Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

There's one near me whose business model is basically having a lot of tables to play whatever and a well-stocked snack aisle. Most people try to buy a Coke or a candy bar or something out of respect. And of course, they sell a ton of high-margin Warhammer minis and MTG cards. But plenty of people go to play off-beat games. It's been there for ten years.

Of the many FLGS' I've had the pleasure of patronizing over the years, my absolute favorite was the legendary Sci-Fi City in Orlando, Florida. The place was massive, like one of the smaller Walmarts. Several whole aisles of just RPG books, several whole aisles of just model train supplies, several whole aisles of just 40k, etc., and then a massive play space with tables and terrain and lounge furniture to boot. There were 40k tournaments, Magic drafts, folks playing Shadowrun, CS lan games, and old fogeys playing 6mm Napoleonics not just all at the same store, but often at the same time.

Recently I encountered a store near me that advertised itself with a name similar to "Forgotten Hobbies," implying to me that it had stuff for older, more obscure hobbyists - maybe ham radio, maybe RC, maybe model trains, maybe if I was lucky some RPG books for systems other than The World's Most Marketed Roleplaying Game.

No. They're a Funko Pop dispensary. They sell basically nothing else.

The nearest game or hobby store is 30 miles away. As I get older and consider an early retirement, I am extremely tempted to open a hobby store and make it an actual good FLGS and only worry about not losing too much money.

This is, of course, idle fancy. Looking at the indie scene in RPGs, by the time I hit the place up and running, the big trend would be pure degenerate tranny genital-gazing, GW will have patented the concept of using dice in wargames, and Tamiya will have gone out of business, replaced by 3d printers.

 

[harbringer883]

My city has too many card/RPG shops for its size and they all suck; the last good one was on its last legs and closed permanently during covid. I like most of the people running these places, but the interior/locations of these stores suck. The only one with a decent storefront is run by an asshole who'll never get my business again. Covid and the Biden economy has probably culled the amount of stores significantly, but I haven't looked for or gone to one of these places in years.

The best places to play RPGs anymore are these weird everything stores. The one in my area is a combination of cards, RPGs, wargames, gunpla, retro games, DVD/blu-rays, and figurines with plenty of table space for which they don't charge. It's a very corporate sort of place, but it stays in the black and doesn't tolerate stinkies.

Lucky. All my stores are overtaken by trannies and only do pokemon/MTG. If you want to play dnd you have to join some tranny discord to play online.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Similarly, I'm curious how long before the FLGS goes then way of the dodo

Not long. I think they'll last about as long as any of the other physical media places holding on by their fingernails.

-and it will be self inflicted.

The one in my area is a combination of cards, RPGs, wargames, gunpla, retro games, DVD/blu-rays, and figurines with plenty of table space for which they don't charge.

Same. I've mentioned them before, but they turned into a pride shop for a time there. Still have a large pride flag in the window, and the (now small) Yuri and Yoai sections are marked with pride flags, and dwarfed by the Trans fiction section which is a whole area of Tumblr shit pretending to be manga and anime. They sell gunpla, 40k, paints, and basically bend with the wind of whatever is going on in nerd culture.

They don't provide a game space any more. Supposedly they have a "downstairs" which is where games are played, but every time I've gone in the lower floor is marked "staff only". GW doesn't allow games to be played. Clubs advertised publically are often expensive and go on about trans stuff more than playing the game.

The nearest game or hobby store is 30 miles away. As I get older and consider an early retirement, I am extremely tempted to open a hobby store and make it an actual good FLGS and only worry about not losing too much money.

This is, of course, idle fancy.

Same. I've considered starting various clubs, and almost asked about rates when a local community centre was advertising empty slots they wanted to fill. But there's always so many problems it's not viable.

Not just TTRPGs either. Wargaming. LAN parties, All the stuff I either miss from back in the day, or missed out on.

 

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

Same. I've considered starting various clubs, and almost asked about rates when a local community centre was advertising empty slots they wanted to fill. But there's always so many problems it's not viable.

I was looking at commercial real estate earlier, doing some napkin math on what I'd be able to actually realistically afford, and the more I thought about it, the more I could see it happening. Push retirement back a few years, get some more realistic sqft expectations, work my day job part time... It was looking frighteningly possible.

And then I remembered: I can't keep trannies out.

Oh fucking well.

 

[The Ugly One]

And then I remembered: I can't keep trannies out.

State doesn't allow 'No cross-dressing' signs?

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

Same. I've considered starting various clubs, and almost asked about rates when a local community centre was advertising empty slots they wanted to fill. But there's always so many problems it's not viable.

The Wargaming club in my old city was in the basement of this plaza. Decent space but it was full of boardgame and miniature boxes so like 2/3's of it was used. There was a room with two tables for roleplayers. Outside there was four tables for miniature wargamers, but two were full boxes they were hording. Luckily it was just dusty there and had no other smells, unlike this one store that was known for Magic The Gathering and D&D. That place smelled of BO and rotten milk, the rotten milk smell came from one fat gamer who always came to try and game with people who didn't want him around and he'd always hit on younger girls who were there to play some multiplayer games. One day he stopped showing up, I hope he killed himself or otherwise died. That place had usually a hundred players coming in, yet the owner didn't care about his stores and eventually fled the city not paying his employees for months so the place eventually shut down.

 

[Ghostse]

I was looking at commercial real estate earlier, doing some napkin math on what I'd be able to actually realistically afford, and the more I thought about it, the more I could see it happening. Push retirement back a few years, get some more realistic sqft expectations, work my day job part time... It was looking frighteningly possible.

And then I remembered: I can't keep trannies out.

Oh fucking well.

So let me cook your noodle with this one that I've seen:
Don't do a store. Do a Co-op or do a Club.

For the club:
I lived in a reasonable density high-expense area for a time, and there was a half-dead mall near by. Like still maintained and the anchors were doing fine, but the wings had the nail salon and the foodcourt was 80% "local eateries" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, the local model rail club formed a non-profit and rented out one of the store fronts. It was locked 24/7 except for "ticket days" (Tickets were like $1 on their website, which was just to keep out the local yoofs & gypsies so they didn't steal shit) but you could look in through the windows and see their set up, and they had a QR code you scan that would take you to a webpage where you could turn it on. And since it was a non-profit everyone's donations to keep the place running were tax deductible.

So create a wargaming non-profit, and just have a space. Have like minded people, and maybe have a donation jar or something, or a snack bar - as long as any revenue goes into the nonprofit operations its all kosher.


The other thing is the Co-op:
Now I'm little less familiar with legalese around running a co-op but it is a store with a member list. basically you run it sort of like Sam's Club; you can shop there without a membeship but you pay a mark-up. And you can bar non-members for any or no reason (read: they are obnoxious troons) and revoke memberships as well.
So charge a yearly membership for people to get volume discounts on whatever game shit they want. And worst case someone troons out, you just don't offer them the option to renew their membership.

 

[Overly Serious]

I was looking at commercial real estate earlier, doing some napkin math on what I'd be able to actually realistically afford, and the more I thought about it, the more I could see it happening. Push retirement back a few years, get some more realistic sqft expectations, work my day job part time... It was looking frighteningly possible.

And then I remembered: I can't keep trannies out.

Oh fucking well.

I cannot think of a single thing right now that would make more people aware of a new store in their area than a policy of "no trannies". And parents would feel a lot safter dropping off their kids at your store, too!

When you say you can't keep them out do you mean it's not feasible or it's not legal? Just out of curiosity.

 

[OrionBalls]

Are we meeting up this year, or not? Gonna be a chill year at GenCon, for us. We eat lunch by the tree, but will not be hanging out on the floors, much. Feel free to meet up, and we can actually play some games instead of just consooming. I will bring an extra sandwich, just in case. ETA- the passcode is "Hail Heimdall!"

 

[Judge Dredd]

I cannot think of a single thing right now that would make more people aware of a new store in their area than a policy of "no trannies". And parents would feel a lot safter dropping off their kids at your store, too!

So trade one set of screeching retards for another set of screeching retards.

GenCon

Is GenCon based again?

 

[OrionBalls]

So trade one set of screeching retards for another set of screeching retards.


Is GenCon based again?

I'll be there. So that doesn't speak as a net positive.

 

[Wallace]

So create a wargaming non-profit, and just have a space. Have like minded people, and maybe have a donation jar or something, or a snack bar - as long as any revenue goes into the nonprofit operations its all kosher.

How about a board game cafe? Those are pretty trendy.

 

[Brain Problems]

How about a board game cafe? Those are pretty trendy.

My experience with them is hit and miss. Most people go to them for dates and play Monopoly or Scrabble because fuck if you're going to take some broad somewhere with the hope of sex after if you spend the day reading a 30 page rulebook for an ultra-dry euro the concierge autistically recommended.

They can also be expensive and charge you not only an hourly fee but also squeeze you on questionable food and drinks. Not to mention all the ones I know are proudly Safe Spaces because let's be real, the board gaming hobby is filled with troons and communists.

The best thing you can do is cultivate your own circle of friends, carefully reach out and add more people as you can, and just be fortunate enough to have or know people with big basements and tolerant spouses to let you play. Maybe look into what it costs to rent out some Army/Navy halls or Eastern European Niche Church basement.

 

[LovisXVI]

My experience with them is hit and miss. Most people go to them for dates and play Monopoly or Scrabble because fuck if you're going to take some broad somewhere with the hope of sex after if you spend the day reading a 30 page rulebook for an ultra-dry euro the concierge autistically recommended.

I have never successfully completed a game of Arkham Horror despite owning the game and trying multiple times. Admittedly, drinking absinthe cocktails the last time we tried to get into the 20's mood may have been inadvisable for the sake of completing it.

 

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

When you say you can't keep them out do you mean it's not feasible or it's not legal? Just out of curiosity.

Both, but I'm more worried about the law. I did some looking into the co-op/club option, and it's possible but I don't know if it's what I want.

In order to really keep out trannies, I have to make membership pretty exclusive - applications, interviews, that sort of thing. That's kind of at odds with what I want, because I do want people to discover these hobbies. I want people to see a sign or a storefront in the mall, or a strip mall, or one of those repurposed factories they turn into "technically not malls," and be fascinated that this stuff they didn't know about exists. I don't want to attract people, I want to attract the right people, and that means giving folks the possibility to discover it serendipitously.

From what I've read about the law in my area, if I'm going to be a club and I'm actually skirting anti-discrimination laws, I basically can't have any public access. Any choices that would exclude open perverts need to be made as far behind closed doors as possible. More "we regret to inform you that the board declined to approve your membership," less "we reserve the right to deny service to anyone in programming socks."

 

[The Ugly One]

I don't want to attract people, I want to attract the right people, and that means giving folks the possibility to discover it serendipitously.

Put posters of Mel Gibson, HP Lovecraft, and JK Rowling around.

 

[LovisXVI]

Put posters of Mel Gibson, HP Lovecraft, and JK Rowling around.

Add in Sandy Petersen to weed out Doom 2 haters as well. As he made CoC more relevant than Gibson and Rowling.

 

[Ghostse]

Both, but I'm more worried about the law. I did some looking into the co-op/club option, and it's possible but I don't know if it's what I want.

In order to really keep out trannies, I have to make membership pretty exclusive - applications, interviews, that sort of thing. That's kind of at odds with what I want, because I do want people to discover these hobbies. I want people to see a sign or a storefront in the mall, or a strip mall, or one of those repurposed factories they turn into "technically not malls," and be fascinated that this stuff they didn't know about exists. I don't want to attract people, I want to attract the right people, and that means giving folks the possibility to discover it serendipitously.

From what I've read about the law in my area, if I'm going to be a club and I'm actually skirting anti-discrimination laws, I basically can't have any public access. Any choices that would exclude open perverts need to be made as far behind closed doors as possible. More "we regret to inform you that the board declined to approve your membership," less "we reserve the right to deny service to anyone in programming socks."

Again, here's how the coop solves your problems:
Take MSRP, add 20%. This is the "non-member" price. This will chase off the random trannies - or if they still want to hang around you can at least tax them, and set some policy like "Must be a member or guest of a member to use the tables". This will keep trannies from shitting up your events.

Have memberships be something like $10 a year - you have them renew just so you can quiet kick people. Offer shit like "one month trial memberships" if you see people you want to recruit. Decline the applications for troons.

Now, the other thing I'd recommend is to run things like an autocracy, and it should be possible with a small gaming shop. Because you can deny membership for any reason but not the wrong ones. You can just say "I didn't feel like approving anyone who wrote in blue ink that day" and as long as all blue-ink applications submitted that day are denied, they have no case. Where you get into to trouble is when you hit with e-discovery and "Lol can you believe that ugly ass nigger troon? Denied" turns up in the emails or meeting notes.

The other thing to remember with dangerhair troons is they are dangerhair troons for a reason and it won't be hard to come up with reasons to ban them from the store and events. Hygiene, general unpleasantness, screeching. You should be able to take your pick.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

From what I've read about the law in my area, if I'm going to be a club and I'm actually skirting anti-discrimination laws, I basically can't have any public access. Any choices that would exclude open perverts need to be made as far behind closed doors as possible. More "we regret to inform you that the board declined to approve your membership," less "we reserve the right to deny service to anyone in programming socks."

How about renting some office space? You can rent a suite for much less than a retail space, and the trannies would have to get by multiple locked doors and possibly guards if they wanted to ruin things for everyone. You lose the walk-ins, but you gain privacy.

 

[The Ugly One]

Alexander Macris has been unpersoned by the wokies, and you're not even allowed to mention him or ACKS on many forums (including RPG.net) and Discords. So make sure to keep a full set of ACKS II in stock and on prominent display. Any trannies who know their scene will stay away.