Is Encounters dying?

[Samurai]

Anecdotally, it sure is around here. I just found out that the 3 nearest shops to me that were running Encounters have all stopped due to lack of participation. The couple that showed up to my game this week drove for more than an hour to get there because one by one, stores have stopped running it. Unfortunately, they were the only 2 people that showed up to my game so we couldn't run it either. In fact, we have not yet been able to start the Phantom Brigade due to not enough people showing up week after week. (The Encounter rules say you should not run it with less than 4 players, but I'll run it with 3 and up... yet lately there have been no more than 2 who show up anymore!)

Months ago, we had a high water mark of 7 people showing up, now we can't even get 3, and it seems we are the last place within 60+ miles that is even still trying!

 

[Saracenus]

Currently running 5 tables @ Guardian Games (down from a high point of 6 or 7).

I think last season's 20 session slog, plus the holidays killed some of the momentum a bit.

On the other hand, many of the folks that started at my FLGS have moved out to other stores closer to where they live and have helped expand D&D Encounters to most of the game stores in the greater Portland, OR area. Most of those stores are running 1 or 2 tables a week.

Here is how we are doing it, we have multiple gamer seeking games resources here.

1. About 4 years ago I created a yahoo mail list called PDX_RPGA. That list has helped individuals and stores organize games in a central clearing house.
2. Portland D&D Meetup (Now moved over to bigtent.com) has been an invaluable resource for all types of gamers. I would say that this is where most of our new gamers come from.
3. Our stores are listed on the WotC store finder (we get a few from this).
4. Guardian Games (hey Angel!) has its own forums and regularly shoots out tweets, updates its facebook page.

We have tapped other resources (advertising at local conventions, postcards with contact info and a website).

Most of our players are new or returning to D&D after a long absence (3 of the 6 players at my table hadn't played since AD&D 2nd Edition).

If you want a vibrant D&D Encounters scene, it takes a little work, but once it gets going it will sustain itself with less effort.

If you are just relying on folks showing up, then I am not surprised that its fading.

My two coppers,

 

[samursus]

If you are just relying on folks showing up, then I am not surprised that its fading.

My two coppers,

This is why many things fail. Some hobbies/fads go viral, and seem to just build up steam on their own, through word-of-mouth or what have you. Anything else requires some effort, especially something with a learning curve and time commitment like an RPG.

 

[Dannager]

If you are just relying on folks showing up, then I am not surprised that its fading.

Pretty much this.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

We were down from 3 full tables to 2 full tables this previous week. But it is spring break around here so people are gone. We will be back to 3 tables at our store next week.

And with summer coming I suspect we might see an increase of players as people have more time on their hands.

 

[Samurai]

Currently running 5 tables @ Guardian Games (down from a high point of 6 or 7).

I think last season's 20 session slog, plus the holidays killed some of the momentum a bit.

On the other hand, many of the folks that started at my FLGS have moved out to other stores closer to where they live and have helped expand D&D Encounters to most of the game stores in the greater Portland, OR area. Most of those stores are running 1 or 2 tables a week.

Here is how we are doing it, we have multiple gamer seeking games resources here.

1. About 4 years ago I created a yahoo mail list called PDX_RPGA. That list has helped individuals and stores organize games in a central clearing house.
2. Portland D&D Meetup (Now moved over to bigtent.com) has been an invaluable resource for all types of gamers. I would say that this is where most of our new gamers come from.
3. Our stores are listed on the WotC store finder (we get a few from this).
4. Guardian Games (hey Angel!) has its own forums and regularly shoots out tweets, updates its facebook page.

We have tapped other resources (advertising at local conventions, postcards with contact info and a website).

Most of our players are new or returning to D&D after a long absence (3 of the 6 players at my table hadn't played since AD&D 2nd Edition).

If you want a vibrant D&D Encounters scene, it takes a little work, but once it gets going it will sustain itself with less effort.

If you are just relying on folks showing up, then I am not surprised that its fading.

My two coppers,

Well, part of it is also that Portland is a relatively big city compared to rural northern CA. If you have 5 tables playing Encounters, that right there is more gamers than there are in a 50 mile radius around me. There are no local conventions because last time the local store tried to organize it, about 10 or 12 people showed up, total.

That said, both I and the local store owner have tried to advertise it. I've asked every gamer I know if they want to play (none do, because it's 4e). I've posted the game here on Enworld's gamer seeking gamers and tried contacting every Enworlder within 50 miles of me on the list. The store owner has told every customer about it (routine answer is "maybe I'll check it out..." but they then don't show) and has hung a massive sign advertising Encounters in the window of the store.

Also, it really doesn't sustain itself, since we've had a great deal of turnover in players, and practically no players who are real gamers want to play (this is a very "Pathfinder/3.5 and earlier" town). Players show up 1 week, skip the next, come 1 more week, then maybe once more a few weeks later, etc. Almost none of them have any 4e books or experience (I've had more players bring 2e PHBs to the game than 4e PHBs, because they heard it was D&D and thought it was the same one they used to play!), most don't even have dice, only 2 have ever had their own characters.

I would feel a bit self-conscious that it was my DMing style/skill that is to blame, except I've been playing and DMing for 31 years, I have a regular group I DM Pathfinder for the last few years that really enjoy the game and my DMing, and all the people that have played Encounters with me say they had fun. Plus, like I said, many other stores are ending their Encounters programs, we're the last in the area to still keep trying.

Maybe you really need a certain critical mass of avid 4e gamers to make it work. Bigger cities might be able to keep it going... dropping from 7 tables to 5 doesn't hurt a thing, heck, even dropping from 2 to 1 steady table keeps it going. But dropping from 5-7 players to 2-3 because that's all there are in a given area that want to play 4e, results in the end of Encounters at the store.

 

[Dannager]

It sounds like you just don't have enough 4e players around, then. The solution to this would be to become a much stronger advocate of 4e. Chances are that at least some of them have a negative impression of the system founded not on personal experience but on word of mouth from Pathfinder/3.5 fans. If you're able to find players who have not yet tried a 4e game in earnest, consider running a short Essentials-based game to get them acquainted with the system. Focus on what 4e does better than Pathfinder.

This all assumes, of course, that you're willing to work harder to keep your local Encounters program afloat. It would probably be a lot easier to just "go with the flow" and accept that you're in Pathfinderville out there. Unfortunately, this is what happens to isolated communities.

And, in answer to your original question, no, it doesn't look like Encounters is dying. It just sounds like the gaming environment around where you live is pretty anti-4e.

 

[Incenjucar]

When last season ended, we had only one table.

When this season began, we had one full table, and then one barely-there table, where I had to play instead of DM.

Last session, three full tables.

This stuff can vary quite a bit. The big trick is to make sure people know that the game is available, and to make sure that everyone tells their friends about it.

 

[S'mon]

I think it's quite impressive rural northern California could sustain it at all for so long. London is a city of 8 million, and the only place running Encounters here is a wargames shop, not an RPG store.

 

[kramer81]

My FLGS's situation with Encounters is very simple.

When we first started, we were running two tables weekly. It slowly went down to one table though because players would constantly be changing characters, and as such there would be Level 1s trying to take on the last encounter and we were starting to suffer from week after week of TPKs.

When the Dark Sun season started, I actually stepped aside as DM because some of the players were constantly arguing with me about the Dark Sun mechanics (one went as far as making it seem like a Final Fantasy-style victory, music included, when I misread something in the adventure and he used it to his advantage). The DM that took over after me then decided that he did not want to run anymore and would deliberately kill off the PCs every week just so he could end the session early.

Keep on the Borderlands just occurred during a bad time locally. We were constantly getting hit with storms and for a good long time, the temperature never got above 20 degrees, and with most of the Encounters players unable to drive, they were not planning on walking just for 90 minutes of D&D.