Totally and utterly by accident, my friend and I happened to notice a newly relocated hobby store in my local area. Only a month previously I had thought the store had closed down after I went to the old location and found it empty. I had assumed it had closed down because there was every indication that they weren't making any money in the store (constantly and drastically discounted stock as well as gaping holes on shelves is usually a dead give-away).
On the contrary, the new store is literally about thirty times the size of the old one. It's sporting all new equipment and about twenty well decked out Warhammer tables, a completely separate area for RPG gaming with couches, snacks, books, miniatures, painting area, even a proper espresso machine! Serious money went into this despite looking half-finished. And at 8pm on a Tuesday night, it had about fifteen people playing and painting and hanging around and chatting.
It was like a tabletop gamers paradise. I asked about running a game using the couch area and was told there's no cost, just rock up whenever you want with whoever you want and start a game. Which is exactly what I plan to do.
The problem stems from the fact that I've made a vow not to purchase any 4e books. The reason being that after having bought six or so books, I ended up never using them at the table because I always just used a laptop and the CB/DDI. It just ended up being a waste of money to me. But I really want to support this great store. Something like this could really bring the local RPG community together and I think that's a great thing.
So do I just buy books I'll never use? Adventures I'll never run? I'll most certainly end up buying a lot of coffee, but I'm on a strict diet otherwise so won't be buying any of their snacks or other food items. Or should I? I'd buy the DDM miniatures, but they no longer exist. Should I suggest they charge for gaming space? Or should I just not worry about their business strategy and hope for the best?
On the contrary, the new store is literally about thirty times the size of the old one. It's sporting all new equipment and about twenty well decked out Warhammer tables, a completely separate area for RPG gaming with couches, snacks, books, miniatures, painting area, even a proper espresso machine! Serious money went into this despite looking half-finished. And at 8pm on a Tuesday night, it had about fifteen people playing and painting and hanging around and chatting.
It was like a tabletop gamers paradise. I asked about running a game using the couch area and was told there's no cost, just rock up whenever you want with whoever you want and start a game. Which is exactly what I plan to do.
The problem stems from the fact that I've made a vow not to purchase any 4e books. The reason being that after having bought six or so books, I ended up never using them at the table because I always just used a laptop and the CB/DDI. It just ended up being a waste of money to me. But I really want to support this great store. Something like this could really bring the local RPG community together and I think that's a great thing.
So do I just buy books I'll never use? Adventures I'll never run? I'll most certainly end up buying a lot of coffee, but I'm on a strict diet otherwise so won't be buying any of their snacks or other food items. Or should I? I'd buy the DDM miniatures, but they no longer exist. Should I suggest they charge for gaming space? Or should I just not worry about their business strategy and hope for the best?
