War Dogs already hosts a bunch of games from Meetup.com, so they don't feel the need to add more paperwork into bringing in DnD customers.
I'm just at a loss. I'd really like to play LFR again, or try out D&D Encounters, but I'm not going to be able to at this rate.
I moved to Jacksonville, FL last year, and let me tell you it's like a gaming desert out here. There's ONE good gaming store in the whole city called War Dogs, and they don't do RPGA stuff. I've asked them and several other stores, and they basically tell me "it won't increase sales".
Jacksonville has always been an RPGA desert. When I lived there ~10 years ago, I ended up having to head down to Orlando for my LC fix.
There are reasonably active LFR groups in Melbourne, Orlando and Tampa, though most events there are single-adventure game nights that might not be worth the travel time. There's also Megacon in March and Oasis in May, both in Orlando.
I don't know if they're still around, but Borderland Comics & Games used to host D&D games, albeit not RPGA ones, and might be a better place to start if you're trying to find a place to run D&D Encounters or LFR games.
But to answer your question, stores don't start doing RPGA stuff, individual people do RPGA stuff. Getting to a group of friends who take turns DMing can be a long road with many a month spent DMing instead of playing and many an hour thanklessly spent running adventures for unpleasant people you belatedly realize you wouldn't otherwise willingly spend an afternoon with. Unfortunately, until someone puts in the time and effort to put together such a local group, your only other options are travel, playing online or finding a new hobby.
But to answer your question, stores don't start doing RPGA stuff, individual people do RPGA stuff.
It doesn't sound like this is what you want to hear, but I concur. A vibrant local RPGA play community is entirely dependent on having people who do the legwork and put in the effort to organize and run games.
Now, it *is* entirely possible for someone like yourself to play Johnny Appleseed and be that person who starts things out. If you're lucky, you'll get enough people interested that they, too, will put in the effort to DM, etc. Alas, there aren't any guarantees.
I resolved the issue by becoming one myself, and arranging to hold games at the closest store to me.
Start on the main D&D page & search for "WPN" from there you should be able to find all the info you need. If not drop me a message & I will use a different PC (w/o cookies) to get the exact links/instructions for you to follow.
**Don't forget to make arrangements to have your games at a specific store... you need this to hold events that can be listed on the Wizards Event Locator.
I simply made up my mind that I'd rather DM it than not play it at all.
From there I spoke to my FLGS, explained what the RPGA was, got permission to setup a table, and started to advertise.
The first month or two, my 4 players were just the FLGS employees who had an interest.
4 years later, I'm barely able to get a spot at one of our two weekly tables - other GMs have stepped up, and we fill a dozen seats every week. That's with another store not 10 minutes away running their own LFR games a few nights a week as well.
We're signing up (as soon as I'm done posting this, in fact) to run D&D Encounters when that launches in March as well - so while it takes some "legwork" to get a good group off the ground, if you fill the niche, you should find that players will follow you.
If your local stores aren't interested because they don't feel that having D&D in the stores will increase sales - you might talk to them about chargin a small fee for D&D games. Especially if that fee can be applied toward the purchase of D&D related materials on the day of play (IE - to play you either buy some D&D merch, or you pay, say $5. DM's should also sit for free, IMHO).
Hope that helps!
I'm probably just used to the store running RPGA events since the one I frequented before I moved to FL did all the organanizing.
Maybe I can get everyone on the meetup interested in it and see if it goes from there.
Wardogs is a fine store, but they have a lot going on on Saturdays(typical gaming day) From the Magic Tournaments, to 40k, to Warmachine, to l5r, plus the normal gaming groups, they run out of space quickly. They had 72 people(25$ a pop?) sign up for the MtG torny, which would you as a owner cater towards?
Sundays is less hectic as is most week days
Borderlands just doesn't have the space, they only have 2 RPG tables and they are taken by 'regulars' the other tables are designed around miniature gaming(not many rpgers would like to sit on bar stools for 6 hours).
I haven't been over to Suncoast Comics, but I do know they are pushing miniatures currently. Dragontales is way too small.
I used to be in the RPGA, but haven't done anything with it since LK came out.
We have plenty of people who would give it a shot, getting qualified Dms would be harder, and most think it's too hard to get 'qualified' to play in the RPGA
We have some 200 people on the meetup site, granted most are not very active, but they at least showed some interest, the majority do play at their houses.
I'll see what hoops I need to jump through to get qualified as a RPGA DM to get the ball rolling
If you don't already have a WPN number, sign up for one at www.wizards.com/wpn.
Once you have a membership number, login to the WPN membership site at membership.wizards.com.
If you're not already there, click on "Judge Center", Click on Exams then on Create.
From here you have (as I understand it - I haven't test it myself) two options.
1) The easier (I'm told) path is to create a "Tournament Organizer" test for yourself. It's a 5 question "test", and once you pass you can order/sanction any WPN event - including Dungeons and Dragons. My understanding of the test is that it's more a review - "The organized play program does "X" - do you understand? Yes or No".
2) The "tried and true" path is to create and take an RPGA Dungeons and Dragons exam. That's a 20(?) question exam, consisting of questions taken from a pool all about the original 4E Core Rulebooks (PH, MM, DMG).
Once you pass either of these tests you should be able to start sanctioning D&D Organized Play events - though for "Public Play" events you'll also need to have your profile connected to a public venue (Game Store, Library, Etc). That's as simple as filling out a form on the Customer Service page (www.wizards.com/customerservice).
Starting from scratch the process shouldn't take more than a week (that's assuming you don't even have a WPN number at the begining), and I've always found it to be a painless process.
Hope that helps.
Getting qualified as an RPGA DM is simple now.
If you don't already have a WPN number, sign up for one at www.wizards.com/wpn.
Once you have a membership number, login to the WPN membership site at membership.wizards.com.
If you're not already there, click on "Judge Center", Click on Exams then on Create.
From here you have (as I understand it - I haven't test it myself) two options.
1) The easier (I'm told) path is to create a "Tournament Organizer" test for yourself. It's a 5 question "test", and once you pass you can order/sanction any WPN event - including Dungeons and Dragons. My understanding of the test is that it's more a review - "The organized play program does "X" - do you understand? Yes or No".
2) The "tried and true" path is to create and take an RPGA Dungeons and Dragons exam. That's a 20(?) question exam, consisting of questions taken from a pool all about the original 4E Core Rulebooks (PH, MM, DMG).
Once you pass either of these tests you should be able to start sanctioning D&D Organized Play events - though for "Public Play" events you'll also need to have your profile connected to a public venue (Game Store, Library, Etc). That's as simple as filling out a form on the Customer Service page (www.wizards.com/customerservice).
Starting from scratch the process shouldn't take more than a week (that's assuming you don't even have a WPN number at the begining), and I've always found it to be a painless process.
Hope that helps.
What and the rpga/dci card? They no longer used? or does a WPN work for that?
I had one back in the day but it was no longer recognized so I tossed it, but it did make for a great windshield scraper in a pinch.
When I became an organizer, my RPGA number was linked to my WPN status. Now when I login with my RPGA number it gets me to everything I need as an organizer.
I would venture to say that your old number wasn't working because you needed additional numbers to recognize it in the new system. You should contact customer service and get your original number looked up, and then get it linked to your new WPN number/account. By doing this you retain acknowledgement for your past accomplishments with the original number.
What and the rpga/dci card? They no longer used? or does a WPN work for that?
I had one back in the day but it was no longer recognized so I tossed it, but it did make for a great windshield scraper in a pinch.
The WPN is the over-arching Organized Play program for Wizards of the Coast. It includes both the DCI and D&D Organized Play (RPGA). As of GenCon 2008, all RPGA #s were merged into the DCI database, and now all new RPGA numbers are DCI numbers. For all intents and purposes (at least for us at the user/customer level) WPN/DCI/RPGA are all one in the same now.
That said, Vinciente is correct. As of the merger with the DCI database in 2008, all RPGA numbers were incremented by 100,000,000. If your old number was 123456 - your new number is 100123456. (To put it another way, all RPGA are now 9 digits long, starting with a 1 and as many zeros as you need to fill the space between that 1 and the start of your old number).
If you don't remember your number you can either contact Customer Service. Alternately, if you or someone you know has access to the Wizards Event Reporter software, you may be able to find your number in there.
Well its been over a year and now my group,OhioDragonSlayers, tops out at about 100 players and we are running 3-4 tables 3-4 times a week. You may not want to get this week but let me tell you, i have a character in each level band from 1-14.
I wish you the best of luck and definately use the forums if you have any questions cause i know from experience that alot of us have been where you are right now.
Once you pass either of these tests you should be able to start sanctioning D&D Organized Play events - though for "Public Play" events you'll also need to have your profile connected to a public venue (Game Store, Library, Etc). That's as simple as filling out a form on the Customer Service page (www.wizards.com/customerservice).
Starting from scratch the process shouldn't take more than a week (that's assuming you don't even have a WPN number at the begining), and I've always found it to be a painless process.
Hope that helps.
It helped.
I signed up, took the first Dm exam, but I am not finding this 'That's as simple as filling out a form on the Customer Service page' on the customer service page
Did have a small snafu when I signed up through WPN page. I filled out the info, but the botom half is about the venue, which I used as the store. which then sent all of my info to the store owner and not me, which caused a small ruckus. Couple of calls between me and wotc and wotc and him and me going to the store to apologize got everything under control.
Wardogs has already order a number of the D&D Encounter kits and has both the Stor owner and now me able to run them(I think I can atleast)
So now the OP can get his fix without having to do anything but show up(yes that was a slight dig at him.
)
I signed up, took the first Dm exam, but I am not finding this 'That's as simple as filling out a form on the Customer Service page' on the customer service page
Did have a small snafu when I signed up through WPN page. I filled out the info, but the botom half is about the venue, which I used as the store. which then sent all of my info to the store owner and not me, which caused a small ruckus. Couple of calls between me and wotc and wotc and him and me going to the store to apologize got everything under control.
Wardogs has already order a number of the D&D Encounter kits and has both the Stor owner and now me able to run them(I think I can atleast)
So now the OP can get his fix without having to do anything but show up(yes that was a slight dig at him.
Ironically enough? They moved the form shortly after I posted that.
I suggest reading the guide I just had the guys in the DCI forums post: How to add a public venue