Did a FLGS introduce you to the hobby?

[Bloodsparrow]

Rather it was the top two combined.

A friend who used to play and I walked by a Game Keeper that was having a "Summer Fantasy Festival" where "demo" D&D games were going to be run in-store. And she was all, "Oh, this is fun, we should sign up!"

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Further, I believe the FLGS is where many people learn their SECOND game.

That was exactly what I was going to say. I got into D&D because of a friend back in 1979 mentioning it as somethign he wanted to get. I moved away, but saw one of the box sets in a Bookstore window, and bought it to check out.

There were a couple of hobby stores that had decent gaming sections that I would check out frequently, and thats where I got my exposure to the 2nd, 3rd, etc games (Gamma World, Traveller, Boot Hill, and Top Secret, in no particular order - that was about all there was back in '80, '81).

Its unlikely I would have gone into those hobby stores if I hadn't already known about D&D.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

I was introduced to the hobby in Catholic Scool 4th grade by my teacher, a Nun. She and a priest from the parish were miniaturs gamers. They brought back the original D&D books from a mini con, and we were allowed to select playing with her as the DM if we earned Friday Free Time. It was the Friday before Halloween, which is a few days before my birthday, when I rolled up a Fighting Man named Random (I had just read Nine Princes In Amber), and made it almost to the third room before I was killed by a Kobold Arrow. I asked my folks to get me the books for my Birthday, and they managed it, somehow. My Dad played for a bit, and then I got my own group that summer. So no, there were no eral FLGS at the time. Just a Nun and a Priest and cool parents.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

I was introduced to the hobby in Catholic Scool 4th grade by my teacher, a Nun. She and a priest from the parish were miniaturs gamers. They brought back the original D&D books from a mini con, and we were allowed to select playing with her as the DM if we earned Friday Free Time. It was the Friday before Halloween, which is a few days before my birthday, when I rolled up a Fighting Man named Random (I had just read Nine Princes In Amber), and made it almost to the third room before I was killed by a Kobold Arrow. I asked my folks to get me the books for my Birthday, and they managed it, somehow. My Dad played for a bit, and then I got my own group that summer. So no, there were no real FLGS at the time. Just a Nun and a Priest and cool parents.

Now, has an FLGS factored prominently? Hell yes. But it went out of business decades ago, and its replacements that spawned from the partners each taking part of the inventory and oening their own are all either out of business or just plain unfriendly, genuinely stenchy, and Lan-Infested now.

 

[Umbran]

I don't think that the FLGS was ever necessary to the hobby by virtue of how many people it introduced to the game.

FLGSs used to be necessary to the health of the hobby, as a place for gamers to gather, a place to exchange ideas, and a place where one could be exposed to far more gaming products than one typically sees in a mainstream bookstore. Keeping people in games, and interested in new products, is required for the hobby's overall health.

These days, websites could fill that role to a great degree. However, I expect places like EN World still don't get enough traffic to replace the FLGS.

 

[buzz]

Further, I believe the FLGS is where many people learn their SECOND game.

Lord knows, that's how I found HERO.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Further, I believe the FLGS is where many people learn their SECOND game.

Lord knows, that's how I found HERO.

And how I found Synnibarr.

 

[s/LaSH]

My parents bought me basic D&D, I taught myself from there. They had never played, although my mother had a d12 and my father's mother gave me an adventure module some years beforehand...

 

[The Goblin King]

Further, I believe the FLGS is where many people learn their SECOND game.

I know that is how I found GURPS and White Wolf games. That is also how I found other gamers when I was new to an area.

Ironically, what got me into RPGs was anti-RPG sermons. My mother was listening to some preacher on the radio talking about how evil these games were. I immediately wanted to know more about them. Were it not for that I would probably have stuck to miniature wargaming.

 

[Pseudonym]

I was introduced to gaming by my father, who was DMing a game for some guys in his Army unit back in 1981.

The FLGS has its function, and in the past I have used them to connect with the local gamer community; but now I have the internet for that sort of thing. I owe playing in my Tuesday night game to the Gamers Seeking Gamers forum here at EN World.

In general I prefer to order my gaming materials online. This is partly due to the cost savings, and partly due to the lack of gaming stores in the local area. Rather, role-playing games are a secondary function to the two stores where they can be purchased. One is a comic store and the other is a smoke shop. There isn't a FLGS to patronize.