http://mikemonaco.wordpress.com/2010/03 ... ragon-rpg/

There are lots of obscure RPG's.. Love em..

Brette:)

I like the quotes on some of the blogs:

"Just had a look at my copy of Heroic Worlds from Lawrence Schick and it is not listed. Probably means that it was never published."

"Doubtless one of the rarest fantasy rpg in history. No mention of it even on Heroic worlds."

Makes me want to create an obscure RPG book but that would probably just raise prices in the market.  I'll pencil it in for a task to work on after I get my collection list completed

gordof wrote:i think the list is pretty complete...don't you agree?

Its a long list but no I don't think it is "pretty complete" or at least not complete enough.  Maybe its 90% complete?  I could probably list off another dozen RPGs off the top of my head that aren't on the list and if I went through my collection, I'm sure I would find several more and I am sure there are lots more that others could add.

The information there is also not very complete - it lists an RPG but doesn't really say much about what else was released for that RPG and doesn't really list any of the small companies that made 3rd party accessories or adventures.

For example, Ysgarth gets:

   1st ed by David Nalle (1979) Ragnarok Press
   2nd ed (1980)
   3rd ed (1982)
   4th ed (1982)
   5th ed (1985)
   7th ed (1998)
   A fantasy-genre RPG, which has changed significantly over 7 editions. In general, it uses a percentile skill system, with limited point-bought character creation. It has an action-point-based combat system.

with no real mention of the 40+ supplements and adventures released:

http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=163

gordof wrote:http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/

i think the list is pretty complete...don't you agree?

Unfortunately, no.  If one were to use that site, plus Heroic Worlds, plus here, plus Tome Of Treasures, plus rpggeek, plus rpg.net, plus sites specific to certain games (Call Of Cthulhu, Runequest, etc.), plus talking with a few expansive collectors... there would still be items missed.

There are plenty of items that don't show up in the main references because the output at the margins of the industry simply didn't get into wide circulation and thus it isn't well known.  There have been books turned up here that probably have a real world circulation of only a handful of copies (there are probably boxes full in a basement somewhere, but that isn't relevant to this thought), so how could they be expected to be commonly indexed?

Ultimately, each collector needs to figure out what kinds of things they're looking for and do the research to build their own list.  If "all" you want is TSR (A)D&D books, it's easy.  If you want every zine ever published... I'd be surprised if even Brette thinks he has a complete list.  It would be a nice goal to have a one stop shop, but at this point one would have to aggregate all the existing wikis...  So in some ways the process sucks, but in other ways it creates the fun of discovery!