CGC Now Grading RPG Player Guides!

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About RPGs

Although D&D is the best-known role-playing game, TSR also developed non-fantasy themes that included Boot Hill (western), Gamma World (post-apocalyptic), Top Secret (spy) and Star Frontiers (space), as well as licensed systems such as Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Indiana Jones and Marvel Super Heroes. Other companies produced RPGs as well, including DC Heroes by Mayfair Games, Middle Earth by Iron Crown Enterprises, Ghostbusters and Star Wars by West End Games and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Palladium.

A central component of an RPG is called a module (or, more recently, an adventure), which serves as a guide for managing player knowledge and activities during gameplay. In their most popular form, modules were pre-packaged book sets that contain plots or stories, maps, site inventories, creature descriptions and statistics, visual aids and rules for evaluating events and player actions. The first D&D module appeared in 1976, with hundreds produced for various RPGs throughout the 1980s and ’90s. These modules came shrink-wrapped from the factory because of the loose contents inside, eventually shifting to non-shrink-wrapped editions that were glued or stapled together.

Collecting RPGs

RPG collectors covet modules that are still sealed in their shrink-wrap, which is similar to the preferences of collectors of video games, VHS and DVDs, all markets that have blossomed over the past few years. CGC currently certifies sealed video games, VHS and DVDs, and will now add the certification of sealed RPG modules and supplements to its suite of services. These items are graded and encapsulated like other magazines, with the addition of a seal grade displayed on the CGC label, as well as the seal type. The seal grading scale and standards will mirror that used in video games, VHS and DVDs, involving seven different grades of A++, A+, A, B+, B, C+ and C. Check out the scale here.

Upcoming Heritage Auctions sale

In conjunction with CGC’s launch of sealed RPG product certification, Heritage Auctions will be promoting the first auction dedicated to CGC-certified sealed modules and supplements this coming August. The deadline for consigning items to this auction is July 1, allowing collectors enough time to submit their sealed RPG products to CGC for certification and watch for an upcoming Heritage Auctions sale featuring CGC-graded RPGs this summer.

“Being a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons since I was a kid, and a collector of D&D, I’m very excited that CGC is now certifying sealed modules and supplements,” said Lon Allen, Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “This opens a new chapter in RPG collecting, and given the industry’s ever-increasing popularity, it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

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Submit today!

Sealed RPG products can be submitted to CGC through the magazine section of the CGC online submission form. For any questions regarding the grading or submission process of RPGs, please call or text CGC Customer Service at 855-GRADE10, or email Service@CGCcomics.com.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for TCGs, sports cards and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. The newest division of CGC, CGC Home Video, provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of home media.