My name is Bobby 2 Shades and I am a happy Forever DM and I am also an English Teacher in a non-English speaking country. It has been my dream to teach English through roleplaying games. I have worked for years to create an immersive fun experience and tailor it to English learners.
This year a LGS opened up a few blocks from my house. It's a small mom-and-pop shop and so far has only been selling MTG and Pokemon cards. I have seen LGS come and go and mainly it's because they (IMO) are run by people who are not that interested in engaging the community but rather only open it to sell a product or because they like the product but they are not a "social" person. I feel that they should have more programs and community engagement in order to attract more people.
So I went in to offer a service.
I asked them if they were interested in selling D&D products and they said "Possibly" in the future. So I told them that I can be a DM if the store would like to offer campaigns to the community. They can put up a sign up sheet and get more people in the store. If they would like to sell products I could help them by guiding people on what to buy. The sessions would be in English if they wanted so it could double as an English class. If they wanted they could make it a club with a monthly fee and earn cash from it. I offered to do a one shot for them so they can fully understand what they can offer.
They smiled and said that they would think about it and call me.
2 Weeks later and without a call-back I went back to the store and asked them if they had spoken about it to which they replied "Not yet" but they said they would call me and let me know.
A few days later I got a message from a friend of mine who knows the shop and said that they have been asking if anyone would be interested in playing D&D at their shop, they have been inviting everyone interested into a WhatsApp group. At this point there were 2 options: 1.) They were gauging if it was worth it to start the club I mentioned and they would call me after to let me know or option 2.) They decided to pursue the D&D crowd and not just ignore me, but also cut me out of the equation. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt because I tend to believe the best in people. My friend said he was in the Whatsapp group and could invite me in to see what's happening. I agreed. While in the group I waited for a statement from the LGS. After a few days they made a statement, "This group is for those looking to play D&D in the LGS. So if anyone wants to play they can ask here.".... and that was it..
A few days later I passed by again and asked again if they had considered my idea to which they told me that they had been very busy and they had not had time to think about it. So I asked them if it was ok for me to come in and play a D&D game. They said "Sure, no problem."
Shortly after, people in the group started asking for when sessions would be planned at the store. The store said that they set a Saturday aside for D&D and started a list for "rounds of play" Which I thought was strange, it sounded more like something you would say at a MTG tournament. Regardless, I signed up to give strangers a free one-shot session. The day I went there I set up my table, minis, maps, sound fx, ambiance, battle music, bags, fake money, the works.. After 15 mins a few people wandered in and asked if they could play and I DMed for them. Afterwards they were all smiles, the session ended well and it was quite fun. They all told me that they would love to continue the session but when I left I noticed that the owners walked over to the players and started speaking with them.
A week after that I did not receive any calls or messages. So two weeks later I took a group of my friends to play. We reserved a table and played a great session but that time when I left I noticed the owners were not that thrilled or at least that is the vibe I got when I left.
Since the initial message the LGS gave in the Whatsapp group, it has pretty much been dead. 27 people and no one sets up any games nor messages in it. So I post things, D&D products, cool ideas, pictures and videos of my sessions, and so on. Well recently I posted my D&D carved Holloween Pumpkin and then I received a message directly from the store. They stated " Look, if you want to play D&D here that is fine but since we have seen you come in and play sessions in English, you must be charging people for it. If you are then you need to pay us a "rent out a table" fee. We hope you understand." After this message I finally understood why the one-shot group didn't contact me back, the store owner must have told them that I CHARGE for DMing. I quickly wrote them back and told them "No, the sessions that I have been playing have all been and will always be FREE, the club idea was solely for their business and it was so that they could engage the community more. But since they NEVER contacted me about it I decided to play." They still have not replied to my message.
I don't know why I felt the need to get this off my chest but I just felt like it was a tragedy that this LGS acted like this and is not doing anything to promote the game to the community. One day I hope to open a store myself, engage the community with multiple clubs, and teach English through the love of RPGs and Games. Peace to the community!
Public Mod Note
(Davyd):
Moved: Not a rules matter
Without trying to excuse their behavior, I did want to provide some information which might be useful to your understanding their actions.
It is expensive for a store to start selling a new product. They have to spend a bunch to get the inventory, which they hope they will make back when the inventory is sold—but which still involves an initial and substantial financial hit. For a new business without significant cash flow, that is a hard thing to ask—they probably cannot afford to just drop a few thousand dollars on books, miniatures, play mats, etc. when they are already carrying significant debt from their startup costs. Additionally, they have to dedicate square footage (which they are paying for in rent) to the new product - which means cutting space from other objects they already sell, taking up additional space where game tables could go, and/or buying different shelving systems which can display the new product.
Second, D&D is popular, but it is not a great money maker for stores. The products take up a lot of space and often sit on shelves for months before someone buys them (or in the case of minis, they can sit for years before someone decides they need some particular monster). That means you do not recover your initial purchase of the inventory for a long time, while simultaneously taking up space for products which do move faster. Magic and Pokémon, for example, sell very quickly and do not take up much space at all - they are great for new businesses because they are a low risk, quick return product. Even things which sit around for a while, like Magic Singles, take up little in the way of display space, so you can keep a bunch of product that you expect will be slow to move, without it distracting from product you expect to move quickly.
Third, from this, it looks like you are a stranger to them. Other than being a bit insistent on “doing them a favour” (see above for why this might not be as big a favour as you think it is), you have not mentioned you are a regular at their Magic games or otherwise a regular customer.
If a stranger keeps saying “you should let me do this for your own good” that looks hyper suspicious - especially if they’re repeatedly pushing for something. There are enough unsavoury people out there that it would be bad business sense to assume someone is being altruistic without an ulterior motive.
Fourth, if I was a game store, I would be very careful of who I authorise to run games i sanction - especially if I was unfamiliar with the game and did not know how to vet the DM’s experience. There are a lot of bad DMs out there - maybe they don’t know the rules very well, or maybe they’re some of the many bigoted players who exist in this game, or maybe they’re just kind of awkward and/or unfun to play with. Any of those would look bad for the game store. So, while you might think you are the best DM in the world, they have no way of knowing that.
Fifth, starting a new business is very stressful. A game store (as with any small business) is losing money every single month for the first few months to a year, and, until they turn profitable, they’re always a bad month or two away from imploding. You might think they acted in a rude way, but it could very easily be they are tired, very stressed, and perhaps just kind of annoyed at the fact you keep pushing them to do something that would be financially hard for them to do.
Sixth, the entire issue about how game stores should recoup their square footage cost for tables is a complicated and contentious one. They, after all, have to pay for the square footage of those tables and enough room for chairs and compliance with fire codes—but they cannot put any product there to recover some of that cost. Add on top of that the fact some folks do try to charge for games and don’t cut in the owners, and you have another place they are going to be on edge and suspicious.
I hope that helps you see their perspective some—specifically why they might be stressed, on edge, skeptical about entering a new product space, and generally suspicious of someone who repeatedly insists on their taking a course of action which very well might be contrary to their goals.
I get it. I understand the reservations and the economic factors I just feel it would have been best to at least be direct with me and tell me at this time they would not pursue it, or say they were looking into the D&D crowd to see if it was worth it for them. I just received the cold shoulder and if they started a group of D&D-interested people who were all also strangers why was I not invited or told about it? Regardless, it doesn't matter. Live and let live.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it.
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Hello everyone!
My name is Bobby 2 Shades and I am a happy Forever DM and I am also an English Teacher in a non-English speaking country. It has been my dream to teach English through roleplaying games. I have worked for years to create an immersive fun experience and tailor it to English learners.
This year a LGS opened up a few blocks from my house. It's a small mom-and-pop shop and so far has only been selling MTG and Pokemon cards. I have seen LGS come and go and mainly it's because they (IMO) are run by people who are not that interested in engaging the community but rather only open it to sell a product or because they like the product but they are not a "social" person. I feel that they should have more programs and community engagement in order to attract more people.
So I went in to offer a service.
I asked them if they were interested in selling D&D products and they said "Possibly" in the future. So I told them that I can be a DM if the store would like to offer campaigns to the community. They can put up a sign up sheet and get more people in the store. If they would like to sell products I could help them by guiding people on what to buy. The sessions would be in English if they wanted so it could double as an English class. If they wanted they could make it a club with a monthly fee and earn cash from it. I offered to do a one shot for them so they can fully understand what they can offer.
They smiled and said that they would think about it and call me.
2 Weeks later and without a call-back I went back to the store and asked them if they had spoken about it to which they replied "Not yet" but they said they would call me and let me know.
A few days later I got a message from a friend of mine who knows the shop and said that they have been asking if anyone would be interested in playing D&D at their shop, they have been inviting everyone interested into a WhatsApp group. At this point there were 2 options: 1.) They were gauging if it was worth it to start the club I mentioned and they would call me after to let me know or option 2.) They decided to pursue the D&D crowd and not just ignore me, but also cut me out of the equation. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt because I tend to believe the best in people. My friend said he was in the Whatsapp group and could invite me in to see what's happening. I agreed. While in the group I waited for a statement from the LGS. After a few days they made a statement, "This group is for those looking to play D&D in the LGS. So if anyone wants to play they can ask here.".... and that was it..
A few days later I passed by again and asked again if they had considered my idea to which they told me that they had been very busy and they had not had time to think about it. So I asked them if it was ok for me to come in and play a D&D game. They said "Sure, no problem."
Shortly after, people in the group started asking for when sessions would be planned at the store. The store said that they set a Saturday aside for D&D and started a list for "rounds of play" Which I thought was strange, it sounded more like something you would say at a MTG tournament. Regardless, I signed up to give strangers a free one-shot session. The day I went there I set up my table, minis, maps, sound fx, ambiance, battle music, bags, fake money, the works.. After 15 mins a few people wandered in and asked if they could play and I DMed for them. Afterwards they were all smiles, the session ended well and it was quite fun. They all told me that they would love to continue the session but when I left I noticed that the owners walked over to the players and started speaking with them.
A week after that I did not receive any calls or messages. So two weeks later I took a group of my friends to play. We reserved a table and played a great session but that time when I left I noticed the owners were not that thrilled or at least that is the vibe I got when I left.
Since the initial message the LGS gave in the Whatsapp group, it has pretty much been dead. 27 people and no one sets up any games nor messages in it. So I post things, D&D products, cool ideas, pictures and videos of my sessions, and so on. Well recently I posted my D&D carved Holloween Pumpkin and then I received a message directly from the store. They stated " Look, if you want to play D&D here that is fine but since we have seen you come in and play sessions in English, you must be charging people for it. If you are then you need to pay us a "rent out a table" fee. We hope you understand." After this message I finally understood why the one-shot group didn't contact me back, the store owner must have told them that I CHARGE for DMing. I quickly wrote them back and told them "No, the sessions that I have been playing have all been and will always be FREE, the club idea was solely for their business and it was so that they could engage the community more. But since they NEVER contacted me about it I decided to play." They still have not replied to my message.
I don't know why I felt the need to get this off my chest but I just felt like it was a tragedy that this LGS acted like this and is not doing anything to promote the game to the community. One day I hope to open a store myself, engage the community with multiple clubs, and teach English through the love of RPGs and Games. Peace to the community!
Without trying to excuse their behavior, I did want to provide some information which might be useful to your understanding their actions.
It is expensive for a store to start selling a new product. They have to spend a bunch to get the inventory, which they hope they will make back when the inventory is sold—but which still involves an initial and substantial financial hit. For a new business without significant cash flow, that is a hard thing to ask—they probably cannot afford to just drop a few thousand dollars on books, miniatures, play mats, etc. when they are already carrying significant debt from their startup costs. Additionally, they have to dedicate square footage (which they are paying for in rent) to the new product - which means cutting space from other objects they already sell, taking up additional space where game tables could go, and/or buying different shelving systems which can display the new product.
Second, D&D is popular, but it is not a great money maker for stores. The products take up a lot of space and often sit on shelves for months before someone buys them (or in the case of minis, they can sit for years before someone decides they need some particular monster). That means you do not recover your initial purchase of the inventory for a long time, while simultaneously taking up space for products which do move faster. Magic and Pokémon, for example, sell very quickly and do not take up much space at all - they are great for new businesses because they are a low risk, quick return product. Even things which sit around for a while, like Magic Singles, take up little in the way of display space, so you can keep a bunch of product that you expect will be slow to move, without it distracting from product you expect to move quickly.
Third, from this, it looks like you are a stranger to them. Other than being a bit insistent on “doing them a favour” (see above for why this might not be as big a favour as you think it is), you have not mentioned you are a regular at their Magic games or otherwise a regular customer.
If a stranger keeps saying “you should let me do this for your own good” that looks hyper suspicious - especially if they’re repeatedly pushing for something. There are enough unsavoury people out there that it would be bad business sense to assume someone is being altruistic without an ulterior motive.
Fourth, if I was a game store, I would be very careful of who I authorise to run games i sanction - especially if I was unfamiliar with the game and did not know how to vet the DM’s experience. There are a lot of bad DMs out there - maybe they don’t know the rules very well, or maybe they’re some of the many bigoted players who exist in this game, or maybe they’re just kind of awkward and/or unfun to play with. Any of those would look bad for the game store. So, while you might think you are the best DM in the world, they have no way of knowing that.
Fifth, starting a new business is very stressful. A game store (as with any small business) is losing money every single month for the first few months to a year, and, until they turn profitable, they’re always a bad month or two away from imploding. You might think they acted in a rude way, but it could very easily be they are tired, very stressed, and perhaps just kind of annoyed at the fact you keep pushing them to do something that would be financially hard for them to do.
Sixth, the entire issue about how game stores should recoup their square footage cost for tables is a complicated and contentious one. They, after all, have to pay for the square footage of those tables and enough room for chairs and compliance with fire codes—but they cannot put any product there to recover some of that cost. Add on top of that the fact some folks do try to charge for games and don’t cut in the owners, and you have another place they are going to be on edge and suspicious.
I hope that helps you see their perspective some—specifically why they might be stressed, on edge, skeptical about entering a new product space, and generally suspicious of someone who repeatedly insists on their taking a course of action which very well might be contrary to their goals.
I get it. I understand the reservations and the economic factors I just feel it would have been best to at least be direct with me and tell me at this time they would not pursue it, or say they were looking into the D&D crowd to see if it was worth it for them. I just received the cold shoulder and if they started a group of D&D-interested people who were all also strangers why was I not invited or told about it? Regardless, it doesn't matter. Live and let live.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it.