LGS Experience

[Bison]

Well ever since I saw the D&D Red Box at Barnes and Noble, I've had a hard time shaking the itch to play a table top RPG again.  Sure I have some things that will make it difficult not the least of which is not having a group of gaming friends any more.  So I accept the facts that I will have to play solo and for the most part I'll have to be content with reading the rules and day dreaming about playing with a group at some point in the future.  Which brings me to my experience at my LGS.  The have a great selection of comics.  I read 5 or 6 back issues of Captain America and a couple of Batman Detective comics.  The also have a large selection of Warhammer and another mini's game, but I cannot remember the name.  Of course MTG is the game of choice and they were hosting some sort of tourneyment this weekend.  So everyone was talking MTG.

Now back to the point.  They had almost no D&D selection.  They had exactly one Dungeon Masters Guide and no Players Handbook or Monster Manual.  And outside of a few modules and a couple of tile sets.  They did have a selection of used edition books, but they were for the most very well used and over priced for their condition IMO.  This was a very disappointing discovery.  That Barnes and Nobel had a better selection of books and my LGS.

They did have a huge selection of Pathfinder, so I spent a good hour browsing the section.  I've also visited the Pathfinder webpage and it's pretty overwhelming with subscription based membership, a society and a laundry list of books, modules and campaigns.  The LGS did have a couple of copies of the Beginners Box, which I might pick up as a way to get back into table top RPGs.  My understanding is that it plays out 1-5 lvls with a condensed rule set.  So I guess I could pick that up and a module or campaign geared toward 1-5 lvl characters and have a good beginning point.  However I never played 3.5 D&D outside of NWN2 on the PC.  So as a 1e guy, I've got some reservations.  I didn't like 2e at all and refused to play it back in the day and only played 3e a couple of times with my buddy.   Anyone play Pathfinder and have an opinion or ten on it?

I also just discovered that WotWC is in the process of developing and releasing D&D Next (5e) ruleset.  Nothing to say here but good lord, didn't 4e just come out a couple of years ago?

Anyway I was a little disappointed with my LGS.  I was so excited going into the store, but once I saw the empty D&D shelves I lost my momentum.

[bayonetbrant]

The also have a large selection of Warhammer and another mini's game, but I cannot remember the name. 

Odd are pretty good it was War Machine and/or Hordes (its companion game).  Both fun, with a rich backstory, but expensive.

Of course MTG is the game of choice and they were hosting some sort of tourneyment this weekend.  So everyone was talking MTG.

One of the reasons you get a lot of MtG stuff at the stores is that WotC does a HUGE amount of work with the stores to help promote and support events with them.  It's not just that there are a lot of kids playing; the promotional material that WotC provides makes it look even bigger.

This was a very disappointing discovery.  That Barnes and Noble had a better selection of books and my LGS.

This is not that surprising, given the way that B&N can spread the costs (and therefore the risks) across more stores.  You're right, though, it is disappointing.

However I never played 3.5 D&D outside of NWN2 on the PC.  So as a 1e guy, I've got some reservations.  I didn't like 2e at all and refused to play it back in the day and only played 3e a couple of times with my buddy.   Anyone play Pathfinder and have an opinion or ten on it?

Pathfinder is a 3E offshoot, but has become HUGELY popular - especially as people bailed out on the 4E bandwagon and WotC wasn't supporting 3/3.5 anymore, so Pathfinder was the only place to go.  I'm not a huge fan of 3, but millions of people can't be wrong.

I also just discovered that WotWC is in the process of developing and releasing D&D Next (5e) ruleset.  Nothing to say here but good lord, didn't 4e just come out a couple of years ago?

4E got an early rep as "trying to be like World of Warcraft" and never shook it, regardless of reality.  I happened to really enjoy 4E because of its tactical components.  It appeals to the way I enjoy playing.

Anyway I was a little disappointed with my LGS.  I was so excited going into the store, but once I saw the empty D&D shelves I lost my momentum.

FWIW, one of our advertisers - Gamer's Armory - has a very good RPG selection.  I know it's not the same as walking into your LGS (unless you live near me!), but it's good stuff at a very good (often discounted) price, and supporting a great family that runs it.  They're primarily a wargame store (and an excellent one), but carry enough RPG stuff to keep people like me happy.

[Staggerwing]

You guys might want to add LGS to the acronym thread. It took a bit of searching to figure out that 'LGS' wasn't some brand or such but simply...(DUH!!)... Local Gaming Store. Don't let other clueless dweebs suffer the way I did. Think of the children here!!

:P

[Double Deuce]

FWIW, one of our advertisers - Gamer's Armory - has a very good RPG selection.  I know it's not the same as walking into your LGS (unless you live near me!), but it's good stuff at a very good (often discounted) price, and supporting a great family that runs it.  They're primarily a wargame store (and an excellent one), but carry enough RPG stuff to keep people like me happy.

+1 for Gamer's Armory. I rarely buy gaming stuff online if I can help it but I always make it a point to go to them for my ASL stuff. My nearest LGS (about 2 hours away) just closed down so I may be contacting Gamer's Armory more often in the near future.

EDIT: Went ahead and ordered my Pathfinder core rulebook from them this morning.

They did have a huge selection of Pathfinder, so I spent a good hour browsing the section.  I've also visited the Pathfinder webpage and it's pretty overwhelming with subscription based membership, a society and a laundry list of books, modules and campaigns.  The LGS did have a couple of copies of the Beginners Box, which I might pick up as a way to get back into table top RPGs.  My understanding is that it plays out 1-5 lvls with a condensed rule set.  So I guess I could pick that up and a module or campaign geared toward 1-5 lvl characters and have a good beginning point.  However I never played 3.5 D&D outside of NWN2 on the PC.  So as a 1e guy, I've got some reservations.  I didn't like 2e at all and refused to play it back in the day and only played 3e a couple of times with my buddy.   Anyone play Pathfinder and have an opinion or ten on it?

I have been looking at getting into Pathfinder since it seems to be the "in" thing for many D&D refugees. From what I have been told you only really need the 2 core books, the rest is just fluff an addon. Personally I'm more of a 1e AD&D person myself and for the last few months have been playing some of the old modules AD&D modules via Fantasy Grounds on Wednesday nights. I have been out for the last few weeks but the rest of the group is running through A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade at the moment.

[Bison]

How the hell are you guys doing the multiple quotes?

[Bison]

Yeah War Machinge and Hordes that was the game.  The mini's actually looked to be higher quality than the Warhammer pieces.  To be honest I was looking for Fantasy figures that were not plastic. 

I think I'm going to pick up the Pathfinder Begginers Box.  It's like $30, so it a safe cost effective investment.  I'm also going to look at Barnes and Noble again for the 4e D&D core books and buy a cup of coffee and read them for free!  Perhaps purchase down the road.

I've signed up to "beta" Dungeons and Dragons 5e.  Don't know if they'll let me, but it's worth a try.

The Gamer's Armory looks like it's provides some excellent support for gamers with daily events.  I'm not sure why more stores don't do this.  You'd think one night a week dedicated to the games they support would sell more product.

[bayonetbrant]

cut and paste the {/quote} tag at the end of the part I want to quote, then insert at {quote} tag (if I want your info, I copy & paste the very first quote line at the top of the quote response)

I copy & paste the gaps into the reply first, then go back and type in all my comments.

[bayonetbrant]

The Gamer's Armory looks like it's provides some excellent support for gamers with daily events.  I'm not sure why more stores don't do this.  You'd think one night a week dedicated to the games they support would sell more product.

One thing that really helps is that they've got a LOT of space for gaming.  That was a requirement when Scott was shopping for a space.
It doesn't hurt that they've got a pizza place next door, so you can game and gnosh at the same time.

[Toonces]

I just wanted to point out, Bison, that if you have an urge to play an RPG with real players (admitedly at a very much slower pace than with your friends on Friday night), there's an ongoing Pendragon campaign taking place a few posts below this one.

Doesn't cost anything to join up with the group!

I can't really offer too much help on the D&D front.  I bought the 4e box set and read through some of that, and I also got a handful of Pathfinder modules.  I like the idea of D&D but I don't think I'd be good at running a D&D campaign.  I've browsed through the D&D website where they have a blog of articles from a guy who runs campaigns and I simply don't have enough imagination to do all that magic and crazy stuff.   

[Bison]

I just wanted to point out, Bison, that if you have an urge to play an RPG with real players (admitedly at a very much slower pace than with your friends on Friday night), there's an ongoing Pendragon campaign taking place a few posts below this one.

Doesn't cost anything to join up with the group!

I can't really offer too much help on the D&D front.  I bought the 4e box set and read through some of that, and I also got a handful of Pathfinder modules.  I like the idea of D&D but I don't think I'd be good at running a D&D campaign.  I've browsed through the D&D website where they have a blog of articles from a guy who runs campaigns and I simply don't have enough imagination to do all that magic and crazy stuff.   

Yeah I saw your forum game.  I'll consider it.  I've also been looking at some of the virtual tt programs with the thought that those might provide a potential outlet to do some live gaming.

[Arctic Blast]

If you're looking at systems to try Bison, I'm going to go ahead and suggest you take a peek at Savage Worlds. It's a more stripped down system, but in a good way. Tons of skills and the like, but they've done some really interesting things with developing them. Instead of your base skill number increasing as you level up, you actually just roll bigger dice for skills as you level them up (with bigger dice offering better chances for success and better roll bonuses). Initiative is actually run through a deck of cards.

The other nice thing about the system is that they've put in simple rules to run complex encounters. Aerial dogfights? In there...easy to do. Some sort of car/horse chase? Ditto. Want to put the player characters in the midst of a massive land battle somewhere? You can do that, and it works well. They've also taken a bit of the load off the GM by having the players also run the secondary player characters in encounters. So when your squad gets in to a fight in some rubble, for example, the players will also run the 3 other guys in their squad, letting you focus on the enemy troops.

There are adventures you can buy or download. There are also one sheets, which are basically one shot adventures. You can run basically any type of adventure type through it. And there are several different settings you can also buy. Weird Wars is basically a war game coupled with dark magic and monsters. Deadlands brings demons and beasts to the Wild West. Space 1889 is a Victorian steampunk setting on Mars. Necessary Evil has the players as super villains, and they're now Earth's last chance against an alien superpower who have killed the heroes. And so on.

In the forum, people have converted pretty much everything in to Savage Worlds. Star Wars is in there, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, The Muppets...wait...the Muppets? Hadn't seen that one before...

So, yeah, anyway, there's another option for ya.  ;D

Take a look at some of the one sheets on that site to see if you like the look of it. If it looks interesting, you can buy the Explorer's Edition of the rulebook (it's the same as the Deluxe, only it's a smaller paperback instead of the standard size hardback) for under $20 online.

[Bison]

Thanks Arctic.  I'll look at Savage World.  I'm pretty sold right now on the Pathfinder Beginners Box.  The sure amount of stuff the LGS had will really be nice to add onto the system if I end up liking it.  I'm also going to get a generic map board that I can use white board markers on for marking out encounter areas.

[Bison]

After thought perhaps I need to look at the 4e D&D too.  Bryant's suggestion that it's tactical focus is cool and lends itself more to solo play battling.

[bayonetbrant]

Bison- when I get a few minutes to collect my thoughts, I'll offer more concrete info about 4E and Savage Worlds both. Played a LOT of each over the last 3 years (almost to the exclusion of anything else).

[Bison]

No rush Bryant D&D isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Perhaps fire up a new thread D&D 4e and let the good times rolls.