I wasn't going to write a Geekmas gift guide this year, because I felt like I'd said everything that ever needed to be said about buying gifts for geeks, and also I had a headache. But then Sheryl asked me if I would write one, and I thought maybe I would half-ass it and cobble together some "best-of" so I went looking for my old columns... Only to realize that I wrote my first one in 2002. Ten years ago. Wow. When I wrote my first guide, I wasn't even old enough to drink yet. A lot has changed in the past decade, and not just my drinking habits. Ten years ago, it was a lot harder to shop for geeks. You mostly had to rely on your local gaming shop, IF you had one. Sure, there was the internet, but most of us didn't have broadband. Was Google even a thing in 2002? I can't remember. But either way, if you had dial-up, it was tedious to wait for images to load. Also, a lot of people just plain didn't trust shopping on-line. Now, shopping for geeks is disgustingly easy, and not just because you can Google stuff and quickly and easily buy things on-line from reliable sites. Now you can buy geek stuff darn near everywhere. I was in an independent book store today, and do you know what I saw? Disappearing TARDIS coffee mugs. Adopt a Zombie box sets. Numerous books on steampunk. Cthulhu Christmas ornaments. And this was in a store with a pretty small sci-fi/fantasy section, and that's just the things I remember off the top of my head. There's been a cultural shift, and suddenly it's OK or even cool to be a geek. People not only know what Cthulhu is, they can also pronounce it. Steampunk jewelry can be found in places as mainstream as Target (not good steampunk jewelry, mind you, but it's my job to be a snob about that). I mean, for crap's sake, there's a Game of Thrones TV show on freakin' HBO. If you'd told me about that while I was kicked back on the couch in my first apartment, reading the first few volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, I would have told you that you were crazy. And that's why I wasn't going to write this column, because I mean really, it's too easy. If you can't find an awesome geek gift on your own these days, you're probably beyond my help. But tradition is tradition, and it IS the tenth anniversary of this crazy thing, so headaches be damned, let's talk about some freakin' gifts! Dice. Or maybe not. I mean, gamers love dice, but these days a lot of people roll dice on their phones or tablets. You know why? Because d12s suck and they always roll away and get stuck under the couch. But cool collectors dice are still awesome. Board games. Wow, that's something else that has really taken off in the past 10 years. Euro-games became really popular. There are also a lot of board games that fall somewhere between a traditional board game and an RPG, like the new version of the classic Talisman, or the more recent Arkham Horror. Games like this tend to be a popular option with groups when enough players are missing that you can't continue the campaign, but you still want to spend all night playing something. Toys. Holy crap, have you been in a toy aisle lately? Today's kids have some really cheapass crappy toys, but they also have some really cool stuff. Like Hex Bugs. I love those things (Side note, one of my friends uses the Nanos as cats toys at their vet's recommendation). How about those monster hunter Legos? Or the Monster High dolls? It used to be that action figures were about all there was for geeks in the toy department, but that's really changed now. You know what the new cool thing is in my group? Combination folder-clipboard. It's a really neat thing to keep your character sheet in because it gives you a hard, flat surface to write on and to have you d12s roll off of. Canned air to chase the cat away from your carefully-laid out miniature battlefield or escaped d12s. Seriously, does anyone like d12s? Also, am I just getting silly because my headache meds are kicking in? If your geek uses a tablet or eReader, a gift certificate to the appropriate store would be awesome. A lot of us are switching to digital format sourcebooks, and they're not cheap. There's also a lot of cool dice rollers and GMing tools, not all of which are free. Or they'll just buy Plants vs. Zombies, which is fine as long as they don't play it during Earthdawn. Since this is the 10th, and maybe final, geekmas column, just this once I'm going to list a few geeky things that I want for the holidays. I'd really like it if Earthdawn would just settle down and stop bouncing from company to company. I want someone to just publish a complete set of books that all use the same version of the rules, so I don't have to cobble things together from three separate editions to run the game. I'd like my gaming group to be as enthusiastic about Earthdawn as I am. I'd like my d12s to stay put. I'd like The Hobbit movie(s) to be awesome. (Editor's note: HAHAHAHAHA) I'd like Netflix to be prompt about sending me new geek shows when they come out, instead of making me wait months. I'd like to win an ARC of Seanan McGuire's next book in some sort of on-line contest, otherwise I have to wait until Spring. I am not known for my patience. Some sweet steampunk gifts would not go remiss, since Wild Wild West Con is just around the corner. So there we have it. Geekmas, 2010s style. It's been a good decade, folks! Thanks for reading, have a great holiday, and as always, happy gaming!

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Copyright © 2012 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net