Blog Post #0001 - Shopping for Loot

November 20, 2024

Howdy Adventurers, I figured I would start blogging about one of my favourite hobbies: Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).  I have been playing Roleplay Games (RPGs), both tabletop and video games for most of my life, and since the 2014 release of D&D 5th Edition (5E) I have made it a larger part of my life.  In this series of blog posts I will share my passion, share news and thoughts on topics that interest me, and that I hope will interest you too.  If you want to talk more about these things, join our Discord server and find a channel that fits where you would like to start a discussion.

So here we are, it's 2024 and two of the three core books are out for the revised 5E rules.  I have been calling the editions 5.14 and 5.24 ... secretly hoping that the rules won't change much such that we will someday have 5.34, and so on.  Now I love the core books, adventures and such, but I also am a bit of a collector of other fun D&D merchandise (merch).

In my hunt for interesting merch to collect, I find myself going first to the websites of my Friendly Local Gaming Stores (FLGS, at least those that keep their websites up to date with up and coming items).  So for me, these are 401 Games (I tend to visit their Vaughan location most often when I visit Canada's Wonderland since with a Season's Pass I can visit two of my favourite spots with one visit out to Vaughan) and LVLUP Games in Mississauga which is not my closest LGS, but certainly the Friendliest. I tend to find myself searching both of these sites for TTRPG items, board games, miniatures, etc. ... and of course dice.  I tend to sort things by the newest items available and look in every day or so to keep up with what's up and coming.  Both have really good prices, as far as I can tell, and always deliver on what you order, and in good condition.

I also like to take a look at what is available from Amazon, because they do carry many things that a FLGS and few other stores will not, and you can often find unannounced items there, plus with their pre-order price guarantee and the fact that you don't pay until it ships, you can often get the best price without having to shop around.  Most recently, today as a matter of fact, I found a new title called Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Dragons from DK.  No title art yet, which is often the case with early listings, and with it being from DK, it's likely a book full of art from previous sources and light on detail, but still a fun read and article to add to my Library.

Other places I lookup once in a while include Big Bad Toy Store, Merchoid (although if I find something new, I tend to look elsewhere because their prices are erratic and inflated), Gamestop (because they have those exclusives, including Funko Pops).  The odd time I will lookup BoxLunch, Heroes & Villains, RSVLTS, and MTGProShop (UltraPRO).  The only thing that keeps me from buying tons from these last few though are the expensive prices (especially after conversion from USD to CAN, which is 30-40%) and shipping. I tend to prefer and seek out official merch, so you won't see me mentioning other stores where prices and shipping are much cheaper.  The other thing to note is that most things are cheaper in Canada than the US.  Often it's the same price or cheaper, but in Canadian dollars.