How to revitalize an area for gaming? (Specifically Baltimore)

[atomn]

I'm from Baltimore and in another thread it was mentioned how the gaming culture in Baltimore has dried up and is done for. It sounds like it comes largely from a lack of decent gaming stores and conventions. So what are some ways to help culture the gaming community into something great, if not better than it was in previous ages? (Ideally starting small, not an overwhelming way like "Establish a really cool gaming/anime/comic books/sci-fi/fantasy/nerd-fest that will draw lots of people together.") Thanks!!

 

[jezter6]

Hey atmon! Also from Baltimore.

I see we have a few issues:

1) No decent stores. Everything seems to be scattered around outside the city. With traffic how it is here in the metro, it's not easy to roll all the way out to Glen Burnie or Towson.
1a) Of those, only 1 store is any good, and it's Games & Comics & Stuff. The other store is basically worthless for this part of the gaming hobby. It's pretty much set up for card game and Warhammer.
1b) Parking sucks at both, so even if you could get a good crowd...they'd have nowhere to park for free/cheap.

2) Lack of gamers in general. We're too spread out around the Metro area that it's hard to get groups together. I've met with Mad Irishman, The Universe, and Queen Doppleopolis, but they're on the other side of the metro where it's a good hour drive to game.

3) Lack of gamers in general - at least gamers who are out on the web. I've posted and seen postings for a number of games in the area and very little responses came in.

What can we do? Well...we need to get the decent game stores to host gaming related events outside of cards and minis. We need to introduce those gamers into tabletop RPG by getting them involved in other aspects of our already small hobby.

We could certainly use a good website dedicated to B-more gamers (of course IF and only if we could get people out on it.). That website would help hook up new groups, notify of in-store events, and other outside gaming activities to meetup with other gamers.

And to go along with that, we actually need to meet up. Maybe not play games all the time, but meet up for other hobbies that might be mutual. I've found that homebrewing (beer) seems to be a very geek friendly hobby. I would welcome speaking with other gamers and sharing my hobby with them (21 and up).

 

[sckeener]

Rent it and they will come.

I remember a group here in Houston (- Clear Lake area) called CLAG. Basically they rented space at a local Unitarian church for every 3rd Friday of the month. I believe it was $1 admittance. All manner of gaming was allowed.

I'm not sure what happened as I went to college and when I came back I couldn't find them any more.

 

[Kaladhan]

IANOAEBIDHAMS! (I Am Not An Expert, But I Do Have A Modest Suggestion)

My suggestion would be to create a website for the players of the Baltimore region. Make a monthly meetup in a place easy to access (perhaps even the good gaming store). Or perhaps easier to access. If the location allows, run pick up games there. Eventually, when you have 10-15 people, plan for a small convention (perhaps even an Enworld Game Day Baltimore?). You won't have many people there, but you have to start somewhere.

 

[gizmo33]

I live in Baltimore. You'd think gamers would have some sort of guild by now. I'll stay tuned to see what folks come up with.

 

[recentcoin]

Suggestions....

If your area has good public transit, see if you can pick a place and times that are transit friendly, minimizing gas, parking hassles, etc. See if you can get some sort of a central location. While the gaming store might be handy, it might be better to have it elsewhere since travel times seem to be an issue.

I live in Dallas and we have train service here that goes to several large parks and the like. Many parks offer facilities that can be reserved for little or no cost. Other places to consider would be things like the VFW, Elks' club, Rotary club, etc. buidlings. Many of these are also available for use on specific nights of the week by non-members and usually fairly inexpensively. Perhaps the gaming store(s) would be willing to sponsor the event and pay the fees for the rental.

You should also make sure that notices get posted on most of the local college campuses. Reach beyond the gaming stores, and make sure that the local book stores that have a decent sci-fi/fantasy section have notices posted. I agree with the previous poster who said that they would put up a web site just for your area. I'd add a calendar that people can submit events to, so that if there are games going on in other places, venues, etc. that you guys can cross promote each other.

You might consider some community initiatives to bring non-gamers into the fold. Have free admission for "gamer virgins". Have "bring your spouse" nights. Have workshops with experienced DM's that teach people how to play. Try to convince your boss that it's a great team building exercise. Do what you can to introduce to people to it. It's all a numbers game. 5% of the population does it, so in order to have 100 gamers, you need to check with 2000 people. Out of those 100 some won't be able to show up on Wednesday nights.

I have to add that in places where are the gaming community has "died out" that it's been my observation that there is a dearth of *good* DM's.

 

[pawsplay]

Hook up with the local colleges. Any kind of geeky clubs are good recruiting grounds, and many schools have gaming clubs. If they do, whisper the phrase "gaming con" in their ear until they succumb to mad lust.

Find a store, any store, that will let you congregate, that has space and parking, and sells at least one roleplaying product of some kind. Do a monthly pickup game.

Schmooze at the Waldebooks/B Dalton/Hastings. If you live in gaming hell, you might as well get used to the temperature.

If nothing else, pamphlet your neighborhood. The grocery store, the comics shop, the electronic games store, whatever. Start games, lots of games. I used to live in Broken Arrow, Olahoma, a little cookie cutter suburb of Tulsa. I combed the neighborhood for games. I spent a lot of time gaming with my brother and my cousin, though.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

I live in York, Pa., just up 83 from you Baltimorians.
I've attended a few RPGA events here and found that a lot of the participants were from Maryland. So maybe that's your answer: Host a couple of RPGA events and then recruit from that pool.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

We’re slowly revitalizing things here in my city, and this is what I can tell from our experience:

- Find a good place, with lots of tables, preferably one that also sells food.
- Invite your fellow gamers to bring their campaigns there. They don’t need to start new games or accept new players on their current games, but you need gaming tables for this kind of thing to work.
- Find someone willing to start new games. In my own experience, different RPGs work better on this. Everyone and his friends play D&D, but if you have someone willing to run Blue Planet or HOL, that will catch the attention of gamers scattered through your city.
- Don’t discriminate TCGs or minis players. In our own weekly meeting I take my old M: TG decks and play with anyone willing to. My friends also take their D&D minis and do the same. If a guy goes there to play anything but RPG, chances are that someday he’ll become curious about RPGs as well; gamers are gamers after all… 
- Announcing it on message boards and other similar media is also a good move, but I’ve learned that convincing gamers to bring other gamer friends works best.

Cheers,

 

[werk]

Find a store, any store, that will let you congregate, that has space and parking, and sells at least one roleplaying product of some kind. Do a monthly pickup game.

Schmooze at the Waldebooks/B Dalton/Hastings. If you live in gaming hell, you might as well get used to the temperature.

Laughing Out Loud!

That's awesome.

I have a couple of suggestions too, once you take care of finding a space and setting up meet-up/forum/groupspage...
Marketing. Usually the local paper will have a weekend section that is dying for events to put on the calendar, so post in there a few times, monthly or bi monthly, but try not to take advantage of their periodical nature. You probably also have 'entertainment guides' or some such...up here in Madison we have the Isthmus, in Austin it was the Chronicle, same deal, get on their hobby calendar. If you put a lot of effort in and know that you have some support staff showing up ready to run games, call it a mini-con or expo, to hard sell the people that may be on the fence about showing up. A little false advertising never hurt anybody...
Inclusion. Especially since you are trying to encourage people to start or restart the hobby, most of your hosted games should be core or SRD material restricted. That way no one will be left out or required to 'buy in' to the hobby in order to get a taste.