I thought I had scored a bargain on eBay: two almost-legendary adventure modules for D&D and other roleplaying games, Plague of Terror and Street of Gems, from an obscure Maine publisher called The Companions. Part of their Islandia campaign (a world designed by taking a topographic map of Maine and flooding it to the 500′ mark), these were eyeopening products for me: detailed settings, believable motives and plans for the non-player characters, and timelines of how things would proceed if they players didn’t interfere. Yet they didn’t restrict the players in any way: they were free to do what they wanted, and the world would go on around them.
So, when I saw good copies of these two up for auction, I knew I had to have them. Sure, I already had a copy of each, but I wanted more. And, fully admitting this just wasn’t rational, I bid $25 for each. I waited and prepared to curse myself, even as I quivered with anticipation. Yes, I now have some idea of how crack addicts must feel.
Then some reprobate outbid me for both. His madness was greater even than mine, paying over $40 for each.
Curse you! (Shakes fist at heavens)
Ah, well. Probably for the best. I wonder how high he was willing to go?
Oh, and Happy New Year! (Hey, it’s still January, and this is the first post of 2010, after all.)
ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention, I did score a copy of Runequest II in good shape for what I thought was a reasonable price. I’d lost my own copy years before, so it wasn’t all bad on eBay. 🙂
A Seat By The Fire 
I remember the ad for Street of Gems, though I never saw the actual product. But hey, you’ve already got them, so don’t feel too bad.
Now, the grail modules for me are the Complete Dungeon Master series from Integrated Games. I used to own three of the four published boxed modules. They came with illustration books and color floor plans, and were oh-so-cool. What I wouldn’t give to have copies of those once again!
Boy, “Complete Dungeon Master” sounds awfully familiar. These weren’t a British product, were they?
They were, although I bought them at the Compleat Strategist back when I lived on the east coast. Very reminiscent of White Dwarf during the RQ heyday.
That’s what I thought. I have them, too. They were later turned into the Doomstones books for WFRP when Hogshead had the license. Those originals had great maps.
Oh, they exist as the Doomstones? Amazing, I had no idea! So there’ll be another edition that I can try hunting down.
Yep. GW converted the original 3-4 adventures under the Flame imprint (IIRC), and then Hogshead did a concluding adventure by Robin Laws, all with the title “Doomstones.” The Flame books were are pretty faithful to the originals, with some work around the edges to make them fit WFRP.