The Living Card Game format has been doing exceptionally well since its inception, with new players joining the communities for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game and Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game all the time, and stores eagerly signing up to run leagues and play groups to support these players.

The Call of Cthulhu Living Card Game is doing exceptionally well at Bell, Book & Comic , of Dayton, Ohio, and we of Fantasy Flight Games are proud to present a three-part series of guest articles about running a league at a Friendly Local Game Store.

Our presenters for this series of articles. L-R: Peter Bell, Matt Kohls, and Jeff Secrest.

If you are a retailer or tournament organizer new to Organized Play, or if your store is looking for ideas to spice up your existing OP, check out what's going on a Bell, Book & Comic and hopefully get some ideas for the OP in your area. For more background on how to get an LCG league started at your store, please check out this article: "Re-Organizing Play" .

Our first article looks at league play from a retailer's point of view. Without any further ado, we present Peter Bell.

Greetings FFG community!

My name is Peter Bell and I'd like to share with you my perspective as a retailer on the rebirth of the Call of Cthulhu Living Card Game and my recipe to make an Organized Play Program a success at my store.

I am co-owner of Bell, Book & Comic in Dayton, Ohio. In many respects our store is much like your typical comic/gaming shop; similar shops could be found in neighborhoods all over the world. We are home to many types of gamers, varying between board games, RPGs, miniatures and, of course, card games.

As a horror fan, I immediately gravitated to the Call of Cthulhu CCG years ago. Our Servitor [What we call a tournament organizer for Call of Cthulhu LCG - ed.] ran the monthly supported events at the store for a small group of dedicated players but then the support for the game waned and eventually the players moved on to other games. I was convinced at that time that I had added yet another CCG to my collection of dead games.

" ....even death may die"

As I am sure many were, I was thrilled to learn that the game was being relaunched in a non-collectible format! Many factors had conspired to bring the CCG days to an end and we were determined to not see history repeated. No decision was more crucial in assuring this than our choice of a Servitor. In addition to having a passion for the game, a Servitor must be committed to serving the gaming community. Besides the constant in-shop demoing I also arranged for the Servitor to demo at local shows and conventions including Free Comic Book Day and the Gem City Comic Con. In retail, product placement is everything and I realized something special was necessary. The artwork for the Core Set is phenomenal and it had caught the eye of many customers. We converted the store copy into a counter-top display piece complete with a crown of crouching Cthulhu statues. The remaining contents were used to build a demo kit which rarely remained idle. Even when there was no demoing to be done we were often playing for the sake of visibility and always for fun.

The combination of Core set and monthly Asylum Packs saved players time and money and provided them with a competitive environment that was infinitely adjustable. I anticipated the new format would usher many casual first-time players to the game, but wondered about the Cthulhu CCG players. Would they return to the game they once loved and obsessed over? In short, the answer was yes, the Call was just too strong! They jumped at the opportunity to meet new players, show them the ropes and once again play on a regular basis. The next challenge was to create a play environment that would bring the two groups together. We first started with the Adventure League scenario provided by FFG [ "Heads of Fate" in the first League Kit. - ed. ] and then we tweaked it to meet the needs of our players. The six week leagues, which may appeal more to our casual players, were followed by two weeks of more competitive constructed tournaments. For prizes, I drew further upon my community resources by recruiting local craftsmen to produce unique and unmatched prize support for our events. 100% of our league fees were utilized to provide prize support and each participant received something. After all of the preparation and hard work our efforts were rewarded with a spring league that exceeded all expectations! Despite our success we are constantly soliciting player feedback to adjust the events to the changing needs of our community.

Call of Cthulhu LCG League Championship Trophy, created by Kevin Kirby

Like never before the Call of Cthulhu Card Game is appealing to a broad spectrum of gaming enthusiasts. The serialized Asylum Pack series has captured imaginations and the Adventure League scenario has provided us with a dark playground in which to exercise them. At Bell, Book & Comic our attitude is 'We are the game' and here the game is growing. If it can happen in my neck of the woods, it can happen anywhere!

Thanks Peter for your contribution! If you live in the Dayton, Ohio area, stop by and check out Bell, Book & Comic's Call of Cthulhu league .

Retailers: Are you running a league at your store? Share your stories, photos, and tips with us by emailing [email protected] . We'd love to hear all about it!

Tune in next time for Part 2 of our three-part series on running an LCG league at your Friendly Local Game Store. Part 2 features Jeff Secrest, Servitor of Cthulhu.

Based on the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and his literary circle, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game takes two players deep into the Cthulhu Mythos where investigators clash with the Ancient Ones and Elder Gods for the fate of the world. To learn more about Call of Cthulhu, visit our minisite .