Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and got lots of cool gaming stuff!
My haul:
Heavy Rain - a PS3 investigative game. I've only just started, but so far, it is awesome.
B&N gift cards - Likely to be used on a Shadowrun book.
Other assorted stuff like Steelers sweaters.
Nothing yet - our Christmas is today. I don't expect to get much gaming stuff, but I do plan to pool the money I get to purchase LotFP.
Seanchai
A bunch of asian cinema dvds, avatar extended edition dvd, diaspora not much else of note really.
Santa's been very kind with me this year on the gaming front -
- Advanced Adventures from Expeditious Retreat Press:
Seven Shrines of Nav'k-Qar Barrow Mound of Gravemoor- Famine in Far-Go for Gamma World.
- Cadwallon: City of Thieves board game.
- Some Reaper miniatures
- Kits to get me started on Miniatures dioramas, waterfalls, that sort of thing.
Chrono Trigger DS
Disgaea 2 and 3
Team Fortress 2 T-shirt
TF2 posters
Related geekiness (some of which I snagged for myself 'cause it's either too old or too obscure):
The Walking Dead Omnibus Vol 1 (serial volumes 1-48)
Azumanga Daioh Omnibus
Independence War Deluxe Edition
Civilization IV Complete
Just got handed a copy of planscape torment by my brother who fond it in a charity shop near where he lives and remembering i'd been after a copy for a couple years picked it up for my xmas gift :0)
Jaquay's Dark Tower
Glen Cook's Black Company books
Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter
ERB's John Carter of Mars books (1970s Nelson Doubleday edition)
New Surefire lithium batteries for my shotgun forend light
Set of four Guinness pub glasses
My RPG gifts were Castle Ravenloft and DC Adventures.
So far Christmas has been very good to me...and I didn't even have to sit in a strange chubby guys lap for any of it.
Max Headroom DVDs
Final Crisis Graphic Novel
Starman Omnibus hardback
New re-release of "Strangers on a Train" with the alternate version released in the UK.
MRQ II Vikings
Sherlock (the new BBC series)
Also had the gang over for chocolate fondue on Christmas eve and we powered trough Lord of the Rings hopped up on sugar and various interestingly named drinks.
Gonna go see the parents in a few days for New Years and we will exchange gifts as well.
Hope everyone's holidays have been good.
Blade Runner DVD set. (It had five DVDs in a small plastic silver suitcase).
It's probably been 20 years or more since I last got anything gaming-related as a gift. A couple of things I got could be considered tangentially related to gaming, because they strike me as either a good prop - Crystal Head Vodka, which comes in a nifty, though smaller than life-size (unless the owner was a hobbit, I guess) crystal-skull-shaped bottle - or inspiration for a magic item in D&D - a GPS system for my car.
Have you seen the original commercial with Dan Aykroyd? It's ludicrous.
I'm going to pool some gift money and get into Dystopian Wars. Maybe get a nice Peterson pipe. Possibly an overindulgent Oberon notebook. Post-Christmas is always a nice time for me.
Quote from: Cole;428627Have you seen the original commercial with Dan Aykroyd? It's ludicrous.
Not only have I seen that ad, but my bottle was signed by him. I love that commercial. You can see him barely holding off laughter as he talks about it being filtered through diamonds. Oh, it's actually pretty good vodka. There really is a hint of vanilla in the flavor.
Quote from: Broken-Serenity;428598Just got handed a copy of planscape torment by my brother who fond it in a charity shop near where he lives and remembering i'd been after a copy for a couple years picked it up for my xmas gift :0)
I've been spending much of my Christmas vacation reliving old games... so far, Master of Magic and Master of Orion II. I may have to pull that out and give it a go.
Gaming Related Stuff:
- 4 paizo terrain flip mats (ship, island, forest, desert)
- A few miniatures I had been looking for that my wife snagged while on travel.
More or less gaming related:
- A network hard drive to back up all my PDFs, utilities, and campaign notes that have been a pain to manage using my USB hard drive.
- A card shuffler (for when we play killer bunnies).
Other stuff
- "Network" blu-ray player (to my chagrin, requires an $80 part to connect to wi-fi! :gnash: )
- BDs of Bourne Trilogy and Fantasia
- Burn Notice Season III on DVD
- New flashlights and multi-tool.
Nothing game related.
I got "Couple's Gifts' this year.
An electric griddle. (My wife makes great pancakes so..)
A ceramic chef knife.
My wife is a capable chef of her own, trained in the best way possible, by her granny.
I'm just a competent grunt cook. Give me a recipe and away I go, but she's got intuitive talents that overshadow my functionality completely.
Quote from: ColonelHardisson;428630Not only have I seen that ad, but my bottle was signed by him. I love that commercial. You can see him barely holding off laughter as he talks about it being filtered through diamonds. Oh, it's actually pretty good vodka. There really is a hint of vanilla in the flavor.
That's very cool. I've had it - it's good stuff, but it's expensive for what it is. :)
Quote from: Cole;428635That's very cool. I've had it - it's good stuff, but it's expensive for what it is. :)
I hope he's making decent money from it. It dovetails nicely with his interest in the paranormal. I watched the UFO interview that's on DVD; I got a genuine kick out of it. He seems serious about it all, but there's a hint of self-deprecation to it.
Quote from: Broken-Serenity;428598Just got handed a copy of planscape torment by my brother who fond it in a charity shop near where he lives and remembering i'd been after a copy for a couple years picked it up for my xmas gift :0)
Awesome, that can't be easy to find, although I still have mine, along with the first NWN and Grim Fandango, my fav PC game ever. Grats on the find and gift :)
Received:
MRQII
MRQII Empires
MRQII Vikings
A usb controlled NERF rocket launcher :D
A BAZINGA lunchbox
A titanium spork
A set of collapsable chopsticks
A "Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies... - V" t-shirt
A magic d20 of Destiny (it's like a magic 8-ball only it's a d20 and has rpg related fortunes) :D
A critical hit d20 (it's larger then normal and if it rolls a "20" it starts flashing red :D
A t-shirt that has the periodic table of the elements symbols for barium, cobalt, and nitrogen on it, which happens to spell out "bacon" :D
A new digital camera
A Linux fish (I use Linux at work)
A new very plush reversable hooded robe
A stuffed nerve cell (it's related to what I do at work)
and finally a portrait of my son and I framed identically to the one I sent him for Christmas (which was a surprise and, honestly, my favorite gift of the bunch of very cool gifts)
Let's see Twilight Sector for Traveller.
Mutant future with the new art.
all kinds of junk food
A couple of fruit baskets.
a Dozen jars of my aunts homemade jelly. (trust me this stuff is gift enough alone)
a big paper cutter, like you see in schools.
Hard Light supplement for Stars without Number
Starships& Spacemen
Village of Larm for Labyrinth Lord.
Swords&Wizardry complete rules.
and I still have one more gift exchange to go to.
This is the game/fantasy/sf related loot:
(http://mondbuchstaben.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/x-mas-2010.jpg) (http://mondbuchstaben.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/unter-dem-weihnachtsbaum/)
Wow, lots of people got lots of cool stuff!
I used my B&N cards to get the Eccleston season of Doctor Who on DVD. It was on sale, so I couldn't pass it up.
RPG-related: Serpent Kingdoms, Lost Empires of Faerun and The Silver Marches for D&D 3.5. Some military history books, a book on post-industrial photography from an ex-girlfriend (it is an hobby of mine), and - the biggest surprise (in every sense, size included) - The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells (http://www.amazon.com/Element-Encyclopedia-5000-Spells-Reference/dp/0007164653/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293484164&sr=8-1) from a relative living in Canada.
My parents surprised me with a nice check, but I still haven't decided how to invest it. :D
Quote from: Reckall;428753RPG-related: Serpent Kingdoms, Lost Empires of Faerun and The Silver Marches for D&D 3.5. Some military history books, a book on post-industrial photography from an ex-girlfriend (it is an hobby of mine), and - the biggest surprise (in every sense, size included) - The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells (http://www.amazon.com/Element-Encyclopedia-5000-Spells-Reference/dp/0007164653/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293484164&sr=8-1) from a relative living in Canada.
My parents surprised me with a nice check, but I still haven't decided how to invest it. :D
As an aside, what is the book about photography you received? Photography is a past and current interest, as well as a past career (commercial photography), and I'm always interested in reading about and viewing photography.
Quote from: danbuter;428750Wow, lots of people got lots of cool stuff!
Yeah, I was probably a bad little gamer this year. Not even coal! Damn you, Claus! *shakes fist*
Quote from: Reckall;428753My parents surprised me with a nice check, but I still haven't decided how to invest it. :D
I'm torn between getting Essentials, MRQII goodies (Empires, Elric), Traveller goodies (Central Supply Catalog, Traders & Gunboats, Spinward Marches) or Savage Worlds goodies (Deadlands Reloaded, Super Powers Companion, Kerberos Club). And maybe I'll throw in BASH UE here somewhere, and/or those shiny Day After Ragnarok PDFs.
Damn. Not nearly enough money. :o
Quote from: The Butcher;428762Yeah, I was probably a bad little gamer this year. Not even coal! Damn you, Claus! *shakes fist*
It's not the Claus you have to watch out for if you're bad, it's the Krampus. ;)
Quote from: Sigmund;428760As an aside, what is the book about photography you received? Photography is a past and current interest, as well as a past career (commercial photography), and I'm always interested in reading about and viewing photography.
Detroit Disassembled (http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Moore-Detroit-Disassembled/dp/8862081189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293513814&sr=1-1), by Andrew Moore. The contents are rather chilling.
Quote from: Reckall;428808Detroit Disassembled (http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Moore-Detroit-Disassembled/dp/8862081189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293513814&sr=1-1), by Andrew Moore. The contents are rather chilling.
Curses, out of stock :) I'll keep an eye out for it, looks very cool, photographically anyway.
The people who gifted me were lazy and just gave me money/gift cards... which works because none of them would have a clue what I'd really want and I'm not inclined to drop hints.
Sooooo... most of it will be spent on Amazon (books) and Ebay (miniatures).
I was the lucky recipient of:
Shadowrun 20th Anniversary edition
DnD Essentials Heroes of the Forgotten Lands
Force Unleashed 2 (I wanted to say "Yeah, Eff You, too!" to my brother)
Various Explosion-tastic DVDs that my wife and my parents actually ended up duplicating a bit :)
spam reported
Hey folks.
Directly gaming-related I got a copy of the Laundry RPG, as well as a copy of the new Gamma World boxed set. I'm holding off reading the Laundry book until I can catch up the stories.
Tangently, my brother found me "The monster-spotters guide to North America", which is just what it says on the tin, along with a book which purports to prepare me, should I happen to find myself trapped in the 14th century.
Beyond that, even more books, really. Only DVDs I got this year was the first season of the Avatar TV series, which I didn't have yet. Which isn't bad - I don't think I've watched all of my DVDs from last christmas.
Quote from: jcfiala;429143Which isn't bad - I don't think I've watched all of my DVDs from last christmas.
Same here.
I still have several dvds from past Christmases, which I haven't even opened up yet. (They still have the plastic cellophane wrap on them). One of them was a "Beavis and Butthead" collection dvd set.
I got a kindle.
As you read the following keep in mind that i am the kind of guy that haunts used bookstores and actually likes the smell of moldering 1950's paper back glue- to a rather creepy degree, really. However, book sharking is a rife with disappointment and sometimes you just can't find a copy of, say, The Star Kings or whatever. Sure you can order them online, but that doesn't fill up your free time that day- and it adds to the clutter, which in my case is way way out of fucking control already.
That said, I was extremely skeptical of e-readers until I saw one up close for the first time, not too long ago.
With that experience in mind I asked my wife to pick one up for me for xmass. I was pretty sure I would like it- but holy fuck it is awesome. I am deeply enamored of old school pulp SF and there is so much of it for next to nothing on Amazon I can not fucking believe it. Even if you ignore the free stuff, you could read for a year on 20$. I got 12 H. Beam Piper books for a fucking dollar and similar gains were made on the REH and HPL front. I'm not even going to talk about the anthologies of short SF or the scads and scads of free stuff (I'm reading The Night Land on it right now).
As for reading on the device, well it pretty much fades into the background right away. I am very, very impressed.
Also I got a hard copy of Icons.
As for DVDs, I got Watchman on blue-ray, and finally managed to see Cameron's Avatar also I watched Logan's Run on xmass night, and for a 70's Sf movie it was surprisingly good.
Got some more loot today.
Just received the latest KISS cd "Sonic Boom", from my ex-wife (of all people).
Quote from: Aos;429166I got a kindle.
As you read the following keep in mind that i am the kind of guy that haunts used bookstores and actually likes the smell of moldering 1950's paper back glue- to a rather creepy degree, really. However, book sharking is a rife with disappointment and sometimes you just can't find a copy of, say, The Star Kings or whatever. Sure you can order them online, but that doesn't fill up your free time that day- and it adds to the clutter, which in my case is way way out of fucking control already.
That said, I was extremely skeptical of e-readers until I saw one up close for the first time, not too long ago.
With that experience in mind I asked my wife to pick one up for me for xmass. I was pretty sure I would like it- but holy fuck it is awesome. I am deeply enamored of old school pulp SF and there is so much of it for next to nothing on Amazon I can not fucking believe it. Even if you ignore the free stuff, you could read for a year on 20$. I got 12 H. Beam Piper books for a fucking dollar and similar gains were made on the REH and HPL front. I'm not even going to talk about the anthologies of short SF or the scads and scads of free stuff (I'm reading The Night Land on it right now).
As for reading on the device, well it pretty much fades into the background right away. I am very, very impressed.
Yeah, I'm still enthralled with my Kindle DX. Like you, I've been scouring Amazon (and places like Project Gutenberg or Baen's free library) for scads and scads of free and really inexpensive books. I'm sure you've grabbed a lot of the same stuff I did; those old science fiction collections of the pulp era are mind-blowing, especially when you look at the sheer volume of material for such a small amount of money. I still can't wrap my head around the comments I've seen where people are getting rid of their Kindles due to the price of new books. Yeah, most current books are ridiculously overpriced, as are most magazines and newspapers, but prices for the latter two have begun to show signs of dropping, and the immense number of books available for a pittance outstrips the current stuff in numbers. What a great piece of technology.
Yeah, the price of new books is pretty out of control. The publishing industry needs to wake up, I think, or they will eventually be left behind. I think when physical resources (i.e. paper, shipping ect...) aren't involved they should consider pricing things to sell at a volume.
Anyway, though, it's like this thing was made with folks who like the old stuff in mind.
I'm off the the Baen free library! Thanks for the tip.
Quote from: Aos;429166sometimes you just can't find a copy of, say, The Star Kings or whatever.
Edmond Hamilton?
I
loved that book.
Much better than his Captain Future novellas.
(One of the very few books that truly evoked a fuzzy, Star Wars-like feeling...)
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;429284Edmond Hamilton?
I loved that book.
Much better than his Captain Future novellas.
(One of the very few books that truly evoked a fuzzy, Star Wars-like feeling...)
That's the one. I'm reading it for the first time right now.
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;429284Edmond Hamilton?
I loved that book.
Much better than his Captain Future novellas.
(One of the very few books that truly evoked a fuzzy, Star Wars-like feeling...)
I think it's no coincidence that his wife, Leigh Brackett, co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back".
Quote from: Aos;429328That's the one. I'm reading it for the first time right now.
There's a sequel:
Return to the Stars.
Part of my loot was the new recording of the
Conan the Barbarian soundtrack - it is utterly awesome. It's the first complete recording and the first time it was orchestrated the way Poledouris had planned - with a much bigger archestra and exotic intrumentation, including
anvil and anchor chains...!
Quote from: Reckall;429331I think it's no coincidence that his wife, Leigh Brackett, co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back".
Wow. I
never saw that connection...!
Nothing gaming was got, per se but I'm digging the Wii we got for the...er kids and 3 of the giant Tick comic omnibuses.
Keen indeed.
And thanks to some inadvertent driving about, I came across a "new," gaming store (it relocated recently to an area I frequently drive through) so I foresee plunking down some dough for either Atomic Highway or the Dr. Who Aliens and Creatures box in the near future (i.e. tomorrow).
Quote from: Danger;429343Nothing gaming was got, per se but I'm digging the Wii we got for the...er kids and 3 of the giant Tick comic omnibuses.
Keen indeed.
And thanks to some inadvertent driving about, I came across a "new," gaming store (it relocated recently to an area I frequently drive through) so I foresee plunking down some dough for either Atomic Highway or the Dr. Who Aliens and Creatures box in the near future (i.e. tomorrow).
We got a Wii as well and it is loads of fun... for the kids of course.
I got some X-Mas cash just for me so I went to my LFGS (http://www.blackandread.net/site/). I picked up used copies of:
Monte Cook Presents: Iron Heroes
(http://pen-paper.net/images/rpgdb/ww16154.jpg)
Dungeon Master Option: High-Level Campaigns
(http://store01.prostores.com/gatorgames/media/2/a20791c124e5ac37d1b773_l.jpg)
Usagi Yojimbo
(http://www.gregstolze.com/images/products/usagiyojimbo.jpg)
After that, I had about $5 bucks left. I stopped by Total Escape Games (http://totalescapegames.com/) on my way home to look around again (I had visited it once before shortly after they opened). I was disappointed to their RPG section restricted to two shelves and only contain 4e Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder products. On my first visit there, their RPG section was small but had some small press games and Indie games along with the big RPG names.
Anyway, as an impulse buy, I grabbed a set of black FUDGE dice. For a while I had a problem with buying dice, and swore off ever buying more dice- especially specialty dice like FUDGE dice when I could easily use other dice to get the same results needed in FUDGE.
(http://images.frpgames.com/products/product_46739.jpg)
I paid full price of $5.99, but it was my X-Mas cash so I felt alright with it.
No gaming material, but I did receive a beautiful copy of The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Vol. 5: The Last Hieroglyph by Night Shade Books. This completes the collection for me. :)
Quote from: Aos;429328That's the one. I'm reading it for the first time right now.
I got a Kindle for Birthday and spent a bit on some of the huge old SF collections (had to do some research, some of the collections have just slightly different in what they contain and I didn't want to double up.)
So the Star Kings is recommended? I'll add that to my list. Not free, but I will.
(I think I'm still reading H. Beam Piper stuff.)
I got nothing RPG related (unless you count the gift of StarCluster 3e I got for myself) for Christmas...but this is what I did get:
* A Jack Skellington Figure
* Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead Boardgame - I can't wait to play this.
* An HDMI dock
* Kingdom Heart 385/2 Days - Pretty fun DS game. Turns Kingdom Hearts into a Dungeon hack
* AAA Lucha Libre:Heroes Del Ring - A PS3 lucha libre (mexican wrestling) game. Pretty fun. I'm more excited because some of my friends are actually in it.
I still have a Secret Santa gift from my gamer friends...So we'll see what comes of that.
I received non-gaming gifts, but I'll focus on the gaming num-nums. Not all my swag has yet arrived, as only my dice bags are here, though the rest of it is on route in the mail even as we speak...
* Mongoose RuneQuest II
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61D2Jbd4O4L._SL500_SL130_.jpg)
* A Song Of Ice And Fire Roleplaying: Adventures In The Seven Kingdoms
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wLV1RLDxL._SL500_SL130_.jpg)
* Polyhedral 7-Die Translucent Dice Set - Green (from Chessex)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41v6NAM-GeL._SL500_SL130_.jpg)
* Q-Workshop: Elven Dice Bag in Linen (Elvish)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tMaOuW8RL._SL500_SL130_.jpg)
* Ultra Pro Black Suede Skull Dice Bag 82052
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iNCaVO8KL._SL500_SL130_.jpg)
I'm certainly happy about receiving the dice bags. Those zip-lock bags just weren't cutting it any more... :o
I got nothing this year, gaming-wise. That's ok, though, I get plenty of free-gaming loot all year round.
RPGPundit
I've seen indie stuff at Total Escape Games as well, so my guess is that if they're out of them now, then they've sold out through the Christmas season, and will be getting more.
That said, their focus isn't really RPGs, it's Boardgames, Magic the Gathering, and Miniature Wargames.