I wrote a long time ago about the creepy/crappy only game store in my area. In the years I've been blogging another has opened its doors.
I've been wanting to start another game, meet new people, get more practice at setting up a sand box from the very beginning. I'm kind of an introvert, though, or as my mother puts it "a stick in the mud," so offering to DM a game open to anyone that wants to sit down was a little scary-making for me. But I finally went to the shop yesterday and inquired. Here's what I found:
The store owners would have to vet me by playing in a demo game I'd run. No sweat, if it were my establishment I'd want to do the same. Also, don't see why they wouldn't enjoy a game of mine.
Players have to pay $5 a night to play, or donate cans of food, or buy store product. Aaaalright, I can understand where they're coming from but it puts a damper on the open game table aspect of it, especially for young folks. It makes me almost want offer 20 bucks a night myself just so anyone interested in playing with me could.
I have to be playing a game they sell. Do you carry Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry? Haven't heard of those. I looked at the rpg book section 1/2 Pathfinder, 1/2 4e. Part of me wanted to say, "You realize most of these books are already destined for the bargain bin by the fact that 5e is coming out?" But I just said "Thank you," and walked out. : (
I'd have walked out too. No thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt seems pretty reasonable to me. If my own FLGS is any indication, game-playing space is in pretty high demand most of the time. Why let people use it for a game which will, ultimately, not attract any business to the store?
ReplyDeleteTheir lack of variety, however, is a crime.
Thank gawd for my FLGS, The Sentry Box. 30+ years, still going strong, and an entire upper floor of gaming tables.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about them. Charging to come play in the store? I don't know about that. Puts me off.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you, put up a flier in a few libraries, bookstores, coffee shops. Pretty much none of my awesome players found me thru the FLGS.
Meet potential players at a coffee shop or similar. If they are cool, invite them to play. Word of mouth and fliers in non-gamestore places get you good people. In my experience.
The flyers seem like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThat seems sort of reasonable if their time and space is in high demand.
ReplyDeleteIf the store is just going to be sitting empty on the night that you wanted to run, then they're crazy.
Thanks, all. On reflection, finding players isn't really the thing that was such a bummer about this. This was me, who feels like an outsider of the mainstream game culture, trying to reach out and enter that community.
ReplyDeleteOr find some kind of community related to our hobby that isn't online. You know talk game stuff to folks who are gamers. Oh well, I guess what I did was akin to going to a restaurant in the hopes of talking about cooking and the server looked at me funny and asked what I was going to order.
On flyers, they're cool, but I doubt they would get much response from brand-noobies, like I get coming to my games as acquaintances of acquaintances. But I am thinking about hosting something at the university library here, maybe hesitant folks would be more likely to join something there than at a private house.
Maybe ask the store owners -- since they have to demo the campaign anyway -- if they'd sit down to play LL or S&W? If all goes well they might decide to stock those on the shelves. After all, just because they haven't heard of them doesn't mean they won't enjoy them.
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