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Speaker 1: Every table has rules, but the best stories usually begin

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when someone ignores them. A risky move, a broken alliance,

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a perfect role at the worst possible moment, and suddenly

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it's not just a game anymore. It's the victory nobody expected,

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the argument everyone remembers, and the story your friends will

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still be telling years from now. I'm Scott Ralph and

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this is table tales, where board games, card games, and

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role playing adventures become stories worth retelling. So pull up

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a chair. The next tale is already on the table.

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Speaker 2: In this week's episode, it's my pleasure to introduce Chris

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otherwise known to me as Mills, co founder and director

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of the Comic Shop, which is a my friendly local

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game store in Crawley. And when I say that, I

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genuinely mean it. I've never been anywhere like this with

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such a gorgeously friendly atmosphere for all of the hobbies

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I have here.

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Speaker 3: It's an amazing and we do genuinely love it. It's

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instantly become a family.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's all basically thanks to Chris h and

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the team here that make it such an absolute diamond

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in the rough of Crawley Town Center.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, it's pretty much the only place i'd

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come for now.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's an amazing environment and everything that we love on

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the show, D and D Board Games, Magic, the gathering,

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all of your general nerdage needs.

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Speaker 4: You can find the comic.

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Speaker 2: Shop in Crawley, and together the three of us are

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going to be talking shop all the awesome stuff that

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they do here. So, like I said, D and D,

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board Games, Magic, the gathering, coffee and of course some comics.

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After running and dming at the shop for pretty much

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like a six month straight period and helping out with

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the Adventurers League, I was part of the very first

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D and D session actually, and it was love at

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first sight when I saw you.

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Speaker 5: It was it's a Broman.

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Speaker 4: It's a romance that has been burgeoning and blossoming.

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Speaker 3: It's the same guys. They're even out here with matching

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hats on. It's adorable.

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Speaker 4: I'm sure.

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Speaker 5: I'm sure there's pictures being taken, so I'm sure you'll

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see it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so the matching hats is adorable. That wasn't even

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planned this time.

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Speaker 5: It's quite funny that you mentioned you're starting here because

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for me, you guys have already been doing like my

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own little mini podcast because being stuck behind the count

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and making coffee sometimes I'm not actually doing anything and

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I get to listen to all the D and D adventures, which,

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like I can't tell you how funny, hilarious and and

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just generally call it is. To sort of just sit

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a listening on the adventures.

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Speaker 4: That's yah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and you obviously you hear all the characters' voices,

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everyone making a real effort, and when everyone makes that

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real effort, it really does make some great listening. So yeah,

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I feel like I'm already I've already had my own

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mini podcasts, just unfortunately I can't share them.

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Speaker 2: I love how open you guys have been to the community,

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and your energy and enthusiasm for everything that you do

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here is absolutely infectious. We've come a long way since

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that fir ever D and D session at the shop.

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How's the journey been from that very first session? It's

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been pretty crackers.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you think we opened up the shop and

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we didn't expect the amount of support that we got,

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and we had people from all walks of life one

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and all different kinds of things. I mean, the magic

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is obviously enormous for the shop. They they came in

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their drives and they've been here ever since, and we've

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done a lot with them, and yeah, we're sort of

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just getting bigger and better with that. So shortly after

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D and D followed and then yeah, all board gaming

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and groups sort of cutting appearing. It sort of became

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we lit the beacon. We joked about saying we lit

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the beacon, but we literally did, and everyone came from

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far and wide.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that thing is blazing.

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Speaker 3: Man. There is not a day I can come in

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here and there isn't a magic game happening.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And then the table, I mean, people waiting for a

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table to play D and.

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Speaker 2: D is just it's insane to me.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm coming from a time when D

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and D wasn't cool. Well for me, it was always cool,

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but I'm talking like, man, you us to get beating

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up at school.

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Speaker 4: Now it's cool.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I've got a history of hobbies where it's always

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the weird, outcast, nerdy thing. D and D wrestling.

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Speaker 5: You know, I think I think it's I think that's

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spread to the rest of the world. Do you not think,

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like I think it's bigger than it's ever been. It's

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it's and it's suddenly not just okay for people to do,

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but suddenly it's become cool. Yeah, it's like.

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Speaker 4: Your celebrity is doing it.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely. Yeah, and I think that stigmas sort of started

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to leave. And I mean, how many how many generations

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do you have to go before it's normal? And ye,

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people are joking like they used to burn, which is

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like they used to they used to call them nerds

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and geeks and yeah, school.

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Speaker 2: How far We're in the middle of a lockdown here

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in the UK and it's obviously hitting local business is

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fairly hard. So how you guys hoping during this situation?

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Speaker 5: Well, I suppose this is a good way to sort

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of let everyone know. But I've been here doing all

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the building work for the shop because I did all

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the original building work. When before we opened, I did

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ten weeks I think it was ten weeks something stupid

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like ten weeks solid with one day off. And I

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think that one day was because I was literally bedbound

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because I couldn't get out of bed.

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Speaker 4: I was that ill, Jesus.

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Speaker 5: But yeah, so we we've kind of apart from a

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little short period, we've been open every single day since

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since we opened, So I haven't really had a lot

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of chances to finish off the bits and pieces. So

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this has given me some sort of a little opportunity

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to to upgrade the shop as such. Plus I would

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have gone absolutely well, excuse the reference.

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Speaker 4: But batshit.

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Speaker 2: It's probably the most Let's segue a little bit and

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talk about that, because without being in the shop you

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don't realize what an absolute geek stream.

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Speaker 4: This place is.

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Speaker 2: Not.

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Speaker 5: At the moment, it looks like we've been burgled a.

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Speaker 3: Little bit, but there's a bit more wood on the

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floor than we normally expect. But the Hulk is still.

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Speaker 4: Reading a giant How big is that? Eight feet?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Eight nine feet model on his base. He's like, well,

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actually he's not on his base because if he's on

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his base, he would have gone through the ceiling, which

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good god.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, guys, if you've not seen it, there's a modified

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ceiling tile above the Hulk's head.

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Speaker 4: Otherwise it just doesn't fit in.

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Speaker 2: It wouldn't go amazing, surrounded by merch, all of the

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stuff that we love, board games, d nd.

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Speaker 3: Year, the new stand in homage I always assumed to

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stan Lee is glorious and with the fresh liquor paint

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and Captain's Cafe at the back in the army truck man.

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I love that thing.

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Speaker 2: What are the sorts of changes you guys are making

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to the shop prior to us coming out of this lockdown.

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Speaker 5: Period, So probably the biggest change is, well it hasn't

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happened yet, but it's being planned, is the table space.

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So I'd quite like to reconfigure the how the tables

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are because at the moment, well prior to this, we

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were pretty much building the tables around the hulk. Because

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he was in the way, there was not really many

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places he could go. He kind of dictated where all

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the tables went. Unfortunately we could only put them in

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certain spaces. But now he's gone, it's sort of giving

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me a blank canvas for the for the floor space,

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so I can actually just put the tables in the

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right places and maximize the table space. So hopefully those

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few people that occasionally do come in and have to

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wait or or don't get to sit down, and we

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can get everyone get a butt on a seat, and

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there'll be nice new tables sort of modified to be

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perfect for the gamers. So there's enough space to put

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table mats down and have a bit of space for

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your bits and pieces around it. So yeah, it's all

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been well thought out and planned and thanks to the

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guys that come here. I've been collecting infile on what's

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best size is how far I mean the table we're

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sat at now. Everybody loves for D and D, but

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it's not so practical for magic because you're so far away.

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It's like it's like a sort of a sixteenth century

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dining table.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. The first few are kind of collected from what

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was available, which is a natural, organic thing. But now

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you're at the point where you're developing a specific criteria

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and going, well, yeah, you've got your community, you know

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what the need now is.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it's weird, like we're almost semi professional.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's almost a bit like our podcast, like we

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know what we're doing.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the thing I've like, well, yeah, I like

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I hide it. Well, well maybe not, but we are

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literally just two idiots with a.

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Speaker 4: Dream and a shop.

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Speaker 2: You've turned it into something that is an absolute sort

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of center of sort of geek culture in Crawley. It's

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really sort of drawn everyone to this location.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's lovely. That's like, that's kind of what

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we wanted to achieve from the get go. So to

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have that and have it in such a such a

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gigantic format is amazing.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, talk to us more about some of the

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big plans that you've got for the future of the

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comic Shop when you can eventually reopen.

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Speaker 5: So yeah, whilst I'm doing all the little bits and pieces,

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I'm still planning away for turning our games room into

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a dual purpose. So ultimately I would love that. I

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don't want it to change. We've got a great little

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games room. It's got a little Mario theme. I need

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to finish that, but we kind of want to turn

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it into a dungeon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a little segue for the game's room. It's

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every sort of old school console you could imagine put

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into that room with a bunch of games for each

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of them.

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Speaker 5: Pretty much everything you can you can get in there,

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we've got we've got in there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's awesome. So and this room potentially turning

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it into a dungeon for D and D.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we we do double it up as

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a sort of like a spillover room when we've got

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campaigns and we've got a lot of people in generally

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on Saturdays and Sundays, we get the D and D

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crowding and sort of sometimes we do have too many

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groups that want to come in. So if the games

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I'm free, I'll always sort of essentially pimp it out

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to the to the d n ds get sometimes to

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be honest that even the magic players have gone in there.

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Sometimes when there's no room we whip up the table.

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It's got tables and chairs in there as.

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Speaker 3: Well, and magic nerds.

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Speaker 5: The biggest change is going to be that I'm going

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to turn that into a little dungeon. So I'm going

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to even try and get it so that you feel

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more closed off because at the moment it's kind of

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linked to the kitchen. And again this is great for

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me because I get to listen to some hilarious campaigns

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and some all sorts going on, and it's, like I said,

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it's having my own mini podcast. And yeah, I'm going

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to really close it off so you can go in

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there and feel like you are in a dungeon and

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the DM can. I'm going to try and give them

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tools that they can have access to power so they

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can have crime cast on a little TV in there. Yeah,

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we're going to get a sound speaker system so that

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you can have special effects and stuff running there. Feed

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some absolutely because that is so much more fun for

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the campaign. Got the ideas for a big opening party, Yeah,

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I'd love to. I mean, I mean I did joke

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about putting a big sign up in the window saying

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don't open dead inside, and then I was like, I

248
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think that's a little bit that's a little bit too

249
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close on the nose, isn't it Like it was meant

250
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to be a walking down great because we were so

251
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good for the people that know that's hilarious. Yeah, yeah,

252
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so but with that, yeah, it's just funny. But it's difficult.

253
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I think the hardest part for us is like not

254
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knowing when we're going to open, Yeah, because we could

255
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plan so much for them. Even if they said, oh,

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you're going to you're going to be opening at the

257
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end of June. I mean, that's got to be worst

258
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case with the the government's three month further, I mean

259
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that's obviously initially what they thought for ship. We better

260
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do something that's that's the worst of it. I mean,

261
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so we don't even know. I mean, we could be

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the whole of May and opening June. We could be

263
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the full three month, which was sort of like end

264
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of June. We just don't know, but as soon as

265
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we do, we'll be planning the hell out of it

266
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and making sure that we've got parties left, right and center.

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Speaker 2: D n D is one of the big topics here

268
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at board Stupid. You've played d n DA a few times,

269
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even in the midst of the awesome chaos of activities

270
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on busy nights and busy days here. What's your opinions

271
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on playing it as a beginner, being a beginner to

272
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the game, and do you have any advice for new

273
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players who might want to come to the shop to

274
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try it out.

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Speaker 5: Me and h both jumped in a campaign that Aaron did,

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So that was I can't even remember when that was.

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I think that was for our second we had like

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a second mini opening.

279
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Speaker 3: It was either that or a birthday. There was an

280
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anniversary game as well, I think.

281
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Speaker 5: Yeah, so I'm pretty sure that was when I jumped

282
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in on you did one for us. Yeah, so I

283
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jumped in. That was my That was only my second campaign, Okay,

284
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but obviously that was quite That was quite big because

285
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I listened to your campaigns and I always like quite

286
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admired like the campaigns, and I was like, so when

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you offered to do one for us, I was like, yes,

288
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definitely the horror one. That was the horror one. Yeah, scary, yeah, yeah.

289
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So yeah, but the first one, going back to the

290
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first one we've we sort of weren't really I mean

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we're so busy. I mean it's rare that we would

292
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get a chance to jump in like that, so I

293
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didn't really get a chance to properly prep. And I

294
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think that is a great one to start with prep. Yeah,

295
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because we're quite lucky with the groups that we've got

296
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down here that if you're new and you want to

297
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get into it and you're a little bit apprehensive and

298
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you don't know where to start, the first thing you

299
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can do is just posting the group and say, listen,

300
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I'm new, I want to do this. So therefore it's

301
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great because someone will step in and go, I'm here

302
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to help, come down, meet me down there. We can

303
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do a better character sheet building, and that's the best

304
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way to start, and then you are starting to get prepped.

305
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Speaker 3: Yeah. I love the character building almost as much as

306
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playing it, So I'm always there if I can be.

307
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If I'm not working training or otherwise. Jethrow, We've got

308
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Tom Wayne obviously always available either online.

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Speaker 4: If nothing else.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, And that's that's something that's grown. But as

311
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always been helpful is having people there to support us,

312
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because we we appreciate that more than anyone would ever understand,

313
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because without you guys, and without without the DMS, and

314
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without the campaigns in general, we wouldn't be here. And

315
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that goes that's right throughout our whole sort of existence.

316
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We wouldn't be here without all of the people that

317
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come to the shop. So yeah, we're eternally grateful for that.

318
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But the DMS being there like almost on beck and

319
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call on the on the Facebook group is just amazing.

320
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So yeah, it's a it's a great little string to

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our buy.

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Speaker 2: So if people want to do if people do want

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to find out where to do and how to do

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D and D at the.

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Speaker 4: Comic shop, what's the Facebook page?

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Speaker 5: Facebook page is the if you just type in the

327
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comic shop poorly and there's a little page section in

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it's D n D at the comic shop or some

329
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nice and easy, nice and easy.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, quite right.

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Speaker 2: I've been a member of that group for a while

332
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and yeah, if you are interested in playing, like Mills said,

333
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just stick a post on there.

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Speaker 4: If you've never played before.

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Speaker 2: It's a super friendly community, plenty of people willing to

336
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help you out from everything from character creation to starting

337
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your first game.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean, i'd even say, like, if this goes for anything,

340
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if you're a little bit reppentive about posting in the group,

341
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then feel free to message us. But ultimately you're going

342
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to have to take that leap of confidence when you

343
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jump in the game. So it's such a good start

344
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to say, Actually, if you are a little bit a

345
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little bit weary, a little bit scared, just posting the group,

346
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because it's going to break that ice for you to

347
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get your confidence to join a group, because you're going

348
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to be talking in that group when you get down here,

349
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You're going to be on an invention with these people.

350
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You're going to hear people doing voices, You're gonna you're

351
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going to want to.

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Speaker 4: Either laugh or cry.

353
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Speaker 5: But because it's great and it's so it's so good

354
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to be involved in. So there's a there's an element

355
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where you've got to sort of like go out of

356
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your comfort zone I think for some people. So post

357
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on that group just just put yourself out there.

358
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that very much picks up a point we made

359
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in our last podcast about being brave and joining in

360
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and just going for it.

361
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Speaker 4: Yeah, you have to let loose at some point.

362
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Speaker 3: You will not guarantee you will not get a single

363
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negative feedback from anyone in the DND at the Comic

364
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Shop Facebook page, because it's largely regulated by those of

365
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us that are here regularly.

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Speaker 4: I want to see it grow and we do it

367
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for the love it.

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Speaker 5: And we've been so lucky with the groups that have

369
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come to the Comic Shop. We don't get horrible people.

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We've just collected all the lovely people. It's so nice.

371
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And that's the thing. It sort of just keeps spiraling.

372
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:31,759
To you say, you know that you get a downard spiral.

373
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It's like a complete opposite. It just keeps going up

374
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and up because people come in and they're like take

375
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people under their wing, or they're nice to people, or

376
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they're supportive, and then that person in turn then grows,

377
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,480
becomes a completely different person, gets their confidence, and then

378
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they'll help someone else that they recognize in the same

379
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position they were, and it's just sort of just snowballs really.

380
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Speaker 3: Well, like count myself as one of those people. I

381
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essentially started with Wayne and then very closely after that

382
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,279
here in the comic shop. I have played with them,

383
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,200
made great close friends with a whole bunch of people. Ever,

384
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even you existed before this place opened, so we have

385
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:04,400
you to thank for that as well.

386
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Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, you were very well.

387
00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:08,440
Speaker 5: You're both very welcome because we love Avenue here, we

388
00:17:08,759 --> 00:17:12,160
love having everybody here. It's it's a feeling I can't

389
00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,640
sort of put into words because when we decided to

390
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,599
do this place, we had a dream and a vision.

391
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,319
But like I said, we've been knocked off our feet

392
00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:22,359
in terms of what we've we've got out of this

393
00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:25,799
and what we've created and the people that we've met.

394
00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:28,200
So I feel just as fortunate as you guys do.

395
00:17:28,759 --> 00:17:32,359
So going back to the initial D and D campaign,

396
00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,720
I'm like, I'm like your guys dream will I will

397
00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,319
believe anything. Yeah, man, I like it, like if I'm

398
00:17:39,319 --> 00:17:41,359
watching a film, like I mean, as long as it's

399
00:17:41,559 --> 00:17:45,720
reasonably like believable, Like if you're being chased by a

400
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,519
t rex I totally believe that if that's part of

401
00:17:47,519 --> 00:17:49,680
the film. But if you slowly chased by t rextion,

402
00:17:49,759 --> 00:17:51,559
you fall over and get up and he still hasn't

403
00:17:51,559 --> 00:17:53,880
caught you. Then I'm out. I'm gone. Like but I'm

404
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:58,440
quite fickle like that. But in terms of gullibleness, I

405
00:17:58,519 --> 00:18:01,200
suppose and willing to.

406
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,839
Speaker 3: You yourself in the game, which is yeah for sure.

407
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,599
Speaker 5: So like when you're talking and I couldn't believe after

408
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:13,759
hearing like hundreds of campaigns all around me. I never

409
00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,240
questioned it or doubted it, but I never quite understood

410
00:18:17,839 --> 00:18:21,680
how captivated you could be. But someone just literally sat

411
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:23,319
there behind the screen talking.

412
00:18:23,039 --> 00:18:23,599
Speaker 4: Out of the book.

413
00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:25,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was like that is I was. I was

414
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,680
hanging off of Aaron's and yours every single word. I

415
00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:30,680
was in it, Like you were telling me about a mansion.

416
00:18:30,759 --> 00:18:33,640
I was there, mate, Yeah, seeing it in front of you. Yeah,

417
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,799
it's phenomenal. I mean, I suppose that's the power of

418
00:18:35,839 --> 00:18:36,960
the imagination.

419
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Speaker 2: So board games is the other massive one that we

420
00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:42,480
love here on the podcast. Do you have much experience

421
00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,920
playing modern board games. There's a bit of a boom

422
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,039
or a bit of a boom. It's probably the second

423
00:18:48,079 --> 00:18:49,920
golden age of board games over the last sort of

424
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,240
six seven, eight years with Kickstarter and some of the

425
00:18:53,279 --> 00:18:55,920
new stuff that's out there is their plans to do

426
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,920
more board gaming at the shop. I mean there's already

427
00:18:57,920 --> 00:18:59,200
a weekly games night here.

428
00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:02,799
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, there is. We had some great people that

429
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,359
helped us out and we wouldn't sort of have anything

430
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:10,480
at all at the moment without them, so yeah, Pound

431
00:19:10,519 --> 00:19:13,480
Hill Board Games Club and Crawley Gaming Club, So we

432
00:19:13,559 --> 00:19:17,480
have them both here and they've been outstanding for us

433
00:19:17,519 --> 00:19:18,559
to help us get to where we.

434
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,160
Speaker 4: Want to get. But we will we will be looking.

435
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,039
Speaker 5: To broaden out on that. So it's a good subject

436
00:19:24,039 --> 00:19:26,519
to sort of talk about it because we want to

437
00:19:26,559 --> 00:19:30,119
be quite prominent in that area where we have board

438
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:31,839
games here. We have board games for sale.

439
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've got a great range of games available for

440
00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:36,039
sale here.

441
00:19:36,599 --> 00:19:38,319
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I mean it's only going to get bigger

442
00:19:38,319 --> 00:19:42,400
and better because currently talking to the supplier about getting

443
00:19:42,559 --> 00:19:44,799
a whole shard load of games in