Quote from: HappyDaze;990298About 50 different books that had been stolen from me all turned in on the same day by the same person. Oh yes, the cops were called.

I hope you got legal satisfaction.

Quote from: Morandir;990204A pristine copy of the 1e Deities and Demigods (with Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythoi) for $3.75 on eBay about three years ago.

Really? I've sold one of those for $55 before. You are a smarter shopper.

Quote from: Tetsubo;990381I hope you got legal satisfaction.

Not so much. The person in question was my drug-addicted stepdaughter and her shithead boyfriend. They were both without permanent homes, so the police were just going to put a bench warrant and wait for them to get picked up for something else. This was an issue since I couldn't get the "evidence" (my books) back until they made an initial appearance. I was moving in a few weeks, so I was under a time limit. Thankfully, I had worked as a probation officer in the county, so I was able to track them down myself and bring the cops to them. So they got arrested and made their appearance. I got my books back, but they ended up getting off of the charges. Why? Well, even though the total value of the books was around $1,100 they each returned a portion so neither hit the $1,000 mark individually. Then, despite the evidence against them and the assurances of the prosecutor to the contrary, the whole thing was dropped because I was unable to fly back across the country for the court appearance. They even had the court costs dismissed. It was a crock of shit, and the used bookstore considered going after them through civil court, but you can't bleed a rock.

I got some out of print Riddle of Steel books for between $5 and $10 each.  Wasn't a great bargain, but worth it to read the game.

I'll never beat what a friend did in the late '80s--got a suitcase full of AD&D books (over $300.00 list at the time) at an unclaimed baggage store for $10.00.  I think they only charged him that much because the suitcase was in good shape.

I've had some very good luck with some Palladium games - at different times and different shops, I've found Palladium Fantasy 1st Ed, Old Ones 1st Ed, and Justice Machine.

This past free RPG day one of my far off favorite gaming stores had a selection of used books that you could pick one free book for every $5 you spent.

I spent $10 on miniatures and got pretty good decent condition copies of the 2E PHB and MM DMG for free. I already had all of the 2E Monster Compendiums a friend gave me. So if I ever want to run 2E for some reason.....

Quote from: TrippyHippy;989443Zero by Lester Smith. Originally printed in 1997, and quite rare I think.

I obtained a copy of this signed by Lester Smith.

My best secondhand RPG score was an OD&D white box (near-mint books in a well-worn box) for $12 on Amazon Marketplace.

So the friend I mentioned earlier who found the pristine copy of Dawn Patrol at a garage sale for a buck just sent me a picture of something he found today at another garage sale...a pristine copy of Top Secret - complete with unused white crayon and unmarked red dice.  He bought a scooter for his little girl and the guy threw the game in free.  I now hate him.


Lol...

Quote from: Zevious Zoquis;991236So the friend I mentioned earlier who found the pristine copy of Dawn Patrol at a garage sale for a buck just sent me a picture of something he found today at another garage sale...a pristine copy of Top Secret - complete with unused white crayon and unmarked red dice.  He bought a scooter for his little girl and the guy threw the game in free.  I now hate him.


Lol...

Awesome. I'd buy/take it even if I'd never play it.

Quote from: Tetsubo;990383Really? I've sold one of those for $55 before. You are a smarter shopper.

It was pure luck, I just kept an eye on eBay until I saw one for sale that had the right page count and put in the minimum bid. Basically the seller didn't know that it was a more valuable edition and was willing to sell cheap. I figured I wouldn't be the only one watching it; turns out I was.

Not sure if it was my best acquisition, but a few years ago I found a bundle of 9 Traveller LBBs for $10 at Half Price Books. Shrink-wrapped together in Fair to Great shape.
1977 LBB1-3, High Guard, Horde, Animal Encounters, Citizens of the Imperium, Forms and Charts, Veterans.

Found Castle Falkenstein in a factory clearance store for $1.00. After flipping through it, I picked up all three copies of it in the bin, as I figured "what the heck".

Quote from: Coffee Zombie;991284Found Castle Falkenstein in a factory clearance store for $1.00. After flipping through it, I picked up all three copies of it in the bin, as I figured "what the heck".

You need at least 3 copies just to finish the book. Start with copy 1, read until it falls apart. Continue where you left off with copy 2, read until it falls apart. Continue where you left off with copy 3, and with some luck you might actually get to the end of the book before it falls apart.

I picked up a copy of CoC 4th Edition for €15 IIRC. It's a bit of a hodgepodge of all kinds of fun Cthulhu bits that apparently make up a core rulebook.