May 1, 2023 • 42 mins
In 2022, Andrew Ashby fulfilled his dream of opening a D&D Tavern in the Provo Mall, but he didn't stop there. On April 22, 2023, he hosted the Guinness World Record for the Largest Game of Dungeons & Dragons with 1,227 players. How did a small, family-run business explode in popularity in such a short time? Pro Dungeon Master Dax Levine is going to find out.
Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/dungeonsanddax
Hire a Professional Dungeon Master: https://dungeonmasterdirect.com/
Check out We Geek Together: https://www.wegeektogether.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:35):
I'm here with none other than AndrewAshby, the tavern owner of the Geek
Together Tavern in Provo, Utah.
We have just come off the high ofan incredible, incredible couple of
weeks, and I wanted to talk a lotabout the journey that brought us here.
How you doing this morning,
(00:55):
Andrew?
Dax, thank you.
I'm doing, I'm doing great.
I'm pretty nervous, butthanks for putting me on the
show.
Okay.
So I'm sure people who arewatching the broadcast are
wondering, where are you right now?
What's behind you?
What's going on?
Give us some context.
All
right, so I'm in our gaming tavern.
You're Provo.
(01:16):
That's.
It doesn't look super pretty.
This is the business wall, but rightbehind me, you can kind of see our
mead and our 3D printers over here.
And you can see kind of overhere is our gaming area.
So I mean, if you're justlistening to audio, you can't
see anything, but, but you can
use your imagination.
D&D is an imaginative game, orbetter yet, you can come visit
(01:38):
please.
Thank you.
So where did this idea of opening a D&Dtavern start, where did it originate?
What's the origin
story?
Origin of the tavern?
Great question.
So I'm a nerd, big nerd.
All right.
No surprise there.
Raised in a nerdy family and westarted our own small local business.
(02:02):
And it was really, really small.
We, we started by selling out farmer'smarkets at we had a little Etsy shop for
a bit, and we, it was, it was all hobby.
It was just like, Hey, youknow, I bought a 3D printer.
My brother started watching YouTube videosand learning how to make leather armor.
And my mom could sew.
So we just started making some stuffand having fun doing really tiny things.
(02:27):
You know, we'd make, you know, we'dmake hundred dollars on a night and we'd
be like, wow, that's, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And we can have dinner now.
Exactly.
And making
breakfast.
And then we we got into evermoreand that was, that was a huge break.
We got into evermore.
We were like one of the.
First merchants, I think there was,there was two or three others before
us, but we got into evermore cuz theywere kind of looking for homemade.
(02:50):
Mm-hmm.
Geeky Renaissance Fair items, andthat was kind of what we were selling.
So we started selling at evermore, andwe went from making a hundred dollars
to making it, you know, maybe $300.
And so we were like, wow, that's, youknow, maybe we have a business here.
And so we worked on that for two years.
And then we, we got into somebigger shows, like we did the Utah
(03:12):
Renaissance Fair, we did Fan X and Okay.
Yeah, we actually have a business, butit would be really cool to have our, our
own home base where we could, we couldmeet people, we could set up a culture.
And I love game stores.
I've, I've been going to game storesfor, since I was a child, and so
(03:32):
I thought, man, it would be reallycool to have our own game store.
But instead of doing like thenormal game store stuff, let's
do like a renaissance fair.
Let's, let's take all the local merchants,all the friendly vendors we've met.
Let's put their stuff in our store and,you know, make it like a gaming tavern.
Make it a place where you canget snacks and drinks and it
(03:52):
looks like a, a medieval tavern.
And I love Dungeons and Dragons, soI, I, I love other game stores, but
they don't have D&D every night.
They only have like, adventuresLeague maybe one night a week.
And I was like, I want D&D every night.
So that's, that's the origin of the
tavern.
(04:13):
Okay, so you didn't want to justsell products as much love and care
as you put into these products.
You wanted to give people experiences.
You mentioned about building a cultureand creating this place to congregate
and you know, selling productsis just like a byproduct of that.
You know, it's nice that ithappens, but it's really about.
Building this fellowship, thiscamaraderie and this excitement of
(04:36):
coming in every night and playing D&D.
So what is what is the vibe in yourtavern on an, on your average night?
Boy, I thank you for, forsaying that because that's,
that's absolutely the heart.
That's why our business iscalled we geek together.
Is because yeah, it's supposedto be a place where we can all
(04:58):
be and geek together and sharein our, our nerdy passions.
And so when you come in on a night it.
It kind of feels likea really cozy tavern.
Like you definitely haveyour groups playing D&D.
There's kind of a lounge area where youcan sit down and relax and, you know,
we have a locally brewed non-alcoholicmeat so you can grab a bottle of
(05:21):
meat while playing with your friends.
So, so it's delicious.
And I'm not sponsored by the mead,so I can say that in full honesty.
It is delicious.
It, it's liquid gold.
It's
so good.
Oh, you've got a great vibe going on now.
I came into have theTavern about nine days ago.
(05:43):
And on the 22nd and things were different.
Holy cow.
What happened on the 22nd?
So, yeah, April 22nd, I'll never forget.
So we, you, Johnny, and I, weall set the world record for the
biggest game of D&D ever played.
And we, it wasn't just the tavernwe had taken over the entire mall.
(06:07):
We had tabled a table wall to oneside to the other, and it was,
It was, it was beautiful chaos.
There was, it was, and in thetavern it was, it was swamped.
I felt pretty bad for my, my employeeshere, cuz they, they just had lines
the entire time, but it was, mm-hmm.
It was, it was really special.
(06:28):
Hey, so,
Guinness World Record, howmany people do we have again?
Yeah,
1,227 people.
And.
Of course, I, I gottakeep the plaque handy.
This is, oh, you've got it
framed and everything.
Beautiful.
Yes.
I might have dropped it a fewtimes, so we won't say that to
goodness, but it's pretty cool.
(06:50):
It's gotta be protected now.
Yeah.
That was, that was such a fun event.
Electric, throughout the entire mall.
We had people chanting androlling dice at the same time.
And people swarm the stage at theend to see the final conclusion.
Thank you.
Thank you for letting me be a partof it Now you've, the tavern's
been open for less than a year.
(07:10):
Correct.
And when you opened it, youalready had plans in place too.
Set a world record and havethese massive, massive event.
Why so ambitious in the first year?
That great question.
So we opened up our store andwell the idea for the, the world
record came, happened like along time ago, like eight years.
(07:34):
I was telling a good buddy and my wifeI was, I was telling them it would
be so cool to play in a game of D&D.
That was a war.
Every table was a differentarea on the battlefield.
That would be so cool.
And and you know, it's justone of those shower thoughts,
you know, you just mm-hmm.
Have so many fun, cool ideas.
But when we got into the mall, the mallsaid, Hey, by the way, if you guys ever
(07:55):
want to do anything with the mall, if youguys want to ever use the floor, you can.
You know, obviously you have to geta green light from us, but, mm-hmm.
That's something we can talk about.
And then I remembered that, thatcrazy idea I had, I'm like, oh
no, we can, we now have a venue,we now have a physical location.
(08:16):
We can now start reallygetting the word out.
And at that time, my TikTok page hadreally started to get some traction, which
was, TikTok is a great D&D community.
Mm-hmm.
And super nerdy.
I love it.
And so.
We, we made some videos and they went, youknow, semi vial, like a hundred thousand
for a small business is, that's a lotof views on your page, on your TikTok.
(08:41):
So we, we got some traction, sowe're like, all right, it's possible
that the train is now in motion.
We'll see if it's a train wreck.
Those poor shoppers who came into themall that day just looking for a pair
of shoes and were just overwhelmed.
We
probably traumatizedsome grandmas for sure.
(09:01):
Or maybe converted them to cause Right.
So you mentioned having a greatrelationship with them mall and
in, in my I'm a business owner aswell and I love, you know, studying
trends and making predictions.
Malls were kind of dying a few years ago.
They weren't as popular as they werein the eighties and the nineties.
(09:23):
And of course, COVID killed a lot ofmalls and killed a lot of retail stores.
And I've noticed thisshift to experiences.
You see more escape rooms,you see more taverns, you see
why, why do you think there.
Is, are, are malls goingthrough a renaissance right now?
Are they just shifting andadapting as someone who works in
(09:43):
a mall now and, and came into itafter the bulk of the pandemic?
What, what's your insight?
That's, that's really interesting.
Yeah.
Cause I'm pretty sure had wepitched this idea five years ago, we
wouldn't have been able to get in.
Because yeah, I think,I think you're right.
(10:03):
Malls have.
Taken a hit, especially Yeah.
With everything you've said.
And so now I feel like there is amarket for new ideas, experiences
new blood in, in the space because.
It's stagnant.
(10:24):
You know, you need, you need somenew ideas, you need some new mm-hmm.
New businesses to kind of,to bring to life a space.
And so I think the Provo allactually has been trying to adapt.
And I wouldn't be surprised.
In fact, I know of another mall inNew York who sent out an invitation
to us and they said, Hey, When youwant to, we would love to open up
(10:48):
your store here in New York, andthey're right off of the, the ferry.
Like you get off the ferryand the mall is right there.
And they said, we can't do that right now.
We're, we're, we have noclue what we're doing.
But the fact that other malls areseeing this, and I know there's
even a, a mall in Sandy or Southtown where level one gamers.
(11:08):
It's another D&D nerdy community,but they're opening up their
own kind of gaming space.
And so like, yeah, I think we're,we're seeing a renaissance with
businesses, so really interesting.
So
tell us more about the other localbusinesses in this small, because.
Provo Town Center has been taken over bynerdy local businesses, and I love it.
(11:30):
So when you go to the Provo TownCenter, don't just go to Geek
Together, check out the other places.
What should people check out?
Oh, man.
So I, I love Drawn to Dragons.
They're the ones who did allthe art for the world record.
Caitlin is amazing.
Then there's nerdy Wolf.
Jim and his group of people,we met them at evermore.
We work with them at evermore.
(11:50):
There's a lot of otherpeople like frontline phone.
They, they 3D print Nerfblasters, which is really cool.
There's the Rift and they arean AR experience where you use
your phone and you can see adifferent world through your phone.
So, and, and that's, that'slike the super nerdy stuff.
Like there's, there'ssome really cool stuff.
There's, there's now anarcade and A new candy shop.
(12:12):
So yeah, there's, mm-hmm.
There's a lot of cool stuff.
Yeah.
Every time I go visit you in the tavrand my wife tells me, good, buy me some
candy, buy me some free dried candy.
She loves it.
She loves your store too,but Candy, thank you.
Where her heart is at.
What is the Provo TownCenter Mall missing?
What do you, what niche do you think stillneeds to be fulfilled to make it, you
(12:32):
know, this ultimate paradise of awesome
nerdiness.
Man, that's, that's I'mhoping we're that niche.
Like I'm really hoping we are,cuz spoilers we're opening up
another section of our game store.
Okay.
And we're gonna hopefully, no, we aregonna cater to a lot more different games
(12:53):
and different communities with that.
I know of another store that'sopening soon and they're offering.
On demand recording rooms where you cango in and record your own podcast or
you can record your own audio and it, itshould be pretty, pretty budget friendly.
So like they waited
until after I had this all set upbefore they start making it easy.
(13:17):
Dang it.
Of course, of course.
Well, awesome.
That's very cool.
I love coming in to visit.
Let's, let's get back to the road, tothe Guinness World Record that we had.
Cuz you came in a lot of greatideas, a lot of big ambitions.
You wanted to create a community.
What are the steps you needto take to set world record?
(13:39):
Whew.
So the very first stuff we had todo was get in contact with Guinness.
All right.
And this is, this is public knowledge.
You go to their website.
Mm-hmm.
You can fill out an application.
And then somebody will reach out toyou and you'll figure out details,
and then they'll either say, Hey,yeah, this is possible, or we're
gonna have to rework it, or We'renot going to work with you on that.
(14:02):
So the, the, before we even announcedit, we had to get the green light.
Is this actually possible?
Can we get Guinness here?
Mm-hmm.
And we got the green light.
They said, yeah, yeah, we can do it.
You need 500 people to be there.
And you can, you can get the worldrecord and 500, we laugh at that
now, but like we didn't note wecould even get 500 at the start.
(14:25):
So, so cool.
We got Guinness.
Guinness is on board.
You had to raise a ton of money, andI'm not gonna talk numbers, but we
saved a lot of our money for the,we opened and it was pretty much
all going into the world record evenbefore we, we had been saving up.
And then you had to get the word outand that was a huge challenge because
(14:49):
we're nobody, we're a small mom and popand, you know, we have a TikTok page
with less than 10,000 people followingin a Facebook with 300 people following.
So, like, we're, we'rebrand new in the community.
Not many people know about it.
And this is honestly the.
The most magical part to me aboutthe whole thing is we just started
(15:09):
telling people, anybody who come andcame into my store, I would just say,
Hey, we're doing this April 22nd.
And we're just kind.
I was one of those people.
You were Exactly.
I was.
And, and Johnny was, and, and itwas just like, Word just got out.
Word of mouth.
There's so many people who, like, theyheard it from a family member or from
a friend or you know, who shared oneperson in your D&D group heard about it.
(15:33):
So they shared it withthe whole D&D group.
And so that's so magical that the D&Dcommunity is so wanting to share and
wanting to celebrate and wanting to help.
So that, that, that was amazing.
Eventually had so many people talkingabout it, so many people interested in it.
So many people who were alreadymarking the date on the calendars.
(15:54):
It was, you've passedthe point of no return.
People are gonna show upwhether you were ready or not.
When did that hit?
So that was always my mentality at thestart of the project, even before I met
you and Johnny, I, as soon as I got thegreen light from Guinness, And the mall.
(16:15):
I was like, we're gonna do this evenif only my mom and my father show up.
Like, we're gonna, we're going to go ashard as we can and we're gonna have it.
And then it really didn't.
It really didn't feel like it hadserious traction until I saw we had 500
(16:36):
people registered on the website andthat then I was like, okay, I think.
I think we can actually do it.
You know, even, even if only half ofthose people show up, 250 people show up.
Like, like that's something,
yeah.
That's, that's something huge.
Now as a, as a small business ownermyself, I realize that there's a
temptation to do everything alone.
(16:58):
You know, there's that mentalityof if you want it done right,
do it yourself and Yeah.
You know, when I started my business,there was a lot of, you know, elbow
grease and pulling myself up on mybootstraps, and it was, and it was tough.
And I'm sure you've had that temptationas well to do it all yourself.
But I've noticed that you have a fantasticteam in the store and you recruited a
(17:21):
lot of people to help with this event.
When did you realize, hey, thisis, this is bigger than me.
I need to bring in a team.
What am I looking for?
Okay.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's in the
name Geek Together.
It is.
It'd be ironic if it was just you.
Absolutely.
And and my family is spectacular.
The support I get from my mom and mybrother, my brothers and my sisters.
(17:45):
And my dad.
Yeah.
I couldn't and my wife of course.
Hello honey.
I know you're gonnawatch us, so I love you.
Yes.
So, so great.
I got a great foundation and then it was.
Just a lot of people who would comeup to me like you, like Johnny, who
said, yeah, this sounds crazy, butI kind of wanna be a part of it.
(18:07):
And so I so my backgroundis I came from fast food.
I worked nine years seven ofthose years as a general manager
in a fast food restaurant.
And I have learned very painfully that Ineed to be able to work with other people.
I need to be able to rely on other people,trust other people and, and give them, you
(18:31):
know, what they're willing to, to take.
And, and otherwise you can't.
Yeah.
There's no way you could do it yourself.
And while that was at the very start ofthe project, I was like, if need be, I
will ride it all and I will do all theads and I will make all the connections
and I'll be the head dungeon master.
I, the project would'venever been as good as it was.
(18:53):
Had you and Johnny not stepped in likeit, it would've been way way worse.
It like, yeah, there's no way I couldhave done it without you guys and all the
other fantastic people who volunteered.
Like I had people here both nights, Fridayand Saturday till like midnight, taking
down chairs, taking setting up tables.
(19:16):
And these are like, These are peoplewho just out of the kindness of
their hearts, because I we're asmall business, I, I don't have a
hundred employees to put on Fan X.
So it, it was amazing.
Cool.
You mentioned me and Johnny.
I, I think it was the three of uswho were kind of the trinity of this
(19:36):
event, trying to make it come togetherwith our different specialties.
True.
How did the project changeonce Johnny came on board?
How did that reignite thecreative process and help Oh man.
And help it grow?
Yeah, I could have done it without Johnny.
It was so funny.
Cuz I'm telling people about thisproject and then my brother comes
up to me, he is like some guyjust dropped off a whole binder.
(19:59):
About how they would run your project.
And I looked through the binderand it was pretty much like note
for note all of the ideas of how toexecute it that I had come up with.
He had come to the sameconclusion, so I was
like, you had shower thoughts?
He had
a binder.
Yeah, exactly.
Like he, he, he had, he had it all onpaper while I had just kind of this was
(20:21):
my working thoughts and so I was like,all right, I need to talk to this guy
cuz they sound just as crazy as I do.
And so I called him in and we talkedfor a bit and I was like, oh yeah,
Johnny seems like an awesome person.
Like I, I can really connect with him.
I absolutely would love towork with somebody with his
ambition on this project.
(20:41):
And then, and then same thing with you.
You came in a few timesand you were talking about.
How you run your own business andyou're you're a dungeon master for
hire, which is, that's a dream for me.
Like that.
That's so cool.
And you were like, I couldbe your head dungeon master.
And, and I was like, oh, dang.
Like somebody with that muchexperience and that much
(21:04):
knowledge that that could be huge.
And so yeah, it's, it, it addedso much that I, myself didn't,
I couldn't have provided.
And so once Johnny and I came in,what was your role from there?
Because you knew someone else was goingto be on stage, someone else was going
to be writing the packets, so thatfreed you up to focus on more of the
(21:27):
logistics and the business side of things.
So what did you jump into at that point?
Boy, so yeah, I, I, cuz I studieda decent amount of film, so
I kind of viewed myself like.
Johnny was kind of likethe writer slash director.
You were kind of like the, the lead actor.
Also director and I waskind of like the producer.
(21:49):
Okay.
So when I was able to offloadthose, those things to you guys,
I could really just focus on.
Production.
Do we have a cool stage?
Does our sound system work?
It didn't work that good,but we tried really hard.
We worked
with it.
I tried to William Shatner it upas much as I could, so the echoes
(22:10):
wouldn't, you know, overlap with each
other.
I, we worked so hard onthat, that sound system.
You know, but a good learning curve.
But but yeah, like, and, and a bigpart, cuz again, it, you know, I hate
to have to look through it as a businessperspective, but like, if we put in
all this money, would it be somethingthat we could get money out of?
(22:33):
And so like I had to make sure like,you know, was, was this something that
wasn't going to shut down our business ifcuz we had invested so much and then you
know, we would go bankrupt the next week.
So Making sure word of mouth gotout, making sure sponsors were
lined up, making sure the tableswere going to arrive on time.
Chairs, food.
Does everyone in the mallhave staffing for this?
(22:56):
Do we have the extra security?
All the extra safety equipment, janitorsthat there was, there was so much boring
stuff that the producer, you know,You know, that's what producers do.
You know, you, you're the cluethat puts all the crazy people in
the same room and there you go.
They make something awesome.
So how
many people do you think wereinvolved in making this project
(23:19):
happen outside of the 1002 from 27?
Who were playing?
Like, yeah, like we count the 1,227.
I, I would easily say thatanother, another, probably
at least a hundred people.
Because I know we had like, like25 volunteers show up for stuff.
(23:42):
We're talking about different businessesthat volunteered their time, their
money, their people drawn to dragons.
Spent a long time finishing upall the arts, the whole mall.
Their, their management team, their, theirsecurity, their cleaning teams, all of
the employees at all the different foodcourt stations who had to have extra
(24:05):
employees for that day and extra staffing.
Like, there was a lot ofwork that went into this.
And because there was an emal,a lot of those people were
already baked into the venue.
And so that was nice and superconvenient and, and makes 'em all a
great place for something like that.
Yeah, low key
malls are actually really coolplaces to have an event like that.
(24:26):
Yeah.
Mos are, they're haven for Nerds.
I absolutely love it.
So the big week the big week comesJohnny has written his packets.
I'm doing my own thing, right?
I'm getting prepared.
I'm working on the voice.
I am, you know, I, I'madvertising as much as I can.
I'm making sponsorships.
I'm trying to bring other businessesin as well to help you out.
(24:49):
I'm running a booth that my, mywife and my assistant were at.
So you know, everything's in full swing.
It's that final week.
What's going through your mind?
What, how are you feeling?
Oh man, it was so overwhelming.
My poor family, like the two weeks leadingbefore then I was, I was inaccessible
(25:09):
and in a pretty stressed out mood.
I, you know, like my wife would, we'dgo out to dinner and all I would just
wanna be talking about is like all thethings I have to do for the next few days.
And she's like, just, just eat yourfood and relax just for a moment.
I know it's crazy stressful.
So.
Yeah, it was, it was just stress for twoweeks and I mean, it was a good stress cuz
(25:36):
you know, it's a dream and you're workingtowards something awesome, but like at
the same time you have that fear of like,oh, it's gonna be a train wreck and.
Everybody's gonna show up and it'sgonna be terrible or nobody's gonna
show up and you're going to just die.
It's like you, you don'tknow what's gonna happen.
So.
Mm-hmm.
There's a lot on your shoulders as theproducer, as the main guy making this
happen, as the one who had the biggestfinancial stake in this event as well.
(26:01):
Like that is huge.
Yeah.
Me, I was able to slot this on a weekendand make sure I didn't book any other
games, but I was running other games.
I was doing other things.
But you like everything.
Was on the line for this.
That, that's huge.
Wow.
How was it the morning of when yougot there and people had showed up and
there were chairs and there were tables?
(26:21):
Like what changed at that moment?
Nothing changed.
Still stressed.
It still work it like I, I didn't.
Breathe until Sunday.
Like like cuz yeah, wegotta get people in chairs.
We gotta get dungeon masters to places.
And like during the last half hour,dungeon Masters hadn't showed up And
(26:43):
so like I'd get people running up tothe table, my dungeon masters not here.
And so then we're like calling otherdungeon masters who had walked and were
like, go to table 35 and Johnny's team.
And your team was excellent cuz youguys took a ton of the burden away.
You guys solved a lot of theproblems and then whatever big
problems couldn't be solved.
You know, that was my job and so I wasmaking sure, okay, the sound guy, he,
(27:05):
he's watching the stage and he, he knowswhen to turn on the microphones and.
Our register systems, those areall working, and my employees are
in place and they've got all theirstuff and they can take their breaks
and, and the kid that puked on table35, I gotta go help get that ready.
That happened.
No, no, luckily not.
But like, no, I was just, my jobwas to make sure things ran butter
(27:27):
smooth for the whole event, so.
Mm-hmm.
That's, I, you know, which,I was super, I'm super happy
that that's what I gotta do.
As well as it really did run smooth.
The community and the dungeon Masters andthe tables, they were so well behaved.
The mall even came up to me afterwardsand they were like, look, we've
(27:49):
never had an event this big but much.
A lot of our smaller events, thepeople who go come there are a lot more
rowdy and messy and rude, and this is.
The biggest event we've everhad and also the best people
we've ever had at the event.
So like the, the D&D community, thenerd community is amazing because
(28:11):
they made this way less stressful.
Like, I don't know if I could everrun like a football, you know, a
football party or something, cuzthat, that probably could get wild.
But I can definitely, I can doa D&D party any day of the week.
So the mall loves you and you've builtthis great relationship with them.
You've established this trust, and I'msure they want you back for more events.
(28:34):
Yes.
Yeah.
We definitely are goingto be doing this again.
All right.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Let's the day up the 22nd.
I know you were, you were doing a lot.
You were putting out fires.
You were anticipating firesthat luckily didn't didn't burn.
It did go fantastically smooth.
What were some of the highlights for youthat day when you started getting that
(28:56):
payoff and you realized this was worth it?
Oh, there, there, therewas so much about the day.
That was absolutely amazing.
The moments where, cuz I got, Idid a lot of walking around and to
see everyone with smiles on theirfaces, rolling dice, playing D&D.
(29:17):
At their own tables.
People were dressed up,people were having fun.
The dungeon Masters werereally getting into it.
The you and Janie on stage,you guys were just amazing.
But just, just feeling all of thefun, all of the fun, all the, the
(29:38):
good memories, the happy times thateverybody was having right there.
Because we had all putthis project together.
That was absolutely where I was like,yeah, this was a hundred percent worth it.
I would love to do this again,because we just, we just had a great
day with a thousand plus people.
(30:01):
And that's, that's, that's amazing.
That's
amazing.
There are a lot of people talkingin the comments right now we
have people tuning in live.
Yeah.
I don't have a chanceto share all of them.
But there is one that I want to share.
I'm gonna bring it up on the screen.
Would you, would you read this for us?
Yeah, that's my wife.
Yay.
Let's do it again.
(30:21):
I'll support you, honey.
She,
we officially have her approval Yes.
And her permission to do it again.
She's a very patient womanwith me and she's a big nerd
and so that's why I love her.
So
love it.
I love it.
So.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We got the record.
It was electric.
It was exciting.
(30:42):
It was like this volcano of emotionthat all erupted around the stage.
So many people were involved.
So many people Go ahead.
Deafening, like standing on thestage and people were cheering.
It was like, holy cow.
It was so cool.
People are already asking what's next.
(31:06):
And I've been asking what's next?
Cause I don't know either.
I've got, I've got my stuff goingon, but I'm looking forward to new
collaborations, new things like that.
So for everyone listening and whoever,everyone who's going to be downloading
the podcast, they heard it here first.
What's coming up?
Boy, there's, there's so many thingsin the store for we geek together.
(31:31):
We just started seasontwo of the D&D games.
So the D&D games we play in store,were connected to the final Dead
Wars and the players who played here,they got to level up their characters
and get cool Lou and shape the storythat we've eventually gotta play out.
(31:51):
The players here summoned L D A.
Like they were the ones who broughtl d a in and put all the key
places in for that final battle.
We just started season two of,of getting ready for the eventual
game next year, the big game.
And so I have the adventure.
It's already written.
I, I made, wanted signs for, forthe, the bad guy who's in this one.
(32:16):
So that's really cool.
So people can already startshaping the, the next game.
And yes, we really wanna do a next game.
I was already talking to the mallbecause I think we could have 3000, maybe
5,000 people for an event like this.
Like that sounds ambitious, but athousand sounded ambitious last time
(32:40):
and we, we blew that out of the water.
So I, and we're getting a lot of.
Great feedback, stuffthat we can improve on.
So, so we're, we're looking forwardto next year and we'll open up this
space next to us and, and not justD&D but I'm really excited about
all the other stuff that's comingout in the TT R P G community.
(33:01):
You know, I'm now officialpartners with DARRINGTON Press.
Yes, they're working.
Thank you, Dax, because youwere, you told me about that.
I
just bugged you about it until you did it.
I mean, yeah, yeah.
Cause I was just a fan and they'vegot a new system coming out, so we're
gonna have the system here in thestore the second it comes out and
(33:23):
Oh yeah.
Hey, so what should people dobetween now and next April?
Okay, so listen to the previousepisode on Dungeons and Dax so
you can get a great timeline withJohnny and Dax talking about how.
The project went together.
Cu
next episode is gonna bewith Janie, who played l a.
(33:43):
Oh, she did such a good job with L D a.
I was so happy.
He was great.
Yeah, so, so stay tuned to Dax.
Stay tuned to Johnny cuz they've gotsome awesome stuff into the store
shape, the, the world that's goingto lead up to the next adventure.
And And, and yeah, just come andhave fun, you know, play some
(34:06):
games.
You've mentioned that you havedungeon Masters in the store that run
games for people and a lot of timesconnecting to these larger events.
What are you looking for inDungeon Masters at your store who.
Play games in person.
Great question.
And actually, we're looking toexpand our Dungeon Master team.
So if anyone's interested the biggestthings I look for in my dungeon
(34:30):
Masters are, are you inclusive?
Can you read a table and seethat players are engaging
with your game and your world?
And if not, how do you pull them into it?
Are, do you provide a safe spacewhere people feel comfortable playing?
And if there's a player at the tablewho's kind of making it not safe,
do you know how to, to turn it intoa safe space and, and to refocus?
(34:56):
And are you excited about the gamebecause you set the, as a dungeon
master, you set the tone for the tableand if, if it's just, you know, a job or
something that you just clock in and do.
You don't have much enthusiasm,but if, if you are like, dang, you
know, I love Dungeons and Dragons orTT RPGs and I wanna share that the
(35:18):
players feel that excitement and yeah,that, that's, that's pretty much,
you don't have to be Matt Mercer.
I'm, I'm, heck no, I'm not Matt Mercer.
But you know, that enthusiasm, thatinclusiveness, that's, that's the key.
Mm-hmm.
It's all part of the culturethat you're trying to build at
Geek Together, which I love.
I love it.
(35:38):
Do you have any final questions for me?
Oh, I have so many questions.
Dax, it's not even like like if,if you know, I, what, what, what do
you, what do you think could have.
What were your highlights and, and,and what, what do you think could have
done better or as a dungeon master ata lo at any table how, how could we
(36:03):
have reached and provided more to that?
I have so many questions, but Yeah.
Okay.
So what was your highlight?
What's
so I'll say, when I first cameinto the project, what I wanted
to do and what I wanted to spendthe majority of my time doing was
visiting tables as different NPCs.
As Vena and stir up some chaos.
(36:24):
But as we got more involved withit, I realized if we have 200
tables, I'm not gonna be ableto make very many appearances.
And there, I didn't expect beingon stage as much as I did because
we, I was doing announcements.
I was I was running scenes with l d A.
There was at least one point when youwent on the microphone and you're like,
vena, come to the, come to the stage.
(36:46):
We need you.
Where are you?
Dax, stop eating.
Not in those words.
So I was doing a lot of runningaround, so I didn't get to make as many
appearances as I would have liked becauseI love looking at, I love looking to
people's eyes when they're playing.
I love being able to read theiremotions and their engagement,
especially during death.
(37:06):
Saving throws.
Like death saving throws are the mostexciting part of the game for me.
Whew.
So I would've loved to do that, butwe kind of anticipated that my time
was going to be stretched pretty thin.
And so that's why I brought in thisteam of captains, this team of generals
who we're going to basically, Causechaos in the name of Dax throughout the
(37:30):
entire thing, but also support and help.
Cause we didn't want them toupstage any of the dungeon
masters or steal their story.
We wanted to, you know, give themsupplements and we created a playing card
system where DMS could opt into that sortof help and support and you know, those
curve balls that they could throw in.
And my captains did such a great job.
(37:50):
It was
amazing.
It was so cool.
Hey, they were great and I chose them frompeople that I'd worked with previously.
Whether it was in, in plays or in writinggroups or in other D&D projects, but
people who I'd seen their work ethic, I'veseen, you know, how inclusive they were.
And I saw them work welltogether as a group.
(38:11):
And so I brought them together.
That was my, you know, Avengersinitiative calling everybody in.
And so what I wanna see more of ismore of these sorts of core groups,
forming of employees and volunteerswho come together to help, help
it become even more ambitious andhelp us reach those ambitions.
Cause I had a lot of ideas, but whenI brought my captains in and they
(38:34):
started building on those ideas, it,it got bigger and I realized, okay.
The tables are going to be taken care of.
The dungeon masters aregoing to be supported.
Even if I can't be there, someoneelse is gonna be there for me.
And that made it really easy forme to go around and I would talk
to the captain and be like, Hey,what's the vibe in this area?
Hmm.
They're like, oh, they're doing great.
(38:55):
This table did this, this table's dead.
You know, super great.
Awesome.
How, how's this table doing?
Well, they didn't hear anyof the announcements and they
don't know what's going on.
And then I knew, okay, I'm going tomake the announcements personally,
I'm going to shout at the top ofmy lungs and get everyone involved.
And I think we did that.
Yeah, I think we did thatand that was awesome.
And that's what I wanna see moreof is those key volunteers showing
(39:19):
up, not just my captains, not justJohnny's moderators, not just your
staff, but getting these core peoplein who will dream as big as we do.
And.
That's what I want.
See, I'm more of, because you're alreadydoing so well at getting these people at,
attracting them, Andrew, so I, oh man.
Where, where's geek Togethergonna be in five or 10 years.
(39:41):
Oh, right.
If we keep doing things thisambitious, going at this rate, getting
this many amazing people involved.
What, what's next?
What's, what's down theroad in five or 10 years?
The future.
The future looks bright.
Man.
I, I'm so excited and humbled.
By the, the support from everyone.
Seriously.
(40:04):
Ah, it's gonna be great.
I mean, store in New York, maybesomeday, who knows other franchises.
Soon you'll have your empire.
Soon.
You will own them all.
You will own all
the malls.
All right.
I will say my, my goal isto first become the best.
Game store in Utah, and I loveall the game stores in Utah.
(40:26):
That's not me talking down.
That's me challenging myselfas a brand new game store.
Like I'm an underdog and boy do I, Iwanna become the best game store in
Utah and then the United States and thenwe'll see about the rest of the world.
But, but boy do I have ideas and dreams.
Hey,
excellent.
Well thank you so much for beingon the Dungeons and Dax podcast.
(40:49):
It has been an absolute pleasure.
Can't wait to come in again.
I'm just so happy that Ilive 10 minutes away, right?
It was just so convenientisn't the right word.
It was fortuitous.
It was serendipitous.
It was destiny.
Destiny.
Yes.
It was destiny.
So everybody listening andeverybody watching you have.
(41:09):
You've heard of how Destinybrought us to this point.
When we take over the world,historians will look back at this,
at this podcast and we, we've hit ama major milestone in this podcast.
I've been joking in our firstthree episodes that someday
I will have dozens of fans.
And there are exactly 12 people.
As soon as I say that, yes, it drops downfrom 12 people watching this live to 11.
(41:31):
At one point we had it,we had it at one point.
Dozen fans, we'll get to dozens and itwill keep exploring and keep growing.
Thank you so much, Andrew.
Thank you for everyonelistening in and thank you have,
thank you.
Go ahead.
No, just thank you.
It's, it's been great working with you.
Been great on the podcast.
(41:51):
It'll be great continuing
to work with you.
I love it.
All right, see ya.
I'm here with none other than AndrewAshby, the tavern owner of the Geek
Together Tavern in Provo, Utah.
We have just come off the high ofan incredible, incredible couple of
weeks, and I wanted to talk a lotabout the journey that brought us here.
How you doing this morning,
(00:55):
Andrew?
Dax, thank you.
I'm doing, I'm doing great.
I'm pretty nervous, butthanks for putting me on the
show.
Okay.
So I'm sure people who arewatching the broadcast are
wondering, where are you right now?
What's behind you?
What's going on?
Give us some context.
All
right, so I'm in our gaming tavern.
You're Provo.
(01:16):
That's.
It doesn't look super pretty.
This is the business wall, but rightbehind me, you can kind of see our
mead and our 3D printers over here.
And you can see kind of overhere is our gaming area.
So I mean, if you're justlistening to audio, you can't
see anything, but, but you can
use your imagination.
D&D is an imaginative game, orbetter yet, you can come visit
(01:38):
please.
Thank you.
So where did this idea of opening a D&Dtavern start, where did it originate?
What's the origin
story?
Origin of the tavern?
Great question.
So I'm a nerd, big nerd.
All right.
No surprise there.
Raised in a nerdy family and westarted our own small local business.
(02:02):
And it was really, really small.
We, we started by selling out farmer'smarkets at we had a little Etsy shop for
a bit, and we, it was, it was all hobby.
It was just like, Hey, youknow, I bought a 3D printer.
My brother started watching YouTube videosand learning how to make leather armor.
And my mom could sew.
So we just started making some stuffand having fun doing really tiny things.
(02:27):
You know, we'd make, you know, we'dmake hundred dollars on a night and we'd
be like, wow, that's, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And we can have dinner now.
Exactly.
And making
breakfast.
And then we we got into evermoreand that was, that was a huge break.
We got into evermore.
We were like one of the.
First merchants, I think there was,there was two or three others before
us, but we got into evermore cuz theywere kind of looking for homemade.
(02:50):
Mm-hmm.
Geeky Renaissance Fair items, andthat was kind of what we were selling.
So we started selling at evermore, andwe went from making a hundred dollars
to making it, you know, maybe $300.
And so we were like, wow, that's, youknow, maybe we have a business here.
And so we worked on that for two years.
And then we, we got into somebigger shows, like we did the Utah
(03:12):
Renaissance Fair, we did Fan X and Okay.
Yeah, we actually have a business, butit would be really cool to have our, our
own home base where we could, we couldmeet people, we could set up a culture.
And I love game stores.
I've, I've been going to game storesfor, since I was a child, and so
(03:32):
I thought, man, it would be reallycool to have our own game store.
But instead of doing like thenormal game store stuff, let's
do like a renaissance fair.
Let's, let's take all the local merchants,all the friendly vendors we've met.
Let's put their stuff in our store and,you know, make it like a gaming tavern.
Make it a place where you canget snacks and drinks and it
(03:52):
looks like a, a medieval tavern.
And I love Dungeons and Dragons, soI, I, I love other game stores, but
they don't have D&D every night.
They only have like, adventuresLeague maybe one night a week.
And I was like, I want D&D every night.
So that's, that's the origin of the
tavern.
(04:13):
Okay, so you didn't want to justsell products as much love and care
as you put into these products.
You wanted to give people experiences.
You mentioned about building a cultureand creating this place to congregate
and you know, selling productsis just like a byproduct of that.
You know, it's nice that ithappens, but it's really about.
Building this fellowship, thiscamaraderie and this excitement of
(04:36):
coming in every night and playing D&D.
So what is what is the vibe in yourtavern on an, on your average night?
Boy, I thank you for, forsaying that because that's,
that's absolutely the heart.
That's why our business iscalled we geek together.
Is because yeah, it's supposedto be a place where we can all
(04:58):
be and geek together and sharein our, our nerdy passions.
And so when you come in on a night it.
It kind of feels likea really cozy tavern.
Like you definitely haveyour groups playing D&D.
There's kind of a lounge area where youcan sit down and relax and, you know,
we have a locally brewed non-alcoholicmeat so you can grab a bottle of
(05:21):
meat while playing with your friends.
So, so it's delicious.
And I'm not sponsored by the mead,so I can say that in full honesty.
It is delicious.
It, it's liquid gold.
It's
so good.
Oh, you've got a great vibe going on now.
I came into have theTavern about nine days ago.
(05:43):
And on the 22nd and things were different.
Holy cow.
What happened on the 22nd?
So, yeah, April 22nd, I'll never forget.
So we, you, Johnny, and I, weall set the world record for the
biggest game of D&D ever played.
And we, it wasn't just the tavernwe had taken over the entire mall.
(06:07):
We had tabled a table wall to oneside to the other, and it was,
It was, it was beautiful chaos.
There was, it was, and in thetavern it was, it was swamped.
I felt pretty bad for my, my employeeshere, cuz they, they just had lines
the entire time, but it was, mm-hmm.
It was, it was really special.
(06:28):
Hey, so,
Guinness World Record, howmany people do we have again?
Yeah,
1,227 people.
And.
Of course, I, I gottakeep the plaque handy.
This is, oh, you've got it
framed and everything.
Beautiful.
Yes.
I might have dropped it a fewtimes, so we won't say that to
goodness, but it's pretty cool.
(06:50):
It's gotta be protected now.
Yeah.
That was, that was such a fun event.
Electric, throughout the entire mall.
We had people chanting androlling dice at the same time.
And people swarm the stage at theend to see the final conclusion.
Thank you.
Thank you for letting me be a partof it Now you've, the tavern's
been open for less than a year.
(07:10):
Correct.
And when you opened it, youalready had plans in place too.
Set a world record and havethese massive, massive event.
Why so ambitious in the first year?
That great question.
So we opened up our store andwell the idea for the, the world
record came, happened like along time ago, like eight years.
(07:34):
I was telling a good buddy and my wifeI was, I was telling them it would
be so cool to play in a game of D&D.
That was a war.
Every table was a differentarea on the battlefield.
That would be so cool.
And and you know, it's justone of those shower thoughts,
you know, you just mm-hmm.
Have so many fun, cool ideas.
But when we got into the mall, the mallsaid, Hey, by the way, if you guys ever
(07:55):
want to do anything with the mall, if youguys want to ever use the floor, you can.
You know, obviously you have to geta green light from us, but, mm-hmm.
That's something we can talk about.
And then I remembered that, thatcrazy idea I had, I'm like, oh
no, we can, we now have a venue,we now have a physical location.
(08:16):
We can now start reallygetting the word out.
And at that time, my TikTok page hadreally started to get some traction, which
was, TikTok is a great D&D community.
Mm-hmm.
And super nerdy.
I love it.
And so.
We, we made some videos and they went, youknow, semi vial, like a hundred thousand
for a small business is, that's a lotof views on your page, on your TikTok.
(08:41):
So we, we got some traction, sowe're like, all right, it's possible
that the train is now in motion.
We'll see if it's a train wreck.
Those poor shoppers who came into themall that day just looking for a pair
of shoes and were just overwhelmed.
We
probably traumatizedsome grandmas for sure.
(09:01):
Or maybe converted them to cause Right.
So you mentioned having a greatrelationship with them mall and
in, in my I'm a business owner aswell and I love, you know, studying
trends and making predictions.
Malls were kind of dying a few years ago.
They weren't as popular as they werein the eighties and the nineties.
(09:23):
And of course, COVID killed a lot ofmalls and killed a lot of retail stores.
And I've noticed thisshift to experiences.
You see more escape rooms,you see more taverns, you see
why, why do you think there.
Is, are, are malls goingthrough a renaissance right now?
Are they just shifting andadapting as someone who works in
(09:43):
a mall now and, and came into itafter the bulk of the pandemic?
What, what's your insight?
That's, that's really interesting.
Yeah.
Cause I'm pretty sure had wepitched this idea five years ago, we
wouldn't have been able to get in.
Because yeah, I think,I think you're right.
(10:03):
Malls have.
Taken a hit, especially Yeah.
With everything you've said.
And so now I feel like there is amarket for new ideas, experiences
new blood in, in the space because.
It's stagnant.
(10:24):
You know, you need, you need somenew ideas, you need some new mm-hmm.
New businesses to kind of,to bring to life a space.
And so I think the Provo allactually has been trying to adapt.
And I wouldn't be surprised.
In fact, I know of another mall inNew York who sent out an invitation
to us and they said, Hey, When youwant to, we would love to open up
(10:48):
your store here in New York, andthey're right off of the, the ferry.
Like you get off the ferryand the mall is right there.
And they said, we can't do that right now.
We're, we're, we have noclue what we're doing.
But the fact that other malls areseeing this, and I know there's
even a, a mall in Sandy or Southtown where level one gamers.
(11:08):
It's another D&D nerdy community,but they're opening up their
own kind of gaming space.
And so like, yeah, I think we're,we're seeing a renaissance with
businesses, so really interesting.
So
tell us more about the other localbusinesses in this small, because.
Provo Town Center has been taken over bynerdy local businesses, and I love it.
(11:30):
So when you go to the Provo TownCenter, don't just go to Geek
Together, check out the other places.
What should people check out?
Oh, man.
So I, I love Drawn to Dragons.
They're the ones who did allthe art for the world record.
Caitlin is amazing.
Then there's nerdy Wolf.
Jim and his group of people,we met them at evermore.
We work with them at evermore.
(11:50):
There's a lot of otherpeople like frontline phone.
They, they 3D print Nerfblasters, which is really cool.
There's the Rift and they arean AR experience where you use
your phone and you can see adifferent world through your phone.
So, and, and that's, that'slike the super nerdy stuff.
Like there's, there'ssome really cool stuff.
There's, there's now anarcade and A new candy shop.
(12:12):
So yeah, there's, mm-hmm.
There's a lot of cool stuff.
Yeah.
Every time I go visit you in the tavrand my wife tells me, good, buy me some
candy, buy me some free dried candy.
She loves it.
She loves your store too,but Candy, thank you.
Where her heart is at.
What is the Provo TownCenter Mall missing?
What do you, what niche do you think stillneeds to be fulfilled to make it, you
(12:32):
know, this ultimate paradise of awesome
nerdiness.
Man, that's, that's I'mhoping we're that niche.
Like I'm really hoping we are,cuz spoilers we're opening up
another section of our game store.
Okay.
And we're gonna hopefully, no, we aregonna cater to a lot more different games
(12:53):
and different communities with that.
I know of another store that'sopening soon and they're offering.
On demand recording rooms where you cango in and record your own podcast or
you can record your own audio and it, itshould be pretty, pretty budget friendly.
So like they waited
until after I had this all set upbefore they start making it easy.
(13:17):
Dang it.
Of course, of course.
Well, awesome.
That's very cool.
I love coming in to visit.
Let's, let's get back to the road, tothe Guinness World Record that we had.
Cuz you came in a lot of greatideas, a lot of big ambitions.
You wanted to create a community.
What are the steps you needto take to set world record?
(13:39):
Whew.
So the very first stuff we had todo was get in contact with Guinness.
All right.
And this is, this is public knowledge.
You go to their website.
Mm-hmm.
You can fill out an application.
And then somebody will reach out toyou and you'll figure out details,
and then they'll either say, Hey,yeah, this is possible, or we're
gonna have to rework it, or We'renot going to work with you on that.
(14:02):
So the, the, before we even announcedit, we had to get the green light.
Is this actually possible?
Can we get Guinness here?
Mm-hmm.
And we got the green light.
They said, yeah, yeah, we can do it.
You need 500 people to be there.
And you can, you can get the worldrecord and 500, we laugh at that
now, but like we didn't note wecould even get 500 at the start.
(14:25):
So, so cool.
We got Guinness.
Guinness is on board.
You had to raise a ton of money, andI'm not gonna talk numbers, but we
saved a lot of our money for the,we opened and it was pretty much
all going into the world record evenbefore we, we had been saving up.
And then you had to get the word outand that was a huge challenge because
(14:49):
we're nobody, we're a small mom and popand, you know, we have a TikTok page
with less than 10,000 people followingin a Facebook with 300 people following.
So, like, we're, we'rebrand new in the community.
Not many people know about it.
And this is honestly the.
The most magical part to me aboutthe whole thing is we just started
(15:09):
telling people, anybody who come andcame into my store, I would just say,
Hey, we're doing this April 22nd.
And we're just kind.
I was one of those people.
You were Exactly.
I was.
And, and Johnny was, and, and itwas just like, Word just got out.
Word of mouth.
There's so many people who, like, theyheard it from a family member or from
a friend or you know, who shared oneperson in your D&D group heard about it.
(15:33):
So they shared it withthe whole D&D group.
And so that's so magical that the D&Dcommunity is so wanting to share and
wanting to celebrate and wanting to help.
So that, that, that was amazing.
Eventually had so many people talkingabout it, so many people interested in it.
So many people who were alreadymarking the date on the calendars.
(15:54):
It was, you've passedthe point of no return.
People are gonna show upwhether you were ready or not.
When did that hit?
So that was always my mentality at thestart of the project, even before I met
you and Johnny, I, as soon as I got thegreen light from Guinness, And the mall.
(16:15):
I was like, we're gonna do this evenif only my mom and my father show up.
Like, we're gonna, we're going to go ashard as we can and we're gonna have it.
And then it really didn't.
It really didn't feel like it hadserious traction until I saw we had 500
(16:36):
people registered on the website andthat then I was like, okay, I think.
I think we can actually do it.
You know, even, even if only half ofthose people show up, 250 people show up.
Like, like that's something,
yeah.
That's, that's something huge.
Now as a, as a small business ownermyself, I realize that there's a
temptation to do everything alone.
(16:58):
You know, there's that mentalityof if you want it done right,
do it yourself and Yeah.
You know, when I started my business,there was a lot of, you know, elbow
grease and pulling myself up on mybootstraps, and it was, and it was tough.
And I'm sure you've had that temptationas well to do it all yourself.
But I've noticed that you have a fantasticteam in the store and you recruited a
(17:21):
lot of people to help with this event.
When did you realize, hey, thisis, this is bigger than me.
I need to bring in a team.
What am I looking for?
Okay.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's in the
name Geek Together.
It is.
It'd be ironic if it was just you.
Absolutely.
And and my family is spectacular.
The support I get from my mom and mybrother, my brothers and my sisters.
(17:45):
And my dad.
Yeah.
I couldn't and my wife of course.
Hello honey.
I know you're gonnawatch us, so I love you.
Yes.
So, so great.
I got a great foundation and then it was.
Just a lot of people who would comeup to me like you, like Johnny, who
said, yeah, this sounds crazy, butI kind of wanna be a part of it.
(18:07):
And so I so my backgroundis I came from fast food.
I worked nine years seven ofthose years as a general manager
in a fast food restaurant.
And I have learned very painfully that Ineed to be able to work with other people.
I need to be able to rely on other people,trust other people and, and give them, you
(18:31):
know, what they're willing to, to take.
And, and otherwise you can't.
Yeah.
There's no way you could do it yourself.
And while that was at the very start ofthe project, I was like, if need be, I
will ride it all and I will do all theads and I will make all the connections
and I'll be the head dungeon master.
I, the project would'venever been as good as it was.
(18:53):
Had you and Johnny not stepped in likeit, it would've been way way worse.
It like, yeah, there's no way I couldhave done it without you guys and all the
other fantastic people who volunteered.
Like I had people here both nights, Fridayand Saturday till like midnight, taking
down chairs, taking setting up tables.
(19:16):
And these are like, These are peoplewho just out of the kindness of
their hearts, because I we're asmall business, I, I don't have a
hundred employees to put on Fan X.
So it, it was amazing.
Cool.
You mentioned me and Johnny.
I, I think it was the three of uswho were kind of the trinity of this
(19:36):
event, trying to make it come togetherwith our different specialties.
True.
How did the project changeonce Johnny came on board?
How did that reignite thecreative process and help Oh man.
And help it grow?
Yeah, I could have done it without Johnny.
It was so funny.
Cuz I'm telling people about thisproject and then my brother comes
up to me, he is like some guyjust dropped off a whole binder.
(19:59):
About how they would run your project.
And I looked through the binderand it was pretty much like note
for note all of the ideas of how toexecute it that I had come up with.
He had come to the sameconclusion, so I was
like, you had shower thoughts?
He had
a binder.
Yeah, exactly.
Like he, he, he had, he had it all onpaper while I had just kind of this was
(20:21):
my working thoughts and so I was like,all right, I need to talk to this guy
cuz they sound just as crazy as I do.
And so I called him in and we talkedfor a bit and I was like, oh yeah,
Johnny seems like an awesome person.
Like I, I can really connect with him.
I absolutely would love towork with somebody with his
ambition on this project.
(20:41):
And then, and then same thing with you.
You came in a few timesand you were talking about.
How you run your own business andyou're you're a dungeon master for
hire, which is, that's a dream for me.
Like that.
That's so cool.
And you were like, I couldbe your head dungeon master.
And, and I was like, oh, dang.
Like somebody with that muchexperience and that much
(21:04):
knowledge that that could be huge.
And so yeah, it's, it, it addedso much that I, myself didn't,
I couldn't have provided.
And so once Johnny and I came in,what was your role from there?
Because you knew someone else was goingto be on stage, someone else was going
to be writing the packets, so thatfreed you up to focus on more of the
(21:27):
logistics and the business side of things.
So what did you jump into at that point?
Boy, so yeah, I, I, cuz I studieda decent amount of film, so
I kind of viewed myself like.
Johnny was kind of likethe writer slash director.
You were kind of like the, the lead actor.
Also director and I waskind of like the producer.
(21:49):
Okay.
So when I was able to offloadthose, those things to you guys,
I could really just focus on.
Production.
Do we have a cool stage?
Does our sound system work?
It didn't work that good,but we tried really hard.
We worked
with it.
I tried to William Shatner it upas much as I could, so the echoes
(22:10):
wouldn't, you know, overlap with each
other.
I, we worked so hard onthat, that sound system.
You know, but a good learning curve.
But but yeah, like, and, and a bigpart, cuz again, it, you know, I hate
to have to look through it as a businessperspective, but like, if we put in
all this money, would it be somethingthat we could get money out of?
(22:33):
And so like I had to make sure like,you know, was, was this something that
wasn't going to shut down our business ifcuz we had invested so much and then you
know, we would go bankrupt the next week.
So Making sure word of mouth gotout, making sure sponsors were
lined up, making sure the tableswere going to arrive on time.
Chairs, food.
Does everyone in the mallhave staffing for this?
(22:56):
Do we have the extra security?
All the extra safety equipment, janitorsthat there was, there was so much boring
stuff that the producer, you know,You know, that's what producers do.
You know, you, you're the cluethat puts all the crazy people in
the same room and there you go.
They make something awesome.
So how
many people do you think wereinvolved in making this project
(23:19):
happen outside of the 1002 from 27?
Who were playing?
Like, yeah, like we count the 1,227.
I, I would easily say thatanother, another, probably
at least a hundred people.
Because I know we had like, like25 volunteers show up for stuff.
(23:42):
We're talking about different businessesthat volunteered their time, their
money, their people drawn to dragons.
Spent a long time finishing upall the arts, the whole mall.
Their, their management team, their, theirsecurity, their cleaning teams, all of
the employees at all the different foodcourt stations who had to have extra
(24:05):
employees for that day and extra staffing.
Like, there was a lot ofwork that went into this.
And because there was an emal,a lot of those people were
already baked into the venue.
And so that was nice and superconvenient and, and makes 'em all a
great place for something like that.
Yeah, low key
malls are actually really coolplaces to have an event like that.
(24:26):
Yeah.
Mos are, they're haven for Nerds.
I absolutely love it.
So the big week the big week comesJohnny has written his packets.
I'm doing my own thing, right?
I'm getting prepared.
I'm working on the voice.
I am, you know, I, I'madvertising as much as I can.
I'm making sponsorships.
I'm trying to bring other businessesin as well to help you out.
(24:49):
I'm running a booth that my, mywife and my assistant were at.
So you know, everything's in full swing.
It's that final week.
What's going through your mind?
What, how are you feeling?
Oh man, it was so overwhelming.
My poor family, like the two weeks leadingbefore then I was, I was inaccessible
(25:09):
and in a pretty stressed out mood.
I, you know, like my wife would, we'dgo out to dinner and all I would just
wanna be talking about is like all thethings I have to do for the next few days.
And she's like, just, just eat yourfood and relax just for a moment.
I know it's crazy stressful.
So.
Yeah, it was, it was just stress for twoweeks and I mean, it was a good stress cuz
(25:36):
you know, it's a dream and you're workingtowards something awesome, but like at
the same time you have that fear of like,oh, it's gonna be a train wreck and.
Everybody's gonna show up and it'sgonna be terrible or nobody's gonna
show up and you're going to just die.
It's like you, you don'tknow what's gonna happen.
So.
Mm-hmm.
There's a lot on your shoulders as theproducer, as the main guy making this
happen, as the one who had the biggestfinancial stake in this event as well.
(26:01):
Like that is huge.
Yeah.
Me, I was able to slot this on a weekendand make sure I didn't book any other
games, but I was running other games.
I was doing other things.
But you like everything.
Was on the line for this.
That, that's huge.
Wow.
How was it the morning of when yougot there and people had showed up and
there were chairs and there were tables?
(26:21):
Like what changed at that moment?
Nothing changed.
Still stressed.
It still work it like I, I didn't.
Breathe until Sunday.
Like like cuz yeah, wegotta get people in chairs.
We gotta get dungeon masters to places.
And like during the last half hour,dungeon Masters hadn't showed up And
(26:43):
so like I'd get people running up tothe table, my dungeon masters not here.
And so then we're like calling otherdungeon masters who had walked and were
like, go to table 35 and Johnny's team.
And your team was excellent cuz youguys took a ton of the burden away.
You guys solved a lot of theproblems and then whatever big
problems couldn't be solved.
You know, that was my job and so I wasmaking sure, okay, the sound guy, he,
(27:05):
he's watching the stage and he, he knowswhen to turn on the microphones and.
Our register systems, those areall working, and my employees are
in place and they've got all theirstuff and they can take their breaks
and, and the kid that puked on table35, I gotta go help get that ready.
That happened.
No, no, luckily not.
But like, no, I was just, my jobwas to make sure things ran butter
(27:27):
smooth for the whole event, so.
Mm-hmm.
That's, I, you know, which,I was super, I'm super happy
that that's what I gotta do.
As well as it really did run smooth.
The community and the dungeon Masters andthe tables, they were so well behaved.
The mall even came up to me afterwardsand they were like, look, we've
(27:49):
never had an event this big but much.
A lot of our smaller events, thepeople who go come there are a lot more
rowdy and messy and rude, and this is.
The biggest event we've everhad and also the best people
we've ever had at the event.
So like the, the D&D community, thenerd community is amazing because
(28:11):
they made this way less stressful.
Like, I don't know if I could everrun like a football, you know, a
football party or something, cuzthat, that probably could get wild.
But I can definitely, I can doa D&D party any day of the week.
So the mall loves you and you've builtthis great relationship with them.
You've established this trust, and I'msure they want you back for more events.
(28:34):
Yes.
Yeah.
We definitely are goingto be doing this again.
All right.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Let's the day up the 22nd.
I know you were, you were doing a lot.
You were putting out fires.
You were anticipating firesthat luckily didn't didn't burn.
It did go fantastically smooth.
What were some of the highlights for youthat day when you started getting that
(28:56):
payoff and you realized this was worth it?
Oh, there, there, therewas so much about the day.
That was absolutely amazing.
The moments where, cuz I got, Idid a lot of walking around and to
see everyone with smiles on theirfaces, rolling dice, playing D&D.
(29:17):
At their own tables.
People were dressed up,people were having fun.
The dungeon Masters werereally getting into it.
The you and Janie on stage,you guys were just amazing.
But just, just feeling all of thefun, all of the fun, all the, the
(29:38):
good memories, the happy times thateverybody was having right there.
Because we had all putthis project together.
That was absolutely where I was like,yeah, this was a hundred percent worth it.
I would love to do this again,because we just, we just had a great
day with a thousand plus people.
(30:01):
And that's, that's, that's amazing.
That's
amazing.
There are a lot of people talkingin the comments right now we
have people tuning in live.
Yeah.
I don't have a chanceto share all of them.
But there is one that I want to share.
I'm gonna bring it up on the screen.
Would you, would you read this for us?
Yeah, that's my wife.
Yay.
Let's do it again.
(30:21):
I'll support you, honey.
She,
we officially have her approval Yes.
And her permission to do it again.
She's a very patient womanwith me and she's a big nerd
and so that's why I love her.
So
love it.
I love it.
So.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We got the record.
It was electric.
It was exciting.
(30:42):
It was like this volcano of emotionthat all erupted around the stage.
So many people were involved.
So many people Go ahead.
Deafening, like standing on thestage and people were cheering.
It was like, holy cow.
It was so cool.
People are already asking what's next.
(31:06):
And I've been asking what's next?
Cause I don't know either.
I've got, I've got my stuff goingon, but I'm looking forward to new
collaborations, new things like that.
So for everyone listening and whoever,everyone who's going to be downloading
the podcast, they heard it here first.
What's coming up?
Boy, there's, there's so many thingsin the store for we geek together.
(31:31):
We just started seasontwo of the D&D games.
So the D&D games we play in store,were connected to the final Dead
Wars and the players who played here,they got to level up their characters
and get cool Lou and shape the storythat we've eventually gotta play out.
(31:51):
The players here summoned L D A.
Like they were the ones who broughtl d a in and put all the key
places in for that final battle.
We just started season two of,of getting ready for the eventual
game next year, the big game.
And so I have the adventure.
It's already written.
I, I made, wanted signs for, forthe, the bad guy who's in this one.
(32:16):
So that's really cool.
So people can already startshaping the, the next game.
And yes, we really wanna do a next game.
I was already talking to the mallbecause I think we could have 3000, maybe
5,000 people for an event like this.
Like that sounds ambitious, but athousand sounded ambitious last time
(32:40):
and we, we blew that out of the water.
So I, and we're getting a lot of.
Great feedback, stuffthat we can improve on.
So, so we're, we're looking forwardto next year and we'll open up this
space next to us and, and not justD&D but I'm really excited about
all the other stuff that's comingout in the TT R P G community.
(33:01):
You know, I'm now officialpartners with DARRINGTON Press.
Yes, they're working.
Thank you, Dax, because youwere, you told me about that.
I
just bugged you about it until you did it.
I mean, yeah, yeah.
Cause I was just a fan and they'vegot a new system coming out, so we're
gonna have the system here in thestore the second it comes out and
(33:23):
Oh yeah.
Hey, so what should people dobetween now and next April?
Okay, so listen to the previousepisode on Dungeons and Dax so
you can get a great timeline withJohnny and Dax talking about how.
The project went together.
Cu
next episode is gonna bewith Janie, who played l a.
(33:43):
Oh, she did such a good job with L D a.
I was so happy.
He was great.
Yeah, so, so stay tuned to Dax.
Stay tuned to Johnny cuz they've gotsome awesome stuff into the store
shape, the, the world that's goingto lead up to the next adventure.
And And, and yeah, just come andhave fun, you know, play some
(34:06):
games.
You've mentioned that you havedungeon Masters in the store that run
games for people and a lot of timesconnecting to these larger events.
What are you looking for inDungeon Masters at your store who.
Play games in person.
Great question.
And actually, we're looking toexpand our Dungeon Master team.
So if anyone's interested the biggestthings I look for in my dungeon
(34:30):
Masters are, are you inclusive?
Can you read a table and seethat players are engaging
with your game and your world?
And if not, how do you pull them into it?
Are, do you provide a safe spacewhere people feel comfortable playing?
And if there's a player at the tablewho's kind of making it not safe,
do you know how to, to turn it intoa safe space and, and to refocus?
(34:56):
And are you excited about the gamebecause you set the, as a dungeon
master, you set the tone for the tableand if, if it's just, you know, a job or
something that you just clock in and do.
You don't have much enthusiasm,but if, if you are like, dang, you
know, I love Dungeons and Dragons orTT RPGs and I wanna share that the
(35:18):
players feel that excitement and yeah,that, that's, that's pretty much,
you don't have to be Matt Mercer.
I'm, I'm, heck no, I'm not Matt Mercer.
But you know, that enthusiasm, thatinclusiveness, that's, that's the key.
Mm-hmm.
It's all part of the culturethat you're trying to build at
Geek Together, which I love.
I love it.
(35:38):
Do you have any final questions for me?
Oh, I have so many questions.
Dax, it's not even like like if,if you know, I, what, what, what do
you, what do you think could have.
What were your highlights and, and,and what, what do you think could have
done better or as a dungeon master ata lo at any table how, how could we
(36:03):
have reached and provided more to that?
I have so many questions, but Yeah.
Okay.
So what was your highlight?
What's
so I'll say, when I first cameinto the project, what I wanted
to do and what I wanted to spendthe majority of my time doing was
visiting tables as different NPCs.
As Vena and stir up some chaos.
(36:24):
But as we got more involved withit, I realized if we have 200
tables, I'm not gonna be ableto make very many appearances.
And there, I didn't expect beingon stage as much as I did because
we, I was doing announcements.
I was I was running scenes with l d A.
There was at least one point when youwent on the microphone and you're like,
vena, come to the, come to the stage.
(36:46):
We need you.
Where are you?
Dax, stop eating.
Not in those words.
So I was doing a lot of runningaround, so I didn't get to make as many
appearances as I would have liked becauseI love looking at, I love looking to
people's eyes when they're playing.
I love being able to read theiremotions and their engagement,
especially during death.
(37:06):
Saving throws.
Like death saving throws are the mostexciting part of the game for me.
Whew.
So I would've loved to do that, butwe kind of anticipated that my time
was going to be stretched pretty thin.
And so that's why I brought in thisteam of captains, this team of generals
who we're going to basically, Causechaos in the name of Dax throughout the
(37:30):
entire thing, but also support and help.
Cause we didn't want them toupstage any of the dungeon
masters or steal their story.
We wanted to, you know, give themsupplements and we created a playing card
system where DMS could opt into that sortof help and support and you know, those
curve balls that they could throw in.
And my captains did such a great job.
(37:50):
It was
amazing.
It was so cool.
Hey, they were great and I chose them frompeople that I'd worked with previously.
Whether it was in, in plays or in writinggroups or in other D&D projects, but
people who I'd seen their work ethic, I'veseen, you know, how inclusive they were.
And I saw them work welltogether as a group.
(38:11):
And so I brought them together.
That was my, you know, Avengersinitiative calling everybody in.
And so what I wanna see more of ismore of these sorts of core groups,
forming of employees and volunteerswho come together to help, help
it become even more ambitious andhelp us reach those ambitions.
Cause I had a lot of ideas, but whenI brought my captains in and they
(38:34):
started building on those ideas, it,it got bigger and I realized, okay.
The tables are going to be taken care of.
The dungeon masters aregoing to be supported.
Even if I can't be there, someoneelse is gonna be there for me.
And that made it really easy forme to go around and I would talk
to the captain and be like, Hey,what's the vibe in this area?
Hmm.
They're like, oh, they're doing great.
(38:55):
This table did this, this table's dead.
You know, super great.
Awesome.
How, how's this table doing?
Well, they didn't hear anyof the announcements and they
don't know what's going on.
And then I knew, okay, I'm going tomake the announcements personally,
I'm going to shout at the top ofmy lungs and get everyone involved.
And I think we did that.
Yeah, I think we did thatand that was awesome.
And that's what I wanna see moreof is those key volunteers showing
(39:19):
up, not just my captains, not justJohnny's moderators, not just your
staff, but getting these core peoplein who will dream as big as we do.
And.
That's what I want.
See, I'm more of, because you're alreadydoing so well at getting these people at,
attracting them, Andrew, so I, oh man.
Where, where's geek Togethergonna be in five or 10 years.
(39:41):
Oh, right.
If we keep doing things thisambitious, going at this rate, getting
this many amazing people involved.
What, what's next?
What's, what's down theroad in five or 10 years?
The future.
The future looks bright.
Man.
I, I'm so excited and humbled.
By the, the support from everyone.
Seriously.
(40:04):
Ah, it's gonna be great.
I mean, store in New York, maybesomeday, who knows other franchises.
Soon you'll have your empire.
Soon.
You will own them all.
You will own all
the malls.
All right.
I will say my, my goal isto first become the best.
Game store in Utah, and I loveall the game stores in Utah.
(40:26):
That's not me talking down.
That's me challenging myselfas a brand new game store.
Like I'm an underdog and boy do I, Iwanna become the best game store in
Utah and then the United States and thenwe'll see about the rest of the world.
But, but boy do I have ideas and dreams.
Hey,
excellent.
Well thank you so much for beingon the Dungeons and Dax podcast.
(40:49):
It has been an absolute pleasure.
Can't wait to come in again.
I'm just so happy that Ilive 10 minutes away, right?
It was just so convenientisn't the right word.
It was fortuitous.
It was serendipitous.
It was destiny.
Destiny.
Yes.
It was destiny.
So everybody listening andeverybody watching you have.
(41:09):
You've heard of how Destinybrought us to this point.
When we take over the world,historians will look back at this,
at this podcast and we, we've hit ama major milestone in this podcast.
I've been joking in our firstthree episodes that someday
I will have dozens of fans.
And there are exactly 12 people.
As soon as I say that, yes, it drops downfrom 12 people watching this live to 11.
(41:31):
At one point we had it,we had it at one point.
Dozen fans, we'll get to dozens and itwill keep exploring and keep growing.
Thank you so much, Andrew.
Thank you for everyonelistening in and thank you have,
thank you.
Go ahead.
No, just thank you.
It's, it's been great working with you.
Been great on the podcast.
(41:51):
It'll be great continuing
to work with you.
I love it.
All right, see ya.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.