What's the best RPG acquisition you found at a used bookstore, goodwill, garage sale, etc?

Zero by Lester Smith. Originally printed in 1997, and quite rare I think.

A few weeks back a friend of mine found a pristine copy of Dawn Patrol at a garage sale for the princely sum of one Canadian dollar.  The original TSR dice are still in their unopened plastic bag...

I haven't had any luck like that with garage sales, but I have recently had some decent finds online.  I found copies of the first Delta Green book as well as Countdown in great condition for about $45cdn each which is considerably less than it would have cost me to order the pods from drivethru.  I also have managed to get the first three volumes of FFE's Classic Traveller reprint compendiums for less than $100 in total - again all in excellent condition.

GURPS 4th edition core rules and Powers in hardcover for $20.
Not-For-Sale proof copy of The World Tree for $2.
Couple of copies of Deities & Demigods (1st printing) for $1 a piece. Sold those. Numerous other 1E books I've given away as gifts.
The Hellboy RPG.
D20 Star Wars core rules for $2.
I know I'm forgetting quite a few. I hunt bargains as a hobby. I'm off for some more hunting in an hour...

A tie between finding a complete boxed set of Tarsus for Traveller and all of the books for the Ringworld RPG both in the same free bin on different nights at McKay's.

Moldvay/Cook Basic D&D boxed set in great shape at the Salvation Army for $1... I opened the box after purchase to discover it also contained an Expert rulebook and two complete sets of old TSR dice.

Half Price Books is my bane. Recently picked up FantasyCraft for like $5, just to check it out.

Kult 3e

My best find has been the James Bond 007 boxed set for something like $2, it was complete and then some as the prior owner had stored his copy of the Q Manual, Thrilling Locations, and For Your Information in the box along with the game in nearly pristine condition.

Stretching the definition somewhat, but a first edition of Arkham Horror (the 1987 version) for a tenner at a used bookstore.

Probably Swords & Glory Volume 1 boxed set in the used section of a game store for $7.

Second, if you count eBay deals would be 90% or so of the RuneQuest 2e line for about $100.

Oh, and 1st ed. Dungeon board game, I forget the price, but no more than $20.

WEG Star Wars both first and 2nd edition revised. Including the GM book and the Star Wars sourcebook. All in great condition.

WHFRPG 2nd Edition CRB.

I got the Pathfinder Beginners Box for $10, mostly for the cardboard pawns.


I love HPB and go there about once a month to see what they have. They used to have one near my office and I'd go a couple times a month but they shut that one down and moved to across town so I'm not there as often.

Grabbed a stack of "board games" at a garage sale for 25 cents. The stack was:
Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991 boxed set)
HeroQuest
HeroQuest Barbarian Quest Pack
HeroQuest Elf Quest Pack
HeroQuest Return of the Witch Lord
Space Crusade

All had all the dice, minis, cards, everything.

Depends on what you mean by best. Things I've found used etc:

Someone's Star Frontiers collection
Unused Advanced Melee & Advanced Wizard (1980), found circa 2000.
James Bond RPG
Talisanta

Last week I went into a rural game shop that raids moving sales and such and has some old RPG items, but they know it's worth something even though they seem to be mainly MTG/Warhammer gamers and may just be using eBay or something to price things. They have a whitebox D&D set, a ye olde D&D traps supplement that looks pre-1980 to me (IIRC it was priced about $70 marked down from $200!), I think some other pre-1980 D&D stuff, AD&D 2e stuff, a bunch of RIFTS & Palladium books, a shelf of old Dragon issues, and several RPG products I didn't recognize.

Most likely I'd say Call of Cthulhu's Horror on the Orient Express, new condition, for the printed price at a store, instead of the inflated price online for the (then out of print) adventure.  Followed by a copy of Midnight at the Well of Souls, which is based on a series of scifi novels of the same name which I was fond of.  (I'd seen it for sale at GenCon in 1988, but didn't pick it up at the con and then never saw it again until I found a copy.)