So I ran Encounters last season in our FLGS and scraped together enough people to play the Encounters season and that was about it.
This season, I have had about 16 people in total come to the store to play (thankfully not all on the same Wed.) We have now anywhere between 5 to 7 regulars with more coming in each week. I like the success it brings to the store, but I have some questions and could use a bit of advice. Do I:
Turn people away when we fill up?
Try to run 2 tables in an evening?
Get my wife (who is really enjoying to play for once) to run the other table instead of play?
Also, these players aren't at all interested in con play or that much into organized play. After the content in PoTA: Encounters Edition is done, I was thinking of having them stop tracking at that point (like saving their characters) and picking up to finish the whole module off instead of running Expeditions.
Has anyone tried this? How did it work? What things would you do over? What things were great about it?
Any help is appreciated.
They are not required to stop tracking their characters as long as they remain legal for play for the part of the story you are doing. Casual Play of the published adventures is legal and encouraged.
Under the current rule set, any play taking place on Wednesday night (or your store's regularly scheduled Encounters night) is considered to be Encounters, even if not using the Encounters document.
If you want the tables to remain legal, and you start getting above the same 7 people on a consistant basis (more than 2 weeks in a row with reasonable certainty they'll be back), you'll need another DM to maintain legal tables or you'll have to turn people away to maintain legal tables.
Technically, to be adventurer's league, tables need to always be legal (3-7 players) plus a DM.
I recommend going to your regular players and asking if anyone wants to be a second (backup) DM. If you can prep two sets of DM stuff, then they won't even need to do anything but run the game. Obviously, that's a lot more work for you.
Im probably a litle more understanding here. Locally where I game, Good Games Rockingham. We started with 4 tables in the first week, slowly but surely we went down to 2 tables. By this time we had left the free pdf part of hoard and had moved into the Hardcover. We were around part 4-5 when we suddenly had over the space of a few weeks quite a few new people up. I thought it was bad they turn up and find out they couldnt play so I told the DM I would pull out to start a table for the new guys. Sadly in doing so I probably condemmed the other table to non AL standard as basically they other table now struggled to field enough characters and so the dm there felt inclined to let people make up Level 5+ plus characters. Its more or less now a non AL game (people have been buying items, finding items that dont exist in Hoard etc). They are still using AL logsheets but I would never call it an AL game. There is no other shop locally for them to possibly play AL at and the only game con in my state does not run AL.
On my table I have normally 6-7 players and we have been playing Lost Mine for some time now. Nearly into part 4. Im going to segue into Princes soon and Im being very careful in sticking to the rules. One of these guys want to game (either really new gamers, no access to the books (they share) or no desire to dm). So yeah Ive come to the point now where I might have 9 turn up and 2 dont get to play. I feel really bad about it which is why I also run Expeditions on the weekend to try and divert some of the overflow. It isnt always easy.
Good luck in your situation, you are not alone!
Hopefully your store is amenable to the idea of having more than one table, if they have the room. Mine... got actively hostile at the mention of splitting the tables if my wife (an experienced GM in other games) offered to take a table when we started pushing the table limit.
Right now, I've got a full table, with the occasional 8th through 10th player showing up that the store owner does not allow me to turn away.
My main problem is that about half of them are violating the code of conduct, but I can't do anything about it at the store level, since the store owner is one of them. And last night, on the walk home, I had the other half catch up to me to discuss issues. My wife and I are apparently the only reason 3 of them even bother showing up anymore. So now I'm torn. I was going to walk away from what is rapidly becoming a toxic local game store, but A) I really want to experience how organized play is supposed to work. B) I'm excited about D&D again for the first time since about 1990. and C) I really don't want my leaving to kill the blossoming interest in what has been a lifelong hobby for me in new younger players (all late high school or early college aged).
Oddly, the ones who are most toxic to the table are all older players about my own age (cutting our teeth on D&D with AD&D 1 or for the youngest of the older players AD&D 2).
Edit: We're a few rooms short of finishing Part 1 of PotA. Had to end early last night due to drunk driver smashing into one of the players cars in the parking lot.
If your LGS is resistant to setting up a second table, try simply framing the conversation with them that you can only run 7-players max. It is possible they haven't realized that there is a possibility you'd have to turn people away (or that they'd have to deal with the anger and frustration of people who don't get a seat).
But if you are really dealing with a toxic store, it sounds like you have enough players who will follow you if you shift to a better location...even the local library.
Setzer_G wrote:
shaterbane wrote:
Avross wrote:
However, I'm not sure what to do about possibly reporting it for a couple of reasons.
1) The store owner is a confessed thug in previous parts of his life. Not that distant in the past.
2) And he knows where I live. My house is literally only 300 feet from his store. Admittedly, harrassment outside of the store in response to this... yeah, that's what the police are for.
By the by, I am completely ok with this turning into a "let's help people out with their store difficulties." thread. I think I've just decided that I'm going to run one table of the first 7ish people that show. If it gets more than that they can either go home or we (the store owner and I) can find a secondary backup DM for another table. Gotta look at the "needs of the many" on this one.
Being a little selfish because I want my wife to enjoy the experience, sue me.
Setzer_G wrote:
Setzer_G wrote:
Avross wrote:
I feel like this store (shaterbane's) is hardly a store at all if that's the entire inventory he's describing.
But, no, if other people are actively commiting assault and battery of players at the table, you need to take yourself and your people and leave. Order your stuff from the internet. Kill the store.
This sounds like a completely toxic environment designed solely for the store owner to get his jollies off in a 'legal' manner, possibly with the idea that game nerds will be pushovers, because, as you said, he was a 'thug'. He's still clearly a bully.
Also, what is the city's logic behind fining/preventing public games? That's... insane.
I can't imagine that a D&D game would violate any usage rules they have on tax payers using rentable city public spaces.
He keeps talking about how he'll be getting in a big stock shipment "This Saturday" or "End of the month." and it never shows up. He does get stock* every couple of weeks, and it's usually gone before the end of business that day.
*stock... His last "Big" stock shipment was when he ran up to a store upstate (there are about 10 of them between 80 and 90 miles away), and worked out a large purchase discount. That's how he's stocking his shelves. It consisted of 5 sets of dice, 3 Magic intro decks, a booster box, and about the same for Yugioh. And Princes of the Apocalypse hardback (which I bought less than 30 seconds after he walked in the door as I was running it for the first time that night). Oh, and various and sundry card sleeves and deck boxes. Enough total to fill two medium sized shopping bags.
But yeah, I'm gone after next week. I still hope to talk to one more player.
As for the shutting down games. I don't know. All I know is that the city council would have the cops show up to shut down any game in a public space except the game store. As I understand, at the game store owner's request. (Small town, being vague, more than 1,000 people, less than 4,000. That describes about half the state).
I'm pretty sure using enforcers to make sure that you purchase product or use a service from a specific provider is called 'organized crime', not policing. At least in most of the United States.
If you have any actual evidence or testimony of such an activity, I might go to your local staties, rather than your local police.
Though, the city could have passed some sort of ordinance to legalize disrupting the game at the request of the store owner (that usually takes more political capital than I think someone running that small a business would have, though.) I have no idea how you would justify such a law.
The town and county are very anti-business. They don't want more than one of any given type (beyond food) for example. I don't know if it is still happening as I've seen games happening in some places (private games though) in shops since then. And of course the main other group doing it was having some sort of legal issues with the store owner. But yeah, what documentation I can get for myself I have set aside.
As it is, you are participating in something wrong. Don't participate. If the town cops are corrupt, see what the State cops or the FBI say. Sounds like moving to another town would be a good idea if that becomes possible.
But don't contribute to something that's so clearly wrong.
shaterbane wrote:
TheBreen wrote:
It very well might be possible to run the Mulmaster stuff online via the online options. The town can't prevent that sort of public game from happening.
I don't know alot about how it works, but you can apparently use Google Hangouts or something similar. One of the campaign staff might be able to provide more defined guidance in that area.
I thought the mulmaster stuff was store/con only. Is that not the case?
shaterbane wrote:
shaterbane: I don't know all the details, but http://dndadventurersleague.org/official-dd-adventurers-league-online-region/ implies that Expeditions might be or become available for online play.
You'd have to talk to someone in the know, though.
shaterbane wrote:
If you're ever in southern California, you're welcome at my table. 
randl wrote:
Ainulindalion wrote:
BRJN wrote:
Shaterbane,
I can commiserate (if that is any help):
At one time I discovered that a new model railroad hobby shop was opening within three blocks of my apartment. This sounded really cool and convenient until I discovered that, no matter what time of day I came by, they never unlocked their doors for business. (I had a night job so that was out of the question). They closed up after about 6 weeks and all the stuff in the window displays disappeared.
My wife's former job had her working next door to a "butcher shop". After asking around among her staff, they determined that no trucks ever came to deliver meat. Customers only showed up at dawn / dusk, buying one grocery bag of product each. The shop closed permanently when a Police Officer tried to buy a steak for dinner and noticed evidence that it was actually cover for a drug dealer.
I have to wonder, given your description, if your local "hobby shop" is not a cover for something else entirely.
I've thought of the cover for something else angle. To be honest, it seems like most "game stores" locally that spring up for a few months to vanish almost as fast. It's some gamer who thinks that it gives huge gamer cred to be a store owner. Also common is the tax dodge.
Just found their facebook page and man is it misleading*, while at the same time showing just how little they actually have on the shelves. But I don't know that I'd want to share it publicly for my own potential safety reasons. And I just realized when looking at it, that the store logo is a magic card back with the company name on top. That strikes me as a trade dress violation (part of trademark law).
* Misleading for several reasons. Most of the photos of the store itself are from one night, when he had a free bbq thing as a grand reopening sort of thing (from like end of january). Most of the games shown being played (besides magic/yugioh) are the privately owned games of a customer. Most of the customers shown in the photos haven't been in the store in months now. Other photos are from some other location, as well as a park.
@shaterbane
It sounds like a bad situation. But be careful.
If you are thinking of opening a rival store, what you have already posted here (even if it's the honest truth) could be interpreted as badmouthing a business rival (the current store owner) to drive away his customers and scoop them up yourself. I don't know the law in your part of the world, but you might be putting yourself in the wrong and setting yourself up to get sued with you painted as the villain. Okay, you haven't identified yourself or the store but it only takes a lawyer to compel WotC to reveal your IP address or otherwise identify you and your anonimity is blown.
The best thing to do would be to contact your AL co-ordinator and seek advice about the present situation.
Hosting home games under AL rules should be safe, as long as it's not connected to any business activity.
Good luck anyway.
BoldItalic wrote: