Dragon Snack

24. local stores not only support the game industry, they also support your local economy. 25. game store owners are totally awesome! Ahem, I may be a *little* biased about that last one...

Puppies!

Thank you all for the kind words.

I know I haven't been around in ages, but I figured I would repost this for those who remember me but aren't friends with me on facebook (or missed it there)... A beautiful soul left this world today. If you don’t think dogs have a soul, then you never met Lakota - and for that I am sorry… We were never apart for more than 4 days in the almost 10 years we were together (and if I could have taken him to Gen Con, I would have). I could take him to work (even before I had the store) and I could take him to parties, he was that well behaved. It was nothing I did (and judging from the stories about his previous owner, nothing he did either), Lakota was just that awesome. You were not just my constant companion, you also made me a better person. I miss you so much buddy…

You might find this amusing then...

Sorry, the last month has been pretty crazy for me. Between Christmas, New Years, re-arranging the store, repairing the back apartment, and Waste Management HITTING MY BUILDING - I just haven't had time. If we are restarting though, I think I will pass. Unfortunately miniature sales at my store are pretty slim, so most of my online time is spent elsewhere. I haven't had much interest in Pathfinder at the store either, so I would have to get up to speed on that as well. Haldir - I did enjoy RotRL while it lasted, thanks!

FLGS hat on... Something is going on with 4E. 4E didn't sell for me until I put it all up at 20% off. I doubt it's just me - they ran a special for the "Holidays" where you could buy both the PHB I and II for the price of one. I just ordered the combo special today (I have a Con coming up) - it's STILL available. If you can't sell core books at 50% off, something is not good. I'm guessing they're not picking up the hallowed "new gamers" they were planning on... Anecdotally, I had a guy come in and demo 4E. My local players (who had no vested interest in disliking it, since nobody was playing an RPG at the time) thought it was "too complicated". That's not good news for a game promoted on being easier to grasp for newbies. My regulars have ignored D&D in favor of Savage Worlds, it outsold all D&D combined until I put 4E on sale...

The core 3.5 books have not been at distributors for at least a year (when I opened my store), I don't think anyone is playing games with 3.5 PHBs - people want them. I'm surprised that nobody has reprinted it, since the OGL actually lets anyone legally reprint *most* of it. There can be some nice finds at a LGS, since local markets vary. And yes, the owner may not know what they have - I gave lots of people some GREAT deals on Magic cards before I knew what I was doing. People still think I give them great deals on Magic cards, since I price them off of online sites. No more Swords To Plowshares for 20¢ though. I hope...

I didn't catch Tsuto flat footed?

My last few places have been really good and my current USPS guy is decent (he has neglected to pickup some outgoing mail a couple of times, but I can deal with that), although they have this odd policy of making 2 deliveries for my route (I'm about 2 blocks from the PO) and the big packages go out later in the day with a different guy. When I lived in Macedon however, well, I swear they will find bags of mail stacked in the guy's attic some day. The service was horrible, I lost tons of mail when I lived there... After busting my UPS guy for not stopping one day, he is now pretty good. My FedEx guys (both Ground and Express - different companies, BTW) are pieces of work though. The Ground guy is a complete jerk, he will only stop in the morning (when my store is closed) and when I make appointments to meet him there he is always late. The other day I was sitting at the front counter and he walked up, pounded twice on the door, and took out his "you weren't here" sticker without even looking inside. I found the sticker outside later, torn up and thrown on the ground - already filled out. He wasn't planning on making my delivery at all (yes, he had to go back to the truck to get my boxes). The Express guy? Well, his only crime was leaving about $2,000 (wholesale) of Magic cards with random neighbors (prior to their official release to top it off). While they happened to be my tenants, leaving that much money with them was not a good idea at all (in fact I recently evicted them if that tells you anything). I think I saw a video of your guy on teh intrawebs once... Mind if I ask your hair color?

There was a Chinese restaurant in Penfield with a rather (unintentionally) phonetically risque name. It's gone, but the last time I drove by the sign was still up... One of my mothers friends tried to start up a hot dog stand called Frank-n-Stein (he would have sold beer as well), but apparently the name was taken.

I have a pic of the 3 point stance one...

I believe I've been healed back up to full health. If I'm missing something, let me know Haldir...

In the 3.x rules, you couldn't take your own race as a favored enemy unless you were Evil. I always thought that was foolish myself... Since he's a Half-Elf, you could technically say it's legal (depending on your interpretation of the "Human blood" rule).

Mega Miniatures has a "Chiller" sculpt out already (planned back in May)...

Well, he IS my avatar, but I was thinking the same thing... He used to be such a good dog...

Lakota has been my avatar for how many years? Kengar has a doggie too. While I tend to agree that the owners bear the majority of the responsibility for bad dogs, I don't let all dogs off that easy. Lakota was abused by his first owner (I found out after I got him), but was always a good dog (we were neighbors). And some breeds (and I'm not talking Pit Bulls) are just more aggressive. Most dogs want to be good, but, like people, some are just jerks...

So many movies disappoint me, I wouldn't know where to begin... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MAYrF1PDks

Hey Sparky! Just a note about something you mention on your blog, and a Reaper-peep can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Reaper minis are "lead-free". I believe they can technically be sold that way under the laws as written, but you'll notice that the packages don't say that (at least none of mine do, and I have a wide range of older and newer stock). In fact, as you compare older and newer packages, you will notice the suggested minimum age has been increased from 8+ to 14+, probably to coincide with the new laws about lead testing of products for kids 13 and under (although even some of my older stock is 14+, so it may just have been a happy coincidence that the ages in the laws just passed matched up to the newer ones listed on the packaging). Oh, and some idiot opened up a game store down in Mt Morris, stop in the next time you visit Geneseo!

I've got these on my shelf...

Oh, you can face them in court (which is what I did, or at least planned to do), they just won't let you have the officers deposition before the court date (so you don't get out of the ticket if he doesn't write one up or screws up something on it). It was news to my lawyer at the time too, who had just been elected as a Judge in the next county over...

We can give you suggestions, but if you don't just want to pay up it's best to talk to a lawyer. Find one that won't charge you for a quick consultation. You may be able to ask your insurance person how to avoid having it raise your rates, but I don't know if they have to disclose things to the companies they work with these days. FWIW, I've done the 'plead not guilty and ask for a supporting deposition' and if you don't get one your case is dismissed, but some municipalities have passed laws saying you can't even ask for a supporting deposition (which I found out the hard way on a non-speeding ticket that the officers own testimony should have gotten me out of, but still had my case dismissed because I had another run in with the officer where he was less than friendly). Just go to court and ask to talk to the DA (or assistant DA). Most of them will reduce your ticket if you plead guilty to a lesser charge (especially if they are elected, they still get your money and they score brownie points with you for helping keep your insurance down). Note I said most... My grandfather once got a speeding ticket thrown out by asking the judge if he had sped on the way to court that day. Not something I would suggest, but if you have the cajones (and are out of better options) I suppose you could try it (good luck with that).

Ahh, I remember planning to do online sales. Then the store got busy and my time dried up. Do I spend my time chasing sales discounted 30-40% or concentrating on my actual storefront (for sales at, or close to, MSRP)? More sales don't always mean more profit. I do sell online, but it's not a priority. 9 to 5 job, HA! My hours are just "suggestions", most days I'm open until 11 - and technically I close at 7 or 9. I had to implement a "no games started after 10" policy because people were taking advantage of my "don't kick customers out" policy and keeping me there until 1 AM. If someone shows up when I'm closed, I usually (unless I'm counting money) let them in anyway. Then when I close, I don't go home - I walk the dog and then come back to do paperwork, cleaning, stocking, ordering, et al. I still have customers who complain about me not being open on Mondays. Whenever I hear tales of a store going under I cringe - whether by mismanagement, bad decisions, or just plain bad luck. I continue to believe that more stores are good for the industry as a whole. The Rochester "area" is not that big, but we support 6 LGS (even though we currently have 9) and 2 conventions (although it was 3). I think it's a self feeding loop creating gamers who support stores who create gamers...

Well, I'm all for continuing. It's just that the weekends (when the game gets the most action) are bad for me, so I probably won't be able to post until Mondays. Once the store gets internet I can post more on the weekends, but there's usually something going on in the store so I can't guarantee that. Can we at least get past this encounter and then figure out if we want to continue with less players? I agree that putting it "on hold" is basically ending it...

I have a 54" TV and two 25" TVs. I haven't turned on any of them in at least a month. I stopped watching a lot of TV when I opened my store (no time). The less TV I watched, the more annoyed I got when it was sub-par - and it seemed to be sub-par quite often...