Thank goodness for gift cards

My family tries, I have to give them that.
My mom knows I play D&D, but she knows nothing of D&D so I can always count on some type of pewter dragon holding a crystal ball or a porcelain wizard figure.

“She who must be obeyed” doesn’t game, but she’s well versed in all the peripheral accoutrements that are “must haves” for gamers - DVD sets of Sci-Fi shows, nice books on ancient civilizations, action figures of favorite licensed characters, etc. so she’s able to fill my stocking with cool stuff even though she doesn’t know the difference between GURPS and D20.

Fortunately, a recent development has taken hold during the holidays that is proving to be the best thing since pre-painted for gamers; the gift card.

Thanks to the gift card and the internet, it’s now possible for us to get those gifts we dream of, but knew Uncle Fred and Aunt Inez would never have the savvy to get for us.

This year amongst my colognes, sweaters, DVD’s, Pewter Wizards and stuffed dragons I got a healthy number of gift cards. The last couple of nights have been spent merrily shopping the internet and making my own holiday wishes come true.
Here’s what the Evil DM got in his virtual stocking…


First off of course gamebooks.

GURPS. I own dozens of RPG's and hundreds of Modules, splatbooks and accessories. But at the end of the day there are only a handful of tried and true favorites AD&D is #1, and right behind it is GURPS.





Solomon Kane is a "no brainer" How could I call myself a REH fan and S&S gamer and not have this volume?

I haven't played any Hero system games in years. But I still buy their products. Their pulp line of games is one of the best for source material, no matter what system you use. Valdorian Age is a Sword & Sorcery campaign book for Fantasy Hero- need I say more?

Why I waste 3.99 a pop on comics these days is beyond me. Especially when they do stupid shit like kill Captain America? I would get more satisfaction by going bronze and collecting all the great titles from my youth. That's one of my new years resolutions: stop buying new comics and get back to the good stuff- I just picked up the entire run of Marvel Presents featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy for less that the price of four current titles. It makes no more sense for me to keep buying the new stuff when there is so much good old stuff at lower prices.

And while on the subject of comics my next fanboy project is to recreate three of my favorite teams from yesteryear the Defenders, Champions, and Bronze age Avengers. Here is my starter kit:

So once again, thank goodness for gift cards. They made the Evil DM's Holidays just a bit brighter!