Hello everyone!  Here's our update for Thursday, June 11, 2009. 

Favorable Press! The Greenfield Recorder ran an article about JIFFY CON (a twice yearly gaming con that we help to sponsor) in their Arts Section last Saturday, and mentioned us favorably.  It’s not on the web, but you can contact the Recorder for a back issue if you’d like to read the article.

Summer T-Shirt Sale!  We have brought our fantasy t-shirts back for the summer!  We have about two dozen styles in stock, with displays up on the walls over the comics rack and in the games section.  Anything up to an XL is only $17.99, larger sizes only $19.99.

Special Wizards of the Coast gift with purchase promotion this weekend.  Check out the GAMING section for more info.

This week we have our usual sections on NEW COMICS and Graphic Novels, recent GAMING arrivals, EVENTSboth in the store and around the Pioneer Valley, new postings to our eBAY store, and an in-depth REVIEW of a favorite comic or game.  

Featured REVIEW:

My Mommy Is In America, written by Jean Regnaud and illustrated by Emile Bravo, $25.00 hard cover.

Based on Regnaud's own childhood memories, five year old Jean has a kid brother, a dad who is often busy at work, and a nanny.  He knows he has a mommy, too, but he never sees her anymore, and none of the grownups want to discuss it.  So when the little girl next door tells him that has postcards from his mother, and reads them to him, he's eager to hear more.

New GAMES this week:

20% OFF on ALL Dungeon Crawl Classics adventures:
Until May 31^st, Goodman Games is sponsoring a sale of all their DCC products, both for 3.5 and 4^th edition D&D, from slim folios to thick hard covers.  Dungeon Crawls are well-thought out, self-contained dungeons, perfect for a single session or extended play.  Note that all the 3.5 books are out of print, so when we sell out, they will be gone for good.

This Sunday at 4:30 PM is the next meeting of our new series of in-store D&D events: Living Forgotten Realms.  LFR is the campaign setting of the RPGA (the long-standing official D&D fan club), and is set in the latest version of the Realms, using the current, Fourth Edition rules.  LFR games are open to any RPGA member with a legal character.  If you aren’t a member, joining takes two minutes and is free, and if you don’t have a character, we can make one up for you on the spot using Character Builder.  Manager Jim C and staffer Michael D will alternate as Dungeon Masters, running different adventures, so even if you come to both games every month, you’ll still have something new to do.  (You can also play alternate characters if you want.)  Meetings will be on the first Thursday of every month, starting at 6:30 PM and the third Sunday, starting at 4:30 PM.  These events are free, and separate from the D&D Game Days we will also host in the store.  (The next Game Day will be Saturday, May 23, with sessions at Noon and 7:00 PM.)

New releases:
World of Darkness Immortals $34.99
Vampire Ancient Bloodlines $34.99
Ars Magica Tales of Mythic Europe $27.95
Traveller Core Book 4: Psion $24.95
Traveller Project Steel $24.95
Zombies!!! 8 Jail Break $14.99
Dead Reign RPG $22.95
Dead Reign Civilization Gone $12.95
Gamemastery Flip Mat Waterfront Tavern $12.99
Dark Heresy Tattered Fates $24.95

Regular Stock Items:  
Modern Myths is a full-service game store as well as a comics store, and we carry a wide assortment of board, card and role playing games.  We range from new games like , ,,Trail of Cthulhu, and to old favorites like ,, and Unknown Armies.For board and card games, too, we run the gamut, from , , and to Blokus,Chessand . We also carry boosters and starters for a few collectible games, including minis, minis, and minis.

"But what if you don't have it?" I hear you cry.  Let meassure you: if it's in print, we will gladly order it for you, at no extra cost.  Moreover, we do game orders at least once a week, so if it's available, you won't have to wait long, either.  (And, yes, this applies to paints and minis from Games Workshop, as well.)

EVENTS: 

Modern Myths Book Club: Our Book Club meets on the last Thursday of every month.  For April, we will be reading Blankets, Craig Thompson’s award winning memoir of love, heart break, and quilting.  We’ll be meeting to discuss it at our next meeting:  7pm on Thursday, April 30^th.  Hope you can join us!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: May 2, 2009.  We will have about twenty new free comics from over a dozen publishers, and we'll be giving away a free copy of each one to everyone who wants one while supplies last.  This is a great way to check out some books that you don't normally read, and even for people who don't read comics at all to see what all the fuss is about.

NEW REGULAR EVENT!  Living Forgotten Realms: Starting next month, on the first Thursday and third Sunday of every month, we will be running D&D games here in the store, using official Living Forgotten Realms setting campaign adventures.  In order to play, you'll join the RPGA and create a new fourth edition character for the campaign. You can create it in advance or with our help at the game. As you play, you'll gain treasure and experience for your character to use in later games.  These events will be free, and open to anyone who wishes to play.  Space will be limited, so sign up today! Next Meetings: Thursday, May 7 at 6:30 PM and Sunday, May 17 at 4:30 PM.

Miniatures Painting Workshop: Next Meeting: SATURDAY, May 9, 3:00-5:00 PM.   Staff member Pete S. leads a free workshop for folks who want to paint Warhammer, 40K, and other Games Workshop minis .  Novices and old hands welcome.  Feel free to bring your own--from any game--or we can provide you with a sample mini, paints and brushes.  Regular meetings on the second Saturday of each month.

Western Mass Comics Creators Group: You can join other local comics creators, amateur and professional, for an informal roundtable of ideas, tips, and hopefully, inspiration! Newcomers (published and non-) always welcome. For more info, contact Scott Sheaffer by email: KMacAlp (AT) aol (PERIOD) com.  Meetings are the first Tuesday night of every month; next meeting is Tuesday, May 5th, 7:00 PM. 

World Wide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day: Saturday May 23, Noon and 7 PM.  If you have always wanted to try D&D and never gotten around to it; or if you have been playing for years, but aren't sure if you'll like Fourth Edition; or if you'd just like to pick up some dice and dungeon crawl for a few hours, this event is for you.  This game is free and open to players of all experience levels.  Space is limited, and we are already taking sign ups.  

Board Game Night every Saturday: Join us for a wide range of European-style board and card strategy games. Newcomers welcome! We'll provide the games and teach the rules, but you can also bring your favorites. A great chance to try before you buy.  Every Saturday evening, 7:00 to 11:00 PM.

Modern Myths Gaming Table Google Calendar.  To see if our table at the back of the store is available for an event, or just see what we have going on here at the store, add "Modern Myths Gaming Table" to your list of Google calendars.  If you'd like to reserve our space, email us at MODERNMYTHS (at) AOL (period) COM.

Looking Ahead:
We're starting our Living Forgotten Realms events next month, on May 6th and 17th.  No D&D experience necessary.  Let us know if you'd like to sign up.  We've also started a sign-up sheet for the next D&D Game Day on Saturday, May 23.  We plan to set up a booth for the Northampton Sidewalk Sale in late July, which will mark the start of the Summer Bargain Back Issue Sale.  We plan to do at least one more convention this year: Connecticon on July 31-August 2. We will celebrate our seventh anniversary in mid-September.  If you are organizing a convention or other event, and you would like us to participate, please contact us as soon as you can.  We had to pass on a couple of great opportunities last year because we didn't find out about them in time.  

Classes & Job Opportunities:
We aren't aware of any new classes or jobs for either gaming or comics, just now, but if you hear of any, please let us know.

Around The Valley:
This is a new sub-section, for regular events happening in our area.  

Lost Homes Changeling Live Action RPG. 
Springfield: Lost Homes is a game of Changeling: the Lost (White Wolf). Lost Homes explores what happens to people who come back out of Faerie: their struggles to remain connected to the mundane world, endeavors to avoid their Fae captors, and descent into madness. Held on the third floor of Seelye Hall at Smith College. Character creation begins at 6:00 PM, and game runs from 7:00 PM to midnight. Remaining spring dates: 25 April.

DEADLARP Dead Lands Live Action RPG: 
 -DeadLARP is a live-action roleplaying game using an adapted form of Pinnacle Entertainment Group's award winning Savage Worlds system. Events are held every other Saturday nights on the third floor of Seelye Hall at Smith College in Northampton, MA. The event officially begins at 7, though check in times begins around 6. The game setting location is the city of Gommora in California, the setting time is 1880 "Alternate History Civil War Era."  Anyone interested in playing should create a username and login so that we can tailor your account to your preference. Thank you for your interest, and we hope you enjoy yourself.  - The GMs: James, Jason, Bish, Pat, Nick

Renaissance City Vampire Live Action RPG.  NEW GAME, still looking for players.  

Pioneer Valley Chess Club meets every Saturday at 1 PM at the Forbes Library in Northampton.  For information on chess groups in our area, click here.

Current eBay Listings:

This week, we have added five new items to our eBay store: a D&D 3.5 Edition Complete Arcane HC, a D&D 3.5 Edition Complete Adventurer HC, a D&D 3.5 Edition Players Handbook II HC, a D&D 3.5 Edition Drow Of The Underdark HC, and a set of Inu Yasha, Volumes 1-20.

Moreover, our regular selection of action figures, used graphic novels, used RPGs, and sets of comics & manga, are once again available for purchase.  As always, we encourage you all to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.    

Featured REVIEW:

Pluto: Volumes 1 & 2 (of 7), by Naoki Urasawa, Trade Paperback, $12.99 each

Pluto, the new series from Viz Media, combines the talents of two of the greatest names in manga.  Naoki Urasawa is the award-winning creator of Monster and 20th Century Boys, known for his dense, suspenseful storytelling.  With Pluto he has decided to take on the grandfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka, and his well-loved children's character Astro-Boy.  With the help of long-time plot collaborator Takashi Nagasaki, the cooperation of Tezuka Productions, and the supervision of Tezuka's son, Urasawa has re-crafted the classic Astro-Boy story "The Greatest Robot on Earth" as a mature detective story.

The story of Pluto follows German detective Gesicht as he investigates a series of murders.  It appears that someone is targeting the seven great robots of the world, a group that includes Gesicht himself as well as the childlike Atom (as Astro-Boy was known in Japan).

The two volumes (of an eventual seven) that have been released so far have been mature, suspenseful, dark, and completely engrossing.  The setting shows us a future of robots and human living together unlike any we typically see in science-fiction.  Though bound by Asimov-style laws and granted far fewer rights than humans, these robots live their own lives.  They have jobs, homes, spouses, and vacations.  This world is fleshed out further over the course of the first two volumes through its history, including a recently-ended large-scale war fought by robots that haunts many of the main characters.

Though the premise of taking a children's story and reworking it for adults is one that can easily descend into kitsch, Pluto is never "edgy" or "adult" for its own sake.  Urasawa is often praised as a master storyteller, and it's clear why.  Pluto is a mature, multi-layered story that uses its unique setting and characters to discuss issues such as the nature of memory, the meaning of war, and the tragedy of a 2-tiered society.  It's also just a wonderfully suspenseful thriller in its own right.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

-Mike I.

( GAMES )
Current Location: 34 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Babylon Sister by Steely Dan

This past Saturday, Modern Myths hosted two sessions of D&D games as part of World Wide D&D Game Day.  Taking advantage of our expanded play space (thanks to our recent remodeling), we ran our biggest D&D game day yet.  At noon, we ran four tables for twenty gamers, letting all of them pick characters and then run through the new adventure One Dark Night In Weeping Briar,and then at 7pm we did it again with three more groups.We all had a great time, and we’re thrilled so many of you turned out to have fun with us. Special thanks to TJ, Rory, Joe and Raf for serving as Dungeon Masters for us at one or both sessions.

This past weekend, Modern Myths ran a couple of games at the first ever Maul Con, a gaming convention held at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, MA.

On Saturday, Michael Dow ran the Mall Crawl, a fourth edition D&D adventure he created, in which the players had to enter a ruined shopping emporium and retrieve ancient treasures to fill the royal shopping list. Four people showed up to play and, over the course of four hours, managed to fight their way from the atrium, through the Food Court, to the Manager’s Office (with a brief stop at the Gap). His Majesty wishes to personally thank adventurers Sean, Rudy, Lee and Seth for their service in filling the Royal Wish List.

On Sunday, we set up the board game Arkham Horror. This is a gorgeous cooperative game based on H.P Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu mythos' stories, so for four hours we all raced around the town of Arkham and sojourned on other planes, trying to find the clues we needed to close and seal the gates between the worlds before the Great Old One awoke. Best moment: when the cluster of squamous cultists of Cthulhu were forced into the streets and became entangled in Arkham's Fourth of July parade. Thanks to investigators Conor, Rory, Eli and Sean for joining us in beating back the darkness.