Timewaster's Guide Archive

Games => Role-Playing Games => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on December 07, 2004, 12:48:33 PM

Title: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on December 07, 2004, 12:48:33 PM
reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=919

42 will back me up on this one. The morning of the Great D&D Marathon (http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=275) we went looking for the rules to Battlesystem. Of course they were no where to be found. But the guy at Dragon's Keep (aka nerd central) tried to tell us it was identical to the rules for Battlesystem were identical to Warhammer.

No, they're not.

He went on to tell us how in the court case lawyers had read from the rule books every other word, taking turns to show that it was plagiarized. This too is utter crap. False info is worse than no info, imo
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on December 07, 2004, 07:29:33 PM
And the worst part is that it just ticks you off, and makes you less likely to go out on a limb with that guy. By out on a limb I mean special order a product, ask for advice on what to get a person as a gift and so on. Now imagine you were a parent buying Battlesystem for your kid,... would you have then bought Warhammer (Because its the same thing right) and had your kid be dissapointed....
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Fellfrosch on December 07, 2004, 08:50:12 PM
The Dragon's Keep is the perfect example of the Comic Book Guy here in Provo, and I'd be hard pressed to find one more fitting in all of Utah. Even though they have the best Palladium collection in town I will typically drive to Salt Lake to get what I need, just because the store is dank, crowded, and liable to get you mocked for buying the wrong thing (which is ridiculous for a salesman) or talked to for hours about stuff you don't care about (which is less directly harmful but far more maddening).

In contrast, Games People Play in University Mall is bright, spacious, and expanding so quickly that they've had to move twice in the last year. The people there are hardcore gamers, but they shower and don't dress in black and they're always willing to listen rather than berate or filibuster. Guess which store I go to for all of my (non-Palladium) games?

(There's also Game Den, where I occasionally go, but I have yet to be helped by a clerk who didn't treat me as an annoyance. Of course, I've never been there when Fuzzy's husband was there, so maybe I should give it another shot.)

In my experience, the majority of the stores with Comic Book Guys are the ones that sell, well, comics. A dedicated game store with no comics to be seen is far more likely to be open-minded and approachable. Just my experience. I wonder why that is?
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: 42 on December 07, 2004, 08:52:16 PM
I've decided that too many game stores have the snooty mentality akin to fine art museums or academic writing circles or the mafia.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Spriggan on December 07, 2004, 08:56:05 PM
Dragon's Keep is actualy getting better clerk wise.  The last few times I've been there they've been very cool, also I haven't seen the owner there in months.  Though it is dark and dreary, but driveing to SLC to get a non-D20 book seams crazy to me since you're spending enough in gas to pay for a 1/4 of a book.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: 42 on December 07, 2004, 08:58:15 PM
I think Dragon's Keep might be under new management, or so I hope.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Spriggan on December 07, 2004, 08:59:21 PM
And they've hired a token hot gameing chick to work there too.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on December 07, 2004, 10:11:32 PM
see, the ones that sell comics isn't necessarily true. The store that Jeffe and I like best out here, Game Parlour, has a pretty extensive comic collection for sale. Not the best, by far, but pretty decent.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: 42 on December 07, 2004, 10:20:49 PM
I think the general creepiness factor of game stores is convincing me more to shop online for my gaming needs.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on December 08, 2004, 12:11:07 AM
Yeah GP caters to gamers need for space more than anything
so they have extras like snacks, private rooms, and tons of space in addition to being a Game equivalent to a supermarket, while also being a nice comic store and Lan gaming place, plus they give you a free hour LANing when you spend $50 which isnt hard when it comes to spending rpg $..
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: JP Dogberry on December 08, 2004, 05:10:53 AM
My local game store has a guy working there who looks exactly like Comic Book Guy. Exactly. He's actually pretty cool - scarily enough, he did the same course at uni as I'm doing, became a teacher, then quit and got a job there because he was a crappy teacher.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on December 08, 2004, 09:19:27 AM
which just goes to show that Jam will end up being a fat lonely reject telling people what they should and should play.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Spriggan on December 08, 2004, 09:38:36 AM
Oddly enough we never had a comic shop like we're talking about, that I was aware of, in Lincoln growing up.  We had Cosimic Comics which was a realy nice place and kept up well and Hobby Town (the company started in Nebraska) where the guy that started (then sold the company for lots of cash) owned and managed the store.  He was cool and would allwayse get us the best deals on what ever we wanted.  Though his only falure was not being able to sell Captin_Morgan into Slavery so we could buy more RIFTS books.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Fellfrosch on December 08, 2004, 11:04:22 AM
Game Den had a token hot gaming chick for a while, but you could tell that she had no interest in gaming whatsoever, or even in associating with gamers, so the illusion was kind of ruined.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on December 08, 2004, 11:11:28 AM
the problem with hot gaming chicks at game stores, at least from the ones I've seen, is they get a lot of creepy attention that must at least annoy them, if not terrify them outright. If perhaps gamers could control their salicious desires we'd have more hot gaming chicks. I know it's partially a result of being lonely, but girls don't like it when your attention is automatically and permanently removed from the subject at hand to your pitiful attempts to score with her.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: n8sumsion on December 08, 2004, 02:38:38 PM
My attempts to score with the hot gaming chick were never pitiful... they were just never successful...
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: MoreDew on December 08, 2004, 03:12:19 PM
I think the hot gaming chicks realize that all the gamers that hit on them are imagining them in bikini chain mail armor... oh wait, that was me.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: JP Dogberry on December 08, 2004, 10:56:57 PM
See, he doesn't do that - not int hat way anyway. I was thinking of getting into Magic, and he's like. "Don't, it's just a huge Cash sink." I've seen him recommend Magic to other people though. He tells you what you should and shouldn't play, based on what he thinks you'd like. And he's good at it. It helps that it's a really social store.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: MoreDew on December 09, 2004, 12:10:36 AM
Does anyone know if Hastur's hobbies is still in SLC on State Street?  The guy that owned the place was crazy.  When I went in there for the first time, he immediately started talking to me and following me around the store and commenting on everything that I picked up to look at.  What a freak.  I never went back because  I was too afraid at what he might do next.  I was afraid that I might become the next sacrifice for the great Cthulhu
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: Fellfrosch on December 09, 2004, 11:31:16 AM
Hastur is arguably the biggest game store in Utah, and I have to say that I've never had any problems in there. Of course, I've never seen the owner, so that could explain it.
Title: Re: Column: The Nerdery #4
Post by: MoreDew on December 10, 2004, 12:57:45 AM
I have to admit that I was very impressed with all the stuff in the store.  I believe that Hastur's is the biggest gaming store I've been to .  I know where to go if I want Cthulhu stuff.  However, because the owner was so eager to help or to talk or to get me to buy something, I became a little disenchanted with the place.