From the Gnome's Perspective is a weekly column by retailer Pat Fuge, who owns Gnome Games, a two-store chain in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This week, Fuge reviews RPG organized play programs:
As we prepare for 2006 it is time to evaluate our organized play program. As part of this annual analysis we rate the organized play systems as they work for us as a retailer. This week I'll take a look at the RPG sector. Most of what we run is d20 oriented but we expect the L5R RPG, Hackmaster, Shadowrun (If 4th Ed ever gets here) and Battletech to make regular appearances on our OP Calendar in 2006.
RPGA (Role Playing Gamers Association) www.wizards.com/rpga (Grade B+): We'll start with the granddaddy of the organized RPG play sources - the Role Playing Gamers Association or RPGA From humble beginnings the RPGA is now part of the Wizards of the Coast marketing machine and a key component of our organized play program.
The RPGA offers a large number of free campaign settings with downloadable scenarios. These include the Mark of Heroes (Eberron), various Living Campaigns, and generic pre-generated scenarios all designed for an evening of fun. The scenarios are easy to order, most are of good quality, and are easy to run with a minimum of preparation time. They also offer special events and rewards for registered players and support for D&D Day in November.
The RPGA is easily accessible and encourages players to visit retailer game days by offering scenarios to the retailer before they are available for home play. They also offer Game Master and player rewards that often bring customers back to the store. When customers receive RPGA rewards it reminds them that they had a great time at Gnome Games and they go shopping!
The RPGA falls short of an 'A' for a few reasons that directly affect what we offer to our customers and the sales the events produce. First, the newest campaign 'The Mark of Heroes' set in WotC's Eberron campaign setting hasn't lived up to the expectations of the players for the frequency of the adventures. Publish more quality adventures and we'll sell more books. It's that simple.
The next shortcoming of the RPGA is the absence of a 'Living' Campaign for the 'Forgotten Realms' setting. This setting makes up a large part of the WotC non-core d20 supplement and fiction product line, yet there isn't a quality RPGA campaign for the players. The Legacy of the Green Regent Campaign was intended to fill this gap, but in our customer's eyes has fallen far short of this goal.
The final shortcoming is the announced end of the Living Force (Star Wars) campaign setting. Our customers are still actively buying the Star Wars rulebooks, but when the campaign disappears early next spring we expect to see the sales drop off quickly.
Within the RPGA are a number of 'Living' Campaigns that are member run campaigns. Several of these are based on RPG settings published by other manufacturers. Here are our evaluations of those offerings:
Living Greyhawk www.living-greyhawk.com - (Grade A-) Living Greyhawk has generated more sales of RPG materials than anything else - hands down. Details are available at If we were to run only one type of RPG event this would be it.
Living Arcanis www.onaraonline.org - (Grade B) Based on the World of Shattered Empires and utilizing source books published by Paradigm Concepts and Green Ronin, Arcanis scenarios are very preparation and game-master knowledge dependant and can't be run effectively on short notice. It's a world filled with cultural interactions and perfect for home-style campaign use - but not the best for in store 'learn to play' sessions. It has been a solid line, with supplements selling well because of the campaign being offered for in store play.
Living Kingdoms of Kalamar - (Grade C-) Set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting published by Kenzer and Co. Kalamars' best attribute is the built in use of published scenarios for organized play. Kenzer & Co. now offers an online purchase option that undercuts brick and mortar stores; which is why we graded it so poorly. It's also why we will not be offering it at any of our in store game days in 2006.
Outside the broad coverage of the RPGA there are a few organized play opportunities that we are considering for 2006.
Blackmoor the MMRPG www.dablackmoor.com - (Grade C+) Set in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor this campaign is just getting its feet wet. The campaign is managed by Zeitgeist Games and offered 16 free scenarios in 2005. They have also included published scenario adaptations, which encourages sales. The lack of published fiction outside the RPG scenario seems to be a limiting factor in the new customer appeal for this setting.
Camarilla LARP www.camarilla.white-wolf.com- (Ungraded) - Many of our customers have enjoyed an in storeVampire the Requiem LARP and it has generated solid sales for us. The reason we are considering the Camarilla as part of our evaluation process is because our customers have asked for it. The Camarilla appears to be a solid organization on the surface, however the pay to play from a distance doesn't appeal to many of our customers, hence the jury is still out for this one.
Overall we know that our organized play offerings for RPG's generate significant sales and interest in RPG's. Each session is always good for several sales. It's well worth the investment in time and energy to run the games in the store!
