Tampa/Clearwater area

[Madstone]

I'd like to find a game to join in the Greater Tampa By area. Champions preferred, buty i've always wanted to give Fantasy Hero a shot, too.

[Warp9]

I'd be interested in the Fantasy Hero thing, but I'm not a big fan of the "standard super-hero" style.

Also, there already is a Tampa thread, but you may have to dig back a little ways to find it.

[Warp9]

Bump

[Tamashii2000]

Originally posted by Crisis
I'd like to find a game to join in the Greater Tampa By area. Champions preferred, buty i've always wanted to give Fantasy Hero a shot, too.

I have been looking for a game off and on for a year now. Champions perferred but willing to do Fantasy hero or Star Hero (or anything else)

Only problem is with my schedule it would have to either be saturday mornings or sunday nights.

[Madstone]

Alright, folks! My schedule has changed a lot, and I'm ready for some serious gaming. I'm up in Pasco technically, but travelling to Hillsborough or parts of Pinellas is not out of the question.

And while I'm thinking about it...what the hell happened to Merlin's Books? I wasn't really crazy about them, but at least they were there! Are there any reasonable substitutions out there?

[psicelt]

And while I'm thinking about it...what the hell happened to Merlin's Books? I wasn't really crazy about them, but at least they were there! Are there any reasonable substitutions out there?

greetings, all. found yer site by accident while running a google on merlin's books. trying to find a pic of the storefront for my facebook page. longtime comics collector & old time wargamer here...AD&D, Paranoia, Gamma World, Call of Cthulhu, Judge Dredd, Warhammer....ya get the idea.
anyway, this thread popped up, so i's gonna answer. i'd been buying books outta merlin's since their debut in '83, & periodically until their demise in 2002. it's not hyperbole to say that probably 40% of my roughly 19000+comics/magazines/RPGs were purchased from that store over those 19 years. i still remember Pete, the old hippie with a ponytail who used to work the front counter. used to give me a discount too, even though i wasn't a subscriber, because i've worn my hair long in a tail since '88...and, as he put it, "there aren't many of us longhairs left, man!" i later heard he'd got some neuro-muscular disease..not sure if he's still alive or not. God love ya, Pete, wherever ya are; the postal dude still remembers!
but i digress, as i tend to do when i've been overserved to the corner pub. Merlin's went thru several changes; Richard Clear, the owner, had several partners over the years. by the time 2000 rolled around, he was the sole proprietor; Pete was gone, replaced by a steady stream of college kids from USF. i was coming in about once every 4 to 6 weeks, seemed like there was always a new face behind the counter. by '02, i'd asked the latest face, a portly but pretty redhead(whose name i can't now recall) about the changes in the store. see, i was steadily buying up the golden & silver age books out of the back room(at a serious discount). the nicer copies i was keeping, the lower grade ones were winding up on eBay. one day i came in & the good stuff was gone. i was told that they were sold off. damn shame, that. i was working my way up to the books in the $3000-$6000 range. shortly thereafter, merlin's closed their doors in 2002. i later saw Richard at a pulp show at Hillsborough Community College, sometime in 2003, i think it was. he looked terrible, confined to a wheelchair due to complications from diabetes. i bought 3 Shadow pulps(Street & Smith) from the 40's & chatted for a while. seems he was piling up the medical bills & had to sell the store to his ex-wife...who apparently had no business acumen. so another fine bookstore is vanished into the mists of time....:(
these days, i heartily recommend either of the Emerald City Comics locations(Seminole or Clearwater), or the Comics Club of Brandon. i know the owners of both, and they will treat ya more than fairly. the back stock is awesome to behold as well.
hope this helps.:thumbup:

[DarthEeyore]

Hey. Yeah, Pete did die I was told by a friend of his that I met and talked to at the Comics Club in Brandon. He was a really nice guy at Merlin's Books.