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Four Months Into the Adventure: A Field Note from the Grand Adventurers Club

  • May 20
  • 5 min read

Field Notes from an Adventure-Themed Game Store in Northern Colorado


There’s a strange feeling that comes with standing at the edge of something you’ve dreamed about for years and realizing…

You’ve finally started.

Not imagined it.

Not talked about it.

Not scribbled ideas into notebooks at 2 AM.

Actually started.

Today marks roughly four months since the Grand Adventurers Club officially began its journey toward becoming a real brick-and-mortar game store and tabletop gaming destination. And while four months is barely a prologue in the story of building a business, it still feels important to stop, look around camp, and take stock of where we are.

Because honestly?

I’m proud of how far we’ve come already.

And also completely unsettled by how undefined the road ahead still feels.


The Dream Finally Has Shape

For years, the Grand Adventurers Club existed mostly as a feeling.

A vision inspired by classic adventure serials, explorer societies, hidden clubs, Tiki lounges, old maps, weathered journals, and the kinds of unforgettable stories that only happen around a gaming table.

Not just a game store.

A destination.

A place where people don’t simply buy cards, books, miniatures, or dice — they become part of an ongoing story.

And somewhere during these last four months, that dream stopped being abstract.

We now have:

Those are real things now.

Not concepts.

Not “someday.”

Actual first stones laid into the foundation of what we hope will become one of the most immersive and community-driven game stores in Northern Colorado.

And that matters more than I sometimes allow myself to admit.


Building a Themed Game Store Without a Perfect Map

Here’s the hard truth:

We have momentum… but not really a map.

That’s the part that’s been rattling around in my head lately.

I know the destination:

A themed tabletop gaming store and adventurer’s club unlike anything else in Northern Colorado.

I know the atmosphere I want people to feel when they walk through the doors.

I know the stories I want told there.

I know the kind of gaming community we want to build.

But the route from here to there?

That still feels foggy.

And for someone who likes systems, planning, and structure, uncertainty can feel deeply uncomfortable.

There’s a strange contradiction at the heart of the whole thing:

The Grand Adventurers Club is fundamentally built around the spirit of exploration, discovery, and venturing into the unknown…

…but actually living that reality is a lot more stressful than adventure stories make it sound.

Turns out Indiana Jones never had to figure out:

  • Inventory management

  • Distributor applications

  • Sales tax permits

  • Event scheduling

  • Cash flow forecasting

  • Retail operations

  • Commercial lease negotiations

  • TCG inventory systems

Adventure serials rarely prepare you for the realities of running a small business.


An Old Expedition Journal

A few nights ago, while reorganizing notes and props for the Club, I found myself imagining the sort of journal entry that might’ve existed on the shelf of an old adventurers club library somewhere around 1937.

June 14th, 1937 — Upper Amazon Basin

Morale remains surprisingly high despite the fact that we are, by all measurable standards, completely unprepared for what lies ahead.

Cartographer Briggs insists the river should have forked westward two days ago. Whitmore claims the compass is being affected by volcanic rock. Jenkins maintains we were never lost to begin with, despite accidentally leading the entire supply caravan into what I can only describe as “a concerning amount of swamp.”

At present we possess:

  • three functioning lanterns,

  • one damaged radio,

  • two crates of preserved biscuits,

  • a surprisingly loyal mule,

  • and an increasingly questionable map purchased from a man named Eduardo behind a café in Belém.

And yet…

The expedition continues.

Because while we may lack certainty, we do possess momentum.

Campfires are still lit each night. Notes are still being added to the journal. Discoveries, however small, continue daily.

No one aboard truly knows whether we are heading toward glory or disaster.


But every great expedition probably felt exactly like this before it became history.

Maybe that fictional explorer understood something I’m only beginning to learn myself:

You do not wait until the map is complete before beginning the journey.

If anything, the map is created by moving forward.


What Starting a Small Business Actually Feels Like

I think I keep expecting myself to somehow already know how to do all of this.

As if successful businesses are built by people with complete certainty and flawless blueprints from day one.

But maybe that isn’t true.

Maybe most real ventures begin exactly like this:

  • A strong vision

  • A handful of tools

  • A partially drawn map

  • And the willingness to keep moving anyway


Right now, the Grand Adventurers Club feels less like a finished structure and more like an expedition camp at the base of a mountain.

We have supplies.

We have a banner.

We have a direction.

But we haven’t discovered the route upward yet.


The Small Wins Matter More Than They Seem

It’s easy to dismiss small progress because the final goal still feels far away.

But four months ago, there was:

  • No storefront

  • No online sales pipeline

  • No website

  • No story archive

  • No public-facing identity

  • No operational momentum

Now there is.

And perhaps more importantly:

There’s consistency beginning to form.

The TCGPLAYER sales are especially encouraging because they represent something incredibly important:

Repeatable activity.

Not viral success.

Not explosive growth.

Not overnight achievement.

Just steady movement.

And honestly, that may be the most valuable thing we could have right now.

Because sustainable businesses — especially independent tabletop game stores and hobby shops — are usually built less on dramatic moments and more on repeatable systems stacked consistently over time.


What Comes Next for the Grand Adventurers Club?

I don’t fully know yet.

And maybe that’s okay.

I think the next phase is less about trying to leap directly into “opening a game store” and more about continuing to build the foundation beneath it.

More systems.

More audience.

More identity.

More consistency.

More community.

More proof that the idea has gravity.

The danger right now is feeling like we need the entire roadmap figured out before taking the next step.

But adventure rarely works that way.

You find the next landmark.

Then the next.

Then the next.

Eventually, one day, you look back and realize you crossed an ocean.


Final Thoughts from the Club

Four months in, the Grand Adventurers Club is still small.

Still uncertain.

Still very much under construction.

But it’s alive now.

And maybe that’s the most important thing.

The campfire has been lit.

The first stories are already being written.

And even if the map ahead remains incomplete, the expedition has officially begun.

Perhaps that’s the real nature of adventure:

Not having every answer before you start…

…but choosing to press onward anyway.


To Our Fellow Adventurers

To our fellow adventurers, dreamers, shopkeepers, creators, game masters, collectors, and explorers of strange roads — we’d love to hear from you.

Have you ever started something without fully knowing the route ahead?

What helped you keep moving forward when the destination still felt distant?

If you’ve built a business, community, creative project, tabletop campaign, or even just chased an impossible dream, share your wisdom with us in the comments below.

Your stories may very well become part of the next chapter of the Grand Adventurers Club expedition journal.


Until next time…

Keep your lanterns lit and your dice rolling.



 
 
 

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