to generate ANY revenues ...  It'd have to be kind of a Passion Project, the way MiG was.

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by g33k

[Rick Meints]

Thank you for the kind words. In the 80s and early 90s I didn't collect much beyond RuneQuest, but my want list was getting rather slim and my collecting itch had to be scratched. Thus, I started picking up other Chaosium related items for Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and the rest. If a batch lot or stack of Chaosium stuff was going for the cheap I'd just buy the lot. I also had the good fortune and immense pleasure of being the game auctioneer at Convulsion, Continuum, Tentacles and Eternal Con maybe 30 times in total. Those auctions were all Chaosium focused. For a while I was really into getting all of the Chaosium boxed games, and when I got most of those I would pick a different collecting challenge. In the early 2000s, when Chaosium was cash strapped I made a deal with them. I would send them cases of the Gloranthan Classic books to sell on their website, and they would reciprocate by paying me with their products. We basically swapped product. In the warehouse they had a box labelled "one of everything for Rick" and they would place one of each new publication in it as they came out. When the box had a decent number of items in it they would mail those to me. That went on for probably a decade. I also let them know that if they had spare copies of older stuff, feel free to add those into the box too. I got a lot of Chaosium material that way. Forty years of doing things like that, and you get shelves like this:

[g33k]

15 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

Thank you for the kind words. In the 80s and early 90s I didn't collect much beyond RuneQuest, but my want list was getting rather slim and my collecting itch had to be scratched. Thus, I started picking up other Chaosium related items for Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and the rest. If a batch lot or stack of Chaosium stuff was going for the cheap I'd just buy the lot. I also had the good fortune and immense pleasure of being the game auctioneer at Convulsion, Continuum, Tentacles and Eternal Con maybe 30 times in total. Those auctions were all Chaosium focused. For a while I was really into getting all of the Chaosium boxed games, and when I got most of those I would pick a different collecting challenge. In the early 2000s, when Chaosium was cash strapped I made a deal with them. I would send them cases of the Gloranthan Classic books to sell on their website, and they would reciprocate by paying me with their products. We basically swapped product. In the warehouse they had a box labelled "one of everything for Rick" and they would place one of each new publication in it as they came out. When the box had a decent number of items in it they would mail those to me. That went on for probably a decade. I also let them know that if they had spare copies of older stuff, feel free to add those into the box too. I got a lot of Chaosium material that way. Forty years of doing things like that, and you get shelves like this:

 

@Rick Meints -- 
I wish to contribute to a GoFundMe to get a  really-good  fire-suppression system in your home.
 

Also...

<drool>

[Ethereal]

Don't know if it would interest you, but Steve Perrin who helped develop Runequest also created a game during the time that RuneQuest was out of print called "Steve Perrin's Quest Rules." Also called 'SPQR'.  He was not with Chaosium then. I paid for the rules before they were printed but he asked those who did pay later to send him a copy of the receipt so he could send a copy. (I think he said his computer crashed or something) I had switched computers or internet providers and had lost my receipt. If he is still around you might see if they are still available.

[Rick Meints]

1 hour ago, Ethereal said:

Don't know if it would interest you, but Steve Perrin who helped develop Runequest also created a game during the time that RuneQuest was out of print called "Steve Perrin's Quest Rules." Also called 'SPQR'.  He was not with Chaosium then. I paid for the rules before they were printed but he asked those who did pay later to send him a copy of the receipt so he could send a copy. (I think he said his computer crashed or something) I had switched computers or internet providers and had lost my receipt. If he is still around you might see if they are still available.

I would thank you by your real name, but I don't know what it is. Regardless, thank you for the information. I got a copy of the SPQR rules back when it first came out, as Steve has been a friend of mine for over 20 years now. We met at RQCon 2 back in 1995. I am always happy to chat with him at Gen Con, especially when we are both in the Chaosium booth and the crowd isn't keeping us too busy. I particularly liked working with him when he wrote up his "memories of runequest" that we published as part of the RQ Classic kickstarter (in the RQ1 playtest manuscript book).

NOTE: I always appreciate tips on things that I may not have in my collection. Every now and then I don't know about the item mentioned. Speaking of Steve, if anyone has any early Dundracon con books from the late 70s or early 80s, I'd love to know more about what was in them.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Rick Meints

[g33k]

On 2/20/2021 at 8:06 PM, Rick Meints said:

 ... if anyone has any early Dundracon con books from the late 70s or early 80s, I'd love to know more about what was in them.

http://dundracon.com/DDC_PreviousCons.php

Scanned copies of all but the first two DDC con books.

To quote you:  "Hope that helps" (speaking as someone who's often BEEN helped -- by the text above that sig -- it's nice to be able to return the favor!).

I presume the con books themselves are unavailable (sorry if that's a frustration for Mr. Suitcase's collecting impulses... )

[Rick Meints]

15 hours ago, g33k said:

http://dundracon.com/DDC_PreviousCons.php

Scanned copies of all but the first two DDC con books.

To quote you:  "Hope that helps" (speaking as someone who's often BEEN helped -- by the text above that sig -- it's nice to be able to return the favor!).

I presume the con books themselves are unavailable (sorry if that's a frustration for Mr. Suitcase's collecting impulses... )

Thank you for sharing that link. I hadn't been to the DunDraCon website for a few years and they have added a few more scans since I was last there.

[FungusColombicus]

On 2/20/2021 at 4:02 PM, Rick Meints said:

Thank you for the kind words. In the 80s and early 90s I didn't collect much beyond RuneQuest, but my want list was getting rather slim and my collecting itch had to be scratched. Thus, I started picking up other Chaosium related items for Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and the rest. If a batch lot or stack of Chaosium stuff was going for the cheap I'd just buy the lot. I also had the good fortune and immense pleasure of being the game auctioneer at Convulsion, Continuum, Tentacles and Eternal Con maybe 30 times in total. Those auctions were all Chaosium focused. For a while I was really into getting all of the Chaosium boxed games, and when I got most of those I would pick a different collecting challenge. In the early 2000s, when Chaosium was cash strapped I made a deal with them. I would send them cases of the Gloranthan Classic books to sell on their website, and they would reciprocate by paying me with their products. We basically swapped product. In the warehouse they had a box labelled "one of everything for Rick" and they would place one of each new publication in it as they came out. When the box had a decent number of items in it they would mail those to me. That went on for probably a decade. I also let them know that if they had spare copies of older stuff, feel free to add those into the box too. I got a lot of Chaosium material that way. Forty years of doing things like that, and you get shelves like this:

Now I know where I am going when I die...

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Rick Meints said:

Thank you for sharing that link. I hadn't been to the DunDraCon website for a few years and they have added a few more scans since I was last there.

Elsewhere on their site, there's an essay on the early years of the Con; not sure if it has content you're interested in.

If schedule permits, I encourage you to actually attend; I love that event!  President's Day weekend, Fri-PM thru Mon-AM.

FWIW -- They have outgrown their longtime hotel, the San Ramon Marriott; they're moving to the Santa Clara Marriott (near-ish the San Jose Airport).  Dunno if there will be any logistical hiccups in the new digs (probably yes, 'cos Murphy is inescapable; but probably only minor ones, 'cos they've been spotting/fixing such hiccups for decades).