Well ‘tis the season to embrace wanton tinseled covered commercialism so we can keep our economy grinding forward. Every year around this time Mrs. Middle-Aged DM begins to poke and prod me with a candy cane to cough up gift ideas that she and other family members can “surprise” me with, so I thought I would turn it into a blog post for us hard to buy for geeks. Making a gift list has always been a difficult task for me, as I am a bit of an impulse shopper. Picture a small child with a hose and that would be me with my debit card. So when my wife inevitably corners me and starts asking what I want for Christmas (usually as I am trying to nonchalantly hide or dispose of evidence of a recent nerd purchase which could have gone on said list) I often mumble that I need to think about it and get back to her. One year I even returned something I bought so I could then offer it as a gift suggestion. Here is my wish list for this year, although just compiling it has started me jonesing big time, followed by involuntary hand movements toward my wallet…..Christmas better get here soon.
The Castle Ravenloft Board Game. Can$74.99 US$64.95
I have heard really good reviews around this game, plus I get giddy thinking about bamboozling someone who is anti-D&D into sort of playing D&D through the guise of a board game. Besides you want to talk real vampires, Strahd would eat Edward for breakfast.
Wil Wheaton Roots Premium Tee US$21.99 – $22.99
For us Grognards out there.
Kobold Quarterly one year subscription US$27.99
For those of us that miss having an actual physical copy of Dragon Magazine, you know for the long mornings in “the office”. This is a highly regarded magazine put out by the former editor of Dungeon and Dragon magazines Wolfgang Baur. It offers content for both 4e and 3.5/Pathfinder, and you can get print plus pdf or just pdf.
Beholder Collector’s Set Can$40.99 US$34.99
4 varieties of one of D&D’s most iconic monster just waiting to be thrown at unsuspecting players…nuff said.
Revenge of the Giants Can$37.00 US$29.95
This is a “super-adventure” for the paragon tier of play. I have heard mixed reviews regarding the writing and design of the module, but I am thinking of using it as a skeleton for aspects of my home game if I can hold the campaign together that long.
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Wilderness Can$23.95 US$19.95
I am a big fan of these master tile sets, which look great laid out in play. Although they can be slightly frustrating for us with weaker visual-constructive skills
Here is a list of products that would have been on my wish list if I had not already purchased them: The Monster Vault, Pathfinder Core Rule Books (47% of cover price through Amazon.ca), Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Heroes of the Fallen lands, Dungeon’s Master Kit, Rules Compendium, Red Box (go ahead initiate a newb).
College finals are finally over with so I can take a deep breath and enjoy some D&D again.
I really do not have anything on my D&D wish list because I already went out and bought everything. In fact, I have your entire list except for the Pathfinder books. I also picked up the new Gamma World box set. There isn’t anything left to pick up.
I’m a really big fan of Ravenloft, but haven’t played the board game. I’m very tempted to buy it. Lahrs: how have you liked playing it? I have Arkham Horror, but don’t really like it.
By the way, Jason, you can get the Ravenloft game from http://www.woodforsheep.ca for ~$50-something. The people who own the business are from my neighbourhood, and delivery is free/cheap.
Hey Joyce,
I have heard several podcast reviews from people who have played the game and love it. you can even play a solo game which is pretty cool.
as for twilight, clearly I am team Jacob 🙂 I loved that photo, either Blade or Buffy should put r-pat out of his misery.
any gammer related gifts for you this year?
I am also team Jacob, as Edward is a little too obsessed. Edward is just lucky that Bella returns his feelings, but it still doesn’t excuse him secretly creeping into her room through the window unbeknownst to her, to watch her while she sleeps.
Well, I might buy the Ravenloft board game afterall if it’s had good reviews. I rarely have gaming related items on a wish list because I’m more likely to buy what I want myself. This year, my wish list consists of winter mats for my car, Prince of Persia, and Big Bang Theory season 3.
ahhh Bella, nothing like romanticizing masochism. as you have read my post i usually just buy the stuff I want, the joy of finally being an adult with a career. Big Bangs great, who would have thought you could have had a hit show about a guy with aspergers. are you talking the forgotten sands? the last one in the series before that was kind of meh.
Nothing beats Sheldon getting the DNA of Leonard Nimoy last xmas. I already have Forgotten Sands (and all the other Prince of Persia video games), I just want the Sands of Time movie now. Have you finished Dragon Age yet?
yah I did, I powered through it and have put it aside for a while before getting the dlc, right now I am playing at pretend soldier. have you already seen the movie? i could only make it about 30 minutes i.
Yes, I’ve seen the movie and still want to own it. My hubby and I seem to enjoy horrible movies as much as the good ones.
have you played the forgotten sands? i was thinking of picking it up because it is like 17$ used
I haven’t played through the game yet, but I think it’s worth $17. Have you played Lego Star Wars? I’m really super excited about the third one that’s coming out soon. And OMG, have you seen the preview for Dragon Age II?! It’s coming out in March, and looks awesome!!!
(Haven’t played through the *entire* Forgotten Sands, that is.)
Whoa, I just realized you made a reference to the Twilight series.
I think you might find this humourous:
I am sorry Joyce, after rereading what I wrote I should have been more clear in what I meant. I meant I have everything on, I am going to assume, Jason’s already owned list except for the Pathfinder books.
I know of and have seen a Wizards video demo of the game, but haven’t heard much else. I do not know of anyone who owns it, and my game store has it on special order only.
I just looked up the game on the US Amazon to see the reviews, and 25 our of 28 gave it 4 to 5 stars. I was never a fan of Ravenloft, so it is not something I would buy.
Hey man,
what are you in school for? I know there is just nothing really to buy Wizards of the Coast wise right now, I thought they would have something comming out in december for holiday shopping, unless you want something from the past. i ahve thought about getting some of the setting books like Plane Below but I don’t know not really feeling it.
I just picked up the complete D&D animated series from the 80’s, but I am affraid to watch it as I don’t think it will hold up very well compared to my memories.
how is gamma world? looks good for a mini break between games…argghh but thats what i was going to to do with star wars saga…too many games not enough time or players 😦
Midway through my Bachelors in English, Masters in education and Associates in history. This attributes to my long posts, I like to write and sometimes forget to stop. I originally was going for a history degree before changing to English, and I am so close to an Associates in history that it is worth taking the extra two classes to get the degree, I just have not taken them yet.
I think at this point, as far as D&D products go, I am only going to get Essentials materials. It is the direction Wizards is going and I do not want to keep buying two separate systems. I understand how close related 4th and Essentials is, but it is still a lot of money to split between the two. Besides, at this point I am completely digging Essentials and it is my preferred system.
I should not have bought Gamma World, but it was sitting in front of me looking all shiny, so I grabbed it. In my defense, we had just finished the Gamma World game day and I was all hyped up on gaming. I enjoyed the game, but I could not see myself ever using it beyond a one day module here and there. One of the other DMs at our store bought it and is working on converting Gamma World into a Fallout universe. I might give that a shot, but I wouldn’t run it. Too little time to go dividing it up even further between games. My most recent home brew did not do well, the group was fine and we were enjoying the game, but work, school and family really zapped my time this semester. I am going to do some work on it over the holidays, mostly work on my campaign setting book, and then try again next semester.
I have not gone back to watch the old D&D cartoons, but I did find the old He-man series, and I couldn’t help but wonder how I could have ever enjoyed the show. It did not hold up well for me. I have no intention of letting my daughter watch the anime junk they have on TV right now, so I bought her Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers and Tail Spin, those have held up much better in my opinion. Since you did buy the DVDs, you might as well watch them, even if it means you have to shelve it when you are done, but at least give it a chance.
that’s a lot of degree’s you have going on at once, what are you planning on doing when you are done. I have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, so I can empathize with the grind of academics and multiple degrees.
i don’t think you have to worry about only buying essentials materials going forward as i am pretty sure everything is going to be 4.5..er i mean essentials. I also know what you mean about buying the older stuff, I am just tired of updating monsters to the new damage and statistics. what do you like about essentials over the core 4e? i like aspects of both, but in some ways the simplicity is nice, as I don’t have to scan the char op boards to make a decent character. i do like a little more choice than what some of the martial classes offer, but not the ridiculous amount of powers and feats to sort through in the core classes.
The multiple degrees stems from having no idea what I wanted to do when I entered college. I switched majors so many times, that when I finally decided on teaching English at the high-school, and maybe one day college level, I was so close to a few others there was no reason not to go for it.
Before heading back to school, I spent two years working with HP before they sent the jobs to Canada, and then six years with Namco Cybertainment. They did not lay me off, but I saw their horrible business decisions for so many years that I saw the writing on the wall for myself with the company and I left. At this point, I had six years of successful management experience and eight years of computer repair. I spent a year in college taking nothing but business and computer courses before deciding I didn’t want to get back into that field. If I spent another year or just business and computer courses, I could probably get an Associates in them as well, but I am very ready to leave school and go back to work. I am sure having a doctorate degree you will understand exactly what I am feeling.
The two aspects from Essentials which grab me are the fixes to the class skills to make them more simple (fighters aura instead of mark), and how the roles seem more defined. A defender has more options to make themselves sticky, strikers do a lot more damage, leaders seem more apt at keeping everyone alive and controls have more abilities to control the battlefield.
For example, they took away dailies from rogues, which I thought was incredibly debilitating until I saw the class in action, tearing through single enemies every round just like a striker should. The stances and at-wills made the rogue an outright damage dealer to a single foe, this is exactly the role of striker. We now have an essentials hunter in our encounter group, and damn, he is a damage dealing machine.
I love the stances rogues, fighters and hunters get. At first it feels reduced and simplified, but the more I play with Essentials, the more I feel I have control over my characters. I know not everyone sees it this way, obviously it comes down to preference, but the more I play the more I am impressed. Have you had a chance to read through the new monster manual? Talk about a huge step up. Now if they can only fix the character generator.
3.5 felt like a fix to 3.0’s rule problems, basically a huge errata sheet. 4.5 feels like a needed overhaul of the system within the system, not only errata to fix rules, but rewriting and defining classes and roles in a more dramatic way than 3.5 ever did.
I also like that, at this point, there are only 8 (9 with DDI) classes and 10 (11 with DDI) races over two books. Again, I can easily see the argument of limitation, but everything feels more compact, and though I can’t explain it, more D&D, especially for a classic game. The second and third Players Handbook for 4th seemed to include a lot of junk just for variety’s sake.
yah I totally understand being in school forever, I hated by the end. it was difficult seeing everyone around me start thier lives buying houses etc.. while I was wondering how many days in a row I could eat pasta before I got scurvy.
I love the the new monster vault, the difference is quite unbleivable particularly in play, even with lower level monsters.
I am 31, and when I was working for Namco, I was content. I wasn’t pulling down the big bucks, but all the bills were paid with extra money left over each month. I also had a months worth of paid vacation every year so we traveled quite a bit. Now that I am in school, it is hard to see my friends I graduated with in high-school set in comfy jobs and owning housing. I want a house more than anything. One with a large area to play D&D in. : )
My diet consisted of Ramen and hot dogs until I married and had a good job. Unfortunately the extra food found its way around the middle and now I am trying to work it off.
… It would take about a month to get scurvy. (During my undergrad, a house of guys decided to eat only KD and drink beer to see what would happen…. and they all got scurvy in about a month).
I’m surprised at how much “keeping up with the Joneses” goes on now. I find myself comparing my family to married couples who don’t have kids, and see how much money they have to spend on trips all over the world. *sigh* Ah well, maybe I’ll do that when I retire.
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