Wee Warriors
Wee Warriors Ltd. published role-playing game accessories in the late 1970s. It notably published the first stand alone adventure for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game (or in fact any role-playing game). Although they never produced official Dungeons & Dragons products, their early products were distributed by TSR, Inc., who at that time also published Dungeons & Dragons. The first two Wee Warriors Dungeon Master Kits were written by Pete and Judy Kerestan.[1]
Products of Wee Warriors include:
- Dungeon Master Kits
- Palace of the Vampire Queen (1976) - the first ever adventure module published. Early printings were distributed by TSR. Note that TSR's Blackmoor expansion published in 1975, prior to PotVQ, has the first adventure module published: Temple of the Frog. This is the first stand-alone adventure module published. The first two printings consisted of bagged, separate pages. Subsequent printings were in booklet form.
- The Dwarven Glory (1977) - another early adventure module. Early printings were distributed by TSR. The first printing consisted of bagged, separate pages. Subsequent printings were in booklet form.
- Misty Isles - another early adventure module.
- The Character Archaic (1975) - the first set of character sheets ever published. The first printing was distributed by TSR and was also advertised for in Gods, Demigods and Heroes (2nd printing).
- The Endless Dungeon (1977) - a set of cardboard tiles you could glue together into a number of floors and walls and use for miniature playing. An early issue of White Dwarf reviewed this release and came to the conclusion that you were better off without the Endless Dungeon. Originally distributed by TSR.
- The Village (1977) - a set of houses on cardboard you could assemble for miniature play.
- Dungeon Designer's Kit - A set of cardstock sheets with dungeon rooms and furnishings printed on them.
- Game Designer's Kit
- Dragonlord (1978) - A one-on-one boardgame where players are dragonlords - warriors who fight each other while mounted on dragonback. Has 2½ D artwork by Morno and uses squares instead of hexes for movement. Dragonlord is reviewed in The Dragon #17. Consisted of long-form sheets stapled together at the top.
Wee Warriors in the collector's market
Because of Wee Warriors' association with TSR in the formative years of Dungeons & Dragons, and the fact that two of their products — Palace of the Vampire Queen and The Character Archaic — were the first products of their kind published, aftermarket prices for many of their products (in particular those products distributed by TSR) have skyrocketed in the past few years and are now second only to the true TSR rarities (such as Lost Tamoachan) in value in the D&D collector's market.
This price increase is directly traceable to the Internet. In the mid-1990s, rec.games.frp.marketplace became one of the primary conduits for the aftermarket trading of D&D collectibles and information about D&D collectibles.[2] In 1995 or 1996, a few copies of Wee Warrior products (later versions of Palace of the Vampire Queen and The Dwarven Glory that were not distributed by TSR) were auctioned and sold on r.g.f.m for under $10.00. The auctioning of 1970s era D&D modules that many of the regular members of the group were unfamiliar with piqued the interest of the community and collectively they researched the history of the different Wee Warriors products. Reviewing early TSR catalogs and unearthing earlier versions of Wee Warrior products, it became clear to the group that Wee Warriors had played a role (how important is debated) in the early development and marketing of Dungeons & Dragons, increasing their value to those collectors interested in the historical aspects of the game. Additionally, the discovery that TSR had actually distributed and advertised Wee Warrior products immediately increased their value to those collectors interested in completing their TSR sets. The result is the high prices seen for Wee Warrior products today.