OK, this is something of a Rant, but I'm a little miffed, to say the least. It turns out the only store doing Free RPG Day around me was a store called the Complete Strategist. My normal store, Cyborg One, which is fantastic btw, wasn't doing it this year, so I drove all the way out to King of Prussia PA to get the free Paizo Beastiary, and when I got there, the clerk made me roll a D20 and gave me a random book. When I asked him about the Beastiary, he said they were doing it random this year and that was it. Seriously ? So now someone with no interest in this book will get it and either get rid of it or throw it away, and I have no recourse. As an aside, someone else came in, and he got a free Die 6. One Die, not a set, one Die. What gives ? Arghhhhh......

Sighs. Anyhow, Despite my disappointment, I love Paizo and I'm seriously looking forward to the Pathfinder RPG. It looks great and my group can't wait to try it out.

Sorry for the Rant.

That sucks... The store I went to let us pick what we wanted, but to get the "free" Beastiary, I was required to buy at least $20 of other stuff. I'm very happy I got the product I was looking for, but feel a bit taken.

That sucks... The store I went to let us pick what we wanted, but to get the "free" Beastiary, I was required to buy at least $20 of other stuff. I'm very happy I got the product I was looking for, but feel a bit taken.

I remember hearing horror stories like this last year and it seems to continue. At the very least my LGS had a "1 product per person" thing going on, which is fair, of course, but last year they had 3 per person.

Those two situations above are not very cool.

Wow, that's lame. My local store was limiting to three items per customer, which was fine with me since The Bestiary was the only thing I wanted anyway.

Really, the pickings seemed kinda slim this year. I did pick up a booklet for Dragon Warriors and something for Paranoia. Both games that have been mentioned in my close circles lately.

Wow, that's lame. My local store was limiting to three items per customer, which was fine with me since The Bestiary was the only thing I wanted anyway.

Really, the pickings seemed kinda slim this year. I did pick up a booklet for Dragon Warriors and something for Paranoia. Both games that have been mentioned in my close circles lately.

All in all a big bummer for me today with empty hands. I really wish the Sword And The Grail was still open, they always had stuff for both Free RPG and Free Comic day. <sigh>

I went to my LGS and was told they decided not to participate this year, after being a part of it for the last couple of years. That means the nearest participating store is a 3 hour drive away. Aaargh...

Does anyone know if the bonus bestiary will be on sale at Paizo, provided they have any "extras" left over?

My store let us pick what we wanted and we could have more than one item. I only took Pathfinder book, cause honestly the rest wasn't very interesting. They had some cool dice but only two of them a d8 and d12 and with no matching set i was like meh why bother.

Not sure how many items you could get. I know it was one of each but not sure how many others I could have gotten. They just told me i could have some of the others if I wanted.

But yeah that really sucks how the posters above stores did things. Especially the random roll thing. Thats really lame.

I got to my local store doing Free RPG Day. Their box had no bestiaries ... double the amount of something else. The only thing I wanted and drove over 2 hours round trip and left with nothing ... I nearly cried.

Rolling Random for your free goodness?

Lamest. Idea. Evar.

Something tells me some boss thought he was being clever doing it that way or something. He's probably full of himself. Probably hates children and kicks puppies and always makes women pick up the tab.

My LGS (I'm not so convinced about the friendly part anymore) decided that they should charge for their Free RPG day stuff ... since, after all, they had to pay for it. $5 for the Bonus Bestiary.

Sorry to all the good Game Stores out there, but I'm pretty much convinced now that it's not the internet killing you - it's your crappy counterparts.

Wow, by comparison my game store did pretty well then. Each customer got to pick one free thing and was allowed a second pick with a purchase of at least $20. Since the only thing I saw that I really wanted was the Osirion Companion, I declined the second pick.

Random dice roll? Blech...

My LGS (I'm not so convinced about the friendly part anymore) decided that they should charge for their Free RPG day stuff ... since, after all, they had to pay for it. $5 for the Bonus Bestiary.

Sorry to all the good Game Stores out there, but I'm pretty much convinced now that it's not the internet killing you - it's your crappy counterparts.

If you have trouble with any of the stores participating in the event, please let us know.

On the bright side, $5 is what it would have cost you to order from Paizo, plus you got it earlier and saved shipping?

I went to one store which wasn't doing it and noticed a dusty box behind the counter that had a Revenge of the Kobold King poking out...

Yeah i think I would report the store that was selling it as he defeats the whole point.

My FLGS had a pretty decent policy. Every guest was allowed a total three free items, at most one of which could come from the box of "high demand" items, which included both the PF Bestiary and the Eberron adventure. A little sad that I couldn't get the Eberron adventure, but, well, PF takes precedence!

Also, they had exactly two sets of the specialty dice, so they were giving out raffle tickets for them.

Condolences to those who had their Free RPG Day ruined by ijits.

I went to one store which wasn't doing it and noticed a dusty box behind the counter that had a Revenge of the Kobold King poking out...

My only complaint is that for, the third year in a row, the Pathfinder item was the first to run out, long before I get to the store.

I'm eagerly awaiting Free RPG Day (Observed). Like other observed holidays, it falls on a Monday.

Condolences to those who had their Free RPG Day ruined by ijits.

DitheringFool wrote:

I went to one store which wasn't doing it and noticed a dusty box behind the counter that had a Revenge of the Kobold King poking out...

Where did you go, DF?

I feel lucky then... Our FLGS allowed two items for regular customers, and let you pick out another one if you stayed for the games. Which is what they did last year.

No problem getting the pathfinder bonus bestiary, since I was the first person to get anything. My husband picked up the Eberron adventure, and I picked up the quickstart guide for the new Whitewolf WoD game.

I wish I could have gotten a complete set of the Q workshop dice... purple with yellow numbers, they looked sharp.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Condolences to those who had their Free RPG Day ruined by ijits.

DitheringFool wrote:

I went to one store which wasn't doing it and noticed a dusty box behind the counter that had a Revenge of the Kobold King poking out...

Where did you go, DF?

The store above was the Comic Asylum in Richardson off Jupiter. I also went by Lone Star Comics (the north Plano one) and Madness (who also was not participating).

DitheringFool wrote:

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Condolences to those who had their Free RPG Day ruined by ijits.

DitheringFool wrote:

I went to one store which wasn't doing it and noticed a dusty box behind the counter that had a Revenge of the Kobold King poking out...

Where did you go, DF?

The store above was the Comic Asylum in Richardson off Jupiter. I also went by Lone Star Comics (the north Plano one) and Madness (who also was not participating).

Was non-participation up this year? Game Chest in Valley View didn't participate. (I would have rather driven to Gen X in Bedford, but Lone Star is so much more convenient, and my time is at a premium right now.) If so, I wonder what might be behind it? The selection at Lone Star was not impressive, and neither was the supply (unless they were keeping more behind the counter.) Of course, with a one per customer policy, the selection didn't need to be wide for me.

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

Policies the same at all three places. 1 item per person, no purchase necessary.

The Lone Star in Arlington mixed in leftovers (Traveller Intro) from last year!!!

Oh buhuhu, at least all of you are living in a country where it's even possible to get a hold of any Free RPG stuff.
Spoiled, ungrateful brats!
:-p

(only half-kidding - I bet that even if stores in my country would participate, it would only be like 2 or 3 of them and they're all located in the 2 biggest cities here, the closest one still being 2 hours away from me)

Yay, Lone Star...keepin' the dream alive. If I have birthday mad money, I'm going to reward them with a major purchase.

Was GenX's miniature sale over?

Wow, GentleGiant, I didn't know you were within the Danemark. I will think of you when I buy cheese and ham.

This is why I buy everything online. Flag Stores are not what they once were!

But maybee I am a grump.

Wow, GentleGiant, I didn't know you were within the Danemark. I will think of you when I buy cheese and ham.

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

I think I know where your going... and your not alone. I love a good conspiracy.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Wow, GentleGiant, I didn't know you were within the Danemark. I will think of you when I buy cheese and ham.

Yes indeed. And there definitely is something rotten in the state of Denmark (and no worries, it's not the cheese and ham!). At least when it comes to gaming stores.
On the other hand, with the prices the existing ones charge I'm not sure I'd frequent them all that often anyway (usually the prices are $-price x 10, even though the exchange rate is only around 5.33).

Thanks to Free RPG day, we discovered another gaming store within a pretty reasonable distance to us. Pair-A-Dice in Vista, California was my closest store doing the Free goodies (the store I normally go to once a quarter or so is Game Empire, and the clerks didn't even know what I was talking about the two times I called to see if they were doing it.)

Pair-A-Dice allowed everyone two items of their choice, and three if you were a preferred shopper. So we managed to snag two copies of the Bestiary, one of the Chessex special dice, and the QWorkshop pair of dice between the hubband and I. The store had a great selection of games, though not Paizo unfortunately ... they said they didn't have a lot of call for it, but could get anything we wanted within a week if it was available. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we get all our Paizo online nowadays ...

But I'll definitely be looking at Pair-A-Dice for my gaming trips when I want to look at other products :)

Moorluck wrote:

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

I think I know where your going... and your not alone. I love a good conspiracy.

Are you saying that Wal-Mart is trying to squeeze into the RPG scene???
:-p

and when I got there, the clerk made me roll a D20

Sweet Christmas, it seems some game stores want to honk off their customers.

GentleGiant wrote:

Moorluck wrote:

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

I have the beginnings of a conspiracy theory, but since it would blame a particular company, people would rightly call foul on me.

I think I know where your going... and your not alone. I love a good conspiracy.

Are you saying that Wal-Mart is trying to squeeze into the RPG scene???
:-p

Exactly!! Wall-Mart is the DEVIL!! ;p

Hell we didn't even have Free RPG day around here, our local store refuses to carry anything but WoTC to boot. >_<

My FLGS allowed one item per person, or three per if we played in any of the events they were running. We played 4.0 with 27th level crappily auto generated characters (even less impressed with 4.0 than I used to be) and made out with the Eberron adventure (for the tile, not the adventure), the Bestiary, and two sets of the dice. They were out of dice when we left at 1:00 pm... Those were moving fast

Obviously, your local store owner has been possessed by the DEV-ILLLLLL....

If Wal-mart got into RPGs that would probably help the industry a lot...much as I hate Wal-Mart...maybe if Target carried them...

Roll a d20? Roll a d20??! Oh I woulda been pissed!! Especially since The bonus bestiary had quite a few copies!!

My FLGS allowed 2 per person, 3 if you were in their database...

Met GamerGirl and LordFyre there...we talked quite a bit before the store opened.

The dice were the first thing gone!

Wow, after reading some of the stuff people had to do for free RPG Day, I feel real lucky. My local game store let us pick an item each. My son, friend, and I each got an item. I also ran a game and got to pick two more items.

Eagles in Bellingham, WA is great. He will use anything left over for door prizes at our local mini con, PoorCon, next weekend. The owner also saves all the special dice and lets each of his DM's pick from them.

If anyone is ever up in Bellingham, WA make sure to stop at Eagles. It had a great game room and the owner is an old time gamer.

Wow, I am sorry to hear about the bad experiences that people had. My FLGS is Games, Comics and Stuff in Glen Burnie, Maryland. They had all the free stuff piled up at the front of the store and let us pick whatever we wanted. I also got there early and nabbed some of the dice. I bought stuff and took a buddy of mine with me who also bought stuff as well.

The one in Seattle that I went to said he's going to at least double his order for next year because he was completely wiped out within two hours of opening.

There were only three (3!!!) stores in NC participating according to the Free RPG Day site ... What kind of LGS owners are living in my state?!?!

I am amazed at some of the stories people have posted no wonder the FLGS are having such a hard time competing now. The whole point of this is to get people into the stores and to get people to try new products so they will come back and buy them if they like it.

I guess I should be thankful that my FLGS gets it (Myriad Games in Salem, NH) was only asked to please limit myself to up to 5 items with no duplicates. And for the record the idea that Free RPG day is a promotion work as it got me in the store today and I ended up buying a new board game to go with my shiny new pathfinder bestiary.

I was a little disappointed in the overall selection this year there wasn't a ton to pick as compared with past years. The bonus bestiary and the q-dice I thought were the best things I saw, and yet again as in 2007 the paizo product wins free RPG day in my opinion. I'm guess the economy play a big part in it this year,

That sucks... The store I went to let us pick what we wanted, but to get the "free" Beastiary, I was required to buy at least $20 of other stuff. I'm very happy I got the product I was looking for, but feel a bit taken.

Bleh

I showed up at my FLGS before noon and there was a table just inside the entrance covered in free stuff - and no notice about how much we could take. I grabbed a 4 things I think, my brother grabbed the bestiary, and when I asked the clerk for a bag to put it in he didn't give me an ill look. I guess I missed out on the dice though - they must've gone quick this morning.

I poked my head in the game room expecting to see large crowds of events going on and there were only about 5 people clustered around a single table. Really strange for a Saturday, and even stranger for Free RPG day.

My friend got there later this afternoon and called me asking where the stuff was - apparently it was all gone by then. No table, no nothing.

I personally don't support FREE RPG Day. It's never free. You either have to buy a book, play in an event and not get what you want, or do something else and likely not get what you want. Why? Because most of the "free" stuff is crap. People only want certain things from certain publishers, everything else no one cares about. Thus, those items are premium and high in demand, and since they can satisfy everyone, they'll find a way to benefit from it.

The only store listed in our area doing Free RPG day was a comic book store that had closed 2 years ago.

... nice >_>

zylphryx wrote:

There were only three (3!!!) stores in NC participating according to the Free RPG Day site ... What kind of LGS owners are living in my state?!?!

What part of NC are you in? (I'm an Outer Banker...)
All Fun and Games is probably the best one in the state - in Apex. Sorry to hear you missed out. I share your pain - ended up having to work and missing out completely. At least we get to pick up the pdfs though.

I think Durham was the closest NSLGS (Not So LGS) ... I guess I could have gone to visit my folks in Chapel Hill, though I wouldn't haven't gotten to the area until after 5pm and would have had to do an almost immediate about face.

I live about the same distance from that compleat strategist store mentioned in the first post. SO glad I did not drive 2 hours for that treatment.