left-hand side of IMT seen from centre rear of shop

centre-right of IMT seen from centre inside front of shop

right-hand side of IMT seen from centre rear of shop

Site Last Updated: 19:10 fruitgum^W BST (+0100) 16th May 2008

The North-West's Premier Fantasy, SF & Horror
Book, Boardgame, Non- and Collectable Cardgame & RPG Shop

33 North Road, Lancaster LA1-1NS England

I.M.T. is generally open 10(ish)-7pm (19:00) (or later), Monday-Saturday

HOWEVER

as a result of an argument between a tour bus (lancaster for one of those high-bodied but single-deck coaches) and an empty taxi (mostly) outside the shop on North Road, Lancaster around about 8.30 p.m. on Saturday night, 24th September [*],
the I.M.T. shop premises are currently not fully open to the public:
around three-quarters of the shop is now browsable, and i can reach games & books from most of the the other half for customers;
the mail-order service is also fine both from shop stock, and also books & games specially ordered for customers; save for items in boxes in the lower reaches of the stacks of boxes in half the shop; though finding things that are still in the brown, corrugated cardboard boxes may take a little time...

i'm also happy to continue to offer the local late evenings/early night delivery service is also offered, delivery by arrangement.
["local" - definitely to addresses in Lancaster (including Bailrigg/University & Galgate, where the directions given are sufficiently precise), Morecambe, Heysham, Bare, Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Nether & Over Kellet, Whasset, Ackenthwaite, Silverdale, Arnside, Sandside, Milnthorpe, Heversham, Brigsteer & Kendal:
and potentially also a little further afield, depending to a degree upon precisely what's being bought.]
[delivery of small & generally low-priced items, and deliveries involving significant detours, and those further afield, may well attract a charge to cover fuel, so for these mail-order may be the more sensible option.]

* - for fuller details - almost the complete story - see the most recent^W^W recent diary bits

What Is I. M. T.?

Interstellar Master Traders is a shop (and mail-order service) specialising in Fantasy, SF & Horror Role-Playing Games, Books, Boardgames and Card Games (both Collectable, and traditional, non-collectable, card games), which i set up in 1985, after a couple of years running a mail-order only service

In it i stock a wide range of these, plus a selection of other associated things, such as graphic novels and books by fantasy artists, multicoloured polyhedral dice, and oddments that just seem to "fit", such as "Roomarangs", "Holorangs" & "Magic Plastic" (which has no justification, other than its being fun :-) )
so have a browse through these pages, and see what you can find, or search for that something specific.

Lancaster has a micro-climate that may be described as "interesting" by some - and by everyone else, as "mild but wet." depending upon whether you are on Bailrigg or Bowerham campus, or at loose in the city, therefore, it's fortuitous (and fortunate) that there is a landmark available that not only helps you reorientate yourself/ves - but additionally serves as an infalliable weather indicator. the landmarks concerned are, on Bailrigg, Bowland Tower; on Bowerham, the Willy/ie Tom; and in & around Lancaster, the Williamson Memorial (also known locally as "the structure"), that looks as though it ought to be the dome of the cathedral (but isn't).

If you can see any one of these,

a] you are not lost;

and b] it's about to rain;

If you cannot,

a] you are either inside one of them

- and should (usually) be aware of which, and at least roughly how you got there

- or:

b] it's raining.

welcome [back] to lancaster whatever the weather, if you've been away, and have fun; and may 2007 be a general improvement upon the year before for you. - ppint.

I.M.T.'s stock ranges so widely, that though there are pages showing all new items in (whenever) from 5th April 2006 onwards (see below), these pages will tend to be comprised of 98% [plus] things of no interest to a player of Settlers of Catan looking to see whether there's been a new Capitalists of Catan expansion for this boardgame, or a D&D rpg dungeon master or mistress wondering whether Demiquivers and Half-Measures (another non-existent, invented title), a D&D 3/3.5e Dwarfs & Halflings Player-Character Handbook), for example, is out yet..
..for everyone who knows their general & specific interests, likes, dislikes & loathings, it is easier by far to go to:

the Boardgames Page,

the War Games Page,
(there is some overlap between these two categories, and so some cross-linking from one page to the other)
or to particular Fantasy/SF/Horror Authors' pages, via
the Author Index for Books page,
or to see my currently listed Second Hand Fantasy/SF Magazine stock;
i've a small collection of prozines from a fan moving to a smaller house, brizzle way; the list of issues in stock is no longer correct, as it is incomplete; prices given for copies where contents are listed are correct for the copy to which the listing is appended;
about a dozen of the earlier-listed issues are in poorer condition than that given, and will be priced accordingly lower - and condition description corrected, as i list their contents; about half a dozen are in better condition than i remembered, and their prices will be raised (slightly), when i list their contents.
now i have to sort out the back room's lighting circuit (the landlord still hasn't - and i suspect will not, anytime soon this century...); i fear the damage is under the flat roof - or under the ground floor, where the landlord's contractor casually looped the cabling c. 25' from the former back wall, to underneath the consumer unit - posh for fuse box - at the front.
and list the zines that've been waiting quietly on their shelves for over a decade, as well as those in their boxes here in the front, that've been waiting patiently for about as long - or possibly a bit longer...
the Fantasy & SF Magazines Index page;
or to Collectable Card-Games page,
to the (Non-collectable) Card-Games page,
to the Graphic Novels page,
or to the Dice, T-Shirts, RPG Periodicals, Comics & Cuddly Cthulhus, Nyarlethoteps & Other Plush Monstrosities page, as the fit takes you;
or to any particular rpg's page via the Role-Playing Games Index page:
where almost everything will be of potential interest to you, rather than - probably - very little.
("but..." - if you do want to see "what's new" (& what's re-issued) in any week or month, jump down a paragraph...)

All recent new titles are indicated, however, together with the date on which they first came into I.M.T; this is initially given in the format: "NEW TITLE/ITEM/GAME - in ordinal day number & written month & year number A.D.(C.E.)"; after about six months, this is unboldened; after about twelve, de-capitalised to "New title/item/game"; it may later be abbreviated to written month & year number [and eventually perhaps to just year number])
So if you are looking for "anything & everything new", it is possible to search upon "NEW" & any or all parts of the date, and generate a list of items to check through.
["boolean" searches are accepted, with operators such as "+", "-" etc.]

The Week's New & Re-Issue Games, Sourcebooks, Game Tie-In Novels, Magaziness, Comics, &c.
and the Monthly Cumulative Release Pages

the individual weekly stock release pages:

expansions, sourcebooks, etc. are listed with links to the main listing of their game (though thus is not always straight away).
"in" = in stock; "due in" = ordered; "available" = orderable;
i mostly order on the tuesday, and receive the order on the wednesday morning immediately following.
(bank holidays and the like, including insurrections, civil disorder, war and acts of god (if s/he exists) may be relied upon to disrupt this a little).

New in/available 14th May 2008
New in/available 7th May 2008
well, actually in 9th May: the first day late because of the May-Day bank holiday, & t'other's down to the wholesalers receiving an incomplete delivery of the new Yu-Gi-Oh boosters
New in/available 30th April 2008
[late up: the advice/order solicitation listing for 30th April 2008 not received until mid-Monday afternoon 28th 2008 - pp.]
Shadowmoor, the latest Magic the Gathering collectable card game expansion, came in on Thursday this week, to go on sale on Friday (2nd May)
(pre-paid orders may be picked up as is convenient to you)
New in/available 23rd April 2008
New in/available 16th April 2008
New in/available 9th April 2008
New in/available 2nd April 2008
New in/available 26th March 2008
New in/available 19th March 2008
New in/available 12th March 2008
and Diplomacy, the classic boardgame of intrigue, alliance and betrayal is back, after how many years out of print?
and this 50th Anniversary Edition is half the price of that long-unavailable previous edition!
this is one of the all-time greats amongst boardgames. [- pp. will now cease raving about it, and get on with the site update :-))]
New in/available 5th March 2008
New in/available 27th February 2008
New in/available 20th February 2008
New in/available 13th February 2008
New in/available 6th February 2008
New in/available 30th January 2008
New in/available 23rd January 2008
New - in/available 16th January 2008
New in/available 9th January 2008
New in/available 3rd January 2008

The Monthly Cumulative Pages:

would people find it a pain, were i to drop the 2006 & 2007 New Releases pages?
ttbomk all the boardgame, card game, war game rpg & rpg accessories, & related book, comic & magazine new & re-issue titles are listed on the appropriate main catalogue pages.
n.b. i've no main catalogue pages for miniatures and models, having received a maximum of two enquiries per decade for these, so information on them would be lost.
[or would anyone prefer Quarterly or Annually-accumulated pages to replace the older monthly pages?]
please email IMT on your preference[s] in this regard: v$imt$v at the domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk

expansions, sourcebooks, etc. are listed with links to the main listing of their game (though these links aren't always done straight away).

Condition:

All Stock listed is New, Unless indicated "Second-hand", "s/h",
when there will also be an indication of its condition: from "fair" (the lowest I will normally list); through "good"; "vg"; "as new"; to "mint" (the highest).
"small print", including regarding books in poorer condition than those listed here (please do read, before ordering)
(i, too, am a book collecter - which is a major part of how i came to help set up the alternative bookshop, Single Step, and a decade later, I.M.T. (after a sort of semi-career advising a couple of publishers on building & then running their SF lists - not simultaneously!) - and therefore naturally incline to grade the condition of s/h books "hard" - as though i were considering buying each for myself.) (which i suppose i have done, come to think of it..) ..poor condition & rco books in stock are generally the result of buying a box or collection; or spotting a copy of a very good - but &/or rare - book in poor [or even dreadful] condition.)

Enquiries & Orders:

Games: Items & Titles listed as "available" are those i've been advised are orderable from my suppliers, but i've not yet stocked (or in some cases have chosen not to stock, whether for reasons of space, or feeling they lie outside the natural ambit of IMT, or whatever.)

Books: i have something over ten thousand SF, Fantasy & Horror titles here, and have so far listed very few - having had very, very few requests to list any author's - so it's quite possible i may have books you're looking for, that i've not yet listed - please e-mail me at v$imt$v at my sub-domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk for details

Payment:

by pound sterling ("ukL" here - "GBP" is a totally unnecessary, and utterly unlovely, neologism; "P"/"p" stands for pence, not pounds!) (/cut rant *g*) cheque drawn upon a u.k. branch of a bank, and by cash, are welcome; i also accept payment by credit transfer, or "wire" and via my ukL a/c with Paypal (Paypal's charges add a little to the cost) - again, please e-mail me at v$imt$v at my sub-domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk for details of either of these methods of making payment, or possible other ways.
N.B. i'm not able to take payment by credit or debit cards, or splash, or anything else swipey.

Postage:

Postage is charged at cost; i.e. it is not included in the prices quoted.
(because postage rates rise step-by-step rather than smoothly, and because they vary depending upon both the postal zone in which customers live, and the postal/carrier service chosen by them, it is not possible to give a single carriage-inclusive price.)

Mail Order:

(pretty evidently) i do mail order: postage and packaging are done at cost; this varies with the weight (mass) of the items ordered, the destination country (my furthest-afield customers - so far - are in New Zealand; would-be customers living further away will be required to provide address, etc. details of shipping agents situated at no greater distance than this), and whether surface or air mail service is desired by the customer.
again, please e-mail me at v$imt$v at my sub-domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk for details: i will give quotes for the various postal services available on your particular desired order, and ask you to use the same e-mail address to confirm your order.
(the address is spelled out to avoid harvesting by "spammers"' web-crawling, address-harvesting robots, it is changed whenever it gets harvested by hand/trojan or other virus on customers' windows-running machines, and the junkmail, "malawi" (trojans & other viruses, "m$ patch" e-mails - so-called from what an unchecked spell-checker did to a usenet article by someone "who knows better" *g*) &c. start to roll in at a noticeable rate).

Prices:

"small print" regarding prices listed on this web site (please read before ordering); n.b. also postage is charged at cost on top of books' & games' (etc.) total.

There is a page of copies of Discworld hardcovers (mostly) signed by Terry Pratchett

- a fair few signed in Harrogate after the traditional, but now almost pro-forma, insults (plus an enquiry as to the state of I.M.T. which was a little bit better than chaotic, in November 2001, when his last signing here took place, three days after the landlord's plasterer'd finally deigned to turn up, and All was Not Ready - and Terry's main publishers, who'd insisted on taking control of the event advertising (that I'd always previously organised - and done good, josh-kirby-art-based camera-ready artwork for) had managed to advertise the signing only the night - instead of the week - before the event...)

- plus in Manchester, in October 2005, where the traditional, but now almost pro-forma, insult-plus-enquiry were as genial as ever.

How Is I. M. T.?

occasional diary bits

(all are skippable)

sometimes of direct relevance to I.M.T, sometimes only indirect

- and sometimes of none at all; but i hope people'll find some of them interesting; perhaps "ppint.-explanatory" (at least to a degree); and maybe even entertaining...

Where Is I. M. T.?

Getting to I. M. T. - and finding the shop

Lancaster is in the north-west ("north-wet!") of England, to the south of the fells and the Lake District, and north of Manchester, Liverpool & Preston. To the west is the resort town of Morecambe, and the port of Heysham, whence ply ferries to the Isle of Man (and sometimes Ireland), whilst to the east lie the Benthams, High and Low, and Kirby Lonsdale, Ingleton, and Skipton - i.e. Yorkshire & the Pennines.
Lancaster's railway station is on the West Coast Main Line, with local connections to Morecambe, Carnforth, Grange over Sands, Furness & and Barrow, and also across the Pennines via Skipton to Leeds, Nottingham, Newark, Sheffield & York; the bus & coach station is served by the inter-city National Express (& Rapide) as well as by local bus services.
The nearby motorway is the M6, nearest junctions J34 (a mile to the north of the city centre) and J33 (about four miles south of the city). Cross-country, the A683 leads to the A65 Kendal - Skipton road, and the Benthams, whilst both it, and the back road to Quernmore lead to that through the Trough of Bowland; both the area & the route are of quite impressively dramatically rough country, with large and small quiet places.

I. M. T. is on the A6, at the northern end of Lancaster City Centre's shops, near the northern end - well, near the start, really - of the A6 one-way system on the southbound side.

more detailed directions

(including two local Street Maps and directions for users of the term-time Wednesdays free bus service from Lancaster University & S. Martin's College)

When Is I. M. T.?

Opening Hours:

I.M.T. is usually open 10(ish)-7pm (19:00) (or later), Monday-Saturday

save for sundays, bank holiday mondays, and part of the christmas day through the new year general holiday.
(just in case you were/were thinking of wandering in this area, and wondering...
the shop is usually open, spring & summer bank holidays; i list bank holiday opening hours here on this page (above, below the top "site last updated date" near the top of the page), before the bank holiday in question. (bank holiday saturdays & - when open - mondays the shop usually closes a little after 5pm)

so; welcome to my permanently under-construction-and-modification and currently more-or-less daily-revised (though i don't always remember to re-date above+below) web pages.

i don't yet have [or even know of] aught to create .gifs &/or .pngs as is free- or share-ware and runs on dos, and so many .imgs are missing, awaiting developments and/or creation by friends (thank-you, adrian, patricia-et-jennifer-et-reinier, and most recently "shevek", in their copious free time (tm).

Hoping you find what's here of interest and useful,
and inviting you to let me know how i could make it more so; yours,

ppint. (v$imt$v at the domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk)

If You Would Like to Join In a Role-Playing Game

- or simply to "try it and see"

should you wish to play in a role-playing game run by myself, or run an rpg locally, or in some other way to be associated with IMT, or simply be after advice about setting up a game, or over a problem that's come up in running a particular adventure/campaign,
it's possible to get in touch with me, here in IMT; preferably drop in, to talk ideas & practicalities over, but email is also available: v$imt$v at my domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk;
and there're a fair few other experienced GMs (rpg games masters & mistresses) who'll probably've met the problem and solved it, or found a way around it, already.

with reasonable notice, i'll happily arrange for a sample/taster/introductory game for anyone as might like to participate, and lets me know this in the shop.
i'll equally gladly help provide rpg-related small prizes and such mementos to players who join in and roleplay characters well, and they be of an appropriate age for such, in taster games organised with IMT;
and - should sufficient demand, and the occasion arise - help other willing games masters & mistresses organise IMT-associated sample/taster/introductory games for those as wish to participate, and provide rpg-related prizes for them to award for excellence in character role-play, and mementos to dish out to all such players in their games;
- and May the Mighty Mekon have Mercy upon us All! - ppint.]

n.b. i'm not personally interested in the "traditional merkin tsr/rpga/gencon style" of competitive role-playing gaming, which to my mind rather means people miss many of the main ways the hobby is so much fun; but should anyone wish to organise some form of tournament in this style, i'll certainly do what i'm able to help.

UK Free Role-Playing Day 2007

on the night of tuesday, 17th July 2007, i read on the newsgroup, uk.games.roleplaying [and in the web-page linked therefrom] that Saturday, 21st July was uk free roleplaying game day
this was the first i knew of the date of the event, and as much as i ever knew about what - if anything - was meant to be happening.

Thursday, 19th July: a carton 2/3rds-3/4s full of a fairly random-looking selection of rpg "stuff" arrived;
some of these're pretty, some of 'em're useful - and some of them are both!:

it's still worth calling in to look through, at least; for though Saturday 21st July, Free RPG Day itself, may be gone,
much of the freebie list is still available here in I.M.T..
many thanks to the publishers who contributed towards this both from myself and, i will presume, from the recipients of this largesse; and also to the warehouse-slaves at the uk games wholesalers, Esdevium, who've undertaken the distribution of the boxing-out, presumably including its sorting - no small task (the lack of any indication of the event's purpose, of its aims or objectives (beyond a little advertising of their games, to rpg-players & gms who already come into rpg shops) and of any visible promotion of the event/day, that can hardly have improved its effectiveness :-(, can hardly be laid upon their backs). - pp.

should this event be repeated next year - and i hope it is - i trust rather greater information & lead-time will be given, and publisher-donated prizes/freebies be distributed in time for them, and the event itself, to be advertised, possibly in co-sponsored ads in the local paid-for & free-sheet press;
it might even prove possible to attract the interest of a proportion of the non-role-playing public in the hobby...
("hint, hint... *g*")

UK Free Role-Playing Day 2008

21st June 2008

not much information yet on this year's event, but there is to be a uk free roleplaying game day again this summer;
more news here, as & when i receive it; rpg gms interested in running an rpg adventure open to new players "locally" * to tie in to this rpg promotion day are invited to get in touch.

Worldwide D&D Game Day 2008

7th June 2008

with adventure plus character & monster, npc material & info for the just-the-day-before-released 4th Edition D&D, and doubtless a selection of freebie mementoes for DMs' players to keep; not much specific information yet:
bring yourself and a friend along for a game on the day, and both register, and there'll apparently be an exclusive D&D T-Shirt:
bring two additional friends along, and all four register, and there'll also be a unique adventure; [n.b. both offers "only after activation of the registration" - of both, or of all four, i'd imagine - pp.]
the official gameday adventure, Into the Shadowhunt, pits a party of five first-level adventurers against the fiendish plans of a megalomaniac evil elf, in an attempt to save innocent lives;
a Monster-Testing Arena is also on offer, in which you can test the mettle of your party in battle against the might of a White Dragon;
and everyone who plays in the adventure session(s) gets to take home a commemorative d20, their alt paint D&D Miniature of the character they played and their pre-generated character sheet.
again, more news here, as & when i receive it; D&D dms interested in running one of the gameday adventures - or any other D&D adventure open to new players - "locally" [*] are invited to get in touch: quite how Worldwide D&D Game Day goes here in the North-Wet depends to a great degree upon you.
[* - "locally" has so far included barrow-in-furness and somewhere or other in - or possibly across - the irish sea... :-))]

Webcomposer-[alleged sapient]-being: p. pinto by whom all material here not otherwise credited and not quoted from publishers' blurbs etc. is written and copyright.
the use or representation of any publisher's trademark(s) or copyright material is not a challenge to these trademarks or copyrights.
permission to store copies of material from this website on local computers for private use is specifically granted. please contact me for permission to make copies for any other reason: v$imt$v at my domain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk (spelled out to reduce harvesting).

Site Last Updated: 19:10 fruitgum^W BST (+0100) 16th May 2008

This web-site, with all of its - my - beginner's faults, was written using the superb DOS word-processor, Protext v.5.53.
people, keep html code down to a sensible size by writing it by hand!
[this helps eliminates "empty" coding, and also to understand what ones website actually "means" - and asks of people's web-browsers]
- and preferably produce rather better-written html than i manage, too! *wry*g* - ppint.

for DOS
A sensibly-sized, full-page, gpl, graphic dos web-browser worth investigating.

Is there anyone out there as might be interested in producing a version of the demon/grempc version of phil karn's KA9Q as'd incorporate an IRC client?

- cos i'd dearly love to be able to irc, whilst up/downloading by ftp, collecting news & mail (and rejecting ub/ce) and all the other fun things that make up life & wirc

Site Last Updated: 19:10 fruitgum^W BST (+0100) 16th May 2008

The North-West's Premier Fantasy, SF & Horror Book, Boardgame, Non- and Collectable Cardgame & RPG Shop

33 North Road, Lancaster LA1-1NS England

I.M.T. is generally open 10(ish)-7pm (19:00) (or later), Monday-Saturday

HOWEVER

What Is I. M. T.?

The Week's New & Re-Issue Games, Sourcebooks, Game Tie-In Novels, Magaziness, Comics, &c. and the Monthly Cumulative Release Pages

the individual weekly stock release pages:

The Monthly Cumulative Pages:

Condition:

Enquiries & Orders:

Payment:

Postage:

Mail Order:

Prices:

There is a page of copies of Discworld hardcovers (mostly) signed by Terry Pratchett

How Is I. M. T.?

occasional diary bits

(all are skippable)

sometimes of direct relevance to I.M.T, sometimes only indirect

Where Is I. M. T.?

Getting to I. M. T. - and finding the shop

more detailed directions

When Is I. M. T.?

Opening Hours:

I.M.T. is usually open 10(ish)-7pm (19:00) (or later), Monday-Saturday

If You Would Like to Join In a Role-Playing Game

- or simply to "try it and see"

UK Free Role-Playing Day 2007

UK Free Role-Playing Day 2008

21st June 2008

Worldwide D&D Game Day 2008

7th June 2008

Site Last Updated: 19:10 fruitgum^W BST (+0100) 16th May 2008

Is there anyone out there as might be interested in producing a version of the demon/grempc version of phil karn's KA9Q as'd incorporate an IRC client?

The North-West's Premier Fantasy, SF & Horror
Book, Boardgame, Non- and Collectable Cardgame & RPG Shop

The Week's New & Re-Issue Games, Sourcebooks, Game Tie-In Novels, Magaziness, Comics, &c.
and the Monthly Cumulative Release Pages