Hey guys.

Anyone have an idea of what the gaming scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul/etc is like? Especially things like a good FLGS, places to meet gamers, etc. Gracias.

The Twin Cities has a tremendous gaming scene!  There's lots of gaming stores but the one you'll hear about the most is The Source -- its really an all-in-one geek store with gaming, minis, board games, comics and fiction.  My personal fave was Phoenix Games as it was close by, a bit dingy (I like dingy, like cool dive bar dingy, not creepy dingy) and the owner designed one of the iterations of Tekumel (the really bad one that he keeps apologizing for, but still...) but they're d20 heavy.

The game groups do tend to be a bit insular but once you break into a group you'll be set.  If you happen to be into *ahem* indie gaming (of any variety) then you can do far worse than MN.

I really miss the place.

Yeah, I live in the Minneapiolis area.

Generally you will have not difficulty finding gamers.

Phoenix Games is a great store- I live about 3 blocks away.

The Source is the Ultimate gaming store

Village Games in Anoka is a nice store and really open to including people in games.

Unicorn Games is a small but nice store

Dreamers ussualy has a game of D&D going on

Mosters Den has a lot of RPers, but not so many books

Mist Mountain Games just opened a store, it looks pretty cool

The Gamers Den, has some of the most friendly staff and they carry a small selection all kinds of gaming stuff.

If those fail you, there are several shinders around that carry RPGs, maybe 10 of them?

As for groups, if you post on RPG.net that you are looking for a game in minneapolis you should get some replies. There are quite a few MN gamers on RPG.net.

The Source is super-rad to the max with a heaping side order of awesome.  I only get to Minneapolis every few years but I always make sure to stop at the Source.

Mike has pointed out the salient points...I miss Minneapolis. Great gaming scene.

Bill

Thanks for the heads-up.

By the way, what's a shinder?

Quote from: dsivisThanks for the heads-up.

By the way, what's a shinder?

A comic/game store chain. Really much more of a comic shop than a game store. Some can do right by gamers but it is purely a fall back store IMO.

Bill

Quote from: HinterWeltA comic/game store chain. Really much more of a comic shop than a game store. Some can do right by gamers but it is purely a fall back store IMO.

Bill

yeah, Shinders is never my first choice but once in a while if it will save me a drive or something.

The con scene is pretty active, though only Con of the North is an actual gaming con; the rest are SF cons with an active gaming sideline, due to the big overlap in subcultures.

Quote from: jrientsThe Source is super-rad to the max with a heaping side order of awesome.  I only get to Minneapolis every few years but I always make sure to stop at the Source.

The Source is so awesome and has so much great stuff that whenever I go there, which includes last week (as a part of altogether nice easter vacation), I end up dragging my poor/understanding wife along to gawk at all of the goodness and never buy anything due a case of optional paralysis.

In addition to Con of the North, there's a pretty small gaming con (it's only in its third year) in November called the Minnesota Gamer's Convention.  It's held at the same hotel as CotN, and it's mostly wargaming.  Also, there's ReCon, which is a one-day wargaming con held in the northern suburbs several times a year.  I don't think it has a set schedule from year to year.  I haven't been to either of these, so I don't know much about them.

Others have covered the game stores really well.  I'll add that Misty Mountain Games, which is the closest one to me, seems like it will be promising.  Not much stock yet, but they have the most popular stuff (D&D, WoD,  CCGs and CMGs) and a small but diverse array of other games.  Plus, they have a ton of gaming space, and even a private gaming room (!) that can be reserved for games.  I don't think Universe Games in Richfield was mentioned either -- they didn't have any RPGs when I stopped in, but they have a metric ton of board games and non-collectible card games, plus some gaming space.  Shinder stores are okay, though not as good as they used to be, and considering the financial trouble they've been having (which is mostly due to the owner's legal shenanigans) their future is uncertain.

As far as non-FLGSes with games, there's the Air Traffic chain of mall game stores, which has a ton of Games Workshop stuff along with their other merchandise (they are an interesting combo of disc golf, GW, and mainstream game store).  Plus, there's Games by James, which is another mall chain.  They tend to have a more specialized game selection than Air Traffic, and carry some D&D, but that's it.  For chain bookstores, Barnes & Noble and Borders may or may not have them depending on which one you're at.  For example, the Mall of America B&N has an okay game selection for a bookstore, and the Borders in downtown Minneapolis had a little bit, but others had none.

I have to mention Half-Price Books, too.  They have several locations around the metro area, and though they don't have many RPGs, what they have is often worth checking out.  It's where I bought my near-mint copy of Delta Green for $10.  I also picked up Nightmares of Mine at the one in Highland Park a little while ago too.

Hmm, this is getting long, and I have to make dinner, so I'll talk about other stuff later.

Thread moved to the Role-Playing Games forum.  If dsivis has any objection to this, I'll move it back to Off Topic.

I was just at CodCon XII in the Chicago area, and ran into some guys from MN.  Played six straight sessions of Living Greyhawk with them, as a matter of fact. We went to dinner one night and I asked them about gaming to see how their opinions fit with the way we online see the hobby.  It was very interesting.  Anyway, nice guys all and all claiming The Source as the gaming store that surpasses all others in the area.  They were going to game day there this weekend, I think.

All second-hand knowledge, but these guys were pretty serious.  Though RPG-wise they played mostly D&D (weekly), they were into other board/war games as well.  In fact, every night after playing hours of D&D, they would go back to the hotel and play some war/board game, the name of which now escapes me, until all hours of the morning. So I, personally, would take their opinion into consideration.  YMMV, of course.

Good to know.

Drove by The Source a few months back. Looked pretty spectacular. Will check it out once I'm done with the semester.