Monte Goes Shopping

So I call up my friend Stan! and ask if he wants to go to a nearby game store with me. Many of you have probably heard of Stan!, but you might also have seen his name as Stan Brown or even Steven Brown. Steven Brown is his actual name, but he goes by Stan! and that's what I call him. He's one of my very good friends, and he's done art for us on the site (like the Malhavoc birthday illustration), as well as written cool short stories, a novel, a bunch of game products for Wizards of the Coast and West End Games, and he does the Bolt & Quiver comics in Polyhedron as well.

But back to the game store.

The store I usually go to around here is called Wonderworld. It's about 15 minutes away from my house, but that's not what I mean when I say the place is a real trip. I sort of have a real love/hate relationship with the place. On the one hand, it's this really big store full of an astonishing amount of comics and games (and art books, and sci fi/fantasy novels, and miniatures, and magazines... getting the picture? The place is a real trove.) They have a great selection, whether you want this week's four dozen new d20 releases or some old obscure Villains and Vigilantes module. And the comics selection is probably better than the games. That's the love.

The hate is that the store closes at 6 p.m. (I know, that's not what it says on their website, but it's what it says on their door. Last time I tried to go there I arrived after six and it was dark.) I just can't fathom that. It would seem that much of the audience can't even get to this place (out in the 'burbs) until after six o'clock. And there's no in-store gaming, although you probably figured that already since the place closes at six. And sometimes the employees kinda act like you're bothering them when you come in. In fact, the place has such a huge inventory that every time I've ever been in there -- every time, in the past five years -- everyone in there has been doing some kind of inventory management. (I think they do a lot of Internet business, so that would explain part of it.) So helping customers is not always Job #1.

But it's a good store.

I don't go to Wonderworld for comics, really. I go to a place called The Comic Den every week or so, although I rarely get the opportunity to go there for comics lunch anymore. Howard, the owner, treats me well, gives his good customers a hefty discount, and runs kind of a no-nonsense shop where you can look at comics, buy comics, and leave. I'm all over that.

So I go to Wonderworld for the games. They've got a big rack for new stuff near the front of the store. (They got a new, much larger rack with the advent of d20.) Stan! and I spend most of our time there, looking at cool new things.

Often when I go, there's an employee who's really into d20 and knows a fair bit about the (big) releases. Often, he's a little too anxious to talk about stuff when I'd rather be browsing, but that's not so terrible -- it's just not my preferred way to shop. Sue goes into a store and goes straight for an employee to ask for what she's looking for, but not me. I'm a browser. I fend off sales clerks at every turn: "No, I don't need help, I'm just looking right now." I'm not a big shopper, but when I actually do it I like to find stuff myself. Maybe deep down that's as close as I'll get to real treasure hunting.

So anyway, Wonderworld. I have no idea if they know that I'm a game designer there or that I've written a fair bit of stuff on their shelves or that I helped create the new 3rd edition/d20 thing which, I'm guessing has made a big impact on them. I'm not a "hey, everyone, that's me!" kind of guy when I go into stores. I think Sue wishes that I was. Anyway, they if they know who I am, they don't treat me any different, and I'm fine with that. (I think the owner at least recognizes me as a good customer that spends a lot of money when I come in.) I'm not there to chat industry gossip. I'm there to look at new games.
And last Friday I bought a bunch of stuff.

Now, people will tell you that professionals in the game industry don't spend money on games. They'll tell you that industry pros just trade stuff back and forth. And that's true. My friends in the industry send me stuff for free and I send them stuff. And I'm very grateful and I look over all of it carefully. (And sometimes people send me stuff to review, but not nearly as much as they used to -- perhaps I'm too harsh? I hope that's not it.) But I don't know everyone in the industry, and I'm not about to approach someone I never met and say, "Hey, I'm Monte Cook. Give me a module." Sometimes at conventions if I meet someone new and we get to chatting, it will come up. And let me tell you right now that if someone wants to give me a game product, particularly a d20 product, my response is always, "Sure." Sometimes I'll be talking to a game designer and he'll act like I probably don't want a copy of his latest product. Of course I do! I'm a gamer. I run one if not two games a week. I grew up reading Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan and Vault of the Drow just for fun. And as a game designer, I've got to know what other people in my job are doing (there are designers who do not share this position).

And you know, I'll make a confession. On some level it bothers me a little that there are all these books out there with my name in them and I've never even seen a lot of them, let alone own a copy. (Jonathan, Skip, and I are mentioned in the Section 15 portion of the Open Game License, which appears in every d20 book.) It's a silly hangup, I know, but it is kind of weird, if you think about it.

So finally, the whole reason I wrote this article, was to tell you what I bought. Note that these aren't reviews, because I haven't read all of them yet.

Secrets of the Ancients
This is by CJ Carella from Eden Studios. I liked the first two Eden Odyssey books fairly well, and I really liked their monster book, Liber Bestarius. This looked pretty neat and I'm kind of a completist, so I grabbed it. I've skimmed through it and I'm sure that there's stuff I can use in my campaign in there.

Gary Gygax's World Builder
When Gary's name is on a d20 product, I'll always at least look at it. I've heard some people put down this product because it's not a guide to help you build a campaign, but instead a book of lists. Well, as it turns out, I think a book of lists is pretty cool. I used to love the appendices in the back of the 1st Edition DMG that were just lists of things, and that's basically what this book from Troll Lord Games is. They make for great idea generators when you're stuck as a DM or as a writer.

Spycraft
Yeah, that's right. I didn't own this already. I've looked at other people's copies and whatnot, but I didn't have a copy. I haven't had much time to look at Spycraft yet, but so far it seems nice.

Factory
The author and main force behind Perpetrated Press, Eric Kjerland, sent me a copy of his first book, Arsenal. Arsenal was a book of technological weapons powered by magic. I liked it. Going all the way back to a book I wrote in 1990 called Dark Space, my interest in mixing technology and magic has been clear. So when I saw this follow-up product, I was interested. Flipping through it, I saw it had magical computers, robots and cybernetics. (Dragonstar fans take note!) Neat.

At the Edge of Dreams
This adventure's back cover copy caught my attention. We've got heroes traveling to the land of faerie (whom they call the faean, which certainly caught my attention), right at the "edge of dreams." I used to not like fiction that was so clearly embroiled in real-world myth, but Neil Gaiman (in his Sandman comic) showed me how cool the whole "land of the fey" idea can be. Plus I've always thought dreams and such were interesting, so I was hooked on this one from Monkey God Enterprises.

Not a cheap trip. Coupled with some comics I bought that The Comic Den didn't have, the total came to about $150. So far, it looks like it was money well spent.

Do you have a favorite game store? Post it to the Great Game Stores thread in the Line of Sight message board!