April 04, 2006

• What are the Best/Most Popular systems? Any good forums? How do roleplayers find games? Thank you )))
• How many elves does it take to sharpen a sword? Three: one to sharpen the sword and two to write a song about it so that when the first elf is done, four hundred years later, they’ll remember whose sword it was.
• 7 or 8 games sounds like alot of gamers. Is your cafe somwhere that has that high of a gamer population density? The assigning of storylines to tables seems pretty rigid to me. I've never known a GM that would be cool with having storylines dictated to them. Back when I did game, it was pretty damn difficult to find any establishment that would let us game there, except graveyard shift Denny's. Just making the RPG scene aware that you are RPG friendly would be enough to start hauling them in, I'd think. Two or three flyers at your local comic book stores and hobby shops should get the word out. Bottomless beverages in a MUST.
• One word: Warhammer.
• Oh man, I remember when I was into warhammer. Not the playing, just the little figures. I never had the patience to learn how.
• Yeah, I still have thousands of classic Citadel figures, all mounted for battle, half of them painted with detail to a degree of insanity. I used to do massive tabletop battles though. Then I discovered pussy.
• You see, because I've done *everything*. I've done everything you've ever done, or will do, I've been all around the world, and I know famous people. Also, I killed the Pope.
• You see, because I've done *everything*. I've done everything you've ever done, or will do, I've been all around the world, and I know famous people. Also, I killed the Pope. I'm not impressed. Then I discovered pussy. I'm impressed.
• *INTRO* WHEN THE OGRE LORDS LAUGH AND KOBOLDS INVADE THE CITADEL THEN FROM THE LAND OF HUNGULOR A HERO SHALL RIDE FORTH *VERSE* Aw, he came from Middle-Class-Earth With a trusty sword, and a helm of gold, And set out to prove his worth By fightin' orcs, goblins and trolls And they called him many names! Such as "hero-face" and "warrior-spleen" But none did guess the truth That his strength and charisma were both 18 *CHORUS* AH LOOK NOW TO THE SKY! LORD CHY! LORD CHY! WATCH HIS MAGIC MISSLE FLY! LORD CHY! LORD CHY! And when they tried to break him, To cut his flesh, to snap his bones He drew his +87 dagger To suggested that they leave him alone HE STOLE THE BASILIK'S EYE! LORD CHY! LORD CHY! HE'S A HERO - NOT A WUSSY BUT HE WAS BROUGHT LOW ... *DRAMATIC PAUSE, SPOKEN OUTRO* ... when he discovered pussy.
• clap clap clap!
• /applause
• Mr.K - Bottomless bevvies? Hmmm.... I'd have to think about how I could do that. Excellent point. No, I wouldn't assign storylines. Nothing of the sort. I meant that in the sense that each GM is assigned to a table, so each table has it's own unique storyline being mastered by the GM. ... when he discovered pussy. posted by the quidnunc kid at 01:38PM UTC on April 04, 2006 clap clap clap! posted by Fes at 01:53PM UTC on April 04, 2006 hee!
• Around here they get together at the game shop to play. They bring their own food/drinks or purchase from the vending machines. I've had to learn to avoid shopping there on certain nights because, frankly, the smell is offputting (not to mention the noise and general attitude). Maybe you could include something in your advertising suggesting that there's "good, clean" fun in your venue?
• Come gather 'round this table, ye adventurers, to test ye courage and ye strength - if ye dare! >If ye wish to dare, turn to comment 259503 >If ye wish not to dare, turn to comment 259504
• Links, perhaps?
• Perhaps you could do a "time-service" (yes I know Japanese-English speak) - say between set times do nomi-hodai (bottomless cups) for various beverages?
• Then I discovered pussy. I'm impressed. i'm disbelieving.... We would, in a sense, theme out the place - complete with my staff and I dressed up. should i wait until you start this thing or should i just beat you up and take your lunch money now ?... ok, ok, i admit, i spend some time each week dressed as a giant hot dog...but I'm working a pole, people, not fighting invisible wizards... OMG, you TO-tally need a stripper pole for this event (so much for "good, clean" fun)!!!11!! can't you cast a level 10 'Home Depot' or something and make it happen?...
• sexyrobot, they can have a pole! I'm talking about getting them acquainted with a bar of soap! or give the staff some bottles of Febreeze and let 'em loose!
• MonkeyFilter: frankly, the smell is offputting.
• *squeals with delight at thought of being beat up by sexyrobot*
• Slight problem with bottomless drinks.... I've got the best damn coffee and tea in town. My house coffee is french pressed - currently I've got an Ethiopian Harrar on tap. My lattes are all poured in classic italian stoneware, and latte art is mandatory. It's a very classy joint I run, so unfortunately, no bottomless Dr. Pepper on the menu. I see much less profit on my drinks as it stands, as I've got to keep em at a reasonable market price, but I put more into my coffee than most cafes. And my teas - I'm currently sipping on Jasmine Pearls in a hand blown chinese demitasse. I don't believe in mass consumption. This should be a classy, dress-upy event for the nerds who come. And my hot staff (and they really are HOT) would of course look and play the parts as well.
• Okay, as cool an idea as this is, from the description of your place I'm not entirely sure that it's a good idea to have well-meaning-but-clumsy nerds stompin' about the place one night a week. Also, I'm not sure that they would necessarily feel comfortable in such a setting -- nice china and decorated lattes might make it feel rather like gaming in Grandmama's "good" dining room. It's certainly going to change the atmosphere of your cafe -- likely it would come to be viewed as the nerd-hangout-with-overpriced-joe, rather than an upmarket place to buy quality coffee. Frankly? From what I remember of gaming, and gaming groups, the most fun was had in places where you didn't need to be careful of the china, you could stay as late as you wanted, and you didn't have to be overly careful about the noise. Also, what pats said about the nerd-stench.
• Also: bravo, quid.. bravo.
• You might want to consider a board game night as an option. Seems more likely to attract the kinds of folks who would enjoy a couple of quality lattes over an evening. If you wanted to have the special event dress-up feel, you could have a Clue themed night or something like that. There's a wider appeal and is less likely to drag on for hours beyond when everyone would want to go home.
• I used to play Rifts, but that was years ago... any suggestions on who to contact, how this might play out, the whole RPGer scene? For all things great and small in roleplaying games, hie thee hence to RPGNet and check out the forums. If you're interested in finding gamers in your area, post in the Gaming Gatherings forum. For advice on how to set up, tweak, and run with your idea, post in the Roleplaying Open forum. This sounds like a pretty damn cool concept to me.
• i second board game night, or trivia night, and humbly suggest naked, caffeinated, crisco twister night.
• i was also a big diplomacy player in my day, which is sort of a hybrid of rpg and board game. might work for you. glad to hear business is going well for you iws!
• I third board-game night. Don't do Clue(do) or anything else as common. You want more complex board games, the kind popular on the boardgamegeeks website. Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico. You can have a Clue and a Monopoly around, but the more sophisticated gamers will be interested in the alternative games. I suggest at least making the coffee bottomless. Plain coffee, not the lattes or the tea. If you make it an RPGing night, the thing is... you need to be very explicit about what you want played there, because otherwise it will turn into a Magic-the-Gathering fest, and often the two kinds of gamers don't get along, though there used to be a lot of crossover between them (that is, MtG vs AD&D). Also if an RPG night, I'd suggest it being a very common and widely-played game system like AD&D or WOD (preferably Vampire, because it's the most popular - Werewolf or Changeling would be other options). Don't get into the more cultish games played by gaming specialists, if you're going to sponsor it yourself - try to work with the games that everyone cuts their teeth on and that have a lot of resources and with which any good game master can do something that has broad appeal. Just IMHO, of course. :)
• Ian would say posted about his cafe recently. It sounds so elegant! Ian - you might be doing some of this, but my favorite coffee place does live music once or twice a week and hosts local art - and offers free wifi. It's a lot scruffier than your place, but does a great business. (And, their manager/coffee roaster was one of my "lost boys" when I lived in the bay area - young folks who were on the streets for one reason or another, to whom I gave a place to crash and food. It makes me so happy that Aaron, who claims he majored in cute, but is so much more, is a major draw.)
• how about "Bonghit Bingo" night instead? "poker and whiskey"?
• Damn, ian, I'd love to see your place, from the sound of it.
• You need to keep the GMs wired, so that they GM good. And providing GMs compensation (by giving them good coffee) will make sure the GMs keep showing up. It doesn't need to be official. If the help "forgets" to charge the GM for a refill, they keep coming because they feel like priveldged regulars there. Everyone else will follow where the GMs go. The waitperson can pretend "shhh, don't tell my boss that refill was free", and then they won't be expected to always give free ones. Would it be possible to offer a RPG-sized coffee for the others? It does seem likely that boardgaming is a much better choice for your kind of establishment. Throw some Cranium and Apples to Apples in with the other suggested games. Also if an RPG night, I'd suggest it being a very common and widely-played game system like AD&D or WOD (preferably Vampire, because it's the most popular - Werewolf or Changeling would be other options) I second the WOD, but nobody anywhere has ever played Changeling. Ever. Run Werewolf and Mage, and I guess there'd be a need for one Vampire table.
• I also think a board-game night would bring in a more diverse clientele (and this is coming from someone who rolled a fuckton of d20s as a lad). Make a MySpace page for the weekly event, add a bunch of people, and see who shows up.
• verbminx had a good suggestion on the types of board games--I was just thinking of Clue because of the dress-up potential (which seemed a part of the draw for ian would say). Carcassonne could inspire a French evening! One advantage of a board game evening is that it doesn't have to be a 6 to 8 hour time investment, so there wouldn't be the same need for bottomless beverages. You say the coffee is french pressed? Do you give the press to the customer, or just a cup at a time? Perhaps you could offer some kind of deal where a group could get a couple of french press carafes and multiple cups.
• For either an RPG or boardgame night, there are a couple of ways you can go: -- Just buy a few cases of soft drinks and sell them at slightly inflated prices (most places sell them at wildly inflated prices: If you can get a case for six bucks or less, selling each one for a quarter will be in break-even territory, for .50 will bring small profits. People go nuts for soft drinks sold for less than a buck.) -- Create a discount card of some sort (it can just be printed out on card stock, nothing too fancy. People take care of discount cards!). This card could be for free or cheap refills for your GMs (to attract them like what Mr. K said), or it could be for a small percentage off for your gamers. It wouldn't have to be enough to destroy your profits, but enough to make them feel special (and gamers rarely do in most establishments). In offering these cards, you're creating loyalty and making your money off of volume business. That said, I bet gamers would come for the feeling of being wanted in a type of place where they're probably usually run off, for your cutie staff, and for the prospect of nearby caffiene and perhaps snacks? You may not even have to offer any discounts, though they might help. Sorry. I have no game requests, though I did use to play a Vampire type game that was quite a bit of fun.
• how about "Bonghit Bingo" night instead? "poker and whiskey"? Speed dating and chlamydia night? Rubbing alcohol and the knifey-finger game? Meth and russian roulette night? I need some new hobbies. In all fairness, ian your place sounds like it has an entirely different vibe than would be found at BiMoSciFiCon. It's a roll of the dice.
• and humbly suggest naked, caffeinated, crisco twister night. Been there, done that. Then I discovered RPGs!
• I always thought MoFi WAS a role playing game. I've spent a long time here working up to my current position - a 41st-level moron-user with over 3,500 comment points. My race is "liberal" and my alignment is "chaotic bullshit"! I feel a new wiki page coming on!
• Ian, methinks you're a tad classier than this place deserves *picks up firehose, begins hosing out monkeycage
• Ok, I have now aquired Settlers of Catan. Yes. Awesome game. Thanks for the tip to RPGNet. I've put up a notice at a local hobbies and games shop. Let's see who expresses interest...
• I agree with the suggestion to add "Apples to Apples" and "Cranium" to the list of possible board games! However, both of them can, I have heard, get a little loud. Try also "Balderdash" - it's pretty mainstream but a ton of fun. (Also along those lines in the "mainstream games" world: Taboo, Mad Gab - I don't like either of those as much.) It also occurred to me that, while I was down on Monopoly and Clue, I didn't think of Scrabble. A Scrabble night alone would probably be very popular, and the game has the advantage of being cheap. At the same time, many cafes have chess nights, and I don't recommend that. It draws an almost entirely male clientele, either 14 or 75 years old, rarely anything inbetween. Since only two players will sit at a table, even if it's intended for 4 people, it's a space-sucker. The players are always polite, but it does kind of suck up the cafe for an evening. A hush tends to settle over the place, and they don't always buy a lot of drinks and snacks. (I experienced this in a place where I was employed, and have also seen it in cafes I frequented.) Nothing against the chess players, it just seems to me that these groups are as happy meeting in libraries as anywhere else.
• Yeah. Fuck chess.
• Monkeyfilter: I guess there'd be a need for one Vampire table
• Fuck Chess (NSFW)