Goodman Games

One problem is that most gaming stores have shifted their focus to selling Magic cards and the like. (And I think that's fair, it seems like there is way more money to be made selling Magic cards and running tournaments. The base of players seems much larger.) In Toronto we have a few good comic book / gaming shops. Silver Snail is probably the biggest / best, but it's RPG department is mostly all about Pathfinder and D&D. Hairy T is another great shop, and it has nice staff, but it's also the crazy messy stereotype of a gaming shop.

My actual neighbourhood gaming shop is ... well, not so good.

Thankfully, Hairy Tarantula on Yonge Street is back in form, and is holding my copy of each Goodman Goodie as it comes out.

RC

Hairy T will do holds? Intriguing!

Have not bought a book from a bookstore or Game Store since the late 1990's. I do check them out but not one has been worth it. More than not they are dirty,have rude uninterested employees and a very small selection. The worst ones around here sell at a HUGE markup or sell used books as new.

The last time I was in a store I saw my old used copy of 4E along with all the other new 4E books. I noticed it looked like it from the wrinkle at the top of the spin so flipped to the fighter page and saw the small spaghetti stain from when my son rolled a crit against a beholder with his mouth full.

I think if I found a clean pleasant game store with a wide selection of games that didn't try and make a loan payment off my purchase I would drive anywhere in the state at least once a month to blow my money.

I really don't think they exist anymore.

The normal bookstores are not so bad but I can buy it faster and cheaper online,so I do.

Here in OKC we have a pretty good game store (Games HQ) but they tend to stock mostly mainstream stuff (4E, CoC, whatever's popular) amd the usual CCGs. It's also a well-stocked game store with a large variety. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and they special order in a timely manner (usually no more than a week, sooner if you order at the right time). BUT, they are sorely lacking in the OSR games (yes, I consider DCC part of that). Despite the (IMO) wild popularity of things like DCC, LL, OSRIC and others I never see things like that on the shelves.

Since I got into the OSR my FLGS ends up being Half-Price Books. Ironic.

-SJ

Well, the OSR is kinda spready from what I can tell, so I can understand a store not stocking it ("where to begin?" for one thing). I mean, one group in town might want to play LLFP and another might want to buy C&C and another might prefer TDRP.

Of course, my answer is "begin with DCC" -- didn't it make the top 5 selling game for something somewhere recently? Also, it kicks booty. YMWV.

I agree with you, but a lot of shops seem to avoid smaller game lines. A couple of years ago my advice would have been "begin with C&C" and I hardly ever see C&C stuff in game stores, either. Game stores often seem to start with the big companies (e.g. Hasbro/WotC) and fill in occasional stuff around that. One of my local stores has a big shelf full of stuff, but when you look closely it's all 3E/4E or Vampire stuff.

A run-down of the local strange, as I like to call it:

Barnes & Noble: D&D 4e only, and that they have moved from the book section to the toys & boardgames section of the store. They stock only the core books, minis, and dungeon tiles.
All About Games: They have two locations, one of which I refuse to visit because I hate going down town (one way streets and hipsters a plenty) - they stock a tiny bit of 4e, a tiny bit of Pathfinder, an even tinier bit of other books, have a wide shelf of reasonably priced used materials and mostly stock boardgames and miniatures for wargames.
Phoenixfire Games & Comics: Their RPG stock includes D&D 4e, Pathfinder (even some 3pp), and a smattering of Shadowrun, Savage Worlds, and Warhammer based rpgs, oh and not to forget Legend of the 5 Rings and Doctor Who. They also have a couple of DCC products on the shelf because of the extras coming in here and there when they fill my standing orders.

Then, there is Hobbytown USA: they stock everything mentioned above, and in greater quantities, as well as having GURPS, and a wider variety of smaller titles like Judge Dredd, d20 spinoffs, stuff that is no longer supported but is still in stock at distributors here and there (like the Midnight setting for D&D) and the widest variety of gaming accessories of all (dice, dice bags, tracking charts, flip mats, every kind of mini in production, battle mats, burst templates, all the cards that Paizo makes, and of course all the materials to build your own terrain).

The store the least focused on RPGs happens to have the widest variety and thickest stock - probably the benefit of being a pretty big chain, and a pretty big physical location to boot... if it weren't so far away in comparison (Phoenix fire is a literal 30-40 second drive (or a few minutes walk), Hobbytown is 16 minutes away in perfect traffic) I'd probably be there every day for a month straight just to finish really looking at what all they have there that I am interested in.

It seems backwards to me.

I didn't know Phoenix was littered with such stores! I have relatives out there. Of course when I go to AZ I like to be in the desert/mountains looking for pottery shards and points. (I learned recently that you're not supposed to pick them up). I love AZ.

I'd cut the FLGS guys a little bit of slack when it comes to what they stock. In this day and age, unless you have an absolutely amazing local gaming scene that is also amazingly diverse, it really doesn't do your FLGS much good to stock everything that might seem cool. Cut them some slack and let them order something for you if they don't have it in stock. If some of the other patrons ask you about the game, tell them about it, and be positive about it, rather than negative about other games.

A friend and I managed to sell a few extra copies of DCC RPG at our FLGS because we were reading the crit charts out loud in the store because they were so awesomely over the top. That generated interest, and interest generates sales.

They do. I frequent FAIR GAME in Downers Grove, IL, and it's the cleanest place you can imagine, is well-lit, and have the most friendly owners/workers you can imagine. Most of their stock is board games and family games, but they have a corner of RPG stuff and will order anything (and get it quickly) for me. That's the place where I have a "standing order" for any DCC products that come out, and when they order mine they usually order an extra couple for the shelf.

My trick was to print off a few of the reference booklets and give them to the store owner. He put them on the shelf next to DCC and gives them away to anyone who buys the core rulebook. I should probably check to see if he has run out yet or not. I might want to restock for him....

The retailer list needs to be rechecked and updated.

I went to The Encounter, Allentown, PA- not one DCC product. They said they dont carry it.

Then I went to CyberMedics, Easton, PA- 3 addresses, no store, out of business.

So after wasting my time & gas, Im just gonna order online. Any decent online places offer a discount?

I know where you're coming from. I made the move to 3rd edition D&D about 2001. It was ok when it was shiny and new. And it was the character customization that appealed to my group and I.

Unfortunately, all my 1st/2nd ed AD&D stuff was destroyed by water damage during this time. So I tried 3.5, and then Pathfinder. But I HATE the baked in dependency on the battle grid in 3rd edition. And despite Pathfinder's slight streamlining of the rules, and my own, more agressive changes, 3rd'ish edition died a long slow death of a thousand rules. We'd have went back to AD&D long before I'd had my fill of 3rd'ish ed if my books had not been destroyed. And I stuck with 3rd only because the thought of rebuilding my old collection was so frustrating.

In desperation, we turned to 4th edition. The thought of it still makes me shutter. This was about 2010. I thought the core streamlining sounded good. But after playing it, it was truly a horrific experience. I'm not going into detail again on the subject of 4th edition. I'll just say that I hated it so much, that I didn't even bother to sell my books in attempt to get some money back. Instead, my fellow players and I, while camping out and having a few drinks, used the books to fuel the campfire. We did it for the satisfaction, after wasting precious gaming sessions on it. Not even a person of the most chaotic or evil alignment could put those books back into circulation and inflict them on another fellow rpg'er.

Though skeptical, we had hopes for 5th edition back during the 1st play test, and decided to stick with the lesser of the evils, Pathfinder, until it released. But as the playtests progressed, WotC, in true corporate fashion, began to pander to the masses of MMO generation players who whined on and on about any aspect that wasn't 4th edition, or "balanced", or MMO enough.

Finally, I just couldn't stand 3rd'ish ed any more, so I started looking into games like Swords & Wizardry, Osric, Labyrinth Lord, and other retro style systems. That's how I found DCC. I loved what I read in the reviews and on the forums. So here I am, a new convert and disciple.