TOPIC: Combo tokens for idiots?

Can someone give me a basic guide to what the deal with the combo tokens?  I found a couple threads about them, but they all seem to assume a level of basic knowledge that I just don't have.<br /><br />I have a group that does one or two true dungeon runs a year, at gencon, and then I take the tokens back and throw them in a box and get them out in time to sort them out for the next year.<br /><br />We didn't do TD last year because I was pregnant or the year before because we didn't get our tickets in time.<br /><br />As I was going through our tokens and sorting them out this year after two years in the box, I started finding all the combo tokens and I put them aside assuming they were good for something.  And of course we got a ton more this year.<br /><br />We asked about them at our True Dungeon session (mid day Saturday) and found out there was some scheduled time to do something with them, but that we'd already pretty much missed all the slots except for MAYBE Sunday morning, which they weren't even sure about, and we ended up not having time to get over there and check before we left anyhow.<br /><br />So are these all now useless?  Can I save them for next year?  What was it I was supposed to have done with them?

In basics<br /><br />First there are several types of combo tokens<br />1) Trade Item Tokens<br />2) Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens<br />3) Constructed (Combo) Tokens<br />4) Reserve Bars<br /><br />Second, get the Token Guide, I will make references to it as we go along:<br /><br />

<br /> www.truedungeon.com/email/2010_Token_Guide_9.0.3.pdf <br />

<br /><br />Third, understand that dbradical (thats his forum name) is one of the greatest men alive, and the if you want to do any of the following trade in's you will need to contact him to find out where to mail your stuff.  Each year he busts his butt to help us token-addicts to get more cool stuff.  Be extra nice and respectful.  If you want to do some creation of combo tokens you will need to get these forms (which change year to year so do not expect them to be the same next year)<br /><br />

<br />The new forms are here:<br /><br />For Reserve Bars:<br /> www.truedungeon.com/email/Reserve_Token_Submittal_Form_10.doc <br /><br />FOr Trade Items:<br /> www.truedungeon.com/email/Trade_Token_Submittal_Form_10.doc <br /><br />For Trade Combos:<br /> www.truedungeon.com/email/Trade_Token_Combo_Submittal_Form_10.doc <br /> <br />« Last Edit: June 02, 2010, 02:28:30 PM by dbradical »  <br />

<br /><br /><br />Reserve Bars and Trade Item tokens are the easiest to talk about, so lets cover them first.<br /><br />Reserve Bars (pg102) are simply ways for massive amounts of Gold to be easily transported - you turn at either GenCon or through mail in (during certain times of the year) amounts of gold, you get in return 1 token.  So it is mostly a great way to move gold around between traders, these come in amounts of 250gp up to 10,000gp.  They can also be found as treasure.<br /><br />Trade Items (pg103) are first and foremost a great way for someone with lots of tokens to shrink down their collection without loosing value.  Depending on the tokens you want, you send in different items (ex. 1 Minotaur hide requires you to 25 COMMON Armor) to make a Trade item.   Some items will actually take items from different rarity levels to make (ex.  The Darkwood plank needs 25 "units" of any gear and/or items - a common item like a Vial of Ink is worth 1 "unit", an uncommon item like Thieves Tools is worth 3 "units," and a rare item like a Runestone is worth 6 "units"). Trade items are then used in either trades between players or, more importantly to make Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens, which we will cover next.<br /><br />Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens (pg 97) are token recipies that use items that are released in that years token set plus Trade Items created (or an equivalent).  These can either be made at GenCon, or if the powers that be allow, made in advance of GenCon.  An example is the Frost short bow from this year.  It required 3 Elven shortbows, 1 Ring of the Wood Worker, 1 Yew Bark Extract, AND 3 Darkwood planks.  Now if you do not want to hassel with all the mailing back and forth to first make Trade Items, you can just trade in 75 "units" of gear and/or items, but it does slow down the turn around.  [Personal opinion here:  I would make trade items in the off season if you have the extra in anticipation of next years Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens] - IMPORTANT NOTE: Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens are available for a limited time prior to and at GenCon.  After GenCon, depending on the powers that be and the supplies available, they may still be available or may not.  So if you want any of that years particular token after GenCon get the form above and get in touch with dbradical and it will hopefully work out.<br /><br />Now to the covetted Constructed (Combo) Tokens (pg 91).  Like the Constructed Trade (Combo) Tokens, these are recipies that use items released in that years token set PLUS a choice of using the monster trophies obtained from the previous year (and sometimes from the same year) OR Gold and some additional item [this is to make it fair to those who did not go to a previous gencon or had to miss a year, but not every token will offer such a choice].  What makes these covetted is they are only available at GenCon (with some slight exceptions - example of this is dbradical is allowing some Dragontooth Amulets to be made after GenCon).   An example from this year is the Elixer of Vitality which required 2x Citrine Gems, 1x Potion of Yew Bark Extract, 2x Turkey legs, 1x Faerie Water, and either 30GP in  gold and/or gems OR an Ogre Tusk OR a Saytr Wine.  <br /><br />Side note:  This is the first time I mentioned monster trophies - these are tokens you find during your TD runs in the treasure box, the represent bits and pieces taken from the monsters you defeated in the dungeon.  Some are commmon and others quite rare.  Details about them can be found on page 99 and are called Common Ingredient Items, but I like to call them monster trophies.<br /><br />When making trade-ins at GenCon for any of the above tokens, there are some tips, first come back to the forums about 2 weeks before GenCon and look for the Turn In times thread.  This will tell you when dbradical and a group of nice volunteers will be accepting token turn-ins, it will also tell you what tokens are available on a given day.  Tokens from a previous day are also available on later days, example - on Thursday you could only make of the Constructed (Combo) Tokens the elixer of vitality and the Lenses of accuracy, on Friday you could make the Frost Ring and the Dragontooth amulet AND the Elixer of vitality and lenses of accuracy.  <br />Second, make sure you bag your tokens in snack size zip-lock bags for what you want, before you go to GenCon, you do not get to spend time sorting tokens when in line as it moves pretty quickly.  <br /><br />If you are mailing in tokens, you can certainly benefit from using USPS Flat Rate boxes, but heed this advice. First make sure you sort you tokens into ziplock bags and put a note in each one of what it is you want (so if I put 25 common weapons in a bag, I will put a note saying 1 Dwarven steel), tape the bag shut.  Nothing frustrates dbradical more than a box full of loose tokens.  Pack that box full and throw in some old newspaper if needed for padding.  Then make sure you put your forms in the box.  Lastly, after putting the address on the box, tape the box shut on the outside all over, this really helps with the boxes integrity, I believe dbradical would prefer to use a box cutting knife to open your box then to send you an email saying a bunch of your tokens got lost (which reminds me, read the section on each form, make sure you understand that TD is not responsible for lost tokens).<br /><br /><br />I hope this helps, and I am sure others will weigh in as well.

Greyseer gives a great run down on combo tokens. <br /><br />Re-reading your post, you may have been asking about ingredient tokens (mimic slime, dragon tooth, chain devil ichor). <br /><br />These are used as part of the recipe for certain combo tokens, as Greyseer describes. <br /><br />Traditionally, only the ingredients from the past year or two will be used in a recipe. We expect that next year, only the ingredients from this year's dungeon will be used in recipes (dragon tooth, chain devil ichor, orc ear, ice demon tongue, minotaur horn, gelatonous slime). Any older ingredients tend to be of interest to collectors only. However, there is the rumor every now and then that TD may come up with a recipe that uses really old ingredients. <br /><br />So, when next the time for GenCon rolls around next year, you should look at your tokens and see if you can make any of the recipes with the ingredients that you have. If you can't, then you will find people on the forums happy to trade for your ingredients or to trade you the ingredients that you need. <br /><br />

Thanks so much to both of you, I think the second question was what I was originally trying to ask, but it would have just led to me asking for all the information in the first post anyhow.  So, I think I'm quite a bit less fuzzy now.  And I have at least a vague idea what I need to do for next year.

Thank you to both for the comprehensive description (and the compliments).  Do you mind if I steal this and put it up in a sticky with the official token information?<br /><br />and raynbow, if you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know.<br /><br />Dave

Very nice write-up, except I do need to note that Commons are indeed 1 'unit', but Uncommons are 3 units, and Rares are 6 units.

steal away

<br />Very nice write-up, except I do need to note that Commons are indeed 1 'unit', but Uncommons are 3 units, and Rares are 6 units.<br />

<br />Thanks, corrected, I always get those messed up.<br /><br />Dave, please feel free to use as needed

Thanks to both of you ! You both solved my query... Actually i had the same problem...

I wanted to add something about Monster Trophies (AKA Common Ingredient Tokens),  these tokens while varying in rarity also vary in value - if you look at past year Combo Token recipies you will note that the monster ingredients replace additional costs.  <br /><br />2007  <br />Stone Spider Fang = 40GP + Scroll of Keen Edge<br />Ghoul Tongue = 100GP<br />Dryder Silk = 300GP<br /><br />2008<br />Shambler Slime =50GP<br />Ectoplasm = 100GP<br />Quicksilver = 300GP<br /><br />there was no substitue for the ingredients for the medallion of Greyhawk.<br /><br />2009<br />Mindflayer ooze =2 Aquamarine gems + 30GP<br />Outsider feather = 80GP + 1 Potion: Essence of mistletoe<br />Stirge spittle = 150GP + 1 scroll of acid spray<br /><br />2010 <br />Ogre tusk = Saytr Wine = 30gp<br />Mimic Slime = Harpy Talon = 60GP<br />Skeleton Tooth = Creeper Thorn = 250 GP<br /><br />there was no substite for the ingredients for the Dragontooth Amulet<br /><br />So as you can see monster bits have varying value depending on the year and the item being created from them.  <br /><br />There is no correlation with price and placement of the monster in the dungeon, but rather the whims of the powers that be (example 2010 With Smoak comes fire, the combat sequence was Harpy, Saytr, Mimic.  For the Five Aspects the combat sequence was Creeper, Ogre, Ghost - which I guess is where the tooth came from, in 2009 the combat sequence was Stirge, mind flayer, Angel.)<br /><br />What is important to understand is certain ingredients are only available from certain dungeons, where as in years past there were treasure boxes in every room, there is only the treasure box at the end of the dungeon and it behooves the monster trophy collector to run each dungeons multiple of times if they truly "gotta catch em all."<br /><br /><br />

Greyseer has some very good information in his post, but it should also be noted the actual value of ingredients can be very far removed from the values listed in recipes.  Creeper Thorn is the best example.  In a recipe, it had a value of 250 GP ($15.00 based on the e-Bay GP high of 6¢/GP), yet it was selling for $50+ as an individual token on e-Bay.  This is due to the relatively small number of them drawn from treasure boxes. 

<br />Greyseer has some very good information in his post, but it should also be noted the actual value of ingredients can be very far removed from the values listed in recipes.  Creeper Thorn is the best example.  In a recipe, it had a value of 250 GP ($15.00 based on the e-Bay GP high of 6¢/GP), yet it was selling for $50+ as an individual token on e-Bay.  This is due to the relatively small number of them drawn from treasure boxes.  <br />

<br />A valid point and crucial for the combo token turn ins that do not have alternatives, but it should give a new person the idea that even if you do not have the ingredients you are not out of the running for making many such combo items.