Books for sale update / Potential future gaming purchases

So far I have managed to sell on my collection of 4th Ed D&D books. One of the guys from my old gaming group almost bit my hand off, which suggests to me that I under priced them significantly. Oh well, mates rates, I guess.
He's already paid me the money, and the books are still on my shelf. Awesome.

Of the remaining books, I have listed them in my Storefront at Amazon UK, and am awaiting sale. If anybody wants to buy them directly from me, and avoid such niggles as P&P and Amazon getting a percentage of the sale, then drop me a line.

So, what do I plan to do with this potential incoming cash? It looks as though i'm spending some of it on my wife, putting some aside for a friends stag do later this year and, obviously, buying more gaming books.

I have decided that I am definitely buying Pathfinder, and am considering the 4th Edition of Shadowrun.
I'd love to hear any further game book suggestions.

Dungeons & Dragons miniatures / Revolutionary new gaming accessories

One of the hot news topics making waves across geek/nerd web community is WotC's recent announcement (some would say 'blow') that they are discontinuing their line of pre-painted miniatures and replacing them with tokens and pixie dust.
This seems to have provoked a mass panic amongst D&D players, who need mini's to play, what with the game being specifically designed for them, and measuring all its effects, distance and movement in Squares. I even suggested, during my last ill fated attempt at running D&D that all in character references to distance be made in Squares, and that the Forgotten Realms had adopted it as a standard measuring unit.

The minimum number of D&D miniatures required
to run a game from level 1 Heroic Tier to Paragon Tier

There have been frantic blog posts and forum questions, screaming "Where can I get more mini's from?!?!?! I need some more Vampire Mind Flayers and Rogue Beholders to complement my Metallic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord."
Ok, maybe that's not a direct quote. It would be a Chromatic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord. A Metallic Blue one just makes no sense.

Now, back when I last thought about running D&D I got a bit concerned about miniatures. I didn't want to let random packs of eight figures back into my life, as I knew from painful experience that you have to buy at least five boxes before you have the right figures to represent the party and stage a fight that doesn't involve saying "The elf archer, troglodyte and wolf are all zombies, the shambling mound is a wraith and the kobold is the lich necromancer that summoned them".
Then I had a revelation. An epiphany. A moment of clarity.

Why the fuck was I not using a chess set?

The board is the right size, if a bit limited in utility (you enter another 40'x40' room).
The pieces are ingeniously designed to allow the portrayal of the party (white pieces) and any adversaries (black pieces).
When it comes to monsters, the boss is always either the King or Queen. Any expendable cannon fodder are obviously Pawns, and other roles can be represented by the remaining pieces.

Let's look at the party:

• King = Warlord or Paladin
• Queen = Rogue or Wizard or Ranger
• Bishop = Cleric or Wizard or Warlock
• Knight = Fighter or Paladin or Rogue or Warlord or Ranger
• Rook = Barbarian or Fighter
• Pawn  = Fighter, Rogue

Fucking genius. I have now added a decent quality Chess board (with Checkers as well, because they played it in Lost) to my Amazon Wishlist.

Market research / How cool is my wife?

I like roleplay games and video games. My wife knits. It is very rare for our hobbies to collide, but when they do I usually love the results.
So, as stated, my wife knits. She has knitted me a couple of dice bags in the past, a Cthulhu bag and an R2-D2 bag. They rock.
Don't just take my word for it, look:

The Cthulhu design was taken from a chart, and she designed the R2-D2
pattern herself.

I've been trying to tell her that people would want to buy bags like this, and would pay a good price for them.
I pointed out that the official Dungeons and Dragons dice cost £8.99 and the bag is a small bit of polyester with a logo on, and the bags she's producing are at least twice the size, made of quality wool and designed to specification.
(It's worth noting that any designs sold for cash money would have to be generic and definitely not infringe any trademarks, copyrights or intellectual rights. The knitting community are well versed in these things)

So, a question for you - would you buy a bag like this, and how much would you pay? Other comments are welcome and encouraged.
The R2-D2 bag holds my collection of 14 jumbo dice, and the Cthulhu bag holds, god, over 100 assorted dice, both loose and in smaller bags.

For some reason, this photo keeps defaulting to a sideways view. Gah!