Tell me about the RPG section of your local game store

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

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We stock a wide selection of rpgs. Indie and small press rpgs outsell mainstream (ie D&D and Pathfinder about 5:1)

Very cool. Adding this to my second brain.

If I am ever in Charlottesville, I'll definitely drop in.

 

[aramis erak]

Matt's Cavalcade of Comics...
In the main door, turn half-left, it's 4' × 6' racks 2 and 3. Rack 1 on that wall is part of the boardgames, as are 3 racks to the right, a half-height rack in the middle, with 2 off the corners, and another behind, then a double sided full height rack, plus 3 pony-wall to ceiling racks in the second room). The majority of the main room is comics. LOADS of comics.

And one of the best domain names: ILoveSpidey.com ...

 

[Meech17]

My store of choice, Jester's Gallery in Waterford, Michigan, has a pretty sad RPG section. There's a single, double sided, free-standing shelf with their RPG books. Maybe 3-4ft wide, and about 5ft tall. One side is all D&D, and the flipside is some more D&D, some Pathfinder, and then a smattering of other stuff. I think I've seen Kobold Press, and Daggerheart there. As well as a bunch of the system agnostic stuff, like map books.

There's also a wall with a bunch of minis on it.

They just don't have a TTRPG crowd there. It's primarily a TCG store, and that side of the business is thriving. They've actually expanded twice this last year, renting out the store fronts on either side of them, so that now they take up like 1/3 of the strip mall.

They tried growing the RPG crowd a bit, and even set up some private rooms that could be reserved, and sadly they just didn't get used, so they tore them down and put up a small arcade instead.

 

[Retreater]

My local game store has rows of D&D and Pathfinder books they've definitely overpurchased. For example, at one point they had about 15 copies of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. They also put the date of arrival on their price tags, so you can see that they have been sitting on the shelf for over a year. They'll have a wacky number of supplements, but no core rule books. For example, there's an Investigator's Handbook for Call of Cthulhu, but they don't have the Keeper guide that has all the rules for play. You can get five copies of Pathfinder's premium collector's edition of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix, but there's not a Player Core in sight.
Everything is shrink wrapped and full retail cost. Sometimes they break apart boxed sets (such as the Spelljammer box) and sell the individual books at an increased cost. There's the occasional supplement for something like Everyday Heroes, but it's really nothing I'd want. I have hundreds of dollars in store credit and have difficulty finding anything worth getting for "free."

 

[MNblockhead]

Minnesota has more game stores per capita than maybe any other state in the U.S. Most are small strip mall locations with modest 1-2 book shelf offerings with D&D, PF, and a few others. 1 Store is a true FLGS thats been around for decades selling collectables, comics, anime, boardgames, wargames, etc.. It has a massive wall of 12-16 book shelves with a wide selection of RPGs.

@Velderan what do you think?

Moving to Milwaukee made me realize how good I had it in the Twin Cities. From my old home in Roseville, I was minutes away from Gamezenter (Previously Fantasy Flights Game Center) and the The Source. The source has a great collection of new and old TTRPGs. Gamezenter has incredible play spaces and good selection of board games, but it's TTRPG selection isn't that great. Its miniatures sales are mostly Warhammer.

In Milwaukee proper, it is a desert for TTRPG material other than DnD, but I'll occasionally make the 20-30 minute drive to Racine to the excellent Sanctum Tabletop Game Emporium. They have a nice, well displayed and organized, TTRPG section. But tends to be newer items and usually a small number of copies of anything but the most popular games.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I have hundreds of dollars in store credit and have difficulty finding anything worth getting for "free."

Damning indictment of the month, and it's got a strong chance at taking the year.

 

[thirdkingdom]

My local game store has rows of D&D and Pathfinder books they've definitely overpurchased. For example, at one point they had about 15 copies of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. They also put the date of arrival on their price tags, so you can see that they have been sitting on the shelf for over a year. They'll have a wacky number of supplements, but no core rule books. For example, there's an Investigator's Handbook for Call of Cthulhu, but they don't have the Keeper guide that has all the rules for play. You can get five copies of Pathfinder's premium collector's edition of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix, but there's not a Player Core in sight.
Everything is shrink wrapped and full retail cost. Sometimes they break apart boxed sets (such as the Spelljammer box) and sell the individual books at an increased cost. There's the occasional supplement for something like Everyday Heroes, but it's really nothing I'd want. I have hundreds of dollars in store credit and have difficulty finding anything worth getting for "free."

Can you request custom orders from them?

 

[Retreater]

Can you request custom orders from them?

I can. But I get most stuff from Kickstarters or directly from the publisher - where I also get the PDFs. Additionally, my gaming purchases have just bottomed out. There's not much I want anymore.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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Does anyone know how A Vulgar Display of Magic is? I've always been fascinated by the company's wildly over the top zines, but never pulled the trigger myself. Dungeon Malarky is currently sitting in my Noble Knight cart.

 

[The Soloist]

We have two:

One dates back to the 80s and used to be a Mecca for RPGs. Rows upon rows of RPGs books. They still have a varied selection but the section is much smaller. They do many RPG KS retail pledges so we can buy the RPGs directly from them. I prefer that.

The second one has a very small selection of RPGs. Mostly D&D and Pathfinder. It used to have more selection but the owner gave up. Instead, they changed location, tripled the size and now have a restaurant kitchen. First floor is the game store and restaurant where you can play card and board games. The basement is for miniature wargames and MtG tournaments. It's very impressive.

I spend my gaming money at both. I rarely go physically, ordering via their website instead. Too many viruses in the air. My wife made me realize I was sick after each time I went there, during Winter.