A games shop that no longer stocks RPGs

[johndallman]

I wandered into my friendly-but-inefficient local game shop this evening. I hadn't been there for a few months, and they'd changed the layout. The proprietor was talking to a very enthusiastic M:tG fan with a lot of boxes of cards open, so I browsed around.

The shelves that had held RPGs were full of board games. Hunting a bit harder, I found a couple of boxes of end-of-stock, 50% off cover price, mostly unconvincing-looking pre-5e D&D supplements, plus nWoD stuff, mostly Wraith and Hunter.

When I spoke to the proprietor, he reckoned he hadn't abandoned RPGs, but it was too risky to hold stock, given the prices of colour hardcover books, and the vast range of them available. He was willing to order stuff, but I don't think I'll be taking up that offer. He's supplied by Esdevium, who utterly messed up the UK distribution of the Diskworld RPG, to the extent that one of the major mail-order retailers resorted to importing it from Germany. That mail-order seller is likely to work far better for me in the future.

[ak_aramis]

There's a similar (but much longer ago transition) situation with one local hoby shop in Corvallis, Oregon - They still have some 1990's GURPS stuff, plus Blue Planet 1E, New-on-shelf... but none of their RPG materials are post 2000. They're down to about 5 linear feet front-facing, from a 1992-ish 30 linear feet front-facing. They have about 50 linear feet of boardgames, mostly euros (including Catan, Carcassonne, and TTR franchises).

When 3E came out, they got a few, but saw the writing on the wall with the OGL, and didn't buy in. They avoided the D20 Bubble-and-pop.

[43Supporter]

Heck, the whole gaming scene in PNW (esp. OR) is like that -- at Game Storm, if it isn't a C[x]G or European Resource Management game, forget about finding players outside one's existing gaming group (Pathfinder is making inroads, but the RPG area is still small). I have to go to Enfilade! in Olympia to find the sort of games I play.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by 43Supporter

Heck, the whole gaming scene in PNW (esp. OR) is like that -- at Game Storm, if it isn't a C[x]G or European Resource Management game, forget about finding players outside one's existing gaming group (Pathfinder is making inroads, but the RPG area is still small). I have to go to Enfilade! in Olympia to find the sort of games I play.

Corvallis has (typically) 15-30 RPGers every wednesday and 10-20 every saturday, both at Matts, plus 4 different boardgame meetups weekly... I've seen a variety of boardgames - a rather wide one. No ACiv, no 18XX... but not because they don't have players, but because the meetups aren't long enough for full games.

I'm told by folks in Portland that there's no shortage of D&D AL play there... but it's pretty much booked up in advance.

The Pathfinder-RPG-fanboy crowd, however, had done nothing to increase the brand value around Corvallis. They've even generally been offputting to the PF-Cardgame-crowd... most of whom actually like the RPG, too.