Mike Ducker was presented with a plaque commemorating his work on Lionhead's RPG Fable, released for the original Xbox in 2004; in 2010, it went missing under mysterious circumstances, but now, 12 years later, fortune has returned to his hands. [Ducker, whose Mobygames (open in new tab) profile lists him as a programmer on every Fable game from the original to 2014's Fable Anniversary, shared a story about the game: 2014's "Fable:. Ducker, who is listed on his Mobygames (opens in tab) profile as a programmer on every Fable game until Anniversary, shared an episode on Twitter about the loss and recovery of the shield." The shield he received for creating Fable has been missing since 2010. "It was auctioned at a recycling center auction in Northampton around 2014, then collected until it was recently listed on eBay.

"The seller returned it for the price I bought it for (less than 10% of what they listed it for, much less than what I was willing to pay). I will never see it again. Of course, I paid more than they asked for it (and included a Fable 1 standee I found in my small memorabilia collection).

Mr. Ducker also asked for "many blessings" from Ichi Sumeragi, who informed him of the auction (open in new tab) last week. The auction was subsequently canceled, but through the magic of the Wayback Machine you can still see the page (opens in new tab). The seller was asking £995 ($1,112) for it, claiming it was in "like-new" condition.

It is not clear how the plaque went missing in the first place, but Ducker said "a lot of stuff" was stolen from his house in 2010 and he does not remember seeing it since. As to why the plaque ended up in the auction even though his name is literally printed on the front, Ducker said he does not believe that eBay or the seller was obligated to obtain his permission or approval.

"Just because it was once clearly mine, I don't think they need to go after me to see if I sold/gave it away," he tweeted.

"More than the buyer did. I know some people do that [to get information once they buy], but I don't think most people think that way."

Luckily for Ducker, one person thought it through and there was a happy ending. Interestingly, he is not the only former Fable developer who lost his plaque: Neil Grevitt, who worked on Fable: The Lost Chapters, said he had not seen his in years and asked if the seller had any others. I asked. Unfortunately, the answer was no (open in new tab).

The new Fable (opens in new tab) is currently in development at Playground Games, the studio best known for the Forza racing game. Little is known at this time other than the fact that it is in development, but in July, Anna Megill, who was previously the lead writer on the project, was named scenario lead (open in new tab).