deinol wrote:
I'm not sure what sort of support the original game store was looking for. Paizo sends stores free posters for advertisement. They contribute a bunch to Free RPG Day. They have an organized play group. That's really more than I expect for most RPG companies Paizo's size. Ok, they don't have cardboard standees like WotC.
Part of it is that WotC's organized play program is controlled through WotC Reps. As employees I'm going to get a certain type of interaction with them. With PF Society being run by volunteers, their dedication isn't given a paycheck. I run both D&D Encounters & Pathfinder Society in our store. But due to a miscommunication between my Society Organizer & myself (I'll take the blame for it) our Society game took 6 months too long to get off the ground (he required 4 hour blocks of play & I had 6pm to 10pm available...it got worked out). Now, in the mean time I was running PF in store, but not as Society play.
As a store, I can't imagine not carrying both D&D & PF at this point. Its kind of like not carrying DC Comics. And if I had to cut a line a back, well, I'd have to focus on D&D Essentials only (the rest of the line is sluggish at best as we all wait to see whats going to happen with WotC's release schedule) & I just gave my PF display another 12 feet of wall space (& with 3rd party print products there is plenty of reason to contemplate expanding it further). So at the moment PF is outselling 4E about 3 to 1.
Understand, I don't prefer to carry one line over the other. As a retailer I want to sell everything I can to anyone who will buy it. Personally, I prefer PF to 4E these days, but its not my job to explain that. Its my job to have what you want in stock or help you decide what you want to purchase.
Also note, I'm not saying a volunteer isn't doing an admirable job. Its just they have another job on top of their volunteer work. And I don't assume Paizo doesn't reward them for their dedication, they just have other commitments.
