Quote from: Ronin;906432OK, seriously you play RPG's, you post on an RPG forum. You've never seen any Pathfinder RPG product cover ever? Really? OK....

Can you really judge an artist by his covers;)?

Quote from: Simlasa;906451despite Elmore striving for a more realistic style his stuff is just fucking bland to me.

I concur.  Beautiful artwork, that feels incredibly static and rigid.  Even some of his iconic stuff looks less like he's caught a moment and more like everyone's standing there waiting for the flashbulb to go off.

Quote from: Nexus;906738Could be the owner didn't like Pathfinder? Some of the game store owners around here have made some less than rational business choices based on personal preferences and, well, nerd rage.

One of the local FLGSes in my home town refused to stock Magic The Gathering cards because he believed it was going to destroy the hobby.  He'd special order them for regular customers.

Quote from: daniel_ream;906793I concur.  Beautiful artwork, that feels incredibly static and rigid.  Even some of his iconic stuff looks less like he's caught a moment and more like everyone's standing there waiting for the flashbulb to go off.



One of the local FLGSes in my home town refused to stock Magic The Gathering cards because he believed it was going to destroy the hobby.  He'd special order them for regular customers.

Reminds me of a game store i heard of that would through you out if you ask about
yugioh cards.

Quote from: Nexus;906738Could be the owner didn't like Pathfinder? Some of the game store owners around here have made some less than rational business choices based on personal preferences and, well, nerd rage.

I used to go to a store for Warhammer 40k stuff, and the store owner refused to carry a lot of things.  He also had a habit of hiding certain boxed sets and units because his play-buddies were always rigged to win his tournaments.  The guy was also very anti-WoD and refused to allow those games in his stores.  Of course, considering how many locals that played them were unhinged weirdos that LARP'd and pretending to drink blood from their wrists in front of children at the park... it was a pretty decent place to pick things up.  Small prices to pay, I guess?

Quote from: kosmos1214;906992Reminds me of a game store i heard of that would through you out if you ask about
yugioh cards.

Quote from: Crüesader;906997I used to go to a store for Warhammer 40k stuff, and the store owner refused to carry a lot of things.  He also had a habit of hiding certain boxed sets and units because his play-buddies were always rigged to win his tournaments.  The guy was also very anti-WoD and refused to allow those games in his stores.  Of course, considering how many locals that played them were unhinged weirdos that LARP'd and pretending to drink blood from their wrists in front of children at the park... it was a pretty decent place to pick things up.  Small prices to pay, I guess?

An owner around here refused to stock GURPS material. Later he just up and decided he didn't want to run the store anymore and left town one day without much warning. The store just closed one night and never reopened. Gamers don't always make the best businessmen.

Quote from: Nexus;907003An owner around here refused to stock GURPS material. Later he just up and decided he didn't want to run the store anymore and left town one day without much warning. The store just closed one night and never reopened. Gamers don't always make the best businessmen.

Yeah.  I've seen a handful of stores go into the toilet in no time at all.  Most of the time it's the owner.  

One in particular was a guy that had his kid there all the time.  His kid was a hateful little squeaker fatshit, and he would be rude to adults and his fat-ass dad (the owner) would boot anyone from the store after his little porker would start being rude to them.  It wasn't just a few misunderstandings through the years. It was routine and well-known that the kid would go as far as shaking game tables until models or scenery fell over, even when asked not to.  He'd play 'pranks' and hide dice, or write on character sheets, even fart in the store.  

I wish I was joking.  Actually, the only thing I wish more than  this being a joke- I wish I knew the kid had some kind of autism or something, but nope.  He was just a shit-awful kid that needed to be disciplined.  Firmly.  Only reason I know he wasn't screwed up is because I had friends with kids, and they said he was a little tyrant at the school as well and had to be pulled out and homeschooled.

Eventually, no one went to the store any more.  He was at a kiosk in the mall for a while, selling merch cheap as hell, but that was the last I saw of him.

Wow, we could probably dedicate an entire thread to FLGS horror stories.

Quote from: daniel_ream;906793One of the local FLGSes in my home town refused to stock Magic The Gathering cards because he believed it was going to destroy the hobby.  He'd special order them for regular customers.

That takes balls. (Not necessarily brains) It seems to me that Magic is the primary product to keep a brick and mortar store afloat.
I played some Magic in the 90's, liked it well enough, and then moved on. Card games just don't tickle my fancy that much.

Quote from: Crüesader;907005Yeah.  I've seen a handful of stores go into the toilet in no time at all.  Most of the time it's the owner.  

One in particular was a guy that had his kid there all the time.  His kid was a hateful little squeaker fatshit, and he would be rude to adults and his fat-ass dad (the owner) would boot anyone from the store after his little porker would start being rude to them.  It wasn't just a few misunderstandings through the years. It was routine and well-known that the kid would go as far as shaking game tables until models or scenery fell over, even when asked not to.  He'd play 'pranks' and hide dice, or write on character sheets, even fart in the store.  

I wish I was joking.  Actually, the only thing I wish more than  this being a joke- I wish I knew the kid had some kind of autism or something, but nope.  He was just a shit-awful kid that needed to be disciplined.  Firmly.  Only reason I know he wasn't screwed up is because I had friends with kids, and they said he was a little tyrant at the school as well and had to be pulled out and homeschooled.

Eventually, no one went to the store any more.  He was at a kiosk in the mall for a while, selling merch cheap as hell, but that was the last I saw of him.

Wow, we could probably dedicate an entire thread to FLGS horror stories.

The one in my  home town went belly up when the one partner didn't pay the rent for 6 months.
It was a partner ship between 6 guys and they had the bills split between them t keep them fairly even.
And he didnt pay it 6 months and didnt tell any one then the owner of the building (who also didnt contact them)came in one day and told them they had to give out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So yah it was a shity mess.

Another factor of why you might not see X on the shelves is because the store has deals with certain publishers and may be required not to carry competitors games. WOTC and Games Workshop have done that in the past. Would not surprise me if others have too. Or the store might just be loyal. etc.

In any case. Yeah. Wasnt on shelves locally till fairly recent. Why? No clue.

Then again one game store here didnt carry anything D&D. Lots of other stuff. But never once saw 3e on the shelves. Carried alot of other stuff though. Lots of White Wolf and GoO.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;907600That takes balls. (Not necessarily brains)

Said game store owner also once opined to me that he didn't like D&D and wouldn't have stocked it if not for the fact that it sold too well not to.

Like far too many game store owners, he started the game store shortly after graduation because as a yuge gamer he thought it would be the coolest thing ever to own his own game store.  Then he discovered it was work.

While out shopping I realized one possible reason for the lack of Pathfinder material for so long, or even much 3-4e stuff. This was one of the areas where at least one WOTC store was set up and WOTC was aping Games Workshops store business model of running out of business any local FLGS they could. Odds are they built up some negative feedback for that which might explain why D&D and PF was so anemic after WOTCs shops closed.

Back on topic.

Pathfinders been branching out into other venues. Minis, an adventure card game, the ill-fated MMO, etc.

Quote from: Omega;907849Minis, an adventure card game, the ill-fated MMO, etc.

I question how viable the adventure card game will be over the long-term. Shannon Appelcline (yes, the man is a Swine, but he knows his shit) had this to say about it:

QuoteThe fourth adventure path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (2013) was delayed, apparently because players were falling behind. Last year I applauded Paizo for finding a new niche just as D&D returned; now it's obvious that the new niche has different advantages and disadvantages. Though players are willing to buy Pathfinder magazine (2007-Present) even if they don't play it, the same's apparently not true for the adventure card games.

He's also wrong in that the Pathfinder Adventure Path monthly books aren't a magazine; that's a technical distinction, but it's one that Paizo has openly said that they've deliberately availed themselves of, after what they experienced when publishing actual magazines (e.g. Dragon, Dungeon, etc.).

Quote from: Ratman_tf;907600That takes balls. (Not necessarily brains) It seems to me that Magic is the primary product to keep a brick and mortar store afloat.
I played some Magic in the 90's, liked it well enough, and then moved on. Card games just don't tickle my fancy that much.

It depends on the store and the local (and I hate to use this word) meta. Talking with a friend who used to own a game store and another who worked there: Here in OKC, tournaments are big, but you make so little on selling packs that it's almost not worth it. You also don't get a lot of cross-purchasing from the Magic players here. You CAN make money selling singles to the kiddies who want to make the bestest Modern or Eternal format deck to house their friends with. This may differ for other locales and it may be a cash cow, but not 'round here.

Quote from: Alzrius;907857I question how viable the adventure card game will be over the long-term. Shannon Appelcline (yes, the man is a Swine, but he knows his shit) had this to say about it:

Its more that theres a glut of these adventure card games all around the same time and Pathfinder CG was competing with the various FFG LCGs and any number of other adventure card games out there or coming out not long after.

Quote from: Natty Bodak;906717Let's talk about buying a used copy of a crowdfunded book about monks, with cover art by Wayne Reynolds, and watch somebody shit their straitjacket.

Fuck I just spit my rootbeer out over my work keyboard reading that!





(Proud owner of this)