With The Encounter, I had seen a post on Facebook stating they had $2 rpg books. For two bucks a pop, I'm willing to make a stop. At Dreamscape, I was interested in the remains of their Call of Cthulhu section. I even sent an email to Nick , the owner on Monday, and that's where things went downhill. It seems as if all the Chaosuum books had been sold! Alas, I still decided to make the trek, as Nick has been wrong from time to time.
I swung by the Encounter first, and was a bit relieved. It no longer resembled a meth lab, now it was more akin a Dominican squatter house. There were clear signs for most boxes ("$1 Bronze age comics", "25-cent comics") but the displays and poor lighting left much to be desired. The cheap RPGs were gone, in fact, the entire section was gone. It wasn't an overstock sale, it was a department liquidation! That corner was replaced by a wall of fairly standard board games, and a motley collection of used video games. If I need a few Atari 5200 cartridges, I know where to go.
I did take a gander at the Magic section, which looked to be well stocked, including a mid-condition Mox Ruby for "only" $550.
As I've seen from their tournament pic, their open gaming area is HUGE! Of course, I didn't see any policies restricting games, but when you only sell CCGs, anything else would be second fiddle at best, nonexistent realistically.
With that trip for naught, I meandered the streets until I got to Dreamscape. I said hi to Nick, found out the child of the beloved Bill was nearing the age for the prophecy to come true, and went to work to prove Nick wrong.
He was mostly right.
Except for some Chaosium Elric books, the cupboard was bare. This not only meant that the Portal further down the road was the only shop to carry RPGs, but that I had to obtain my Cthulhu fix some other way!
To make sure my trip wasn't a complete waste, I did find a few gems
- Legions of Steel (LOS)Scenario Pack 1 (of 1)
- LOS Junction Point Campaign rules with the tiles.
Even though I've only gotten one game in so far this year, I might as well get the books. The minis will take forever.
Dreamscape could be confused with an episode of Hoarders. With just stacks upon stacks upon stacks of products everywhere, the slogan for the store should be "if you can find it, it's probably here!"
With all that, I'm still desperate for something of substance. I'm pondering a run down to Pastimes on the Square in Palmyra, Pa, between Lebanon and Hershey. When Mr Nichols and I would do the "grand tour" of the game shops of yore, and we couldn't find anything, a trip down I-78 was order. Worst case they do make nice trees, and I need some more.
Great Scenarios, Tepid Campaign Rules, and a Questionable Coiver... for the win!
What did a finally get to satiate my thirst for CoC? I got a copy of The Pennywell Hangmen bound and printed at Staples. Probably overpriced and I'm way too high on a free scenario for it to be that good, but it has only a few minor typos and carefully railroads the investigators into the scenario like an 0-4-0 in a switchyard.
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