Dallas Game Store Problems

[ultrium]

NPC tekkaman lite started this thread on www.rpg.net (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=35774)
Dallas Gamestore Problems

Has anyone in the Dallas and Lewisville Texas areas heard anything about fans petitioning the stores listed here - Borders, Barnes & Noble, Millions, Discount Books, and Comics, Games, & Books - to stop selling all RPG books besides Hero System books?

There is an SAS fan on the GOO boards who swears there is a Hero Games/Hero fans conspiracy to have all those stores stop selling any books but Hero System books. The person also says the Hero System fans and store owners bodily throw out people who want to discuss or write characters for other game systems in the store.

So once again for all you Dallas area people, how much is this person's statement is true, and how much of it is just drug enduced?

can you believe that?

[Chris Goodwin]

I'll post here what I posted there:

I'd say that precisely 0 percent is true and precisely 100 percent is a result of either too much or not enough drugs. Or perhaps not enough tinfoil in the hat.

I also did a search on the GOO boards and found no such thread. Somebody been trolled, and somebody been trolling.

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by ultrium
NPC tekkaman lite started this thread on www.rpg.net (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=35774)


can you believe that?

This does not surprise me at all. I quit reading the boards for the SAS/Hero showdown( I don't know if these were goo or not) because the SAS guys were continually saying the Hero people were not voting fairly and that the only reason any of the Champions would win is because Hero players out number SAS players 10/1. These comments were continually comming up dispite the fact that SAS had won two out of three matches. I am a Hero player, and I voted for Defender last month, cause I liked the story better. This month, I liked the Slipstream story better, so I voted for him. I guess I shouldn't make that mistake again.....

[Ben Seeman]

I recall reading that exchange... it was in the Kinetik vs. Slipstream thread. If this is the case, which I hihgly doubt, then I hope someone will tell us it is so.

Perhaps tekkaman can tell us exactly which store?

[ultrium]

Can you buy Hero products at Borders or Barnes & Noble? I was at a Barnes & Noble about 2 weeks ago and I did not see any Hero products.

[Monolith]

The statements made by Darrin Kelley and this tekkaman person are on the GoO boards under a thread about a con in Houston. Tekkaman also made the same claims on the Showdown boards during last month's competition.

[SuperPheemy]

You mean I'm not supposed to be bodily throwing out non HERO gamers from my local gamestore in solidarity with the "Dallas Revolution"?

Crap.

Excuse me, I have a lot of apology notes to write.

[Chris Goodwin]

Can someone post linkage to the original postings in the actual thread where it originally appeared?

Edit: Never mind, I found it.

http://pub84.ezboard.com/fsuperheroshowdown66104frm16.showMessageRange?topi cID=1.topic&start=21&stop=40

[Monolith]

Here you go:

http://pub59.ezboard.com/fguardiansoforder44269frm4.showMessageRange?topicI D=271.topic&start=1&stop=20

[Chris Goodwin]

Thanks, Monolith. That's got more pertinent info than the link I posted.

Methinks I may make some phone calls in the next couple of days.

[Chris Goodwin]

Following up my own postings here....

I read the link that Monolith posted. Found what appeared to be some oversensitive postings that turned into paranoid rantings. It's a long way from being told by a game store owner that the store isn't going to carry any superhero RPGs but Champions to being bodily thrown out of a store for bringing in a character converted to another system, or even petition drives headed up by those nefarious masterminds at Hero Games.

I stand by my initial assessment and will call upon some stores when names are forthcoming (which I have my doubts about).

[GradonSilverton]

wow...just read Monolith's link and all I can say is wow.....

tell me its all fake and a sick joke... please....

I pray to GOD (whichever one will answer) that these people don't ever leave their town... if this isn't a joke, the paranoia is rampant down in Texas.

[ShinDangaioh]

I'm on the GoO boards myself and tend to ignore this nonsense. It makes no sense. In intimidating people to stop playing a game, you will drive a person to that game.

Take a look at Palladium's intimdation tactics.

If it is true, BOTH sides are making gamers lool like rampaging lunatics. Wheras only one side is right now.

The sad part is, that I can see something like this happening. I have encountered elitists in gaming.

If anyone tried to intimidate me by saying that I don't know what a good game system is, I'd list all the games that I have played and scare him/her off.

[Chris Goodwin]

I've met some elitists in gaming myself, and I know that Hero fans have a reputation for being a little over the top. I also know that there are game stores who don't really deserve your business, by saying things like "We don't think there's any reason to play superhero games other than Hero".

All of that aside, I can't see some of the more extreme charges being true. Organized petition drives to keep stores from carrying any RPG products besides Hero? People being bodily thrown out of stores or gaming areas for daring to bring in character sheets written in a different system? That's beyond the pale. As for someone being bodily thrown out from somewhere, if true there's got to be more to the story than that.

[GradonSilverton]

Lets be honest.... Its HARD to make money in any aspect of the RPG industry currently.....anyone with a specticle of business sense would not restric their ability to sell anything.....would they necessarily carry 5 copies of all books in their store...probably not...would they order it for you...absolutly....

as for Hero players being over the top...i dont buy into this...everyone has preferences, and those that are fans of Hero are the minority as a whole...lets face it, D20 in itself is a 400 pound Gorilla....add in D&D and its nor a 1800 lbsGiant Octopus cross bred with a T-Rex....I've played Fuzion, GURPS, and many others and can say that my preference is usually Hero, but there are times when I think others run real smooth...

I know someone who is developing a line of games with a new studio (he has wrote for Hero in the past) and he is moving to a D20 system....why? B/c it will make selling it ALOT easier right now....

Hopefully WE can help take Hero to the promise land and make it where people fight for the rights to use the system...

And I see many hero players like this... they, just like their d20 counterparts think that THEY have the best system.... they can give you reasons but in general I have discovered that many of the newer gamers have only experienced the d20 system, where as many Hero lovers have games for so long they HAVE played MANY MANY systems....

This might make their ability to compare and contrast seem elitest...yet I still sont agree with that statement.

[ShinDangaioh]

All you need is one intimdating lunatic. A gamer version of Jack Chick or Pat Pulling perhaps.


As I said, I hope it's not true. I didn't catch that bodily be thrown out of a store for playing another game.

I can only think of one reason that would be true. DRUNK.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally posted by GradonSilverton
as for Hero players being over the top...i dont buy into this...

Hero fans have a bad reputation on rpg.net and possibly other places. That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying it's deserved, but I'm saying that's what is. I'm not saying anything about systems.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally posted by ShinDangaioh
As I said, I hope it's not true. I didn't catch that bodily be thrown out of a store for playing another game.

I can only think of one reason that would be true. DRUNK.

I can think of another reason, or at least how what really happened could have grown in the telling. Someone was being an utter ass, trying to "prove" that Hero fans are as bad as our reputation makes us out to be. Thought they'd be cute, try to bring in a Game X character sheet to play Champions with. When called on it, said ass decided to get difficult and start an argument. Said argument might result in a threat to "get out before we either throw you out or call the cops." Said threat could grow in the telling to "A friend of my uncle's chiropractor's dog's groomer's boyfriend got thrown out of a game store for bringing in a Game X character sheet!"

Actually, I wouldn't rule out drunk in the above scenario either.

[JohnathanChance]

I don't know what to be more upset by, the insinuations that Hero gamers in Texas are trying to do this, or that gamers in Texas are saying this about Hero gamers...IT really embarrasses me that i am from the same state as people like that.

[GradonSilverton]

Originally posted by JohnathanChance
I don't know what to be more upset by, the insinuations that Hero gamers in Texas are trying to do this, or that gamers in Texas are saying this about Hero gamers...IT really embarrasses me that i am from the same state as people like that.

:)

Its OK, we forgive you either way!

:)

[JohnathanChance]

Originally posted by GradonSilverton
:)

Its OK, we forgive you either way!

:)

LOL Thanks alot:)

[ShinDangaioh]

Texas is the size of a small country. Just be worried if they are from the same city.


One person in this thread mentioned that there are those who are elitists because of having played a wide variety of games and settled on Hero. I've also played a lot of games, but have came to the conclusion that no game can handle it all. I can't see Hero handling a game with Buggs Bunny, Daffy Duck and ilk as main characters.(That falls to Teenagers from Outer Space and Toon to handle)

[GradonSilverton]

Originally posted by ShinDangaioh
One person in this thread mentioned that there are those who are elitists because of having played a wide variety of games and settled on Hero. I've also played a lot of games, but have came to the conclusion that no game can handle it all. I can't see Hero handling a game with Buggs Bunny, Daffy Duck and ilk as main characters.(That falls to Teenagers from Outer Space and Toon to handle)

I think you might be thinking of me....what I was referring to is that many people might see Hero players as Elitest b/c they generally have played many systems and are familiar with them greatly...when they discuss games with a D20 player, many of whom are new games and have never seen anything but D&D and Magic...their expanse of knowedle might appear to be elitest if they push Hero as their favorite (not necessarily the ONLY) system to play.

[JohnathanChance]

Good point Shin, at least I have most of the state between myself and this whole....thing...

On a side note only partially related the only LGS in my area is not one of my favorite establishments for buying anything. But that is more of a personality clash between myself, a couple of my friends and the Lawyer who runs said gamestore. Heck I ended up buying half my Hero books in San Antonio because of it. So not all gamestores are run by nice friendly gamers, thats what makes it hard on me hearing about the possibility of us Herophiles doing something like that.

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by Monolith
Here you go:

http://pub59.ezboard.com/fguardiansoforder44269frm4.showMessageRange?topicI D=271.topic&start=1&stop=20

Yep.. That's the one that caused me to stop reading those boards. I love Hero for superhero gaming, but I hardly think that makes me a fanatic. BTW I personally like d20 for fantasy games, I just never could get into fantasy hero. D&D just works for us. We have also played d20 Star Wars.. A cool game. But for Superheroes, IMO Hero is the best.

[ShinDangaioh]

A couple of idiots spoiled the board for you.

Personally, i skipped over the thread because I thought it was another of those my FLGS can't get SAS in threads.

The stores that say Tri Tac and R. Tal and other small press companies are dead and won't try to special order anything.

That nonsense only contaminates the General Discussion-SAS board.

[Law Dog]

Originally posted by ShinDangaioh
.
I've also played a lot of games, but have came to the conclusion that no game can handle it all. I can't see Hero handling a game with Buggs Bunny, Daffy Duck and ilk as main characters.(That falls to Teenagers from Outer Space and Toon to handle)

Amen. Hero is a wonderful system for what it is. It's about as close to universal as it gets, even more than GURPS. But, there are a few systems that work better for specific genres. Sometimes it is the game mechanics that assist the genre.

Hero has two main sticking points. The low level (normals) game can be plagued with a feeling of sameness. The characters all seem to pretty much be way too close to each other statwise. This is partially because the mechanics of the system dictate certain stats work best at the breakpoints like 13/18 for Int and 11/14/17/20 for Dex. It also partially a side effect of having a system with such a wide spread of stats for the supers game (when you're going to have to accomidate Str 75 or Dex 38) that it tends to jam the lower end stats closer together.

If you want an excellent, blow-by-blow superhero combat simulation, then there is no other choice than Hero. This level of detail though seems to detract from the free flowing, high intensity pace of comic book battles. The lack of some sort of karma-like system (Okay, you can use one of the luck options, but I've found that one kind of grainy) slaps you in the face with the iron gauntlet of harsh reality instead of the pure wild lucky break common in the medium we're attempting to simulate.

I still love Hero, but there are some games for which it isn't the right choice.

[ShinDangaioh]

Gundam being the obvious example of something Hero isn't the best system for a certain genre.

R.Tal didn't liscence Gundam for their Mekton game. BanDai liscenced the Mekton System for their Japanese Gundam RPG. :)

That is an abberation in the RPG world.

I can see Hero handling something like Grandizer or Gaiking, but Macross, Orguss, Southern Cross, Mosepeda, Gundam, Dragonar, Patlabor, etc. are better served by a dedicated system.

Hero players are elitists? Take a look at rec.games.mecha. All non-mechwarrior stuff got flamed away. Mekton went to a mailing list. Mecha! and Robotech are pretty much non-existant, and as to GoO's stuff, they stick to their own lists and boards.

I really hope this Texas nonsense blows over. It's hurting both companies.