(Review) FlipSide Gaming ,Clifton Park

My second stop in upstate New York was the Clifton Park location for Flipside Gaming.    Located  a few miles away from the shopping monstrosity off of the highway, it's situated in a clean, remodeled and repave shopping center, with such notable neighbors as a smoke shop, a liquor store, and a puppy daycare, the requirements of a new America.

I've seen perfect game stores in a strip mall setting, and FlipSide does an excellent job replicating it.  

Greeting:  My instant barometer, no one greeted me or acknowledged me in the store.  The counter and register are near the center left wall, around a short wall, so it was very possible for them to notice I was there... which leads to other concerns as an ex-store manager that I won't mention in detail here. 

Cleanliness:  Everything was immaculate, and with the open gaming area intergrated into the sales space, that's pretty impressive. 

CCGS:  Magic, Pokemon, Gundam, One Piece, Flesh and Blood, Star Wars Unlimited, Lorcana, and Riftbound.  A few cases filled with singles, and a shelves behind the counter for packs and other products.  

Board Games:  A few aisles of board games, covering a wide variety of popular and niche games. 

A decent selection of Manga, 

RPGS:  D&D, Pathfinder, WoD, Free League, and good variety of second and third tier companies.  I appreciate the love for stocking games like Kids on Bikes and Magical Kitties Save the Day

And the dice selection ain't too shabby either...

Miniatures:  A good assortment of the WizKids D&D minis, the requisite GW display, and some Battletech and Star Wars. 

Other:    Definitely need an "other" category to cover the rest.   Manga, Statues, and models out the wazoo... 

And then there's the entire aisle of LEGO!

And I must appreciate any store that attempts any level of clothing in this day and age. 

Amenities/Events:  Two wargaming tables and four sets of tables in the back allow for some different events, and the Clifton Park schedule online is chock full of stuff! 

That being said, on the Gaming with the Gnomies Five-Gnome scale, I'm giving FlipSide Gaming's Clifton Park location four and a half out of five gnomes...

Plus a half a gnome!

I had heard rumors of store up in Saratoga, but any proof that store existing was well hidden (Google certainly claims its  existence, Flipside's own website labels it as "Coming Soon!".  I did discover after the fact that a second location is found in East Greenbush.

FlipSide Gaming is located at 1208 Route 146, in Clifton Park, New York.

(Review) Excellent Adventures, Ballston Spa

In my trip to Upstate New York to watch Maja's volleyball team actually win games, she had one request with some free time last weekend:  visit Excellent Adventures in downtown Ballston Spa.

It was a pretty easy request to fulfill, Ballston Spa has plenty of on-street, non-metered parking, so a half-block walk and I was at the door.

But first a story....

Around 25 years ago, I would often get out of my job at the newspaper around noon, and by friend Brian and I would grab lunch, then do a tour of the game stores in the Lehigh Valley.  Dreamscape, Cap's Comics, the Allentown Encounter were the usual spot. although we did take some road trips out to as far as Pastimes in Palmyra (and a Pennsylvania Dutch dinner on the way home).  

One of the local places we only stopped by once or twice a year was a shop nearing the western side of Allentown.  Decent location, lots of inventory... but between the gruff owner behind the counter and the ash tray on the counter, it was off putting.  

Thankfully it's a different world, because I walked into Excellent Adventures, and got the same vibe, but without the smell.  

With a downtown storefront and the interior filled with comics and collectibles, it is the perfect "hole-in-wall" store, and I sincerely mean that in a good way.   

Pulled directly off the store's Facebook page.  

I'll be honest, before I looked for pictures of the store, I had forgotten the swath of wall space for the new comics, because I was scanning every other square inch of cool stuff on the wall.

Gold/Silver/Bronze age back issues were on the walls and boxes, and I did survive the 90s, so the number of newer comics with chromium covers (or whatever the trend is now) was a bit unsettling, but I can't argue with them if they sell.  

The toys and collectibles made me smile, prices seemed fair.

I mostly went back around to mine the older $2 paperback shelf to mine for ideas for Monday nights.  

That being said, on the Gaming with the Gnomes Five-Gnome review system, I give Excellent Adventures two and a half gnomes out of five.

And I actively admit my biases.   Despite working in comics retail for nearly a decade, I've stopped collecting a long time ago and rarely read.  I'm more geared towards quality game stores than comic shops (You'll see that blatantly with future Albany reviews). 

Despite a cluttered and filled store front, I saw a few families during my stay.  Right there gives it my vote. 

And my daughter Maja, who actually lives up there, visits it regularly, so that means more than this old man. 

It's simple: If you live there, you go there. It's an essential piece of Ballston Spa

If I have time, I'll always stop in there first, then venture out to other shops.  

Excellent Adventures is located at 110 Milton Ave (Rt# 50) in Ballston Spa, NY.

(Review) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness Redux Game Master's Screen

Two weekends ago, I made the trek down to Alchemist's Cove in Orwigsville, Pennsylvania.  It's a great shop, and I was met face to face with the actual GM screen for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness Redux.  

GM screens tend not be as useful as they were when they were chock full of 1st Edition AD&D charts.  Most are flimsy and overpriced... or elaborate ones that's that are frighteningly expensive.   Despite owning a few high quality ones, I often revert to a handy 1st Edition Gamma World GM screen I picked up for 99 cents at Kay-Bee Toys.

I've got to admit, I'm impressed by this one.  

First off, it's a sturdy four-panel screen, with iconic Turtle art showing towards the players.

But the GM side is what made me smile the most.  Each panel has a clear pocket attached to the screen on two sides, to easily insert whatever charts, notes, maps, etc, a gamemaster needs to reference.  

Picture taken from Atomic Empire's website.  Order it there!

Palladium does provides four, heavy-stock inserts that might be helpful during a game, including Attributes, Alignments, Skill Checks, Combat, Movement, and Experience.  I'm not sure at first glance what would be necessary for a TMNT RPG, but I see me using this screen for other in-person games.

Gotta admit, Palladium did this one well... so I'll give the TMNTAOS Redux GM Screen five out of five gnomes. 

(Gamma World) Not a Test #109 - The Executive Suites

The De Facto Explorers have discovered a facility that used to manufactured energy cells in the Glow Zone wilderness across the Big River. 

=============================================================== 

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married Thunnelda Haycock.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: a nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently gave birth to a pile of baby worms. 

Luna of the Restorationists:  Recent recruit of the Restorationists, who had uncovered artifacts across the River.  

================================================================ 

A solid night's rest in the office was welcome to all, despite a few odd sounds coming from the plant.  Recharged, they began going through the other offices on the main facility floor.  The doors had their own keycard system, but they already acquired the green card necessary.  

Most of the items in the offices were ruined after centuries.  Sonny did pry open some pages to a ledger, and from the notes actually ascertained the person running the facility was selling energy cells to a private army, versus their usual contract with the "real" military.  There was also a note of a stockpile of their ill-gotten gains, although Sonny couldn't figure out exactly where it was.

Some of the doors had been ripped apart, a caked-on adhesive along the floors.  Pete showed a moment of bravery, jumping over the goo and investigating a room with a long table and many chairs.  

Two massive beetles emerged out of a junk pile on the far side of the room.   

Pete did his best attempt at swashbuckling backwards, swinging a sword, while firing his flintlock and moving back towards the door.   

Low on the power cells for their Ancients weapons, everyone resorted to assault rifles, and in some cases black powder weapons. The room quickly filled with smoke.  The beetles were resilient, though and soon they reached the doorway. 

Finally,  Squiggles smashed the one with his mace.   With its partner destroyed, the other beetle quickly scurried under the table, and probably back into the junk pile of smashed furniture.   

Pete, followed by Sonny, pursued carefully, jumping back onto the table, prodding the junk pile with his sword.  

Sonny could hear the weasel go "Rat's" a whoosh of air, and a number of needle-like projectiles hit the wall at the far end of the room.  The surviving beetle had tried some missile attack and lunged at Pete. 

Pete tried valiantly to use his shocking grasp mutation to power his sword, but, as normal, he couldn't hit anything in melee.  A final shot by Squiggles dropped the creature.  For all the desperation, there was nothing of note in this ancient conference room was a giant beetle sized hole in the wall to the outside, as well as a half a carcass of a dead-Hopper.  

In the final room along the east wall, they were please to find a dusty and dirty shotgun, a drawer full of thin gold bars, and some notes about the "stash" being below the building, in a section of the mines they had not explored.  

Treasure and glory was quite tempting, but the group was exhausted and broken.   The treasure wasn't going anywhere fast, so they agreed to get back to the Hopper caves , seal up the doors, and rest for a number of days.  

The Hoppers agreed to host their new friends, at the cost of a trinket of Ancients technology for each of them.  

Next: #110 - My Sixteen Days with the Hoppers

Partner-in-Crime(s?) Confirmed for Mepacon

It's been a slow crawl getting my events together for Mepacon 50, April 17-19 outside of Allentown, PA.  I'm running four distinct events, all of which are in a perpetual state of "almost ready". 

Burning Plastic: Just need a moment to dump out the army guys onto a table and build a number of units.  Might be a good idea to scan the rules into a digital file.  Despite my desire to fit into smaller clothing, it's not 1994 anymore

TOON:  The base characters have always been in a file.  I do have a feeling of dread as I realized that I put 8 players for "Krusty the Kultist."   For that particular scenario, that means 16 PCs!  I always wanted to stat out Snake....

Talislanta:  Honestly, I just need to fill out character sheets, and maybe... just maybe, I'll throw a minor spellcaster into this one for fun.

My Little Pony - Tails of Equestria - I'm wildly happy "The File" survived the purge during my last move.  I need pencils, a big box of crayons, and triple confirmation on the variety of character sheets.

This past weekend, I drove up to Albany to see Maja play in a local volleyball tournament.  I've never vented as much about travel volleyball than basketball, but it was the normal experience.  As a plus, I did manage to corner her so I could register her for the con.  

Going through the event schedule with her, I do confirm that there are tons of events still open, but very few things either Maja or I would be excited to play (hence why I easily went with running a variety of games)

Seventy bucks later, she's signed up for both LARPs, at least one of the improv seminars, and one of the card games, with a few "liked" games on the Tabletop Events app for reference. 

The biggest news beyond that was the alleged appearance by "Dr Bob", the originator the "Cthulhu Comes to Springfield" Toon game, Coc/Delta Green Keeper extraordinaire, and the slightly infamous "Dr Wintermute" from the Masks of Nylarathotep portion of my Call of Cthulhu campaign.  Table space will be at a premium, but he would like to dust off his old Batman/Cthulhu Gotham game at the con, so this is getting more interesting with less than a month to go.  

The Mike Lung Gallery #92 - Fear of a Cheese Planet

Friend of the Blog and AWARD WINNING GM Mike Lung has returned to some interesting projects, a possible return to the Cheese Planet!  

He's dove into kitbashing and modeling sci-fi figures who could fit on my Death Planet Iota, but would have far more fun on a mousling mining colony.

He's also gone down the rabbit hole of re-basing his figures with clear bases, so they fit well in forest, plains, deserts, and even cheese planets.  

Historicon 2027?   It's a possibility!

The Compleat Strategist is Closing. Which One? All of Them?

 The saying goes, "When one door closes another door opens."

The doors opening after this are going to be pretty freaking epic.

Initial reports had The Compleat Strategist, the near mythological hobby shops mentioned in old issues of Dragon, brimming wall to wall with gaming throughout the ages, closing its last two stores in NYC (Manhattan) and Philly (King of Prussia) near the end of Apirl.

After the initial shock of the news hit the world, they produced an ominous statement, stating that no determination had been made when and the NYC location would be closing. 

 I never got the opportunity to visit the Manhattan location (my friend Wooly recently did, and the words "bloated and archaic" are words he didn't use but inferred... and I immediately felt some jealousy, because that is exactly my type of game store.

 I didn't get the chance to get down to the one in King of Prussia, until my girls started playing in basketball tournaments around the corner.  I was never disappointed, almost always come home with something knew, and the girls loved stopping in... and pushing my gaming budget for their own needs.

Pictures taken from Ron Meischker (Philly Gaming Expo)

Of course, they are closing when I have a little more money than normal, but no time.... to make it down one last time... maybe around Easter, probably not on or around the final clearance push.