End of an Age... Crazy Egor Closing Shop

[serleran]

Just a note that a beloved, to me, OOP RPG store, has decided to close its doors come the end of the year. Alas, all the good ones are gone now.

[tylermo]

No more gencon appearances either?

[finarvyn]

That's a real bummer. One of my favorite stops at GenCon has always been Crazy Egor's.

[Arduin]

Just a note that a beloved, to me, OOP RPG store, has decided to close its doors come the end of the year. Alas, all the good ones are gone now.

I looked them up and they appeared to be a kind of gaming "Mecca".

Hopefully their ebay site will remain: http://stores.ebay.com/Crazy-Egors

[Breakdaddy]

That stinks. The whole business side of PnP RPG gaming is slowly collapsing.

[tylermo]

Well, there are still a few thriving companies out there, but it's possible that we're eventually going to be those old Avalon Hill classic players someday. Let's face it, classic wargaming has been sort of dead for sometime. We'll be clutching our pdf's and dog-eared original rpg books when we're 80 years old, sitting around the coffee shops and the nursing home. When those young un's are playing those new-fangled 3-D holographic games, or some nonsense. I'm rambling. Sad about Egor's.

[TheMetal1]

Let's face it, classic wargaming has been sort of dead for sometime.

The whole business side of PnP RPG gaming is slowly collapsing.

My goodness! Are you all serious? Such negativity!

Regardless of what one thinks about Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons is still going strong in it's 4th incarnation bringing in all kinds of new players. Pathfinder: The Roleplaying Game by Paizo has risen to great heights arguably surpassing D&D in sales. The OSR is engerizing old and new players alike. Palladium and Rifts has pulled from the brink. Green Ronin has had huge success with their Supers Game Mutants & Masterminds with the DC Liscense and Dragon Age. Pinnacle has a great game going with Savage worlds. The Term RPG is more well known than ever because of the advent of MMOs and that means of RPG is doing great. Miniatures? Warhammer, Hero Clicks, etc. There is also the return of the board game with upscale marekets! E-books and PDFs of RPGs are all over the place and give portable excellent access to all kinds of games. This has resulted in a wave of independent RPG companies putting out excellent games and labors of love for the hobby to enjoy. Along with huge fan sites like ENworld and Dragonsfoot there is a ton of stuff for free out there to enjoy.

The big challege I will say is perhaps the brick and mortar stores. RPGs and War Games aren't dead, just how we play them, where we play them and how we get them is different.

[tylermo]

Your points are well taken. I meant to say perhaps someday we'll be in that boat. Your examples ring true. I think we just got a bit gloomy about Egor's. BTW, love me some Savage Worlds, and C&C.

[Arduin]

On an upbeat note. In the 90's when I taught my kids to play, they had pretty high end gaming consoles. They and their friends were "hooked" on them. I taught them D&D. On the weekends they (friends included) would beg me to run games. MUCH preferred to computer & video games. Both still play.

[Breakdaddy]

TheMetal1: While I fully agree that Boardgaming is experiencing a grand resurgence (one which I am happy to be part of as time allows), I dont personally count clicky games or most boardgames as part of my commentary. If it must be read with a critical eye it might more accurately state that "Pen and Paper RPGS, in their classic identifiable sense, are on the decline". I might also not be easily persuaded that 4th ed is "bringing in all kinds of new players", but since WoTC releases no official sales figures, that would be an endless (and pointless) argument

If nothing else, your optimism is nice to see

[TheMetal1]

BD, very true about WOTC, we really don't know and they aren't going to share any figures with us any time soon. Just consider me in the camp of the Glass is half-full!

I was really remiss though in not mentioning this really cool and super fantastic game now in their 4th print run called Castles & Crusades! From what I hear, they're doing pretty well!

[Relaxo]

Not to piss in anyones cornflakes, but isn't HeroClix out of production?

Glad to hear some positive thinking about the RPG publishing in general, though. The key is getting young folks interested. This has always been true, of course and can be filed under "duh". (I'm poking fun at myself for pointing out the obvious, not trying to offend anyone, to be clear)

[tylermo]

Hero Clix have been back in production with Marvel and DC sets, and occasionally other properties, as well. They were out of production at one point.

[TheMetal1]

...but isn't HeroClix out of production?

As Tylermo said, they are indeed back into production, with new stuff coming out. What is even more intersting about the game though is they have taken a page from WOTC Magic the Gathering book and have gone with a virtual version of the game with virtual minis you can buy and then game against others online in a virtual field of battle.

http://hco.heroclix.com/

But perhaps even more explosive, IMHO, is that Paizo has contracted out for HeroClixs to make all the pre-painted miniatures for the Pathfinder RPG. Which I'm sure some of you have probably seen already at your FGLS or Bookstore (or perhaps already have them). While that in and of itself does seem like big news, the "So What" of the matter is Paizo as part of the lead up to the pre-painted mini release showed on it's website digital renderings of the sculps. Now, if your a good detective you've already figured out where I'm going with this.

HeroClixs has a virtual turn by turn based 3d battlemap with 3d miniature sculps for battle with super-heroes using the HeroClix system. I don't think it is a stretch to assume, that this will be the platform that we Paizo use to be the first RPG company produce a virtual table top with purchaseable miniatures for your game. It is a win with for them, I would think the biggest hold up will be just setting up the mechanics, but again the platform for turn by turn is already there, along with multi-player. We'll likely see this before the Pathfinder MMO, which while intersting, I will probably pass on, only because it is not staying true to the PFRPG Ruleset. Anyway, just specualtion on my part - but what say you?

[Relaxo]

OMG THAT'S GREAT!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so out of touch it's funny.

[Sir Ironside]

Well I think there has been a shrinkage of game stores. There used to be 3 game stores in my area, now there is just one. One of the game stores that had rps stopped getting them due to slow sales and is now just comics with comic related stuff. The other stopped getting rpg's and now just gets comics (And, believe it or not deals with second hand music CD's and vinyl records.)

The good news is the remaining store carry's both rpg's and game boards and that is it. Though they make most of their money off of the board and card games... but is quite healthy and a very good store. But, like other brick and mortar stores their point of sale has been reduced by online shopping and pdf's. There in lies the reason it is doing so well, is because you can't pdf a board game (Without crappy results). I'm sure you could get these games via online stores, but it is still better to see the game in person and buy it without having to wait or have an idea just what your getting.

So, some doom and gloom, but some positives.

Another cool thing about this store is they have a website and on that website you can post if your going to be running a game, give some info and people can sign-up for it, if they are so inclined. These people can be total strangers and with a little finesse you could probably entice some game board players to try a rpg.

[redwullf]

It seems to me that 3rd edition (d20 in general) reinvigorated the PnP RPG scene, then backlash from both 3rd and especially 4th edition launched the OSR, and now we see strong performance in 3.x (Pathfinder) and 4e, with significant numbers getting curious about, and migrating to, the OSR. Perhaps the Internet overstates the interest in PnP RPG, since there are so many sites dedicated to our beloved hobby, but it seems to me we've gained ground, and continue to do so. I agree that brick-and-mortar stores are getting harder to come by, but that's true for any specialized business thanks to big boxes and the Internet - it's not just an effect limited to gaming stores. Having said that, there are 4 game/comic stores within 20 minutes drive from my house, and I can get my nerd-on easily. They seem to be thriving.

/shrug

[serleran]

The decision to close, for the record, has absolutely nothing to do with economic conditions.