D&D Encounters: Admission charge or free?


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FWIW at my FLGS this last Wednesday there was one DM but 9 of us showed up to play. He graciously managed to pull it off despite the large numbers.

It was free to play and a number of us bought drinks and snacks from the store. The DM was a volunteer and the store pretty much just gave up table space but since they don't run anything else on that night there was plenty to be had.
 

I'm not trying to be difficult, but do attendees still have to pay if they don't eat anything?

Nope. Don't pay, don't eat, but the play material is free, so the play is free. More people means more business, and the stuff the FLGS gets in is free anyways.

Only the first week was payed by WotC. The shopowner specifically called this out - this week pizza's free, afterwards not.

Also, drinks and snacks won't be provided, aside from the pizza, so if the players want that, they have to bring it.

We ended up having to split into two groups once we hit 10 players. I might have been able to pull off 9, but I'd rather not have tried. The rounds were getting kind of long with six, considering I had to explain the game to several newcomers as we moved along. Some of the newcomers were actively planning their next turn while playing, though, which was nice to see; for the longest time, my normal group would drift when it wasn't their turn, though they've gotten much better.
 

How Encounter 1 went

We started D&D Encounters last Wednesday, March 24th, and it went well enough. Half the players were experienced 4E players, holdovers from our previous in-store Wednesday night 4E campaign, and two of those were back up DMs in case we need to open up additional tables. Volunteers, like myself.

Half the players were new to 4E and and new to our store. One fellow had driven close to a hundred miles to attend, and one fellow had never played any RPG at all. I've had more calls and e-mails since then, and so I expect to open up a second or even third table this coming Wednesday, March 31st.

Because I had to take care of my mother, I was late arriving, so in the interests of time Pizza The Hut has been pushed back to next week. I made it clear to all the players present for the first game that their spots were guaranteed for the following weeks, that if more players showed either our volunteer DMs would bow out or open a second table.

The additional effort put into the adventure really showed. It took me less than a couple hours to fix the adventure, although they really should have included an additional page of local maps: the western coast around WaterDeep, the City of WaterDeep and the cross section of UnderMountain from the Expeditions book.


I used the play mat from HammerFast depicting a tavern, it even had a "Yawning Portal" in the center of the barroom floor. The modifications to the adventure were fairly simple:
  • Armed the Human Bandits with clubs, [W] = 1D6, to make Fayne's "beating" more realistic.
  • Changed the bandit's tactics so that the first bandit pushed the ladder down into the canal, while the second bandit apparently beat Fayne, and together, dragging her off the stairs and robbing her.
  • Had the Crenellated Wall grant cover to small or prone characters, and concealment and cover for prone small characters.
  • Added a second Halfling (for the 6th player), and armed them with hand crossbows instead of slings.
  • Started the halflings hidden (DC19) and prone with their crossbows.
  • Applied the balance rules to the bridge, so that characters on the bridge granted combat advantage.
  • Divided the ladder into 4 spaces, and made it a DC5 Athletics check.
All in all it went pretty well, it was a good group, and I am looking forward to next week.

Smeelbo
 

I work at my local game store (Mayem Collectibles in Des Moines IA, *blatant plug*) and I also run the D&D events at the store. I am lucky to work at a store that has a large dedicated gaming space. The play area has its own access and can remain open later than the store, in fact it is often open until midnight. We have a cirlce of "trustees" that run various games and have keys to the game store side of the store and can lock the game room when they are done.

As someone who runs and coordinates the events, and having done so for the past 6 or 7 years, I understand some of the issues that can arise from running event. I have had alot of problems, in both the 3.5 and 4e days, in finding people to run events. Oftentimes people would volunteer, receive the kit with the minis and adventure, and then never show up to run the event. Once I stopped giving out the minis ahead of time, instead handing them out to DM's at the event, the volunteers seemed to dry up.

My store does not charge for D&D events. On the same note, I do not get paid for running D&D events. I am not "on the clock" while running the events. It is however a labor of love. While it can sometimes be a headache to schedule, coordinate and run an event I really do love it. I can see how some stores might have a problem finding someone to run events and put forth the neccessary effort to make it a success. While I do not agree with charging a fee, I do not question anyone's right to do so. I myself would probably not play in a game with a fee, but that is just my opinion.

As for the Encounter program specifically, I know very little about the FR setting but I don't feel this has inpaired the game. I disagree with the statement that the FR books are required to run the Undermountain adventure. Everything you need to know is contained in the module. Granted, knowing something about FR can certainly enhance your game, it is by no means required. Also, while I run the games on Wednesday, I also run an encore game on the weekends for those who can not make it on Wednesday. I just report them all as Wednesday sessions.

For my store, WotCs new focus on the Game Days, Encounters and retailer incentives has been a great boon. Getting the books early has boosted sales. Many of the dedicated players would get the books from Barnes and Noble as the local B&N routinely had the books the weekend before the release. The increased marketing for events has created a notable upwards swing in attendence. The first week of the Encounters I had to run two tables, one at 6pm and one at 8pm. For the second week I had a customer come to the rescue and offer to run a table. That was a big help as I had two table of 7 at 6pm and a table of 5 at 8pm.

Overall the Encounters program has been a big success. I appreciate the help I have received from my voluteer DM. It is alot of work but worth it, and I just feel that we would not get such a good turn out if a fee were involved. Anyway, that is just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
 
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Keeping the record straight.

I was just wondering if there is usually a cost to join in the D&D Encounters sessions being run at various locations.

I called a relatively local gaming shop that I've heard about, but have never gone to before. I asked about D&D Encounters, which apparently a session is being run tomorrow. However, there is apparently a $5 charge to play.

In the past, the D&D promo events I've attended have all been free so I was surprised. Are other shops doing this as well?

Maybe I'm naive, but I thought the purpose of these events was to promote foot traffic into these gaming stores and hopefully get people to buy their items.

Stores I game in, I do try to buy items from. However if I'm having to pay to play at these stores as well, it makes me feel like I'm already reimbursing them and I might as well just order my next gaming item on Amazon and save myself a few dollars.

We charge $5, but that is for 2 sessions. Our GM runs every 2 weeks and we have 2 sessions run that day for $5 total. We also give our GMs a gift certificate for running each chapter to help them out with their gaming needs. These fees are waived with a purchase of a D&D hardcover book.

There is another reason to charge a fee beyond the cost of the table space. Last time we ran something for free, a person arrived that felt compelled to tell everyone where they could get the PDFs of all of the books online and how they do not have to buy anything and actually convinced someone who had the books on their hands to put them down. A fee gets rid of these people for the most part. A $1 fee does not.
 

We just received the kit for the next Encounters season, "March of the Brigade." Wizards included a note for the organizers (retailers):
...
  • Remember, you set the ground rules for entry each week. Setting a nominal fee for play, providing purchase incentives, and adding additional perks with a buy-in are all ways in which you can show players that the D&D Encounters experience is valuable and worthwhile - certainly worth a bit of investment on their part
For the record, we don't charge for Encounters at our store, but we don't nomally charge for the gaming space anyway.
 

If I had to pay $5 for an hour, I better get some really awesome gaming time.

However, I understand the store's perspective in that game tables can be utilized as an extra source of revenue, particularly when you can charge the same rate for players to play in a CCG tournament.
 

If my store charged people to play encounters, nobody would come. I have run one group through keep on the borderlands for 19 weeks. In that time, they have learned almost no rules, bought no minis, in some cases bought NO DICE, and NONE of them own a rulebook or subscribe to DDI.

And they're asking me to continue the campaign once encounters is over. Buy a book and we'll talk. :hmm:
 

We aren't charging for the Encounters, which we are starting Wednesday 3/24, but let me tell you:

  • If I weren't "volunteering," my time would cost the store over $12/hour, including insurance and benefits. Luckily, I've "volunteered."
  • If Wednesday were a big Magic night, we could be filling those seats at $6-10/player instead. Luckily, Wednesday is already our regular D&D night.
  • Not all the necessary materials are actually provided by Wizards. To run the Encounters well, the DM needs access to the both the Forgotten Realms Campaign and Player's Guide. Exactly who should eat the cost of those books? Not me. The Campaign Guide is the most expensive regular 4E book in print.
  • Electricity and Air Conditioning is not free of cost.
  • Who is paying for the copy of Character Builder in store? Currently, I am.
So yeah, a store might be perfectly justified in charging a fee to play.

When you run a business, when you have to meet insurance and payroll and rent, then you can talk to me about what should and shouldn't be free.

Smeelbo

Well since were going to start usingthat metric of what folks can or cannot talk about if we dont meet insurance, payroll and rent.....*I* run a small business(non-gaming) so then I guess I get to talk.

No, your not justified. It flat out turns people off who might actually get in the door and buy something. Your short term gain is a long term loss. I use something thatgets folks in, that actually costs me time with paying employees, but what you gain long term in terms customers far outweights the paultry $5 you get for the encounter.

Your short sighted.
 

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