Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Museum of Dungeons & Dragons Is A Go! Funding Begins
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6050315" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>Btw, I don't think any of the locations you have listed are good ones from a business perspective.</p><p></p><p>Years down the road, you can always open up a second museum in Lake Geneva (most likely not, but who can tell?). But, I've been gaming for well over 30 years and have never visited Lake Geneva, even for a convention. It was always just too many thousands of miles away from where I lived and cost too much to fly there just to go to a convention.</p><p></p><p>From a business and population perspective, you should pick a totally unrelated place, probably somewhere in the northeast corridor of the US where people actually go. However, having said this, many places in the northeast have high costs of living. So, you need to find a place off the intersection of at least two major freeways where the cost of living might not be super high. It doesn't have to be in the northeast, but it has to be somewhere with a lot of people. You need volume if you are going to succeed and D&D is just such a niche hobby that you won't succeed without a great location (shy of begging for donations every year).</p><p></p><p>Baseball or Football Hall of Fame. Those can be anywhere cause literally 10s of millions of people in the US like or love those games respectively. D&D probably has a heavy draw of about a quarter million people in the US at best, and an acquainted with draw of maybe a million or so. The vast majority of people will tend to ONLY go to this museum if they are passing by for some other reason. So, you need to locate it near high population and if possible, high tourist locations.</p><p></p><p>Having it within an hour at most of one or two of the major conventions wouldn't hurt for an additional draw as well.</p><p></p><p></p><p>You should also charge a fee at the door as opposed to relying on donations. You can still have donations, but $5 at the door ($3 for teenagers/kids, $0 for real small kids) isn't going to break anyone (course, the amount you charge people should be based on your business plan, it should be carefully thought out based on expenses and potential draw of people). The Museum of Natural History has donors, but it still charges a fee ($33 based on their web site). You need to charge a fee to make this a viable business. Have you ever run a business before? If not, you should solicit help from gamers who have. If you want this to succeed, you have to get it right, or it will go by the way of the Dodo.</p><p></p><p>You have to treat this like a business and that means, picking a good location in the US, not the most nostalgic one. Sorry, but otherwise, you will probably be doomed to failure. Insurance, rental, salaries, even advertising. These will eat you alive without a steady form of income. I really don't think you can rely on online donations every year.</p><p></p><p>Keep it away from hurricane / tornado areas because some of the material you'll have there will be very difficult to replace. No flood zones.</p><p></p><p></p><p>PS. You should also have a small concession stand and eating area where you sell food and drink. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You will have low turnout as a general rule, so you need to get a few extra bucks out of each person who visits. Make it look like a tavern. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 6050315, member: 2011"] Btw, I don't think any of the locations you have listed are good ones from a business perspective. Years down the road, you can always open up a second museum in Lake Geneva (most likely not, but who can tell?). But, I've been gaming for well over 30 years and have never visited Lake Geneva, even for a convention. It was always just too many thousands of miles away from where I lived and cost too much to fly there just to go to a convention. From a business and population perspective, you should pick a totally unrelated place, probably somewhere in the northeast corridor of the US where people actually go. However, having said this, many places in the northeast have high costs of living. So, you need to find a place off the intersection of at least two major freeways where the cost of living might not be super high. It doesn't have to be in the northeast, but it has to be somewhere with a lot of people. You need volume if you are going to succeed and D&D is just such a niche hobby that you won't succeed without a great location (shy of begging for donations every year). Baseball or Football Hall of Fame. Those can be anywhere cause literally 10s of millions of people in the US like or love those games respectively. D&D probably has a heavy draw of about a quarter million people in the US at best, and an acquainted with draw of maybe a million or so. The vast majority of people will tend to ONLY go to this museum if they are passing by for some other reason. So, you need to locate it near high population and if possible, high tourist locations. Having it within an hour at most of one or two of the major conventions wouldn't hurt for an additional draw as well. You should also charge a fee at the door as opposed to relying on donations. You can still have donations, but $5 at the door ($3 for teenagers/kids, $0 for real small kids) isn't going to break anyone (course, the amount you charge people should be based on your business plan, it should be carefully thought out based on expenses and potential draw of people). The Museum of Natural History has donors, but it still charges a fee ($33 based on their web site). You need to charge a fee to make this a viable business. Have you ever run a business before? If not, you should solicit help from gamers who have. If you want this to succeed, you have to get it right, or it will go by the way of the Dodo. You have to treat this like a business and that means, picking a good location in the US, not the most nostalgic one. Sorry, but otherwise, you will probably be doomed to failure. Insurance, rental, salaries, even advertising. These will eat you alive without a steady form of income. I really don't think you can rely on online donations every year. Keep it away from hurricane / tornado areas because some of the material you'll have there will be very difficult to replace. No flood zones. PS. You should also have a small concession stand and eating area where you sell food and drink. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You will have low turnout as a general rule, so you need to get a few extra bucks out of each person who visits. Make it look like a tavern. :D [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Museum of Dungeons & Dragons Is A Go! Funding Begins
Top