Wow... I Did More Than Blink...

I really hate my camera phone... that plus I apparently suck at taking selfies...

Here I'd thought I'd get into regular posting only to go missing for three weeks. It's been an odd period in the household and the store.

There's not much to say, really. The games have been getting postponed due to weather/work issues. The holidays were good, in both a sales and Santa-esque way. Things are beginning to bounce back slowly, but enough that we have been able to pick AngryG and BigBank back up in very limited capacity. We'll see how it goes.

On another front, I apparently was the inspiration for another person to "tie-up" (a lighter version of "suit up") recently. Seeing Tim @bugeatergames (see Twitter) do his thing has rekindled me to do mine. I can't really fall down on the job anymore seeing as I have become a role-model of sorts. =P

I'd love to talk more, but the day's looking kind of hectic. I do hope to be back later, though...

-- GopherDave

What Am I Thinking..?

Another week has passed and the stabilizing continues... It would be easier if it were not the holidays, but one cannot always get what one wants...

Mood-wise, I'm still kind of meh. The games have been going "o-kay". The last Champions session didn't run due to inclement weather, and the last session of Tai'eres was down a player. Coincidentally, it was the player for whom the game was originally set-up. A few days after, this player drops from the game to run another a game himself, something which he expressly told me was the reason for begging anyone to run a game he could play in. At first I wanted to throat-punch him, but having been a LONG-TIME GM, I sort of understood. When the bug bites you with a game idea, it's hard to shake. On the plus side, he did find me another player to take his place. So... table-flipping rage averted by maturity and reciprocation. Who knew that could happen, hmmm?

As things go, life is not too terribly bad. They could be worse, honestly. General pressures aside, I am discovering I kvetch far too much, and am being productive far too little. I should change that. There were routines I followed that I have fallen out of. Good habits which kept me focused and directed that I have let drop by the wayside, and thus my behavior has been affected in negative ways. This blog is a good example of that. I used to write here once a day almost religiously. Now, it's lucky if it gets updated once a week.

Sounds like it's time for New Year's resolutions, except I've never been too terribly keen on those. So, I believe I am going to step back... adjust some things in my life... get back to where I once was. I realize I have been saying this a great deal lately. Time to own up, own it, and turn words into action...

-- GopherDave

Pits And Spirals...

It's been a bit, so I thought I would check in... The bleeding at the store has been slowed, but it has not been fully stopped. There are some other issues that are causing our woes that are not financial. I'm not certain how to approach these as they involve elements that are in delicate balance with other parts of my life. I lost one of these parts for an extended period of time a while ago, and nothing has made my soul ache more than that vacancy of being until things got rectified. I'm not certain I can go through that again...

In other news, there was a point very recently where I almost dropped my keys on the floor of the store and walked away. I have never felt more unappreciated in my own place of business as I did at that moment, and I am still not fully recovered from it. I am trying desperately to give our customers more of what they want in the way of events and regular games, but the overall response is that of  "no one caring" or "bitching that things aren't EXACTLY as they would like them". I'm not looking for people to be dancing in the aisles, but some acknowledgment that we are trying to make things even better than they have been before would be nice.

Currently I am encountering enough apathy from long-time regulars on some days that it is becoming difficult for me to care as well. Many folks are no longer showing up to things at the store because they are under the impression that what they like will always be there.... until it's not... Then they will whine and cry and moan and lament and they will blame me...

...and that is the point where I will either snap, or just not care enough to get angry...

Now, I am just stirring in the juices of my own self-pity, but there is some meat of truth in my soup of despair, and that makes want to curl up and disappear...

-- GopherDave

Retract... Refocus... Recover... Reemerge... Represent!

Okay... It's been longer than I anticipated since an update, so I figure anyone who is "listening" (all 34 of you) might actually want to know what is happening in Gopherland...

A few months back we had another game store open up in town. It is a franchise of a small chain from a nearby city, owned by two guys, who honestly, are pretty good people. This store makes three game stores in town. In the 35+ year history of gaming in this community, I have never known the community to be able to support that many retail game establishments for terribly long. When this store opened, I knew we would take a hit. What I didn't know was how big of one... The hit has far exceeded my expectations...

I had an inkling of the trend a month ago, but didn't want to believe it could get much worse than what it was. I was wrong. Sadly, because of this, I had to do something I desperately didn't want to do. We laid off three employees, and cut hours to the other two (besides me) in an effort to stop the bleeding. Truthfully, I should have done this a month ago when I first witnessed the trend. I, however, don't like to let people I call my family down. It makes me ache inside...

That said, if our business is to survive, I did what I had to do, and on some level, I hate myself for it. Now that it's done, it is time to get back to the task at hand, and that is righting the ship...

• Retract - With the layoffs, we've just done this to some degree. There is a little more room to go if necessary, though I am truly loathe to do to it.
• Refocus - Left with a crew of myself, Loquacious, Skribl, and Snowlady, the workload just increased for all of us, and yet there's still a store to put back on track. Lo, Skribl, and myself have already begun tossing ideas about. We've also taken some input from some of the regulars and former employees. An attack plan is forming, and we hope to have enough things in place to enact it, at least in part, by the beginning of December.
• Recover - This is the long stage where we take back what we consider ours. I'm not one to begrudge anyone their success, and we're willing to share nicely, but not to the point of endangering our business. Sorry. Not happening.
• Reemerge - This stage is where we begin to reacquire some (if not all) of the family members that have been left by the wayside due to the recent happenings. This WILL happen... sooner, rather than later if I have anything to say about it.
• Represent! - Gopher Mafia REPRESENT!!! Weather the storm, come out not only none the worse for wear, but stronger than ever, our family by our side...

We've taken the first few steps, and more will be taken in short order. Do not, however, wish us luck.

Where we're going, we don't need luck...

-- GopherDave

The Weight of the World...

Things in Gopherville are okay as they stand. My psyche is having issues, but that is nothing new at this stage. I'm not going to over it too much here. I'm just trying to vent a bit...

I've semi-fixed a missing item issue that cropped up yesterday, when said item was to ship. Turns out our order for the item got lost in the system and we were kind of s**t out of luck. That made me into Stab-Man for a bit, but as usual, I persevered and found an answer. The solution will be here in about four business days, but it beats waiting 2-4 weeks for a "potential" restock of said item.

The other issues going on are minor, but there are a lot of them. It's the collective weight that's making it difficult.

On happier news... I should be able to do some work on Tai'eres in the next day or so in anticipation of tomorrow night's run. We ended the very beginning "plot arc" of completing a caravan run through three villages. Next up, well... I have some ideas that need to be fleshed out.

One final note, I have been listening to a *LOT* of Ghost/Ghost BC lately, an odd band from Sweden whose Satanic tongue is planted VERY firmly in their collective cheeks. Ostensibly a metal band, this group sounds NOTHING like its image and/or origin point indicates it should. Take a 1970's rock groove, add King Diamond-esque high-range vocals (minus the screams), and make all the songs about the devil himself. Personally, I walk with God, but I am no longer a member of any church as I refuse to subscribe to any form of "groupspeak". The good Lord gave me free will and the ability to think for myself, and I aim to exercise those gifts to their fullest. Hence, I can enjoy "Satanic" rock'n'roll to my heart's content, for I know where my heart truly lies...

Falling Off The Radar...

Looking at the blog, it has been about three weeks since I last posted. A number of things happened in that time with games, life, and stuff in general, but probably the most significant thing that happened was that I kind of took a mental vacation from the bulk of life. Most (not all) of my gaming obligations got met, and I did most (not all) of what was needed to keep the store going in regard to behind the scenes work.

Last night, I caught up on some financials, as well as a small bit of backlog in terms of physical work that the store needed done, and when it was all done with, I came to a conclusion that had been staring me at the face for a bit, but that I hadn't wanted to face. As much as I have enjoyed my break, I can no longer be an absentee owner if I expect my business to survive, let alone thrive. There are too many things going on in the local scene, and deep down, I knew this already.

So, after six to eight weeks of not really being here, it is past time for DonGopher to come back and herd the Mafia back into fighting shape. Honestly, he (read: I) should have never left when he did. At the time where guidance and direction were needed most, I stepped away. Now my family and my store need me desperately to be "theMan" once again, and I know that it will take at least twice as long to put it all back together again, so it is the time to step back up or step aside...

Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely step aside... and this is not one of those times...

-- GopherDave

Successful Re-Entry...

Hey, all...

This past (or is it passed, that one always throws me) Thursday, I fired up my world of Tai'eres for the third time. Out of six players, we had four at the table due to one having a medical emergency and the other not being back in the state yet.

Of the players, only my son has ever played in the system before. I don't know if he is trying to butter up the old man or not, but my spawn claims that Tai'eres is his favorite setting and game system that he has ever played. When we were done Thursday night, I might have had two more people joining him in that chant.

Our adventures start in the village/encampment of Sword's Chance. The characters either don't know each other, or know each other in a cursory fashion. To keep things simple, I started the group out with a simple "guard the caravan" mission. It's a very small caravan (one wagon), but the pay is good, and the merchant they are working for seems friendly and amenable.

On the "trail", the point man pretty much stumbles over a pile of sticks obscured by the long grass. This alone has the group paranoid, so they spread out, trying to figure out what the hell a pile of old, dried sticks and twigs are doing just lying in the grass. That is when the lurking giant trap-door spider attacks. During the surprise round, the arachnid envenoms one of the player characters and takes him totally out of the fight in one hit. That is when the players other than my son realized they were not in Kansas/D&D-land anymore. The group manages to fight off and kill the spider, plus keep their fellow caravan guard alive long enough for him to recover on his own some four hours later.

The group manages to make it to the village of Xinq'ua. In the village, Lor'kath (the merchant) sells a few of his wares and pays the group for the day. While in the village, the party here's the flapping of large, bat-like wings during the night. As a group, they surmise that is a pack of Qu'oll (think Stirges from D&D) that is out on the hunt. The Qu'oll are kept away from the village with the smoke and light coming from the communal fire lit in the village center.

In the morning, the group heads out for the next stop, which is the village of Gor'ath. The span from Xinq'ua to Gor'ath is a bit longer than their initial venture from Sword's Chance to Xinq'ua, so it will take them just over a day and a half finish this leg of the journey. During the first day's travels, the group runs in to a collection of what turns out to either be the world's worst bandits or the world's best sword fodder. Either way, in short order four out of the five bandits, including their leader, are very, VERY dead. One poor guy did run away and managed to escape the wrath of the group.

The session ended with the group camping for the night with just over a half a day's worth of distance to Gor'ath.

Overall, I felt the session went pretty well. I don't really have a story plan yet on where I want to take these guys, but I figure the first few runs are really more for getting them up to speed in the system and for me to get an idea of what they want to accomplish as a group and as individuals.

Now, I have a Shadowrun 5th edition character to make for myself...

-- GopherDave