GloryHoundd Presents

Author: GloryHoundd

  • MaricopaCon 2014 Kickstarter

    Arizona’s Grassroots gaming convention MaricopaCon is returning to the Valley of the Sun for 2014.

    What does this mean for you? Well, if you live in Phoenix, Arizona you have the rare opportunity to visit a convention specifically based on a fantastic gaming experience. That means you’ll be able to chuck dice, toss cards and mercilessly pulverize your friends to your heart’s desire for two whole days of unrequited gaming bliss. Organizer Jason Youngdale has brought together several groups around the valley such as the Arizona Men In Black, Adventures Under the Laughing Moon, Time Renegades, UAG, and the Catalyst Game Labs Demo Team. They’ll bring you a heaping array of board game demos, RPG and even miniature war gaming. (more…)

  • Gotham City Comics Review

    Gotham City Comics & Coffee
    46 W. Main Street. Mesa AZ, 85201
    (480) 649-3065
    Store Hours:
    M-Th: 11am – 9pm
    F: 11am – 11pm
    Sa: 11am – 11pm
    Su: 11am – 6pm

    First Impression: 

    I would say this is more a Comic store than anything else. However, it’s a comic store that serves LATTES AND GAMES ON THE SIDE! Seriously, whoever came up with this idea was a complete genius. This is the store I’ve been dreaming of all my life!!! They have cushy couches in the front and then about midway through the store they have their neatly organized comic collection. Once you get to the back of the store you’ll see the area for gaming and watching films. I seriously can’t get over what they’ve done with the space in this store. It’s open and inviting, yet much like a Transformer it can be morphed into what the store needs. Dr. Who night?? Sure! Just arrange the couches. MTG night??? Clear the couches and add the tables.

    So if you haven’t been to Gotham City (Ha! That will never get old) before you should visit them soon.

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  • Hunger Games Catching Fire Review

    To be honest I liked Hunger Games enough to own the first movie however the extent of my fandom stopped there. To me it was another cool action flick with slight undertones of government control and the faintest hint of a future uprising. However The Hunger Games “Catching Fire” has properly succeeded in lighting my curiosity and bringing me on the journey into the depths of Katniss’ paranoia.

    For the rest of my review please  click here to visit the D20 Girls Magazine Website.

  • The 6 Types of Gamers

    The 6 Types of Gamers

    The gaming community has grown exponentially over the years, especially with the sudden spotlight on geek culture with popular TV shows like The Big Bang Theory and the myriad of comic book films hitting the big screen. The awesome part of all this is that more people are taking a jump down the rabbit hole of gaming, comics and overall nerdiness. With this new surge of fresh blood in the gaming community I’ve deemed the term “Gamer” no longer specific enough to describe such a large dynamic group. So I’ve taken it upon myself to classify our hierarchy into six distinct categories. So I’ll start with the loneliest of gamer.


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  • Steve Jackson MIB!

    It’s official! I’ve become a new member of the Men in Black team of Phoenix!  What does that mean? Why thank you for asking!

    Men in Black is a volunteer based demonstration team for Steve Jackson Games. So I’ll be traveling around the valley of the sun showing people how to play games at stores and conventions. I might also put up few “How to play” guides for their games on my website.  At the very least I’m hoping to get out there and play more games!

  • Desert Sky Games Review

    Desert Sky Games
    2531 S. Gilbert Road. #106. Gilbert AZ, 85295
    (602) 615-5214
    Store Hours:
    M-Th: 10am – 10pm
    F: 10am – 12am
    Sa: 10am – 10pm
    Su: 10am – 6pm

    First Impression: 

    I’ve never been to desert sky games before as they’re relatively new to the valley. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was how well they used their space. I want to say about 85% of the store was filled with gaming tables. Which was really nice compared to some other stores I’ve visited lately. There was also plenty of room to move around, so I didn’t have to awkwardly hit everyone’s chair backs just to get across the room. The staff was friendly and asked us if there was anything specific we needed. They didn’t have the specific game I was looking for however they ended up ordering it for me with no issues. They also had some sweet retro arcade games you could play for a quarter so I got to play Super Mario Bro’s with my daughter before we left. Overall I was impressed with the store except for the price of their MTG cards, however they redeemed themselves by having really great stock for all other cards.

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  • Pop Culture Paradise Tempe Review

    Pop Culture Paradise Tempe
    715 S. Forest Avenue. Tempe, AZ, 85281
    (480) 557-6640
    Store Hours:
    M-Tu and Th-Sa: 11am – 10pm
    W: 9am – 10pm
    Su: 11am – 6pm

    First Impression: 

    Walking into Pop Culture is kind of like walking into a small cave. Immediately I felt claustrophobic and that remained an ongoing theme as I browsed through the store. Pop Culture’s Tempe location carries a little bit of everything. I saw shirts, toy collectibles, comics, board games, RPGs, and the basic TCG’s here. However I felt like they weren’t really strong in any single category but don’t get me wrong that doesn’t mean I won’t go there again. I feel like the store just needs a good reorganization and direction. Otherwise their staff was very friendly and you can order most anything you need here. In fact I’ve ordered several comics from them in the past and had great service.

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  • Magic the Gathering: Theros Release

    Magic the Gathering is releasing their Theros Expansion this Friday, September 27, 2013. That means standard tournament decks will ONLY include the following expansions.

    •  Return to Ravnica
    • GateCrash
    • Dragon’s Maze
    • M14
    • Theros

    Erbos-God-of-the-Dead-Theros-Spoiler-190x265If you’re looking to start the hobby this is an excellent time to do it, as several older MTG expansions will no longer be prohibited to play in standard tournaments. That means many veteran players will be playing with untested or incomplete decks and that can substantially level the playing field for newer players who are still trying to build a strong deck.

    Also with the release of the Theros expansion, MTG  has added a few new game mechanics. The one that I was particularly interested in was called devotion. Your devotion is tallied by the number of colored mana you have on each card in the field of battle. For example, once played, the card on the right will count as one devotion toward the color black because of the single skull listed on the top of the card. Build enough devotion for the card and this can trigger special abilities.

    This should make magic players take a second look at cards they have in their closet and possibly make mono color decks gain in popularity.