FLGS – part 2

It’s been a while (March) since I talked about this subject but some recent message threads I’ve been reading  brought me back to it so I’d like to pick up where I left off – describing the FLGS using the letters of the acronym.

We already talked about F, friendly, before but I’d like to add to it.  One aspect of a store being friendly is for it to be inviting – both physically and socially.  I talked about some of physical things like being well lit.  What I mean here by socially inviting is that the store, and its employees, act as if they want you to be there.  This is done in several ways.  For the employees – start with a uniform of some kind.  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  A simple T-shirt design will suffice.  The point is not to have me guess who of the people in the store actually works there.  Hygiene is also very important.  You’d think nobody would ever have to bring this up but I’ve been in stores where the help, or the help’s friends they are chatting with, need to learn about running water, soap and deodorant.  I have to say I don’t care much about piercings and tattoos and all that, but being lively and attentive without being overbearing is critical.  As for the store itself being socially inviting, I think the key here is advertisement, a good web site, promotions, email updates of store events and a willingness to go the extra mile for the customer.

When we look at the L, or local, part of the FLGS, satisfying folks gets to be a little more difficult.  What’s local to me may not be local to you.  That said the key in part is location, location, location.  The best place for a game store to be local (read convenient) to the most customers is if they are at a shopping center that has good road access and ideally good access to public transportation.  For drivers, it needs to have good, and ideally free, parking.  The store should also be collocated with related establishments, to make it a convenient extra stop when making the rounds.  So if the game store isn’t also a comic store for example, it would be near one.  Similarly, it would be good if it was near some book stores and things like video game, toy, craft, stationary and big box stores.  I don’t want to have to drive 30 minutes out of my way at $4 a gallon for gas.  It goes without saying that another type of business that a game store needs to be near is dining, in particular pizza, takeout and fast food choices.  Lastly, the most local a game store can be is with its virtual presence.  It needs a good web site.  In a perfect world, that site has message boards, calendars where you can schedule resources like rooms/tables in the store for events, it has a connection as a marketplace that lets me buy on line with the option to ship or to pick up my goods at the store.

G, Game, is arguably the most important part of the acronym because without the games, why would we go there to shop at all?  The key for a great FLGS in this area is to have a lot of games to choose from, in all categories – card, board, classic, RPG, miniature, etc.  There should be no shortage of choices in each category and the store needs to have all of the supplemental material that goes along with the games – for example dice for RPGs or paints and brushes for miniatures.  A good FLGS has all of the new releases, and keeps customers apprised of what’s coming on what days.  They will allow for pre-ordering of games that are coming soon, maybe going so far as to pull products for regular customers of favorite product lines like comic stores often do.  The ideal game store stocks out of print and collectible products as well.  Looking for that adventure module for the 1980s, a rare Magic card from three sets ago or a specific miniature?  They’ve got you covered.  While the employees of the store don’t need to play all of the different games, they should be basically knowledgeable about the products that the store carries and be able to answer questions or get back to customers if they don’t know.  A good FLGS also has a sizeable and uncluttered game play area as well.  Ideally this place space can be reserved for specific groups or events, it isn’t in the way of shopping, and allows for people to observe games in progress to learn about them without interfering with the players.

Finally we get to the last letter S for store.  The store needs to be well stocked.  They need to offer the products you want at the best prices they can manage.  They need to reward frequent customers.  They need to accept major credit cards.  They need great store hours.  They need good parking.  They need to get new product in on the release date or as close to it as they can manage.

Choices

Over the years, one of the ways the D&D game has changed a lot is in the number of choices players have to make in order to construct and level up their characters.  In the classic "Basic" D&D I started with you basically had to choose a class out of seven choices.  The rest of your choices were basically what equipment to buy and use and what spells to learn and memorize if you were a spellcaster.  The ability scores were random, the thief skill progression was fixed, there were no proficiencies or skills, you didn't multiclass.  Starting with 3E in particular, the number of choices grew greatly as you not only could pick skills and feats but had to choose what class you wanted each level with a large class and race combo option.  I confess that for me, sometimes I like it simple and sometimes I like to have a lot of choices to make when creating a PC.  It depends kind of on the mood.  The one thing I've found to watch out for with the later versions though is that not all choices are equal.  Sure it may cost the same to improve your spot skill versus your craft(pottery) skill, but which will get used more in play?  Sometimes it's fun to pick oddball choices though.  I gets it depends.

Life as Game

So how often has life beeen used by you to make a game session or come up with a campaign concept?  Looking at recent news items such as the flooding in the US midwest, the royal wedding in England, the killing of Bin Laden, the tsunami in Japan, civil war in Libya, etc. in can be seen where such things could be used as inspiration for a roleplaying game.  I have to say, despite the richness of real life in terms of making story, I don't usually find myself using the news as a primary source of inspiration.  But shouldn't I?  Who out there uses news stories, recent or historical, for most of their game ideas?

Are you scared yet?

I've always been a big fan of the horror setting Ravenloft and I like a lot of the trappings of horror adventures.  That said, in my experience it can be really hard to scare the players, or to make them feel scared for their characters.  About the only thing the average player seems to worry about is either a force of nature they don't feel they can fight and just need to run from (for example a tornado) or something that assaults their possessions (for example a rust monster).  Maybe it's the abstract nature of the combat system in D&D that leads to this.  I could have a maximum of 80 hit points and be down to my last one and still be 100% functional.  It's not like a real fight in the sense you could be maimed and lose the ability to walk or see.  I think another aspect of horror games that is a little more difficult is that you have to feel some closer attachment to the character and be more concerned about their goals, history, worries, etc.  If the character is just a game piece and the game style is strictly about tactical combat or optimized skill usage then you'll be too detached to feel any fear or horror.  I need to think about this more before my next game which should have a horror element to it.  And no, putting on spooky music and turning the lights down so you're too blind to see the table isn't going to cut it.

Summon Monster

How often does monster summoning by the PCs come into play in a typical game of D&D?  I'd have to say before we started playing third edition, it basically never happened.  I'm not sure if it was the casting time of the spells, or the added complexity or what but I don't think I can recall a single time before 2000 where at any of the tables I played at there was monster summoning that influenced combat.  Sure, the DM might gate extra demons in using a demon's power to bring in more of its kind, but the PCs wouldn't be calling creatures from beyond to fight for them.  3E changed that for us.  All of the sudden the clerics, sorcerers and wizards of the party were regularly bringing in celestial bisons and whatnot.  It made for some pretty entertaining combat situations as these short lived and expendable minions came in and were used to mix it up.  To some extent, the concept of summoning creatures from beyond the world always seemed in fantasy like it should involve elaborate expensive rituals and time consuming casting.  The 3E spells were more like hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of a hat.  I think both ideas work in a game situation, though I'm not sure in a single campaign if I'd want to blend the two styles.  Thoughts?

Mind over Matter

Do psionics belong in the D&D game?  It's always been an outside system, something stuck on top of the game in an appendix or supplement rather than right in the middle of the core rules.  Despite the mechanical differences the system has seen over the years, I think the main reasons that it doesn't get used are more flavor driven.  Psionics to a lot of folks doesn't feel right for a medieval fantasy setting.  I think that's part of the reason it saw success in the more post-apocalyptic Dark Sun.  Well that and the fact that for that setting they made a point of assuming it as part of the setting rather than have it tacked on.  Personally, I think psionics are cool but they won't fit every campaign and they need to be incorporated from the start.

Best Demon Lord

D&D's demon lords are among the best big bads the game has ever seen.  A number of them have been added to the game over the years.  I was looking at the 3E Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss last night which is a great supplement.  Who's your favorite demon lord of the ones in the book?
Baphomet, Prince of Beasts
Dagon, Prince of the Depths
Demogorgon, Prince of Demons
Fraz-Urb'Luu, Prince of Deception
Graz'zt, The Dark Prince
Juiblex, The Faceless Lord
Kostchtchie, Prince of Wrath
Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi
Obox-Ob, Prince of Vermin
Orcus, Prince of the Undead
Pale Night, The Mother of Demons
Pazuzu, Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms
Yeenoghu, Prince of Gnolls
Zuggtmoy, Lady of Fungi

Here there be monsters

I think one of the best ways for the DM to make an adventure or campaign unique is through the use of the monsters you throw at your PCs.  Monsters, in my opinion, should not just be thrown randomly at the party.  I'm not saying you don't have wandering monsters.  I'm saying the monsters need to make sense, at least from the perspective of where the PCs are.  Most of the monsters in a normal environment will be similar to each other or part of the same organization.  You won't find a goblin sharing a room with a black pudding for example unless he's some kind of pudding master or something.

Additionally, I think that the DM should consider the following categories when adding monsters to their adventure.

1. Include monsters that are part of the overall campaign thread.  So if there's a githyanki invasion going on that links the adventures together, you should have some githyanki or their agents included.
2. Include that particular adventure's main monster.  If the PCs are in a dragon's lair, you probably need to have a dragon.
3. There should be some common monsters within the context of the adventure.  These are the typical grunts and minions.  In the evil priest's lair, he might have skeletons walking around that guard the place.
4. Lastly, you probably need to throw in one unexpected monster that's included as a set piece to surprise the PCs, while still giving it a reason for being there.

Vile Darkness

The Book of Vile Darkness is one of the more interesting third edition D&D books.  Targeted at a mature audience, it's goal is to introduce rules, villains and monsters that really bring the evil of your campaign's evil to the foreground.  Here is a book that talks about all of the nasty things the enemies of your PCs can and will do to the innocent.  Personally, I think it's a great addition to the DM's arsenal, especially if they are running a game with a particular emphasis on horror and horrific villains.  Yes, I would agree this is a book that isn't for children, it is one that delivers what it promises.  If you want to scare, disgust or gross out your PCs, this book has some ideas for you.

Savage Species

The Savage Species supplement for late D&D 3.0 is one of those products that I've always really liked.  This product gives you all the options to play a monster, whether an almost human but nasty goblin, orc or bugbear to something weird like a minotaur or mind flayer.  It's just well done with lots of fun sounding options and good art.  But for some reason it's something I've never used. Maybe part of the reason is the mechanical aspects of it, figuring out how your character fits in with normal PCs.  Maybe it's more about how it assumes a different type of campaign since monsters don't normally just get to walk into the tavern.  Maybe I just haven't found the time to use it yet.  Have you played a monster today and if so, what kind?