Lorcana

The last time I remember seeing this amount of buzz and demand for a product was during the early years of Pokemon in the late 1990s. The big difference between the two is that it was kids primarily interested in Pokemon. Granded they brought their partents along as the parents were the ones controlling the pursestrings but the parents had litttle interest in the product.

Not so with Lorcana. We have seen far more adults coming into buy product than we have children. I would estimate aobut 80% of our customers were adults with no kids accompanying them.

Another major difference is much less instore play of Lorcana than we saw of Pokemon. We would have tables of kids, again few if any adults, come in to play in the store Pokemon leagues. We started up a store Lorcana league and, so far, it has been adults playing, no kids. 

Of course, we have also seen a marked drop off in people wanting to play Pokemon. Most of todays customers want to look for the shiny cards and trade them, rather than learning how the game plays.

GW New Releases for 9/2

 Here are next week's new releases, this week for Age of Sigmar.  We will only order 1 of each so please let us know before Tuesday if you want one

VANGUARD: SERAPHON

CITIES OF SIGMAR ARMY SET (ENG)

The Happy Shop

 New All ages graphic novel releasing next February

PORTLAND, OR (August 25, 2023) - Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning publisher of comic books and graphic novels, will publish Brittany Long Olsen’s graphic novel, THE HAPPY SHOP. This heartwarming middle grade story will be released in February 2024.

 

In THE HAPPY SHOP, eleven-year-old Darcy is feeling sad and alone after she moves to a new country when she accidentally stumbles into a magical store that sells happy feelings. But when Darcy witnesses a sad feeling accidentally being sold at work, she begins to wonder. Is happiness really the only emotion people need? 

 

“THE HAPPY SHOP shines a light on the deep importance of experiencing a whole range of human emotion, not just happy feelings, and building community with the people we care about,” said cartoonist Brittany Long Olsen.

 

“THE HAPPY SHOP's charm is that it exists in a world just like ours,” said Oni Press Editor Grace Scheipeter. “The story features a contemporary setting with just a light touch of magic. And much of that magic is in the dynamic cartooning of Brittany Long Olsen, whose graphic novel is a delight and inspiration. It’s a perfect read for fans of the film Inside Out, Mai K. Nguyen's Pilu of the Woods, and Brenna Thummler's Sheets.”

 

THE HAPPY SHOP will be available in bookstores and comic shops in February 2024. 

Gary Gygax Material

 Gary Gygax materials coming back into print via Troll Lord Games

We are very happy to announce that Troll Lord Games, in conjunction with the estate of E. Gary Gygax, and Luke Gygax, is at long last able to bring the works of the Father of Role Playing back to the gaming table!

This has been something we have desired for 15 years and something we are beyond ecstatic to make happen! For everyone here at Troll Lord Games, and for all of you out there, and for the legacy of E. Gary Gygax, this is a wonderful day.

A glorious day!

We need to show the Estate Managers the real value of this material and to do that we have already announced and launched the Pre-order for the Classic Yggsburgh Fantasy Campaign Setting. Written by Gary Gygax and first published in 2005, this classic work is full to the brim with gaming content.

This will be the original version of this work as written by Gary and published by TLG. It includes two maps, one by our Lady of Gaming, Darlene! We aren't changing anything but the Stock Code on the spine!

GW New Release

 Here are the new releases for Sept. 2 for Games Workshop. Please let us know if you want any ordered.

VANGUARD: SERAPHON

CITIES OF SIGMAR ARMY SET (ENG)

CITIES OF SIGMAR ARMY SET (FRE)

WH UNDERWORLDS: PATHS OF PROPHECY (ENGLISH)

WH UNDERWORLDS: PATHS OF PROPHECY (FRENCH)

Lorcana

 We are currently out of Lorcana booster packs. We still have decks, deck boxes and sleeves and hope to have more boosters and Troves arriving soon.

Trades

 Starting September 5th, due to the amount of freight we receive on Tuesdays and the time it takes to process it, we will no longer purchase or trade for items on Tuesdays. 

Lorcana

 I expected Disney Lorcana to sell well but not to have half a dozen people waiting outside the store when we opened this morning. So far, we have sold through a bit over half of our allotment of booster boxes and about half of our starter decks and all of our Trove boxes. Sales were similar to what we would expect on Free Comic Book Day or Free RPG Day.

There is enough interest in the game that we will start running a League for the game on Wednesday nights from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at a cost of $5 per session.

Pokemon Charizard EX Premium Collection

 

Coming out for Pokemon later this fall. We have 6 coming so let us know if you are intersted.

Blaze a Trail of Darkness with Charizard ex! Charizard ex burns up the oppositions lead with the cunning firepower of a Darkness-type Pokemon! Evolve it from Charmander and Charmeleon, then use its strong Ability and attack to make a roaring comeback. A full set of card sleeves helps keep your deck looking great, and after the battles done, you can put this special Tera Pokemon ex on display in the durable card protector featuring a handy magnetic closure. The Pokemon TCG: Charizard ex Premium Collection includes: - 1 etched foil promo card featuring Charizard ex - 2 foil cards featuring Charmander and Charmeleon - 6 Pokemon TCG booster packs - 1 magnetic card protector with display base - 65 card sleeves featuring Charizard as a Tera Pokemon - A code card for Pokemon TCG Live

The Dungeoneer

The Dungeoner is/was the newsletter of the Knights of the Griffon, a RPGA sanctioned club to which a number of southern Illinois AD&D players belonged. Contents of this issue (January 1987) include a discussion of werewolf lore by Scott Thorne (back in the Blue Sky Games days), magic items by Bob Tottleben and Mike Tyler, the Samauri character class by Clyde Hall and a couple of pieces of fiction with no author given.
 

The Hundreth Voice

From the creator of The Hundreth Voice. If you would like us to order you a copy, let us know.

"I’m Caitlin Like, a cartoonist from Portland, Oregon and creator of Dark Horse Comics’ upcoming graphic novel The Hundredth Voice. It’s a middle-grade dark fantasy graphic novel about a haunted music school, and I’m emailing to let you know preorders are now open. 

 

Uriel Driscoll was born into a family with an amazing gift…and a terrible curse.

 

While his family all have superb singing voices, they are doomed to lose their gifts at the height of their success!

 

Invited to the exclusive Aisling Academy, run by his own mysterious grandfather, Uriel finds the curse is the least of his problems: horrible accidents keep befalling the students, ghosts roam the halls, and Uriel isn’t sure he can sing in the first place! And if Uriel can’t find a way to break his family’s curse, he’ll have to leave his new school, and his new friends, forever…"

Gen Con Theft

 If you have heard about the $300,000 Magic theft at GenCon, you may have heard that the Persons of Interest desinged a boardgame.  Here is the link to a description of the game, released back in 2015

Pokemon Trading

 Although we are going to continue running causal Saturday afternoon Pokemon Play, we are also going to encourage people to bring in cards and trade with each other, no play required. Of course, as has been our policy for years, you can only trade cards. Unless you have a sales tax license, you can not sell cards to other people while in the store.

Commander Masters Box Prices

 We adjusted the prices on our Commander Masters booster boxed downward some. A Collector Booster box is now $299.99, a Set booster box is $549.99 and a Draft booster box is a bargain at $399.99

Magic In 2024

 Here is a rundown of what to expect for Magic the Gathering in 2024

Ravnica Remastered

Murders at Karkov Manor

Fallout Commander Decks

Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Modern Horizons III

Assassins Creed Commander Decks

Bloomburrow

Duskmourn House of Horrow

Innistrad Remastered-2025

Star Wars at GenCon

 One of the highly useful things about Gencon is to get a feel for how various games are doing. Since Gencon is the largest game convention in the US, what people player there give a pretty good indication as to how the game is doing, on average, througout the country. 

Cases in Point Disney Lorcana and Star WArs. Disney Lorcana had people lined up and waiting for 14 hourse, a line of them sleeping in the hall overnight, which is something GenCon has chosen not to allow in the past. That indicates a lot of interest in Lorcana, at least initially. Wheter the game will have legs is another matter but I would expect to see great sales for it for the first release.

On the other hand, Star Wars play was prtetty minimal. Atomic Mind has an extine event hall rented out for playing the various Star Wars games, with space for a couple of hundred players. On Saturday afternoon, the peak playtime of the entire convention, over half the tables were empty. Couple that with stores discounting Star Wars Shatterpoint to get it off their shelves and the Star Wars line does not appear to have a strong future.

Magic Releases for 2024

 Just announced at GenCon is Magic Fallout. Rather like the Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks, WotC will release 4 Fallout themed Commander Decks in March of 2024

Releasing in the first quarter of 2024 will be Murders at Karlov Manor, a detective themed set

The second quarter will see the second Standard legal set of the year, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, a fantasy western themed set that first saw concept art release in 2022.

Lorcana at Gencon

 It looks as if Ravensberger did not anticipate the demand at Gencon for Disney Lorcana as people waited 14 hours in line for the opportunity to purchase the game, only to have the company open up another exhibit hall, sending the people who had waited in line back to the end of the new line. In addition, Ravesnberger's registration system for demos of Lorcana, which let you leave with a Lorcana promo, now selling for over $100, allowed one person to register for multiple demos, allowing them to attempt to garner multiple promos. Once Ravensburger realized this, they wiped the entire system, forcing those people who had registered properly to have to go back and register again.

The company was also limiting purchases of Lorcana to one and attendees' badges got punched to show they had already made their one purchase. Here is what was available at GenCon and we should have limited quantities of these available on the 18 with a tournament on the 19th

Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter Booster Pack – $5.99 each (Limit 24 packs/1 display. Total display price: $143.76)

Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter Starter Decks -$16.99 each (contains 1 Booster Pack) Amber/Amethyst (Limit 1) Ruby/Emerald (Limit 1) Sapphire/Steel (Limit 1)

Captain Hook, Elsa, or Mickey Mouse Card Sleeve Pack (Limit 1 design) – $9.99

Captain Hook, Elsa, or Mickey Mouse Deck Box (Limit 1 design) – $5.99

Maui, Maleficent, or Mickey Mouse Neoprene Play Mat (Limit 1 design) – $19.99

The Queen or Stitch 10-Page Portfolio ( 4-Pocket Pages, Limit 1 design) – $19.99

One Ring Sold

 The 001/001 One Ring card has been sold by the finder to musician and Magic Player Post Malone for a reported $2 million. Since Malone apparently agreed to pay Canadian taxes on the sale, the total price is somewhere closer to $2.6 millioin

Commander Masters Pricing 2

 We will have Commander Masters packs, boxes and Commander Decks on sale this Friday. you can read the pricing for individual packs here.  Prices for boxes are:  draft booster box $549.99, Set Booster Box is $724.99 and a collector booster box is $299.99

Commander Masters Pricing

 Figured out the pricing for individual Commander Masters booster packs.  Draft packs will cost $19.99, Set booster packs will run $26.99 and Collector Boosters will cost......$79.99.  Priciest I have ever seen a set, save for the 30th Anniversary Box, which WOTC sold for $999 and online retailers sold for up to $1800.  Pricey.