D&D is Friendship

The new Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is exceedingly popular this year as Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) finally figured out exactly what players want in an RPG. It was called D&D Next, is casually known as Fifth Edition, but the official title given by WOTC is just "Dungeons and Dragons." And with good reason, as it isn't trying to stand out as a "new" edition of D&D, so much as it is rebranding itself as nothing-like-previous-editions.

New D&D has simplified combat systems with advantage dice akin to the Edge of the Empire (Fantasy Flight) system which take away a lot of the math involved in previous editions and get down to just rolling the dice for solutions. It's about the dice rolls and ultimately it should be. Most of the proficiency bonuses are low and similar to Pathfinder (Paizo) so that anyone can add as they go and figure out how well they're hitting. The class styles for each class are like a combined version of Prestige Classes mixed with thematic heroic choices. If you're a bard, maybe you focus on lore and know all about history; whereas maybe if you're a combat bard you just need ways to keep your friends alive. There are straightforward ways to level into any theme that works for you.

Edition wars are a mainstay of the D&D culture, with many older players from 2nd edition never wanting anything but that system because "It's what they grew up with." Most 3rd edition converts had books for almost a decade to choose from and enjoy the heavy tables and min-maxing so that they can be powerful. They don't convert to new systems because the complexity is the point. There are the rare 4th edition players, which were undersupported by WOTC and hated by most other RPG players. They just want to play a game that is straightforward and fun.

Part of owning a game store is hearing all the opinions of players of all ages and juggling the issue that most RPG players have a near religious adherence to their system of choice. Anything new is toxic and a "cash-grab" (Never mind the fact that 5 editions in 40+ years is probably healthy for any game). Magic has a new set every 3-4 months. Most board games don't go more than 3-5 years before reprinting or revising some rules. For a complex system of world interaction like D&D I'd hope for almost more tweaks so that it is more balanced, but they hold back most of the time.

The trick, and I think this is the biggest thing, is that most old guard D&D players want their system to be the rules backbone, the Bible of their RPG experience, so that there is no question that their rolls and their choices in game are correct. This is a flawed dichotomy, as the whole point of RPGs is that it's an outline, a place to begin, and that all world building and rules decisions are up to "GM-Discretion" for a reason. The point of an RPG is to experience the world in an honest way and the rules simply make it possible, but to have a hard-and-fast "this is how it has to be" is to destroy the integrity of the system. The game is about who you are playing with and why that's fun. The rules should come second, especially since a good game can last years.

The new D&D is making it easier for new players to jump into RPGs, which is great, since the more people that play a game, the more feedback and experience people can get with RPGs. It's a lot like capitalism in that way: The greater the market, the more it fluctuates and the better balanced the internal system operates. Ultimately the new system is great, well received, and will probably exist for years to come to exemplify what D&D is to all players.

The trouble with any old-guard RPGers and the hesitant new ones is that they don't always have a group to play with regularly that they enjoy. The system is all it is for them and that's how they interact. Finding a good group means finding 4-5 great friends you want to explore a magical world with for years to come. It's a commitment, a relationship, that most games only manage to create for 1-3 hours in the world of table-top. D&D is about friendship and the lasting experience of gaming with a group for months, if not years, at a time. A well written system is there to allow that friendship to exist in game, as heroes working together to fight great evil, and to perpetuate the need to return as friends in real life so that together the experience of role-playing will bring the group together for years to come. Dungeons and Dragons is just another way to party with your friends in real life and treating it as such is the way to long-term sustainability within the RPG culture.

Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store

I watched an interesting interview called "The Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store," featuring Tom Vasel and others and it led me to think: What am I doing right, what am I planning to do, and what do I need to work on? A lot of the things they talk about are things I'm already doing okay at, but their list was intriguing because of the coverage their list tended to have. About 10% of stores they interact with do the things they requested of stores.

Some of the things mentioned were: Keep your store clean, including bathrooms, and without clutter. Have staff that are friendly, informed, and interested in repeat customers. Run a well lit space with areas for playing games and enough room to shop. All of these are basic things that any store should be interested in, so it isn't surprising to see them as the critical steps for a game store to follow. It's more interesting that most game stores do not follow these small steps of running a business because they're generally run more as clubs, playspace for like-minded people, or just a hangout. It's something for me to never lose sight of: That I run a store at the end of the day and everything else is secondary and a benefit to it.

Things I'm planning to do:

• Star Mats for X-Wing nights, so that all our tables look professional and ready to play on instead of just bare wood. 
• Beer & Wine license, so that people can hang out and drink while they play instead of leaving to a local bar. 
• Better lighting by the windows at night.
• A computer interface to browse Magic cards and our prices. 

Things I'm working on:

• Preorders arriving in a timely manner. This has a lot to do with budgets and some to do with diligence of talking to distributors and getting things set aside. I think this will slowly resolve itself as it has gotten better every month since I opened. 
• More diverse food options. Some different snacks and drinks being regularly in stock will help and getting some feedback on what people want me to carry may resolve a bit of that as well. 
• Bigger events. Making our weekends a destination is getting there, but as I continue to reach out to the community with beer & game nights this might eventually get sorted out.

What am I doing right? 

• The store is clean! It's well lit, fairly accessible at all times to any corner of the store to find what you're looking for and still avoid running into tables or other customers. 
• When I preorder a product for people, I try to guarantee (if it's out) that I will get it in before 30 days are up. Usually it takes less than 14 days, but it's critical to me to be the kind of store people can trust to preorder product through and know that it's coming in. 
• Consistency in hours and events. Every night is different, but the crowds that come in to play on those nights know they will have space to play and meet other folks. Priority space goes to the night scheduled, which resolves disagreements in having space to play normally. I post hours and show up during them and try not to stay afterhours too often, so as to keep people used to the closing time. 
• I try to stay up to date on new releases, informed about what games are like other games, and do my best to engage with regulars even though they may play games I do not know how to play. 

When it comes to finding the areas I'm weakest in, there's always going to be a blindspot, but knowing how to critically understand what you're missing going forward is something to keep an eye on. I hope that the areas I'm planning and working on get resolved and replaced by a pile of new things that I need to improve upon, since there should always be a way to work towards a tighter run ship. 

Behind the Quarter

Well, this is how it begins.

This blog is for others to learn from my mistakes and for me to keep track of mine. Running a game store full time is a lot of work: accounting, inventory, pre-orders in a reasonable amount of time, new releases, customer service and event scheduling. There is no area of the store that is unimportant, but as I've only been open 10 months, there's still downtime and ways to improve.

So far Monday-Friday is full every night with people enjoying their particular brand of board game, card game and RPG. It is arguably a success as far as events go. Getting the weekends rolling will happen slowly, but so far getting more games on Saturdays and appealing more to the Olde Town crowd during the mornings is step 1 and 2. A lot of stores take a day off a week or open super late, but it seems like the best bet is to always be available as a store to the local community so as to be relied upon to be open and available for last second purchases. Events work and help us feel less like a store pushing product and more of a place you support to find like-minded nerds.

 On the other hand, being a store means marketing, and finding ways to tell people you are here is key. I've read a lot of advice from other stores over the past few months and I think the way to not spam the world is to be interesting. Post once a day on Facebook so as to stay active and up to date, but not become a thing people want to "hide" from their walls. Post 3 times a day in Twitter, about anything at all really, and see what sticks. With enough followers it could eventually become the event feed for the store or at least create an open dialog with folks about games in general. This is more of a reminder to myself, again, so that I don't let up.

It's so easy to lay back and think: Things are going at a good speed, just let it work itself out. The thing with owning a business is that it must be your passion. I intend to be a personal shopper for any person off the street or for regulars that have been with me from the beginning. I want people to find a game they really enjoy, not just grab one because I said it's good and want a sale. I read something from Black Diamond Games  that struck home with me awhile back: Whenever someone enters the store, part of me lights up to help that person, because I'm genuinely shocked and pleased that someone chose to enter the store and inquire about the things I love.

I am a very stoic man and anyone will tell you they've never seen me excited. At the end of the day, that is just there to temper my world from being too one-way-or-the-other. I feel it is a strength and a weakness, being able to handle stress more easily and not to make rash decisions, though I also never appear super enthused so retail is an odd environment. Thankfully the low-key retail space of a game store means I don't have to be pushy, loud, or overly-attached to work well.

So what is all this? What will this blog be, seeing as it's not a big AQ related blog about new games and the like? It's game theory, store theory, and business from a casual novice who wants to bring transparency to a career that is traditionally impossible to do long-term.