A horde of vintage DnD modules will be sold in an auction on October 16, including early printings of the tabletop RPG’s original boxed set. Fans have wasted no time registering their interest, with proxy bids already reaching over $5,000 for select modules.
There are 149 items available in the auction, most of which are DnD books from the game’s first and second editions. Naturally, the most popular lots are the oldest. A second printing of the original “Wood Grain” D&D boxed set currently has a top bid of $5,250. First published by TSR in 1975, only 1,000 copies apparently exist – and copies in good condition have previously sold for as high as $22,000.
The third printing of this boxed set is more common, with 2,000 copies in circulation. However, the copy up for auction has a slightly higher proxy bid of $5,750. This is likely due to its “virtually mint condition”.
Other high flyers are in similarly pristine condition, though their early bids don’t hold a candle to the original boxed sets. Another notable (and pricey) item is a grade 9.8 copy of Danger at Dunwater, the AD&D module that was adapted into 5e’s Ghosts of Saltmarsh and is considered “one of the era’s best dungeon crawls”.
There’s a sealed copy of the 1981 D&D Basic Set, which includes the iconic module The Keep on the Borderlands, and a 25th anniversary printing of the original Ravenloft module. Sealed copies of 1983’s Basic Rules boxed set and 1984’s Companion Rules set are both for sale, as is a mint condition copy of 1978’s Monster and Treasure Assortment. These modules, along with several other graded AD&D adventures, are already predicted to fetch between $200 and $700.
You can see the full list of items for sale over at Heritage Auctions. If you’d like to tell us about your rarest D&D memorabilia, then join us in the Wargamer Discord. Or, for RPG tools you can use right now, here are our guides to DnD classes and DnD races.