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Well! If youre anything like me, by now you are probably sick of the
holidays. Its the day before Thanksgiving as I write this, and already I
am sick of hearing holiday music and seeing ads telling me that what my
loved ones really want this season is <fill in the blank>, when really not a
single one of my loved ones would be the least bit interested in <fill in
the blank>.
Also, if youre anything like me, as you are reading this you still have a
lot of people left to buy presents for... It might be because theyre hard
to shop for, it might be because youre a lazy procrastinator, or it might
even be because you cant keep secrets very well and if you bought
your gifts months in advance, youd burst by Halloween and tell them
what you had bought.
No sane person, or even a relatively insane geek like myself, wants to be
in the mall this time of year. Its crowded, everythings a mess, and they
pipe in that darn annoying holiday music that youve been hearing since
Nov 1st. Thus, I present to you, AJs Comprehensive Guide to Holiday
Shopping at the Gaming Store (if your gaming store is in the mall, youre
out of luck). Quite handily, I shall divide this helpful guide into two
sections . . . One for geeks, and one for those strange non-geeks.
What to buy for the Geeks in your life
(You might very well want to print this column and give it to your family
and friends who never know what to buy you and invariably end up
giving you a supplement for a game youve never played because they
liked the picture on the cover).
- Dice. Dice are always the ultimate answer. Sure, gamers have lots of
dice. But some gamers also have cats, and thus their dice end up under
their couch. I recommend buying extra-large dice for these gamers, ones
that wont fit under the couch. No matter how many dice a gamer has,
they always seem to welcome more. And the gaming industry happily
caters to this by bringing out dice in new colors or styles, including
those pretty glittery ones I got at Comic Con . . . oooh, shiny! Also, few
gamers seem to have those cool Crystal Caste crystal-shaped dice.
Those things are neat. The great thing is, since dice are cheap and can
be bought singly, or in handy tubes with one of each denomination.
They make great stocking stuffers! If youre looking for a nicer gift, buy
fancy dice... Currently on the market are dice carved from genuine stone
(theyre quite nice, I bought my husband a set), dice made of pewter,
dice shaped like a dragon or naughty naked people... My brother told me
about some giant dice bigger than his fist (and my brother is not small).
- Dice bags. This is, of course, a subcategory of dice. Some people have
special things they carry their dice in. Others carry them in whatever
theyll fit in, or worse, leave them out for the cats to play with. If you
are the artsy-crafty sort, you can make your geeky friend a nice bag to carry
their dice in. A recent issue of Beadwork magazine even had instructions
for making a chainmail dice bag.
- Cthulhu merchandise. You might be amazed at the reaction a $7
Cthulhu bean-bag plush will get. Bonus points if you know what Cthulhu
is and dont have to ask the guy at the game store. Right now you can
get Cthulhu plush in various sizes, bumper stickers, t-shirts, fridge
magnets, and of course the Call of Cthulhu role playing game.
- Supplements for whatever games they play. This is riskier territory.
Dont do it unless you know what game they play, what edition of the
game, and have a decent idea of what books they already have. If you do
have a good idea of what to get for them, go for it. Role playing books
can be kinda pricey and theres so many of them that its hard to amass
all the books for all of the games one plays by oneself, unless one has a
high-paying job. Bonus points if youre dedicated enough to search
eBay for out of print books (if you are, can I be your friend? Theres still
some old FASA Earthdawn books I need . . .).
- Cheapass games! Cheapass games are cool. Theyre cheap. Theyre
funny. And theyre easy to wrap in their little rectangular boxes! Best of
all, since theyre board games instead of role playing games, they make
good gifts for comic book geeks, too, and your geeky friend can
probably get any non-geeks they know to play, too. Plus, how can you
resist saying that you bought a bunch of Cheapass presents?
- Weird Little Games. You know, stuff like "Kobolds Ate my Babies"
and "Ninja Burger". These are wacky games with simple covers in a
stapled book. They are cheap. They are funny. They are good for when
you only have a little bit of time to play or youre missing a player and no
one wants to start a new campaign. I recommend Ninja Burger, because I
actually have it and the book is hilarious!
- Booster packs. I just remembered that some geeks play collectible card
games and miniature games. Poor saps. Ahem... anyway. Just ribbing my
brother and dad there! Booster packs are a great gift because just like
Legos, you can never have too many. Also theyre usually pretty cheap,
so they can make good stocking stuffers. Make sure you get the right
game, though. A Magic: The Gathering player isnt going to have much
use for Mage Knight figures, and they might hurt you if you gave them
Pokemon cards.
- Memorabilia! If your gaming store is any good, in addition to having
all the books, cards, dice, miniatures and other game accessories, theyll
also have STUFF. Stuff includes t-shirts, key chains, action figures,
maybe even comic books. Oh, and all those Vampire lapel pins and other
jewelry. All the things that say "Hey, look at me, Im a geek and this is
the game I play!". Again, some of these little things make great stocking
stuffers.
What to buy for the Non-Geeks in your life
Chances are, you have someone in your life whom you feel obligated to
buy a present for who isnt a geek. It might be your significant other, a
parent, a sibling, whatever. You could brave the mall to find them a gift,
or you could look for something for them while youre buying more dice.
Just ask yourself... Would you rather support a big department store
with Christmas trees and bows and junk everywhere, or the gaming shop
with a Santa Cthulhu in the window? I bet I know your answer, so,
moving on . . .
- Normal games. I dont know about all gaming shops, but the one I go
to also has a nice display of chess sets and some other "normal" games.
- Puzzles. Also depends on your game shop, but mine has lots.
Everyone likes puzzles. Especially my cats. Maybe thats why mine are
all still in sealed boxes (the puzzles, not the cats. the cats clawed their
way out when I tried that solution).
- Role playing games. Well, its chancy, but you might just get them
hooked. If not, maybe you can borrow the books from them later on. It
worked for me. We gave my Dad a copy of the Usagi Yojimbo RPG
because he liked the comic, and then he wanted to try roleplaying.
Amusingly enough, we still havent played Usagi.
- Miniatures. These are a good solution if your non-geek likes sci-fi or
fantasy and just doesnt game. A miniature that you painted yourself
makes a touching gift.
- Cheapass games. Anyone who doesnt like Cheapass games doesnt
deserve to be on your gift-giving list. If youve forgotten why, scroll up
to item 5 in the Geek shopping hints.
- Memorabilia! This works for the same crowd as the miniatures do. If
you have a Trekkie or Star Wars buff to buy for, you can probably find
them something at your local gaming store. Same goes for anime, various
movies, comic books, and of course Lord of the Rings! If you want to be
really sneaky, buy them a role playing game based on the movie/tv
show/anime in question. I do so love being sneaky!
Thats about it! I hope your holiday season is relatively free of bad
renditions of classic Christmas carols. See you next month!
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