White Cap Comics will be open for business Monday and Tuesday as usual.
The Outer Limits will be open for business on Tuesday.

Always difficult to know exactly what to say.  I do like licensed product and after something like Hellboy is out for so long, you almost think it is licensed product.  But of course it is not actually.  I do agree that it would be nice to see more original/creator owned properties.  I couldn't totally disagree since I have hoped to see a book by one of my customers for years now.  I guess it would not be creator owned since they paid him for the series, but he was greatly disappointed when they decided to shelve the project; and keep the series in limbo for some future day.  I believe they own the series and have total control.  The customer, however, was so disillusioned I have not seen him in several years.  I think he may have given up creating and drawing comic books.

On the other hand, from a business perspective, I understand that some projects have to be halted regardless of how far you have gone and how much you have invested.  Sometimes you have to hold back in a difficult economy.  I imagine they have many projects (and disappointed creators) that had to be put on hold since they became too cost prohibitive in the current economic situation.  You need to have an expectation of return to put out much money in today's economic environment.

Here's my official proposal for a Grand Rapids Gaming Convention.

If you are an experienced GM/DM and would like to participate in a two day event please let me know by emailing me at tabletop.epics@gmail.com

The official proposal:

http://tabletopepics.blogspot.com/2011/07/proposal-grand-rapids-gaming-convention.html

If anyone is interested I'm working on running a couple of adventures using the West End Games Star Wars rules. Please let me know if you'd like to join up!

It is sad that Darkhorse has gone away from creator owned titles. I miss those early days where all sorts of strange characters and stories would pop up.

Even though they are publishing primarily licensed material now, and I miss the old line, I still think they are one of the best comic publishers around. These days titles like The Guild and Hellboy are at the top of my comic list, with very few, if any, other titles.

Let's hope they don't water down their stuff in the future like other mainstream comic companies.

I recently wrote about my experiences in the "Olden Days" of White Cap Comics. Not so old as to be at the beginning of the store's existence, but old by my account. Here's a link to the blog that shares just how I feel about this incredible store and the history I have with it:
http://tabletopepics.blogspot.com/2010/05/x-files-ccg-trip-down-memory-lane.html

Eternal thanks to Priscilla for being the "Game Mom" that always made me feel welcome and introduced me to the world of gaming!

Is there any chance of getting update store event information here on the board? It would be cool to know what's planned at White Cap for the month, if possible.

I know this is old news now, but, for those who didn't know, Wizards of the Coast has discontinued their run of the Star Wars: Saga Edition RPG along with the miniatures line. This is very sad.

If anyone is interested in keeping the flame alive let me know and we can get a regular Star Wars campaign going. I'd be glad to run or play in any such event!

I would be interested if Richie still runs adventures on Saturday and if there's an open spot.

I started playing D&D with Richie back in the old store on West River Dr. The game was DM'ed by a guy named Larry and it started at the twilight of 2nd Edition. It would be fun to sling dice with you again, Richie, if you read this!

As far as initial comparisons/contrasts between 4th Edition and 3.5, I can say that the feel of the latter has always been that of classic D&D with a fair bit of modernization while 4th, as John says, feels very similar to a video game. An article in a recent Knights of the Dinner Table, I think, said it best by saying that 4th Edition is a good game in itself, especially for folk new to the gaming hobby (most coming from the WoW generation), but it is not Dungeons and Dragons. It is merely Wizards of the Coast, the holders of the D&D license, applying a classic, respectable name to their new role playing system that really deserves a name of its own.

In regards to character creation, they have done a good job of making every class in 4th Edition feel exactly the same but with different names and "Power Sources." Fighters are basically Wizards with powers called "Exploits" instead of "Spells." It's almost insulting to an experienced gamer who has had the fortune to play the original D&D game, but that's why I say it's an ideal system for new gamers, when separated from the D&D name and its legacy of course.

In regard to the point John made about At-Will Powers, I'll say that it does make a 1st Level Mage very useful, but since the first time I read through the books I've had an issue with this Power System they've developed. Still using the spell caster example, while the old Mage spell system wasn't perfect, it added some challenge and required some skill to pull off a successful spell caster. You had accomplished something if you're Wizard made it out of the first 6 levels! Now PC's are hardly challenged at all. A 1st Level character now could wipe the floor with higher level characters from previous versions of D&D. Using Knights of the Dinner Table again, there was an article published that displayed a graph of character power as it increased through the various editions of D&D. They used the Fighter class as an example and based the challenge on the class' effectiveness against a group of goblins and how many could be killed by a 1st Level Fighter in each edition. The Fighter from 1st Edition could maybe kill 1-2 goblins before being overwhelmed, and as the graph went across the editions it rose steadily till it came to 4th. A 4th Edition, 1st Level Fighter could kill a number of goblins somewhere in the mid-20's! That's some ridiculous power at such a low level!

I could go on but I won't. I'm not playing 4th Edition myself. If there's any need for an improvement on 3.5 I think the guys at Paizo have done it best with their Pathfinder system. It balances out the classes without giving them crazy advantages and still maintains that good old D&D feel. Too bad Paizo doesn't own the Dungeons and Dragons license.