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AKA what did I find at the thrift store today.

Today was a good day. You can always tell when someone has dropped off part of a collection. It's not all D&D items.

Castles and Crusaders PHB
Mutant Future
Fate Worlds vol 1 & 2
Reign Enchiridion
Dragon Warriors Bestiary

Most days I'm lucky to find a board game I like and rarely do I find anything non mainstream RPG wise.

Anyone else a thrift store junkie?
 
I go to thrift stores a lot with my friends who run an bookstore online... and I've NEVER seen RPG material. Some Dragonlance fiction and choose-your-own-adventure books, but that's as close as I've come.
 
I was at a used bookstore today and came across a whole shelf of Forgotten Realms novels. It gave me a chuckle, and a smile before I moved on.
 
I'm jealous! Which thrift store, if I may ask?
 
Value Village in Issaquah Washington USA.

I'd say I see something like this once a year there.

I got a fairly large collection of ars magic 3&4th edition at Goodwill in Tukwila Wa a few months back.

Mostly it's Half Price Books I buy at but they seem to get better at pricing so less enticing to me.
 
The local Half Price bookstore occasionally has some interesting things, but their prices are all over the place. Sometimes I think they think something is rare when it isn't, or that sort of thing. I'm mostly PDF these days, and don't buy too many physical books, but it's still fun to go there and thumb through things.
 
The local Half Price bookstore occasionally has some interesting things, but their prices are all over the place. Sometimes I think they think something is rare when it isn't, or that sort of thing. I'm mostly PDF these days, and don't buy too many physical books, but it's still fun to go there and thumb through things.

I've got three near me. Two deal with RPGs often enough to have dedicated some time to becoming smart about pricing. One is down by WotC headquarters and gets I think a fair amount of employee castoffs. Another purchased a very very large collection a year or two back and are still working their way through it. They have gotten good at looking at real sources for pricing not just Amazon and eBay wish list pricing. The last of the three just looks on Amazon and walks away as far as I can tell. Usually that means they are overpriced by far but since they are incompetent sometimes in a boxed set you'll get the set plus a crapload of extras that someone stuffed in it. That I love.
 
Mostly it's Half Price Books I buy at but they seem to get better at pricing so less enticing to me.
Yeah, in WA, Half Price Books has gotten kind of greedy with Rpg pricing. 5-10 years ago I used to get some great deals and find some really cool stuff. But they're wise now to eBay 'pricing' and charging MSRP for used items (that I could get new from Amazon), so I hardly buy anything from them anymore.

I've never really tried visiting thrift stores, like Goodwill or Value Village. Never figured I'd find much.
 
Yeah, in WA, Half Price Books has gotten kind of greedy with Rpg pricing. 5-10 years ago I used to get some great deals and find some really cool stuff. But they're wise now to eBay 'pricing' and charging MSRP for used items (that I could get new from Amazon), so I hardly buy anything from them anymore.

I've never really tried visiting thrift stores, like Goodwill or Value Village. Never figured I'd find much.
Oddly the Goodwill's in Seattle and Tukwila do get RPGs fairly often. Value Village just is much more rare. I'd say monthly at Goodwill vs annually at VV. If I wasn't going to them for other reasons I would not go. It's just not time efficient.
 
Interesting. Well, I'm going to be down in Tukwila tomorrow, so perhaps I'll stop by Goodwill and take a look.
 
Interesting. Well, I'm going to be down in Tukwila tomorrow, so perhaps I'll stop by Goodwill and take a look.
The RPGs are located against the back of the book wall all the way in the middle bottom shelf in with computer game guides. Also about six blocks away is a HPB next to a Value Village. Hit all three in less that a half hour.

If you pass through Seattle stop off at the Dearborn Goodwill.
 
Goodwills are good places to look? I've got one about 10 miles from where I live.
 
This isn't game specific, but when I live in Chicago, the Gallery Bookstore on Belmont just east of the Red Line stop was a magical bookstore. It wasn't the biggest used bookstore in the city, but it had an amazing selection of used sci-fi, fantasy and crime pulps in perfect condition and at cheap prices. Thanks to the store, I have almost all of Jack Vance's 60's and '70s novels in perfect condition and I paid about $1.50 each. The place was clean and well-organized, and it almost always had exactly what I wanted. We used to speculate about the owner having some form of time travel at his disposal.

The guy at the register (it was always the same guy) was pretty gruff. It used to drive my roommate nuts because he would always nod in approval of my purchases, sometimes even a smile, and offer to wrap them to make sure they got home safe, while my roommate, no matter what he bought, could never get a reaction out of the guy. He did have a nice selection of old D&D stuff, in fact my girlfriend at the time bought a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia there. That was the one time she got him to smile.

I see they are still in business, but the select items on their website are a little pricier than I remember the place being. Still, I recommend stopping buy if you are in the neighborhood.
 
I've never had rpg luck at a thrift store, but used book stores have given me a couple of treasures: firstly, an original Empire of the Petal Throne box set for $10. It was unfortunately lost in a move, but I did manage to replace it. Secondly, a complete Holmes box set with B1 and the original dice, still in their (opened) bag. Interestingly enough, it included a dry cleaning receipt dated May 7th, 1980, from a place in Whitehorse. To the person who left it in there, I hope your tan corduroy pants turned out ok.
 
Back when I had a car and was living in the Twin Cities, I'd cycle through the half-dozen Half Price Books about one weekend a month. Finds from those trips included the Immortals set for D&D for $4, the Companions and Masters books for $2 a book, the two Known World Trail Maps for $4 each, Dawn of the Emperors plus Gazs 5, 6 and 14 for $8, WEG Star Wars Lords of the Expanse (complete with supplements) for $10, the Tales of the Jedi Companion for $15, and BESM 3E for $12 ...

I'm back in the area now, but bereft of a vehicle, so I'm more or less limited to two locations.
 
As follow-up, I stopped by and there was one Rpg at that Goodwill. Just one hidden in the shelves. :smile: A copy of The World Tree rpg - an Rpg I'd never heard of, and furry in nature, so I passed it by.
The thrift gods are capricious. They give when and what they want without regards to their worshipers desires.
 
How many copies of Axis and Allies is too many? I ask because I always think to myself I could use more of the tanks, subs battleships etc for some future game I'll play/make but just haven't had time to. Today I resisted getting a 1984 very good copy for $5 since I already have two rough but complete copies.

I like bits and I cannot lie!
 
How many copies of Axis and Allies is too many? I ask because I always think to myself I could use more of the tanks, subs battleships etc for some future game I'll play/make but just haven't had time to. Today I resisted getting a 1984 very good copy for $5 since I already have two rough but complete copies.

I like bits and I cannot lie!
If you ever get too many, send me one. I am giving my 10 year old nephew Risk for Christmas, and if he takes to it, I am giving him Axis and Allies next.
 
I love ebay during Xmas. Everyone's off buying presents, so you can find some really good deals. I just picked up the full and complete Webs and Lands of Doom boxed sets for MSH RPG for $20 a piece.
 
I love ebay during Xmas. Everyone's off buying presents, so you can find some really good deals. I just picked up the full and complete Webs and Lands of Doom boxed sets for MSH RPG for $20 a piece.
Tell me more of this. How much better are the deals you think? And when do you start seeing a drop off in eBay buyer attention? My wallet wants to know and my spouse wants me ignorant.
 
Tell me more of this. How much better are the deals you think? And when do you start seeing a drop off in eBay buyer attention? My wallet wants to know and my spouse wants me ignorant.

I'd say around the middle of December, around the 15th on wards is the best time. Most people by that point either have money going elsewhere for the holidays (I do my shopping throughout the years, so I dont worry about gift-hunting during peak shopping times) or know that its unlikely for a lot of stuff to arrive by Xmas. Last week I noticed a steep drop in the number of bidders on items, and this week everything I've bid on I've been sole bidder...rare stuff too. It usually lasts until a few days after xmas.
 
I'd say around the middle of December, around the 15th on wards is the best time. Most people by that point either have money going elsewhere for the holidays (I do my shopping throughout the years, so I dont worry about gift-hunting during peak shopping times) or know that its unlikely for a lot of stuff to arrive by Xmas. Last week I noticed a steep drop in the number of bidders on items, and this week everything I've bid on I've been sole bidder...rare stuff too. It usually lasts until a few days after xmas.
Thanks!
 
My buddies and I sometimes do a trip to all the Half-Prices around town. Depending on the location, they price RPGs in a somewhat wild fashion. I distinctly remember one location having Aberrant Players' Guide for $80.00 based on some rando eBaby sale, and then another one having the book for $8.00 in clearance. We joked about buying it from from the latter location, and driving back to the other to see if we could make a profit simply arbitraging HPB.
 
Another great Xmas ebay find...$5 for an original, complete Rainbow Brite doll in like new condition (goes into my big chest of toys I had/wanted as a kid for my potential future kids*)

* - I should do an "unboxing" thread about the contents of that chest sometime, its a treasure trove I've been amassing for the last decade and I generally forget half the stuff in there...
 
Reviving this thread as A) it's near Xmas so a good time to watch eBay and B) my local thrift store has wierd ass crap.
Today:
Traveller 20
Tales of the Grotesque and dungeonesgue I and I.
I want to meet the donor!
 
I got into D&D in the first place because my parents drug me to goodwill and I found Basic and Expert box sets for a buck each. First 14 levels? 2 dolla.

Yeah as a kid I got our copies of B/X and loads of early modules from the thift shops my Mom would drag me to. Also where I picked up a bunch of comic books and Mad Magazines.
 
[ . . . ]
Anyone else a thrift store junkie?
Not as such but I do make extensive use of ebay and other sources to get secondhand stuff. You'd be surprised by just how many folks are too proud to do it, but you can save loads of money.

One good example is ex-lease Thinkpads, in particular X and T series models. These are big in corporate leasing and come off-lease onto the secondary market by the truckload at about 20-30% of their new price. They're good machines, too - designed to get bashed around by road warrior types with a magnesium alloy and carbon fibre chassis. The generation mainly coming off-lease are '30-'40 series models, with a few '50 series. An X230 or T430 makes a good workhorse laptop and could easily last another 5-10 years with a modicum of TLC. You can also get parts for them quite readily and there are loads of youtube videos on how to service them.
 
Hey for those buying on the cheap here's a few helpers
https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/12/17/dungeons-and-dragons-book-mega-sale/

D&D 5E books on sale at Amazon plus 10%coupon plus $5 off a single book over $20 means cheap new book for those interested.

Also probably well know but escaped me. Target in store prices are quite different than their online process but they do pricematching. Picked up Betrayal and House on Haunted Hill for $26 vs $50 in store as a gift for my niece. Lots of good games are heavily discounted online but show as list in store.
 
Today was a great day! For a whopping $4 I obtained DCC adventures "Doom of the Savage Kings", DCC "Chaos Rising", Astonishing Swordsman and Sorcerers of Hyperborea "Beneath the Comet", AS&SH "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess", AS&SH "Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes"

Now I just need to get AS&SH.
 
I don't buy physical books now, as my wife won't let me, so I get PDFs instead.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to swap various PDFs or have been given PDFs by a number of people, so that I now have a goodly number of them. I can now use them to swap for other, rarer PDFs.

Not quite a Thrifter, but getting stuff for free is always good.
 
The local Half Price bookstore occasionally has some interesting things, but their prices are all over the place. Sometimes I think they think something is rare when it isn't, or that sort of thing. I'm mostly PDF these days, and don't buy too many physical books, but it's still fun to go there and thumb through things.


Half Price books is like fuckin wit Vegas. A roll of the dice. I find some great stuff sometimes, though.

Recent finds include:

Ace of Aces Flying Machines - 20 bucks, in surprisingly good shape.

Car Wars supplements Truck Stop and Crash City - 20 bucks each, still factory sealed if you can believe it.

JSA Sourcebook for DC Universe - 40 bucks. Sells for about 120 usually. I suspect they got it mixed up with the JLA Sourcebook, which is usually 40. I didn't ask them, though, I used a coupon and got it for 28.

Most times it's Pathfinder and WoD out the wazoo at the local HPB. But I go there on the reg because you never know...
 
Half Price books is like fuckin wit Vegas. A roll of the dice. I find some great stuff sometimes, though.

Recent finds include:

Ace of Aces Flying Machines - 20 bucks, in surprisingly good shape.

Car Wars supplements Truck Stop and Crash City - 20 bucks each, still factory sealed if you can believe it.

JSA Sourcebook for DC Universe - 40 bucks. Sells for about 120 usually. I suspect they got it mixed up with the JLA Sourcebook, which is usually 40. I didn't ask them, though, I used a coupon and got it for 28.

Most times it's Pathfinder and WoD out the wazoo at the local HPB. But I go there on the reg because you never know...
Yup! That's the thriftdiction. 90% just maintaining normallcy but ohhhh the high of finding something awesome at a misprice!


I found a $2 first edition of Champions.
A $20 boxed copy of Justifiers with ALL the supplements inside.
A $60 copy of Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Anniversary Edition. Which I used a 20% coupon on.

A number of others but those stand out for me.
 
Yup! That's the thriftdiction. 90% just maintaining normallcy but ohhhh the high of finding something awesome at a misprice!


I found a $2 first edition of Champions.
A $20 boxed copy of Justifiers with ALL the supplements inside.
A $60 copy of Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Anniversary Edition. Which I used a 20% coupon on.

A number of others but those stand out for me.
I'm so jelly of the Justifiers find. Reminds me, I also bought Car Wars Arenas and it had the entire Classic box set (the one that was released a few years ago) inside, everything except the box. It was ten bucks. Sure, I already have the classic box set, but it was awesome to get a whole new set of counters, maps, dice and turning key.

And yeah, it's kind of like a gambling habit.
 
OGRE/G.E.V. Not sealed, but unpunched, looks unplayed. I don't even think the map has been unfolded. 20 bucks after a 50% off coupon at HPB. this is the Edition in the VHS looking box with the slipcase, to be clear. It has the 4th edition OGRE and maybe 3RD edition G.E.V. rules (the OGRE edition is listed in the rulebook, but the G.E.V. edition is not...
 
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I should not have opened this thread. Since I changed jobs, there are no longer two Half Price Books locations on my commute so I've drastically cut down on my used RPG purchases.

I may have to forsake the lunch I brought, choke down some Arby's in the car, and go check one out today.
 
I should not have opened this thread. Since I changed jobs, there are no longer two Half Price Books locations on my commute so I've drastically cut down on my used RPG purchases.

I may have to forsake the lunch I brought, choke down some Arby's in the car, and go check one out today.
Arby's and thrifting sounds like an excellent lunchtime to me.
 
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