A perfect, messy storm occurred on Saturday. My wife had won a free hour-long massage from one of the vendors a wine festival she had attended. Between the distance to the place and the whole production of a massage, it seemed like a perfect excuse to take the kids and and participate in #FreeRPGDay.
Except, no one local this year was participating! AAAAARRGH!
Last year my local shop and the local games cafe joined forces to split the cost of the box (they ain't free for the store folks), and had organized a few events. That would have been great, except the the owners of the game cafe closed up for the day and ran down to Philly for some anime con.
Needless to say, this may have left a bad taste in the game store's mouth and a reluctance to do it again. But none of the other stores remotely in the area decided to do it either. I could imagine something that doesn't generate insta-Magic or GW profits and forces them to learn about other products frightens them.
However, with the wife gone, a beautiful day, and a full tank of gas, we could venture further away, and visit The Portal for a second time.
Braving interstate construction season, we made it down in good time to an excellent greeting and "elevator pitch" about Free RPG Day, where the free stuff was (in the back of the store in the open gaming area), and of course, the 15% off RPG sale.
Millie was fascinated by the Muchkin CCG promotion card, and both of them were enthralled by the cover "Skitter Shot" Starfinder module.
The adorable Skittermanders are the "We Be Goblins" of the Starfinder universe.
Dear old Dad? I grabbed the Kids on Bikes quick-play rules and left a copy of CoC's Skitter Scratch on the table.
Of course, the the whole purpose of Free RPG Day is to promote (and hopefully support) the FLGS experience, and we were happy to oblige. A few dice bags, a hellhound "puppy" for Millie to paint today, some Magic cards for Maja, and traditional cardboard baseball card boxes for all the stuff we've accumulated recently. It amazes me how many stores don't stock the $3 two row white shoeboxes (or any size items), forcing ignorant customers to buy "official storage product" with logos or artwork that wear out in weeks. I know, some stores don't have storage, and others are two lazy to assemble the boxes, but a dollar box or three dollar shoebox is an impulse buy that even the people only window shopping will pick up.
We would have stayed and tried to play something if, (a) we didn't drive to Easton to visit/check on my mom (b) we had told my wife where we were for the day and (c) the wife and I didn't already have late afternoon plans.
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| They call him... Tim (From The Portal's Facebook Account) |
We ventured back to the open gaming area I hadn't checked on my review to discover the shelves and table o' gaming.
The staff and the volunteer from the local gaming network were very nice. My eyeballed estimates, might be wrong, but it seemed like they might have splurged on two boxes, allowing people to comfortably taking two items each.
My daughter Maja immediately snagged a Cthulhu Confidential/Fall of Delta Green from Pelgrane Press.
Dear old Dad? I grabbed the Kids on Bikes quick-play rules and left a copy of CoC's Skitter Scratch on the table.
Of course, the the whole purpose of Free RPG Day is to promote (and hopefully support) the FLGS experience, and we were happy to oblige. A few dice bags, a hellhound "puppy" for Millie to paint today, some Magic cards for Maja, and traditional cardboard baseball card boxes for all the stuff we've accumulated recently. It amazes me how many stores don't stock the $3 two row white shoeboxes (or any size items), forcing ignorant customers to buy "official storage product" with logos or artwork that wear out in weeks. I know, some stores don't have storage, and others are two lazy to assemble the boxes, but a dollar box or three dollar shoebox is an impulse buy that even the people only window shopping will pick up.
We would have stayed and tried to play something if, (a) we didn't drive to Easton to visit/check on my mom (b) we had told my wife where we were for the day and (c) the wife and I didn't already have late afternoon plans.
yeah, I work nights now so therefore I couldn't go the game store to run an event for people ,but I am not surprised that they didn't register for FreeRPG day. I would have liked the Fall of DG book for I am really into DG right now.
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