I was reading the subscription v. FLGS thread and it dawned on me that this never came up in the past in my case because I never played games at a FLGS. Always at my residence, at the residence of the GM or another player, or (when in college) somewhere on campus. Then again, I am about to start playing in a game at the FLGS in a couple weeks.
Do a lot of people play at the FLGS? If home is out, where else do people play?
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I never play in FLGS, most don't have the space for a table (though some still stick one in causing problems for customers trying to actually get at product!)
So my regular games are either at my home house or another players'.
In terms of Pathfinder Society I will likely only ever play that at conventions, so only about 2 or 3 scenarios at maybe 3 cons for a total of 6 to 9 scenarios a year.
At home, Very few stores that im around have a solid set up for RPGS most are set for CCGS
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We play in the pub. As long as there's enough of us (3-4 groups of 5-7 people each) and we all buy drinks and some of us get food, we're a good amount of income so they let us monopolise one of their rooms once a week.
Sadly our FLGS don't have the space to allow us to play, or the late night opening.
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We play in the pub. As long as there's enough of us (3-4 groups of 5-7 people each) and we all buy drinks and some of us get food, we're a good amount of income so they let us monopolise one of their rooms once a week.
Sadly our FLGS don't have the space to allow us to play, or the late night opening.
Might I just say, it sucks that the FLGS can not accommodate, but I think your 'alternative' is awesome!
As for my group(s), most play at somebody's house. The weekly Sunday group is trying to move to my house, but the work schedule of one player doesn't allow for the extra 30 minute drive for now, so we're back at the FLGS. Hopefully February will change that.
Saturday's group, currently breaking for the GMs law school studies, meets at his place.
Fridays are at a fellow players apartment or house, depending on which of two groups I'm with that night.
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I've never played at a restaurant, but I have used them to meet new people to be sure I want to invite them to my place.
Most of my games have been in a player's home. I've played two games at FLGS, one at Eric Bauer's place, GrandLan in Grand Rapids, and one at Asgard Games in Houston.
I figure the least I can do is plug them for their kindness and support of the community. If only I'd been playing at GrandLan after he started making Gaming Paper! I love that stuff, and getting it without shipping would be awesome. :D
Home, always home. Except when I was in school, when we used to play during the breaks. During university we always played in our homes (we all lived close by), and now we continue to do so.
We play about once every 2 or 3 weeks, often during Saturday afternoon (we're daylight roleplayers). Once a year we go to the house my parents have next to a lake for a whole weekend of roleplaying next to bonfires, barbeques and waterskiing (the latter has gone down the older and fatter we get, though, which subsequently has caused the other two to go up).
I can't DM while wearing shoes, honestly.
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For the longest time my group split our gaming between the game room at the FLGS and someone's house, depending on the game and who was running it at the time. The FLGS I frequent changed locations and the game room at the new location wasn't ready for gaming for the longest time so most of our games migrated to the basement of one of the members of the group.
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AKA 8one6
My two games are done at a home, one alternating at my place, the other always at somebody else's. Used to play in a small room at my school, and also used to play at my FLGS, which has an entire half of the place devoted to gaming.
Bounce around from apartment to apartment, depending on what game/who has the kids this week/who's remembered to clean/et cetera. I Do Not Like gaming at FLGSes.
Mostly play in homes, typically my home, seeing as though the only FLGS in the area speaks only German. Hehe kinda funny when your looking for dice and books in English! Used to be able to monopolize the community center when we lived in the states, but here its hard to get in between all the birthday parties and yoga classes. Also military members usually keep their gaming on the down low, since it is not looked upon as a favorable hobby or past time.
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When I was 15, I used to play at my local FLGS, but that was because the owner was a friend, so we played after the store closed. Nowadays, I play at the house of one friend on Mondays and Saturdays, and at another friend's house at Thursdays and Fridays.
Both houses are convenietly located near stores that offer both printing and a wide array of snacks.
Never played at a FLGS.
We have no Local Gaming stores.
We have even fewer Friendly ones.
So we play in an office boardroom, out of the way of spouses and girlfriends.
Mostly play in homes, typically my home, seeing as though the only FLGS in the area speaks only German. Hehe kinda funny when your looking for dice and books in English! Used to be able to monopolize the community center when we lived in the states, but here its hard to get in between all the birthday parties and yoga classes. Also military members usually keep their gaming on the down low, since it is not looked upon as a favorable hobby or past time.Welcome to the Paizo boards, and if you have leave and an inclination to travel, we occasionally have small conventions here in the UK.
To do a quick bit of shameless self-promotion, I believe that Wintergreen (on these boards) the UK Regional coordinator for PFS is currently nailing down the date for PaizoCon UK this coming July (Paizo forums thread: *here*; PaizoCon UK homepage (has news of other UK conventions): *here*)Edit:
I believe the Netherlands has a PFS regional coordinator and an active convention scene too, although I'm afraid the boards name of the coordinator escapes me at present and I don't know if they run English language games.
OMG that is awesome! We are Moving to the Milton Keynes area in the next couple of months! Any PF activity in that area? and will the Paizo Uk be near there in July?? Sorry, its been so hard to find a steady gaming group here that we are really looking forward to a fresh start and new potential players and I Haven't been able to attend a Con in years!
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OMG that is awesome! We are Moving to the Milton Keynes area in the next couple of months! Any PF activity in that area? and will the Paizo Uk be near there in July?? Sorry, its been so hard to find a steady gaming group here that we are really looking forward to a fresh start and new potential players and I Haven't been able to attend a Con in years!
Hi vixengmr and welcome to the Paizo boards and Pathfinder.
I think there is some PFS activity in Milton Keynes. I'll check it out.PaizoCon UK will be very close to Milton Keynes, at Aston University in Birmingham.
Do contact me at paizoconuk@hotmail.com and check out our website.
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We play in the appartment of two of my players (a maried couple). Another player who has two little kids lives next door, so she isn't too far away should she be needed at home (hasn't been the case for now, her husband takes good care, but she feels more at ease this way)and we don't need to keep to quiet not to wake the kids.
we use our FLGS for non rp stuff like magic or board games. one group imwith though plays at somones house. the other at a restraint that has large flat tables. several other groups play there. since we alll order food and drinks it seems to work
Never played at a FLGS (or LGS).
Mostly at my home. Big dining room table, DM and 6 players are comfortable.
Played at other DMs homes. Played at lots of conventions, including Gen Con in both Milwaukee and Indianapolis. Also, at a local employers "employee country club" once.
-- david
Papa.DRB
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These days, the vast majority of my gaming is done in the upstairs function room of a pub (as part of Chester Games Club).
I haven't gamed at home much in the past few years as we're located a bit out of the way, and some of my gaming friends rely on public transport to get around. In fact, transport problems were the reason our group started going along to the games club in the first place. However, we may be starting something up soon.
I can't remember ever playing an RPG at a FLGS.
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I've never had a gaming store able to accommodate my games, mostly because they're either booked full of other games, too loud, or both. The only business I've ever gamed at was a place called LAN Sharks, which had a few computers for online gaming and televisions for console gaming, and a couple tables in the back we could use for tabletop gaming.
For the most part we make do with peoples apartment or home. I had a DM who was a student at the local college and so could get one of the class rooms, but after we moved away we haven't had access to such facilities. Checked out the local library but they don't allow private gatherings, and the hotel meeting rooms were more expensive than we felt justified.
I look forward to having a house with a nice gaming table one day. Like this one.
Always at one of our homes.
Now we just play D&D at my friend's house.
Never RPG at a FLGS. Way too much stress to be worth it.
And you always get kids interrupting the game to ask questions (which is fine) and then begging you to give them one of your books so they can play D&D too (not fine).
Home, always, since my husband is disabled and driving long distances is excruciatingly painful for him. Our nearest good FLGS is 108 miles away.
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Home games three weeks in a month and the local RAF Base Community centre once a month. @ the local VC house when invited (tks Wintergreen). Con's when I can.
@ Vixengmer: Depends on where in the Milton Keynes area your moving. I am about an hour away from central Milton Keynes (tiny village called Catworth)
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I'm currently running one game, where we meet at my house, and playing in another, where we meet at one of the other players' houses (he's not the GM). We have occasionally met at the other GM's house for his games and once at yet another player's house. The FLGS here has two rooms which are good for RPGing, plus a huge room which mostly gets used for wargames and card games. Some of us have occasionally played in demonstration games, Pathfinder Society games, etc. at the FLGS. However, playing at someone's home allows us to go late. Also, in the summer at my house we do potluck barbecue for dinner =)
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My junior high/high school were about two blocks from each other and had a gaming store directly between them that had an upstairs game room. We used that for a long time since it was convenient at a time that not everyone could really go places they couldn't just walk to and while most of us had family that was pretty understanding of the hobby, living at home still made gaming there difficult.
Since we've gotten older and transportation has become less of an issue and even if its sometimes a bit of a squeeze there is always someone's house or apartment or garage or something we can game in we have taken to using each other's residences.
Honestly though, if I didn't work so far away to make it a lousy drive for everyone I would totally be using the boardroom at my work since its got a great table for it, comfortable seats and a projector.
Over the internet, for the most part.
If home is out, where else do people play?
My group has been meeting at my house, but we're growing and will likely have to move to an FLGS venue. The two here in my hometown don't do much RPG on the weekends because they do Warhammer or other large scale warfare gaming, and we can't play during the week. However, I did find a place about 30 minutes away that jumped at the chance to have another group come set up in their store.
So, while I GREATLY prefer to play at home, it looks like we'll be moving to a public venue, at least some of the time.
Never RPG at a FLGS. Way too much stress to be worth it.
How so? I've never played at an FLGS, and if you read my previous post, it looks like my group is going to have to start doing so. I get why kids asking to borrow books would be a hassle, but what else?
I was reading the subscription v. FLGS thread and it dawned on me that this never came up in the past in my case because I never played games at a FLGS. Always at my residence, at the residence of the GM or another player, or (when in college) somewhere on campus. Then again, I am about to start playing in a game at the FLGS in a couple weeks.
Do a lot of people play at the FLGS? If home is out, where else do people play?
Right now the FLGS is where we gather. I did run games in the apartment but its more centralized to have it at the gamestore. The Game Room, btw, is a good place to hang almost all nights of the week. Wednesday night is board game night, btw.
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Never RPG at a FLGS. Way too much stress to be worth it.How so? I've never played at an FLGS, and if you read my previous post, it looks like my group is going to have to start doing so. I get why kids asking to borrow books would be a hassle, but what else?
I can't speak for Ice Titan, but for my group the biggest problem I ever encountered resulted from the FLGS' "open game" policy they had the first year they were open. GMs were supposed to be accommodating to people who wanted to play. It's the reason that I had one session of a game (the "boss fight" of that arc of the campaign, involving what should have been a brutal boarding action and fight through a ship) I had built assuming my core four players and one or two others get crushed when everyone who ever played in the game showed up for the session. I talked to the store owner after that and let him know that my game was being reduced to the six most reliable people who played and no one else was getting in to that game.
The only other big issue I can think of is what I call "duelling games." If the game room was being used by more than one group or event at the same time it tended to get loud.
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AKA 8one6
One of my weekly groups plays above a small but well-stocked bar. It's good fun but can get expensive!
Zo
My college has a game club- provides rooms 1/week for free and small day-long events 1/quarter. Also FLGS more sporadically as groups form and break up. Definitely recommend checking local education for clubs to anyone who hasn't. Good way to meet new players, and at the higher levels, you may not need to actually be enrolled.
I can't speak for Ice Titan, but for my group the biggest problem I ever encountered resulted from the FLGS' "open game" policy they had the first year they were open. GMs were supposed to be accommodating to people who wanted to play
Yeah, that's a point that needs grinding, too. My group will have 5-7 players in it (most of whom I've gamed with for over 20 years) and, while I don't want to be seen as rude, am not really comfortable adding new people to the mix. We have a certain style of play that we're accustomed to, and new people either try to tell us how "wrong" we are or only last a session or two before they go away again.
Another reason is strictly me: I suffer from pretty severe social anxiety disorder (which I didn't up until 4 years ago, but that's another story) and it's really difficult for me to go anywhere most of the time. Setting up and playing in an open venue is really tough for me to even think about. Our first game at this FLGS is this coming Saturday, and I hope like hell I don't wig out and cancel at the last minute. But we really don't have much of a choice, so I guess we'll see what happens.
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Yeah, that's a point that needs grinding, too. My group will have 5-7 players in it (most of whom I've gamed with for over 20 years) and, while I don't want to be seen as rude, am not really comfortable adding new people to the mix. We have a certain style of play that we're accustomed to, and new people either try to tell us how "wrong" we are or only last a session or two before they go away again. ...
I will say that in the last two years my group has grown the hobby a bit because of playing up at the shop. We've had a couple of the MtG guys walk over between rounds to find out what we're doing and after a few minutes chatting were convinced to try it out. One still plays in my fortnightly Ghostbusters game, and another only stopped because of moving away to college (I've lost more good players to higher education than anything else.) What's nice about "training noobs" is they learn how to play in your group's style.
I still consider the positives of FLGS gaming to outweigh the negatives.
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AKA 8one6
Never RPG at a FLGS. Way too much stress to be worth it.How so? I've never played at an FLGS, and if you read my previous post, it looks like my group is going to have to start doing so. I get why kids asking to borrow books would be a hassle, but what else?
Imagine you are ready to play. You are prepared to evoke mood, emotion, try to immerse your players. You have hand-outs. The maps are drawn. The mood is set.
1) Twelve teenagers with an iPod speaker set sit directly next to you and begin to play Yu-Gi-Oh. They play anime pop music extremely loudly. When asked to be quiet, or to move, they act butt-devastated and begin to mutter loudly. One of them exclaims "I guess they don't like the taste of their own medicine!" They resolve to continue to be as annoying as possible.
2) Another RPG group sits next to yours. As your game progresses, they begin to comment on how stupid the events in your game are-- out loud, and in earshot. They laugh uproariously at everything anyone says. They make fun of your players' optimization choices.
3) People you do not know or who are acquaintances of people at the table feel like it is their duty to sit down, begin asking questions, invite your players away, or try to get into the game. Sometimes, on rare occasions, you will get the greatest gem-- a non-player observer who turns every thing you say into an elongated joke, whispering "That's what she said!" in his crusade to interrupt the game as much as possible.
4) Furries. You have not experienced maximum embarrassment for another person until you've seen someone in an argument begin to bark at the other person.
5) Another group gets there 10 minutes before yours, takes the table you use, and doesn't even use it for gaming. Massive table with space for ten people with plexiglass top covering a massive grid sheet that's perfect for drawing out gaming maps? Oh, eureka, that's absolutely magnificent for... all three of us sitting on our laptops and not talking.
If the place you're planning to game is slightly empty, with a population consisting mostly of adults, without a ton of young, obnoxious kids, you'll have good luck. Get there early, set up, get to know the people who work there so you can get them on your side if a dispute arises.
You should really be fine. These are just hassles I experienced-- overall, over 50-some odd weeks of gaming, our game was only really disrupted maybe six times. I'm exaggerating for comedic effect and I know it.