tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20879465907848097222024-03-17T22:04:33.139-05:00The Castle's RampartsThe blog for news, events, releases and commentary from Castle Perilous Games & Books. located in downtown Carbondale IL. New posts every Monday and Wednesday.Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.comBlogger2163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-46891391301855962612024-03-13T12:55:00.001-05:002024-03-13T12:55:12.068-05:00National Pi Day<p> For March 14 (3.14 Get it?) you will get a promo card with purchase of $25 of either Pokemon or Magic and 10% off on Math Fluxx. We will also have a limited amount of free pie available as well.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-5449853585354497382024-03-09T17:07:00.001-06:002024-03-09T17:07:06.001-06:00Fallout Sellout<p> We got in one booster box of Fallout Collector boosters and, even with limiting it to 2 boosters per person, we sold out in less than a day. According to our supplier, this is the first Magic set in years they needed to allocate. I hope there may be a second printing of the collector boosters but, based on past experience, I doubt it.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-49489654804100329412024-03-07T21:23:00.001-06:002024-03-07T21:23:17.302-06:00Fallout<p> Universes Beyond Fallout goes on sale tomorrow. Wal-mart broke street date on Commander Decks, releasing them on Wednesday. We only have a few boosters for the set and are limiting them to 2 per customer.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-64848232376819986242024-03-06T21:16:00.005-06:002024-03-06T21:16:34.627-06:00Will Eisner Week<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/willeisnerweek" target="_blank"> Will Eisner Week</a> is celebrated is year to remember Will Eisner, considered the creator of the graphic novel, essentially a book length original comic book. Books such as Gender Queer, Ducks and My Favorite Thing is Monsters can be classified as graphic novels, since they are written and drawing as a self contained whole. Eisner Award winners such as Saga, Bone, Monstress and even Maus could be classified as trade paperbacks, since they were originally released as comic books, or in the case of Maus as part of a comic anthology, before getting collected into book form</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-48717319202844378282024-03-05T16:23:00.000-06:002024-03-05T16:23:31.839-06:00Magic Store Championships<p> Due to request from several Magic players, we have moved the date of the Murders at Karlov Manor Store Championships from Saturday at 1 p.m. We have moved the Fallout event to Sunday Commander at 3 p.m.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-61298421809875656612024-03-04T21:55:00.001-06:002024-03-04T21:55:02.366-06:00Carpets<p> Don't be surprised if the carpets feel a bit damp tomorrow. We had our semi-annual shampooing of them Monday night and it can take a day or so for them to fully dry.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-37895010723860983582024-02-29T20:22:00.002-06:002024-02-29T20:22:34.801-06:00Will Eisner Week<p> March 1 through 7th is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/willeisnerweek/" target="_blank">Will Eisner Week.</a> Will Eisner, creator of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(comics_character)" target="_blank">the Spirit</a>, is widely considered the father of the graphic novel, which is generally defined as a book length comic book, while a trade paperback is a collection of several individual comic issues which form a complete story arc. </p><p>To celebrate, we are offering a 10% discount on all graphic novels and trade paperbacks, both used and new, through March 7th. Castle Cards may be applied to your purchase, as well as your Preferred Customer Discount.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-71275874079111043052024-02-27T14:19:00.002-06:002024-02-27T14:19:43.861-06:00The Dyatlov Pass incident<p> Always thought <a href="https://www.history.com/news/dyatlov-pass-incident-soviet-hiker-death-mystery?cmpid=email-hist-inside-history-2024-0226-02262024&om_rid=" target="_blank">this would make a good storyline </a>for a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Something prosaic like an avalanche was probably the cause but encountering some of Lovecraft's creatures would be possible, especially in a frozen remote area like the Urals</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-18216176165196795192024-02-22T21:12:00.001-06:002024-02-22T21:12:43.526-06:00ConCave<p> The store will set up at ConCave in Bowling Green Ky this weekend. If you are at the convention or in the area, stop by and say Hi. Show us this post and score a free die.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-27891430076295639042024-02-21T20:08:00.006-06:002024-02-21T20:08:57.303-06:00Lorcana League Play<p> We will continue the stopgape league through the end of Februrary, then start the season 3 league on the first Wednesday in March.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-34286291277480666852024-02-19T19:49:00.002-06:002024-02-19T19:49:15.517-06:00Lorcana Chapter 3<p> We expect to receive Lorcana Chapter 3 Into the Inklands this Friday, Feb. 23. Unless someone cancels their pre-orders, we will have boosters and decks for the shelf but no Troves or Gift sets. It will be interesting to see how much demand there is for this set as online prices have dropped significantly for booster boxes.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-63701587116152896732024-02-16T21:11:00.002-06:002024-02-16T21:11:21.484-06:00Birthday Party<p> The back game room will be closed from 1 to 5 tomorrow for a birthday party. Birthday Party? Yes, we will host birtday parties for you fociues aroeund D&D, Miniatures painting, Magic the Gathering , Pokemon or superheroes. Room rental runs $200 for up to 8 people with us assisting in set up and clean up, as well as running events if you so choose.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-67920280318460449462024-02-15T15:23:00.006-06:002024-02-15T15:23:50.135-06:00D&D Releases for 2024<p> We finally <a href="https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56221/dungeons-dragons-2024-25-deets-dates" target="_blank">received details on the D&D releases </a>for this year.</p><p>Vecna: Eve of Ruin releases May 21. It is a adventure taking players across the entire D&D multiverse</p><p>The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons releases June 18 and covers the history of the devlopment of original D&D during the 1970s</p><p>Quests from the Infinite Staircase, a collection of original A&D 1st edition adventures updated for 5 the edition. The adventures range from levels 1 through 3.</p><p>Player's Handbook 2024, a revised version of the 5E Players Handbook releases Sept. 17, although I would bet we will see copies for sale at GenCon</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 will release November 12th. </p><p>The updated Monster Manual will release Feb 18 of 2025.</p><p>Alternate covers will be available for Quests from the Infinite Staircase and Vecna: Eve of Ruin. No word on the others yet.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-88551583011309551662024-02-13T15:10:00.001-06:002024-02-13T15:10:11.672-06:0034th Anniversary Celebration<p> We will host our 34th anniversary celebration this Sunday fromnoon to 6 with our $1000 drawing at 4:30. OUr guests will include Cape girardeau Author Breanna Bright, local Artist Isaac Hicks, rune Reader Rachael Smith and Tarot Reader Amelia Methana. Spend $10 with any of them and get an extra ticket for the drawing.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-12615444692372558652024-02-08T19:51:00.001-06:002024-02-08T19:51:03.828-06:00Murders at Karlov Manor<p> all of our instock Murders at Karlov Manor go on sale tomorrow. However, we will not be taking any trades on cards for the set until the 23 as we figure it takes about 2 weeks for card prices to settle. A YuGi Oh ! card from Phantom Nightmare that was $80 on Wednesday has dropped to $70 a day later. We do not want to take cards only to find they have dropped in value by 10 to 20% within a few days.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-58057354345781305052024-02-06T19:53:00.002-06:002024-02-06T19:53:09.699-06:00Quarter Century Secret Rare<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjebueLC_SxFKI6M3im4aIgSnfsD1IiNRoCUtnGNvUFmn5fVJHLolyhWVH-xzzCiN0vYr6ltyrutlncMr1jOWR8Dd4u8XO4vCT8HeZb0ThHAz3DeyqJHVyooxfDW1VJxUD3B54Lu27KpyI9RBxJAWgQtRw4oO58XtedIK-A3QUkIhOjK8V0G3nFHmf-p4/s4608/DSCF4269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3440" data-original-width="4608" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjebueLC_SxFKI6M3im4aIgSnfsD1IiNRoCUtnGNvUFmn5fVJHLolyhWVH-xzzCiN0vYr6ltyrutlncMr1jOWR8Dd4u8XO4vCT8HeZb0ThHAz3DeyqJHVyooxfDW1VJxUD3B54Lu27KpyI9RBxJAWgQtRw4oO58XtedIK-A3QUkIhOjK8V0G3nFHmf-p4/s320/DSCF4269.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We opened a box of Yu Gi Oh Phantom Nightmare booster packs today and pulled this Quarter Century Secret Rare card, whcih is currently selling online for between $325 and $350. A change I have noticed in these packs is the abscence of rare cards. There are Secret Rares, Ultimate Rares but the old style Rare cards, which just had the name of the card in foil, have vanished.</div><br /> <p></p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-35781867095685193002024-02-01T12:03:00.004-06:002024-02-01T12:03:45.911-06:00Magic<p> Following up from the <a href="https://thecastlesramparts.blogspot.com/2024/01/magic.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, the 1 deck and 2 boosters sat on the edge of the cash wrap for about 3 months until Gencon. Magic blew up at the 1993 Gencon with people playing the game anyplace they could find a flat surface. The first person to visit the store after Gencon snapped up our Magic and asked for more, setting off an unfulfillable demand that lasted until after Fallen Empires.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-3380144425269470202024-01-29T19:51:00.005-06:002024-01-29T19:51:58.288-06:00Metazoo shutters<p> Maker of the Metazoo TCG has <a href="https://cosmicbook.news/metazoo-abruptly-closes-down" target="_blank">abruptly shut down</a>. The company got a lot of attention during the early years of its 4 years run with 1st edition boxes selling for hundreds of dollars. Last summer they were touting the acquisition of the Hello Kitty license and were offering a premium bundle with a MSRP of $150. Then on Black Friday weekend, the company sold those bundles for $30, really undercutting the distributors that bought into the product</p><p>Apparently, it has been at least six months since the company has fulfilled any pre-orders placed through its website. So much for its hopes of becoming the next Pokemon</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-47041011088601716842024-01-28T19:49:00.004-06:002024-01-28T19:49:27.411-06:00Magic<p> As long as I am reminising, when Magic the Gathering first came out, our sales representative for our supplier could not explain what it was. "Well, it's this card game and you buy decks and booster packs for it and construct a deck from them." This was before anyone had any idea about what a booster pack was or what "Construct a deck" meant. As the encouragement of our supplier, we brought in 1 deck of Alpha and 2 booster packs. Not boxes, packs. And they sat there. And we almost forgot about them.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-51651385322463741742024-01-27T21:04:00.001-06:002024-01-27T21:04:59.687-06:00D&D at WalMartDungeons and Dragons may seem mainstream today but it was also suprisingly widely accepted in the early 1980s. When I worked for Wal-Mart in the early 1980s, I had played D&D and AD&D in college but got rid of all my materials when I relocated. That didn't last very long of course and within a year after going to work at Wal-mart, I started playing again. However, was mildly sprised to find Wal-mart stocking the basic D&D boxed sets in the toy department. Never saw any books or modules, likely because the buyers could not figure out what they were but boxed sets were close enough to board games that the buyer could at least approximate them.Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-70681175114739666842024-01-25T17:51:00.002-06:002024-01-25T17:51:32.450-06:00Murders at Karlov Manors<p> Here is a breakdown <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/collecting-murders-at-karlov-manor" target="_blank">of where to find</a> what cards in Murders at Karlov Manor. Melik, Refoged Researcher; Tomik, Wielder of Law; and Voja, Jaws of the Conclave will only be found in pre-release kits and cannot be used during pre-release events, although they are legal in other tournaments than the pre-release</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-58362660103300991692024-01-23T21:39:00.001-06:002024-01-23T21:39:06.370-06:00Ravnica Remastered<p> We and disribution are sold out of Collector boosters for this set. We only have about a dozen Draft booster packs left and are not sure if we will be able to restock when we sell out of them.</p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-34708449897863121072024-01-22T20:16:00.004-06:002024-01-22T20:16:57.322-06:00Bloom off Lorcana<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">It looks as if the bloom is off the <i>Disney Lorcana</i>
rose. Restocks of <i>Chapter 2 Rise of the Floodborn</i> boosters hit store
shelves this week and, based on the price drop for booster boxes online, some
people ordered way too many of them. Prices for sealed booster boxes are
hovering in the range of $140 to $150 per box with <i>Chapter One</i> booster
boxes selling slightly higher at about $160. We will have to see if the trend
continues with the <i>Chapter Three Into the Inklands</i> set. From the pricing
I am seeing for pre-orders of Into the Inklands, it appears this pricing trend
for <i>Disney Lorcana</i> will continue. We are going to see pricing
significantly above Ravensburger’s MSRP for the initial release of a set
followed by a drop of 40% in prices upon the receipt of a subsequent release of
the set. Since we only see <i>Troves</i> and <i>Gift Sets</i> at the initial
release, we are still seeing them selling for significantly above MSRP, but not
decks and booster boxes.<o:p></o:p></p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-33917476031860701692024-01-19T20:06:00.004-06:002024-01-19T20:06:36.469-06:00Pre-order Declines<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">. I have noticed , and have seen confirming comments
from other stores, a noticeable drop-off in preorders of booster boxes,
especially draft. Our pre-orders on draft boxes have dropped to nil and our
pre-orders on set and collector boosters of new sets of Magic<i> the Gathering</i>
have dropped by 80%. I am not sure how much essentially making pre-release
weekend into release weekend has to do with this, but it does not appear to
have helped. Online sellers cutting the price on booster boxes to $10 to $20 over
costs does not help, although, since most online sells appear to adhere to the
restriction that they cannot sell until the official release date, that does
give brick and mortar stores a bit of a leg up. I am not sure if a week’s delay
in receiving product outweighs the extra $40 to $80 the customer pays instore
for a booster box. I have read of some stores eschewing the sale of booster
boxes altogether, preferring to sell Magic by the pack, which offers a better
margin, albeit with a bit more labor and smaller sales. A few stores have even
said they opted to drop <i>Magic</i> and other TCGs altogether, preferring to
shift their focus to other non-collectible games that generally require much
less effort to sell.. if you are going to sell TCGs, and make that your focus,
you must invest in a decent singles selection, play space and organized play,
all of which cost extra money. Magic has gone through a slump like this before.
Of course, there were not so many variations of Magic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for retailers to consider.<o:p></o:p></p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2087946590784809722.post-23362281962506661442024-01-16T20:01:00.001-06:002024-01-16T20:01:15.049-06:00Star Wars Pre-release Kit<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">The store received a pre-release kit from Fantasy Flight
Games for the company’s upcoming release of its <i>Star Wars Unlimited
Collectable Card Game</i>. The kit comes with a poster, a window cling and a
couple of sign up sheets for those interested in the game to leave their
contact information. Foregoing my doubts regarding the viability of the game,
there are a few problems with the materials I would like to point out. Before
diving into those though, I do want to mention that I wish other companies
would provide materials to stores sufficiently far in advance that we can use
them to promote the game. That being said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Window Cling—the provided window cling is about
18’ by 12” which is a bit big to affix to any in-store glass surfaces. It is
designed so that the back of the cling, rather than the front, adheres to the
window. The only glass found in most stores are the front windows, maybe the
door and display cases inside the premises. No store is going to want to put
the cling on the front of a display case, as that obscures the view of the
items inside, rather defeating the purpose of a display case. A front window or
door would be a perfect place to display the cling, save for the fact that the
back side is the side designed to adhere to the glass, meaning it would have to
go on the outside of the door or window, where the weather will likely pull it
off in a few hours, leaving it lying on the sidewalk or street. Designing it so
that the front of the image clings to the window means stores can place it on
the inside of the glass, keeping it on display longer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Promotional Poster—While I am a big fan of
promotional posters, I am an even bigger fan of well designed promotional
posters (See “<a href="https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/20469/rolling-initiative-a-tale-two-posters">A
Tale of Two Posters</a>”) which the one for <i>Star Wars Unlimited</i> is not.
First, the poster gives the viewer no indication as to what it is promoting. It
features artwork, not photos mind you but artwork of the three iconic Star Wars
heroes:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luke, Leia and Han. So far, so
good. Anyone who has paid attention to pop culture over the past 50 years
should recognize them, although it seems to me a photo of them would be even
more recognizable. Maybe the actors or studio would not include actual
character photos with the license (This happened at least once before. When
Thunder Mountain Games released the <i>Highlander Trading Card Game</i> lo
these many years ago, they could not get the rights from Sean Connor to put a
photo of his character, Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, on a card, so Thunder
Mountain Games just used a black silhouette instead of a photo, along with the
name and card effects). That is a minor caveat though. My major problem with
the poster is that it tells me nothing about the product. A customer glancing
at it has no idea what <i>Star Wars Unlimited</i> is. No mention of a
collectible card game, no pictures of cards, not even a QR code an interested
customer could use to find out more. Is <i>Star Wars Unlimited</i> a boardgame,
video game, RPG, comic, graphic novel, Funko POP line? A poster is a great
opportunity to sell your product or at least generate interest in it, but it
has to give the customer some indication as to why they should be interested.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Maybe we will get a second promotional kit with some
materials further helping to develop interest in the product prior to the
release. I hope so as I would like to see the game do well.<o:p></o:p></p>Castle Perilous Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344944898418451419noreply@blogger.com0