Official ICE Forums
Gamer's Corner => Conventions & Conferences => Topic started by: Old Man on January 26, 2014, 10:02:06 PM
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Hi all,
Registration opened today. So who is going? The Mrs. and I will be there.
Regards,
Old Man
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I'd love to go, but this year it doesn't look good for me.
If anyone who is going is interested in running some ICE sessions, please let us know. We'll see what can be done to provide prizes for your sessions.
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Well, I have hotel room reserved (outside the housing process) a couple blocks away and will be buying my badge before event tickets go on sale. If things go south between then and now I can still back out... but I'm fairly sure I'll be there this year.
My backup plan was not needed, so... just FYI... if anyone is willing to pay $300 a night for a full on two bedroom condo (nice one from the looks of it) about 3-4 blocks from the convention let me know and I'll PM you the info (no promises on if it is still available).
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And as soon as the housing rush began it was snatched up!
(Why I always reserve far ahead and outside of the housing process).
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Yeah, the housing snatch-up went fast - is one day a record?
I'm planning on attending this year but if its going to be bursting-at-the-seams crowded...
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That's why we saved up our $ and held on to our VIG pass all these years. Amazing ...
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Oh yes, one day is definitely a record. GenCon has now outgrown Indy and it's stuck there for another six years. It's been growing significantly over the last few years. Maybe the aging table-top RPG crowd can now more afford to attend! :)
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That's why we saved up our $ and held on to our VIG pass all these years. Amazing ...
I just can't picture myself spending the money on that. If I can get a hotel within a 2-4 blocks I can't see it benefiting me much...
What is it you're getting out of it that makes it worth it to you?
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I just can't picture myself spending the money on that. If I can get a hotel within a 2-4 blocks I can't see it benefiting me much...
What is it you're getting out of it that makes it worth it to you?
Three main things - 1) guaranteeing our choice of hotel (compared to the mayhem experienced by the attendees this year for example), as we need to be close; 2), the lounge (wonderful being able to plop and grab a drink in between events) and 3) the early vendor room admission on Thursday (avoid the crowds for an hour at least).
On top of that is some swag, lounge-specific events and wanting my wife to have the best event possible. :)
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I've got a ticket for myself, my wife, my daughter and my niece. That and a room at one of the attached hotels (way more convenient with a munchkin to deal with).
I don't know about running anything, but I'm certainly looking to get into a HARP or RMU game this year.
Surprisingly enough getting a room was pretty easy for us this year. But we knew exactly which room and hotel we wanted and were in the system within two minutes of it opening. Some years have been much worse for booking a room for me.
If Gen Con outgrows Indy, the only place left in the midwest with more convention space is Chicago - and I don't look forward to dealing with that kind of traffic and expense.
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Chicago has the convention space and the hotels... but I hate their airport with a passion. I have never, ever, been through O'hare without a problem.
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Maybe a new thread should be started, "Where should Gen Con be moved to in the Mid West?".
I think a few people might vote for Colorado based on some of the changes in the laws recently. But it would be nice if they could get some support for other events and expand on the facilities that they have there.
MDC
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My recommendation would be Charlotte, NC. The exhibition space is significantly more than Indianapolis, the environment is very collegiate, good hotel access, and reasonably good airport access.
Of course, if you were going to consider Chicago, why not consider Dallas? Though I think both would be bad choices as the cities are too large to have the right feel for GenCon - but then again, I haven't gone in a number of years and I've never gone to Indy for it (so that gives you an idea of how long ago it was...)
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I'm hoping to make it again this year, but am not sure yet. Had a great time last year and my wife is telling me I should try to go again (not sure if it is because she wants me out of the house for a few days or simply because she knows I enjoyed it last year). Have a bathroom repair/remodel that that we need to get done this spring, but if that doesn't cost too much and I don't burn up too much vacation time working on it, I'm still hoping to be able to go.
But due to other time commitments, don't think I'm going to be able to run a series of intro events for RMU like I did last year. So if anyone else is planing on running anything RM/SM related let me know and I'll try to sign up.
If time permits though I may try to modify a bunch of my old one-shot adventures set in the Channel Cities over to the new RMU rules (if the next version of the beta rules out in time to do so) and just run them as one-shot events (instead of having 6 groups go through the same adventure and awarding points for scores with a prize). But with those types of events I would probably need to limit the party size to a small number (3-4), which is far from ideal for GenCon, due to how such things are handled there.
But at the same time I want to try to have more free time to wander around the halls and possibly participate in some games this year. Didn't get to see everything I was hoping to last year due to the time committed to what I ran last year, and if it is that much bigger this year I'm almost thinking I'd have to reduce the time running games substantially.
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Received an email this morning from GenCon Events with information about demo-tables on Sunday and the deadline for submissions being this Friday (March 14th). It was stating that if an event isn't submitted by then that there is no guarantee that space will be available due to the increase in demand this year. Here is a link to their forum announcement of the same info: http://community.gencon.com/forums/p/33052/366052.aspx?utm_source=Event+Organizers+%26+Gamemasters&utm_campaign=ef98875c71-20120808.EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0aead95039-ef98875c71-313086153#366052 (http://community.gencon.com/forums/p/33052/366052.aspx?utm_source=Event+Organizers+%26+Gamemasters&utm_campaign=ef98875c71-20120808.EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0aead95039-ef98875c71-313086153#366052)
While I'd love to run games again, I won't be able to get anything organized that quickly I don't think (especially since I don't even know for sure if I'm going yet). And in case others were not aware of this, you can actually have your ticket or get a reimbursement towards a room by running games (if you run enough). Last year (not sure about previous years), each one-hour of player time (each player, so a full group of 6 run for 4 hours resulted in 24 "points") that you ran counted towards that, with I think it was 60 hours of time resulting in a small partial reimbursement or 100 hours would cover the entire weekend badge cost, with more credit for higher number of hours GMing.
But on that note, ICE/GCP may want to consider trying to submit something for getting (up to 3) tables for demo-ing their games with anyone who can attend possibly contributing some time towards that effort on Sunday (if I go I'd be willing to contribute time towards that effort, so keep me in the loop if something like that is organized).
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I would certainly cover any direct costs for people who want to run games, plus provide goodies. I could lock down a couple tables and we see if anyone wants to demo, if I can give them back at some point in the near future if we cant fill. let me see what the details are.
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Hrrrmmm...not as easy as that. you have to submit a proper event and have it accepted. so it really does mean someone needs to know what they want to GM now.
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My wife had been telling me to just plan on going, despite my reluctance due to cost of our bathroom remodel. But I'll talk to her about it and see if I can commit to something. As far as things to run, I've got so many different adventures/missions/encounters for my setting (especially for the Channel Cities portion of it) for use with Rolemaster over the last 25+ years that it wouldn't take much for me to have something prepared. If time permitted I have several ideas for HARP-SF also, but would need time to detail those (and time seems to be in very short supply the last few years).
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I'll be there. I would be happy to submit and run an hour-long RM event or 2.
John (et al), is there something you'd want to have GMs promote/use if folks did this? Would you want us to use the Beta, or Shadow World source material? Happy to cater an event to what you'd like to see...
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So is something being organized? I sent a PM to you John about being able to run some events along with an outline of an idea I had, but haven't heard anything back regarding it. Since the deadline is today to get such things submitted, please let those of us who can spare some time know if it is a go or not.
If others might be interested in running this same idea, it would probably take 2 or 3 hour time slots to do so from what I'm guessing from last years experience with a more involved storyline and encounters. And I can provide the details to anyone else who might be interested in running additional sessions of it, if this is a go.
I'll post an updated version of the outline I put together:
I am proposing running a flexible event set in the Channel Cities setting. I will have several pre-generated characters available for players to choose from for the event as well as starting the event out in a tavern, from which several different potential adventures will present themselves where it will be up to the players to decide which short “adventure” they wish to pursue. My thoughts are to run this using the new RMU rule-set (if the next iteration of the rules are ready far enough in advance for me to prepare), however if not or if there is interest I can also run it using HARP, RMC and/or RMSS/FRP, or possibly sessions of each.
Characters will be 5th level with several possible adventures for them to pursue based on their decision from what is presented while in one of the local taverns that evening:
• Vile Terror- Rumors of people disappearing or being violently ripped apart by a strange creature spotted on the rooftops, followed by someone entering having just seen the creature.
• Kidnappers- characters overhear a discussion by a couple of kidnappers about the ransom that they are hoping to receive from a merchant for his daughter who is being held in a nearby “abandoned” building.
• Recover stolen goods- characters will hear a patron sitting at the bar talking with the barkeep about an item that was stolen from him by some thieving ruffians that he wants recovered but that he doesn’t know anyone with such subterfuge and infiltration skills.
• Shadowy Delivery- If the characters are not “noble” enough to step up and deal with any of the above, then they will be approached (hired) by a shadowy figure (someone in a hooded cloak) to deliver an item to someone else, but this task turns out to not be as simple as it sounds…
With a target of 3-4 characters chosen from a group of 5th lvl pre-gens, to provide a more personal game than is typical with large numbers of players. Characters available to choose from will include the following (most of the same from last year’s event):
Half-orc magent (daggers/thrown daggers, subterfuge, subterfuge spells, disguise)
Half-elf fighter (scimitar & shield combo, long bow, combat expertise skills, subterfuge)
Sylvan elf thief (dual daggers- ambidextrous, thrown daggers, subterfuge, mechanical, adrenal defense)
Common man magician (spells (broad assortment of base, open and closed lists), quarterstaff)
Mixed man rogue (short sword & dagger combo-ambidextrous, stealth)
Halfling fighter (dual short swords-ambidextrous, daggers, disarm, subterfuge, highest Hits)
Dark elf monk (martial arts, adrenal skills, movement and discipline related spells)
Sibbicai dabbler (natural attacks (claw, bite), subterfuge, spells (subterfuge, mechanics, movement)))
Gnome sorcerer (spells)
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I'd love to do something similar. I think I would focus in on one option + the RM beta and railroad it a bit so that folks can just jump in and play, and also keep it to under 2 hours. I'd also like to gear the session to beginners, or people unfamiliar with the ruleset and give them a strong intro to what RM is becoming.
Given the lack of feedback I think what I'll do is just submit for the event late tonight, and plan on using the new RM but fall back to a different system if ICE folks aren't interested/ready for the beta to be exposed in this way.
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Last year I ran 6 sessions (4 hrs each w/6 player slots) of RMU and the ICE staff were very supportive of it.
Of those I only had one person register who had not played RM before, and two people who sat in on a couple of sessions that weren't quite full with only one of those two actually hoping to give RM a try. Everyone else who participated where long time RM fans or in two cases spouses of long-time RM fans who were signed up.
My only concern with doing anything that short is that you can't accomplish much from an adventure standpoint. But if it is at a demo-table where the focus is introducing new people to the game then very short events are ideal. But those Demo Tables need to be reserved by an ICE representative. However if ICE is willing to reserve some of those demo tables on Sunday (as it sounds like that is when GenCon has time set aside for such events), I'd be willing to help out with that as well (for any of the ICE games).
But it is great that you are offering to run something, as last year the sessions I ran were tho only RM games there (the only ICE games in fact). There was one other person who had wanted to, but GenCon didn't give him a table due to needing electricity and web access for what he had planned.
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Hopefully we'll hear back, 'cause I'd rather jump into an organized event, and help out, than setup my own lonesome session.
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Unfortunately John had some system issues today, but I did hear from him.
ICE will definitely provide prizes for all players in your sessions, along with a larger prize to the best player. GM's will also get some ICE compensation as thanks for running the game session. Unfortunately, I can't commit to reserving the tables under ICE's name.
As for preference - play whatever system you enjoy most - but if you don't care which you play, the new Rolemaster or HARP would be preferred. As for the content, I would go with shorter sessions, but that's just my preference. If you need more feedback, let me know.... Sorry about the delayed response.
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Thanks for getting back - Submitted my sessions (RPG1460708 and RPG1460709) - looking forward to introducing more people to the beta.
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I am going this year as one of my players goes every year and I am tagging along with him. Unfortunately this is my first year to Gencon. So I don't know what it will be like to run a game there. I will be willing to run a game next year as I plan on going then also, since I live in NW Indiana anyway I might as well go every year!
Bruce
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Since this is my first GenCon (with hopefully many more to come) I am really hoping to get into an ICE event of some kind be it HARP (fantasy or sci fi) or Rolemaster. I am not sure how to sign up for events or how quickly seats get taken so could someone please let me know what I need to look out for. One of my players would also like to attend the same event (if possible). Also, if all goes good and I can attend next year I would like to run an event (more than likely HARP sci fi or fantasy).
Bruce
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You wont be able to register for events until May, then it opens up online for everyone. Online registration is relatively painless. I don't expect there will be a lot of ICE related events (last year there was only a few put on by volunteers) but I'm sure you'll find plenty of fun things to do.
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You can make GenCon a round the clock thing if you really want to. I tend to try and schedule the really interesting stuff (to me) at whatever times are available, then schedule as many other events that look interesting that I can after the merchant hall hours.
I like to have at least one full day of merchant hall hours available. As time goes by (and more and more becomes available via the internet) I don't buy as much in the hall, but it's still kinda cool to get my hands on things that I'll just end up ordering online after I find them there.
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Bruce, if you don't get into an event, don't loose hope, as you can register for generic tickets and sit in on events sometimes. Generic tickets are for drop-ins essentially; if you see a game going on and it looks interesting and the next session they have open slots due to not being fully registered or if people don't show up who are registered.
As an example I ran 6 scheduled events last year for RMU, and all of them initially sold out. Actually there were only two of us last year that submitted events and mine were the only ones accepted due to the other submissions needing additional equipment and internet access (thus GenCon didn't accept his submissions for some reason, not sure if they didn't have enough of such capabilities available or what).
However it ended up that the first event, only one person actually showed up for (2 people cancelled after registering and others just never showed up), while 4 of the other 5 events, only had 4-5 people show up. There was only one of the six event I ran that everyone who was registered (6 slots) actually showed up for. As it was I allowed others to sit in if not everyone showed up, so with that 5 of the 6 ended up being full and that one at least had two people (as the guy who's submissions were not accepted sat in on that session. This was due to drop-ins with or without generic tickets. But having a generic ticket, helps increase the chances of being able to sit-in as it can at least the person running the event can help cover a portion of their attendance costs.
As such, it would probably be worth getting some generic tickets and stopping by just before the start of events that you are interested in if you can not get registered for that particular event, as openings may occur after the fact.
I went ahead and turned in submissions for 6 events again this year (even though I'm not absolutely positive that I'll be attending yet). But I submitted them late due to not hearing a definite result about ICE's backing until only a few hours before the first deadline for submissions and not having enough time to get it submitted by then. As such I'm not sure if the events I submitted will be accepted (although I did schedule them much later, so hoping that they will be accepted).
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So who here is going, submitted events, and had those events approved? I am curious as I'd like to get an idea of what I want to sign up for first.
Bruce
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I'm tentatively going, and have submitted 6 RMU events (but due to submitting them late, I've not heard if they have been approved or not yet). Also, due to submitting them late, I set them up for late in the day Thursday, Friday and Saturday (staring in the evening and running 3 hours each and running until after midnight for the end of the second event each day.
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Has anyone heard when they are going to post the events?
My friends and I would like to plan ahead and I was told they are usually posted by now. Less than two weeks before sign up.....
Bruce
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Has anyone heard when they are going to post the events?
My friends and I would like to plan ahead and I was told they are usually posted by now. Less than two weeks before sign up.....
Bruce
I read some where that May 18th was the day.
Regards,
Old Man
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May 18th is the day you register to play in events, the catalog of actual events 'should' come out at least a week before that (per Gen Con people). No information is available more definitive than that at the moment unfortunately.
May 18th is also Mt St Helens day. Just sayin... ;)
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Looks like the catalog should be available later today in prep for registration on the 18th. From the source:
With Event Registration going live at noon (Eastern) on Sunday, May 18, it is just about time for the release of the much anticipated Event Catalog on gencon.com. 2014 events will be made public for your review and Wish List building on Friday, May 9 at 9 pm (eastern). ..
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The catalog is online and running great! One problem, I see no ICE events listed. Did none of the events put in get approved?
Bruce
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There are four events listed for MERP, but I don't see any other ICE products at all. I had submitted 6 RMU events but submitted them a day late, so not sure if they will be accepted (have not heard anything back from them yet). But I thought someone else had submitted something also that had been accepted.
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Interesting issue... WotC didn't have events submitted in time for the catalog. Been a bit of talk about it on various boards (i.e. people not happy about it). Considering people have to make difficult choices in what to buy tickets for at the beginning I suspect that's going to hurt their events, course I'm assuming they have events. If not that's even more interesting.
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Well, spent too much time staring at the schedule... especially since it's almost surely going to be added onto by the 18th, but I'm going to do Gen Con a little different this year. Try out stuff I haven't before.
So... it's...
Paranoia (too fun to pass up, kinda depends on the group though).
Numenera (gotta support my local people and I'm interested in see someone run it rather than just flipping through the books)
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (have to give the new system a shot, sounds like an improvement of the last ones and I like the rarity of Jedi's idea).
X-Wing (I think I know exactly what to expect, but we'll see).
Wings of Glory and Sails of Glory (trying it out - wonder if it'll really be all that different from X-Wing).
Space Hulk (need to see if it lives up to the hype - if it does I might have to start trying to find it).
Going to hit 2-5 of the workshops/seminars and see if I can pick up anything new and useful from them.
I was curious about checking out the workshops with Hirst molds, but I'm just not going to pay $24 for it... I don't want to take anything home, just see how feasible I think they are to use privately.
Also, going to check out the D20 burlesque... I figure it's well after hours, so what the heck, might be worth a laugh.
Of those going, is anyone going to stick around until Monday morning?
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My events still haven't been approved, so I'm not sure if I will get the chance to run them. Waiting to hear back from the gencon folks...
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So, we've got six of us going in this thread (OldMan, Pytotech, BeggarKing, Wolfhound, Bruce, and Me). Anyone else?
I know schedules might make it impossible (I've got four hours of events after the dealer hall closes every day but Sunday), but I was thinking of trying to arrange a dinner for the forum members. Maybe once event sales go through would be a better time to discuss that.
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My events still haven't been approved, so I'm not sure if I will get the chance to run them. Waiting to hear back from the gencon folks...
I"m curious, did you get your events in before the deadline? I'm wondering if some of the events showing up late are due to late submissions or the GenCon guys/gals just not being able to get them all in quicker (not saying they aren't doing a good job... just curious).
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Getting together would be great if we can arrange it. Would be great to meet other members of the forums here. Especially Cory, since we had chatted a couple of times by email back when you were writing Channeling Companion back in the late 90's (if I'm remembering the timing correctly).
Beggarking had posted that he submitted his before the deadline. I was hoping to as well and saw his posting go up here mid-day if I remember correctly the last day of the deadline, whereas I didn't get mine entered until the following day.
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I'd be glad to say hi to the other forum members. I'm still mad I never got a chance to swing by for the RMU game ran last year.
Once all the registration is done I'll have to check my availability.
Now I've got to download the event spreadsheet and start culling it down to a list of events to try for.
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If nothing else and no one can get an RM/HARP game of any type approved by the GenCon staff, then maybe we can heist an unused table somewhere for a semi-private session with those of us who are able to attend, even if it is after the normal hours for such or in a more public location.
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I may be available, pending whatever my wife and I are doing at the time.
Regards,
Old Man
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Let's see what everyone event schedule ends up being, that'll probably indicate what the best day/time will be to shoot for.
I'm guessing, if everyone is flying out late Sunday or on Monday, that Sunday might be the easiest time to grab dinner or just drinks someplace. But we'll see how everyone schedule works out.
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It would be great to meet up at Gencon - lets definitely plan on something once schedules start to firm up.
Cory, I did submit some events before the deadline (and some after) - haven't heard yet on any of them...
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I'm game, unless it is late Sunday. I am not exactly sure what time we will be heading back up here to northern Indiana but the three of us have to work on Monday. Having a drink together is good regardless, even if we are able to get everyone together for a dinner.
I'm a Gencon newb though and I'm not the one planning what events to attend, except for a few here and there like RMU or HARP if either eventually show up on the list. I know he plans on signing us all up for the Weiss Hickman breakfast and the true dungeon event. I am planning on attending a game of Victoriana (Childhood best friend is running it) and maybe a Svage Worlds game....not sure what else is there worth looking at.
Next year though I plan on either running a HARP Fantasy or SF event. Right now I am working on a HARP SF demo that if I am able to complete it will be a definite contender for me to run. It's a horror scenario (think Aliens meets Deadspace meets the Island of Dr. Moreau and then some). I am currently at a roadblock though because there are no alien creatures or robots listed in the HARP SF books. I don't have the time to develop anything and I am debating on simply "winging" the creature creation by just giving the creatures the numbers and abilities I believe will work for this game. But if I do that then it wouldn't really be a true HARP demo.
Bruce
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FYI - browsing through the GM/EO forums, as of 5/12.
All currently pending events should be handled in the coming weeks, not not everything (particularly any late submissions) may not be processed before Sunday.
K- lots of nots in that sentence, but looks like they will be processing for a few weeks still.
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Confirmed today that my events just haven't been processed yet, and it will be a couple of weeks.
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well that sucks. I hope they don't coincide with any of the other "must go to events" I am planning on attending. I will have some flexibility but this is also my first Gencon. Then again HARP and RMU are "must go to events" for me. We'll see.
Bruce
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I've set my events for Friday afternoon (1,3,and 5pm are the slots I asked for) - but no guarantees that I'll get those. Will post here once they get approved (if they get approved).
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I put in for late 3-hour long slots at 7:00pm and 10:00pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings for RMU. But with the submissions being late, not sure that they will be accepted. But with being that late they may due to not many people submitting things that late in the evenings (at least not last year), but at the same time with being that late may not see many people actually sign up either.
I'm also running them such that it will be possible to participate in multiple sessions (if they get approved). Unlike last year where I had all 6 sessions (4 hours each last year) the same "Adventure" with a point system to rank how each group does (and improving prizes for the better rankings), this year I was going to have it be more of an open choice with a few plot-hooks available and the players being able to decide which one they wanted to pursue. This year I'm also setting it up with a minimum of 2 players and a maximum of 4 players per session (last year it was 6 players each), with the intent of each player being a bigger part and with more interaction for each player to try to make it more interesting. Last year there were times when it almost got too bogged down with 6 people in most of the sessions.
Beggarking, how many player slots are you planning to have in each of your sessions? Hoping I might be able to sit in on one since we are running at different times and I'm actually going to buy some tickets to play this year, unlike last year.
P.S., on second thought, since you are hoping to aim at new players, maybe I'll just swing by your sessions to possibly help explain things to anyone who might have trouble with understanding it.
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Beggarking, how many player slots are you planning to have in each of your sessions? Hoping I might be able to sit in on one since we are running at different times and I'm actually going to buy some tickets to play this year, unlike last year.
I just put in for one table (6 players at each event). I thought about 8 but would rather keep it small and make sure everyone has enough time to really participate.
Wolfhound - Help or participation would be great :D - I can try to do the same for one of your events but my evenings look to be pretty booked at this point.
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Likewise, I'd be happy to lend a hand and observe, but I tend to book as much as I can Thurs-Fri after 6pm in order to maximize my time at Gen Con. If any of those slots fall through I'll show up though.
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So is everyone who is running a game running RMU? No HARP Fantasy or SF? It will work for me. I just hope I can catch them when they show up in the events. I was available Friday evening until my friend Pete put us all in the the legendary drunk#$% party. So we will see how capable everyone is Saturday morning...lol. Saturday evening we are supposed to go to this intro to sword fighting. That goes until 9 pm, after that is great. Thursday evening is a 5 hr Mage game. sounds cool but I would replace that for RMU or HARP.
Bruce
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Paranoia
Numenera
Star Wars: (New system).
X-Wing
Wings of Glory and Sails of Glory
Space Hulk
Wow, disappointing. That's what my end result looked like initially. Worst I've done with event registration at Gen Con. Not a single slot to be found for Paranoia, Numenera, Star Wars or X-Wing (other than the tournament, which I couldn't do). All the stuff I did get was after dealer hall hours, which surprised me a bit.
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Yeah it kind of sucked. I had planned on the Victoriana game that my childhood best friend is running. The three of us put in for all three registered games as top priority and none were approved. Walt and I hadn't gamed together since like 1989! Truth be told none of us got any of the events we really wanted to get. I even hit the register events button the second it was active. I ended up being 4000+ in line. I just hope I can actually get into the ICE games when and if they become active.
What exactly are dealer hall hours?
Bruce
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If your friend is RUNNING a game couldn't they have saved a spot for you? (i.e. set the max one person lower and you just fill that slot?). I kinda expected to not get into Paranoia, somewhat expected to not get into Numenera and was more optimistic about new Star Wars RPG... I had 2-3 backup slots for each of them and didn't get a single one.
I was 3610 in line. My friend that's going was like 1500 or so. I don't think it had so much to do with timing of you hitting the button as just how long it took for your computer to communicate the info. Mine sat for a while before it gave me a number... that window was much shorter for some than others from the sound of it. It would be interesting to see what number people were across the country and how long their wishlists were. Overall I think they (Gen Con LLC) did a good job though. Considering housing sold out in a day I was half expecting the fans to crash the event server when it opened up the flood gates (to be fair it did go down for a VERY short time, but they fixed it faster than I've ever seen someone do it).
Anyhow... now that the initial mad dash is over you shouldn't have as much trouble getting into almost any of the events that are put in from now on so long as you stay on top of it. Really popular ones like Paranoia and Numenera might go quick, but it's not like they'll disappear immediately (might not last the day though). I'm sure those on the boards here running events will give us a heads up when their events go live (so long as they are told I guess). Just use the "Find Event" button and put Rolemaster as the system (try Role Master also just in case someone spells it that way).
So, the dealer hall hours are 10am-6pm Monday-Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday. I always try to pack in as many events as I can after the dealer hall closes, then go back and fill in events I 'must' have during the hall hours. I like to have at least a full 8 hours (spread over the days) open for the dealer hall, with Thursday and Sunday afternoon being the more likely times. That way I can really check it out on Thursday when the crowd is smaller, pick up the stuff I know for sure I will buy at the con, then Sunday to cruise the booths I want things from but am willing to gamble on them not selling out and hopefully get a deal cause they don't want to have to pack up the merchandise and take it back home with them. Also remember that some companies will be running demos of games in their areas, so that can eat up some of your time if you want to try something you didn't get into an event for.
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My friend Walt is running a game (Victoriana) for a game company he works for (Cubicle 7). He knows of my loyalty to ICE games and figured I wouldn't want to join in. The events had already been submitted by the time I told him I wanted to play. There is also a chance Cubicle 7 submitted the events for him, I'm not sure. I will suggest that to him for next year. He did tell me he had submitted 5 events but Cubicle 7 only approved 3, I assume it had something to do with prize support. He did tell me he would run an unregistered game for me if there were enough people to play (at least 4). If anyone is interested let me know what day and time you are available. He mentioned Thursday evening but I would have to drop another game, of which I was planning on dropping if any ICE games popped up.
Bruce
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As it stands now I really only have Saturday night after 8pm (and I'll need to get food at that point) and Sunday after 4pm free.
I suspect a 4:30ish pm Sunday meetup would be the easiest to arrange so long as those leaving Sunday won't be taking off before that (i.e. grab an early dinner before you head home?).
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Bruce, What kind of game is Victoriana? If it is what I'm imagining from the name I might be interested, depending on the time Thursday evening and whether or not my RMU events are approved (as Thursday night was one of the nights I was hoping to run something). I am mentaly picturing it as some sort of Victorian England type of setting or possibly steam-punkish in nature, either way I might be interested.
Cory, early Sunday evening will probably work for me. I've taken vacation Monday also, so am not in any big rush to get back up to Michigan. also I've not actually registered for any games yet (wasn't paying attention to when the registration actually opened, but may try to register some tonight if time permits if there is anything left worth trying).
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I am not sure what time we are heading back but Sunday at 430 sounds great.
Wolfhound, you hit the mark. Victoriana is a Victorian steampunk setting. I have never actually played the game but it is recommended by a few of my gaming friends. Walt has passed on to me that they submitted three more Victoriana events that he will be running. Not sure when and if they will get approved but I will keep checking. I will post here when I find out more.
Bruce
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Well, we've got three (plus tag-alongs)! It'll be me and a friend (Peter) that's coming with for his first Gen Con.
How about you others? BeggerKing? Pyro? OldMan?
We'll have to figure out a place to eat (I'd say within a couple blocks of Con since we'll all just be leaving it) and what's reasonable cost-wise for everyone involved if we're going to do dinner.
Buca di Beppo can be good for large crowds and isn't expensive (Italian 'group' style eating), but if everyone wants to do something like St. Elmo's (on the more expensive side) I'm good with that. I suspect some of us might be "The Ram"'d out by Sunday night.
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I'm flexible on cost and/or type of food. As far as others tagging-along with me, there is a chance that some of the people I'm sharing a hotel with might want to (three of them are in the RMU playtest group that I'm currently running, and a fourth member may also be at GenCon, just not sure if they will be interested or not or when they are planing to head back up here to Michigan).
Bruce, yes be sure to let me know as I'm willing to give it a try if it works out timing wise to participate.
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I'll check with my wife, I'm not sure when she wants to get back home Sunday (It's a 4ish hour drive home) but she is keeping things clear Sunday so be able to enjoy the Dealer Room, art, and some other things.
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I'd like to catch up Sunday - I haven't finalized my travelling plans so it may not work with flights and such, but will let you know soon. In the meantime please count me in.
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I will ask my friend Pete this Sunday when we go see Xmen about the dinner meet up at Gencon on Sunday.
Corey: Funny thing, I am going to Gencon for the first time with my friend (HARP player) "Pete", along with his best friend......
Wolfhound: I will try and let you know. I just checked and there were no Rolemaster, HARP, or Victoriana games added yet.
PM me if you want to provide your email or a cell number (to text you when I see it).
Bruce
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A wild newcomer appears!
Hey guys, I've been interested in Rolemaster for a while now and I'm also attending my first GenCon this year due to a crazy random happenstance. Unfortunately I've been a little late on the ball as far as registration goes, but I've read through this topic here and I was wondering if anyone has a rundown of what information has been released as to any RMU games being put on. I'm going with a few friends that I've convinced to try out the playtest at a later date, but a quick session at the con would definitely be the best way to introduce them since I haven't had much GM experience before.
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You should be in luck. A couple of the people here are running RM events, they just have not shown up in the events yet so you should be able to watch this thread for when they go live I'm guessing (that'll probably post them elsewhere too). I'll leave discussing the specifics to them though...
Oh, and welcome to the forums! I suspect you'll find things much friendlier here than many of the RPG forums out there. Lot's of long time RM players here and a good number of the authors for various bits and pieces of RM.
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RadBlacksmith, welcome to the ICE Forums and be as wild as you want. As long as it is within the ROC.
MDC
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Welcome RadBlacksmith. Beggarking submitted at least a couple of events that last I heard had not been accepted yet, and I've submitted 6 events (but submitted them late, so not sure if they will be accepted or not).
The ones I submitted are 3 hours long each, and I requested 7:00pm-10:00pm and 10:00 pm to 1:00 am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. All six (if accepted) will use 5th level pre-generated characters (most of the characters from the 6 RMU events that I ran at GenCon last year), with the actual aventures being a group of adventurers sitting in a tavern, when several "plot hooks" present themsevles (thus allowing for people to play in more than one of the sessions if they so choose without having to repeat a specific "adventure"). I am limiting it to a relatively small number of players in each session though so that it will hopefully be a little more personal and everyone will be able to play a bigger part. If my submissions are not officially accepted due to being late, I might be willing to run a game at an empty table somewhere one of the evenings though for anyone who want's to give it a try.
I will try to let those on this thread know if/when I hear anything about the sessions.
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Welcome to the forums Radblacksmith!
Wolfhound, I know I would enjoy playing a RMU game. Even if it isn't an actual event.
I am a longtime Rolemaster GM'er but I haven't run a game since HARP came out and I have barely glanced over the RMU stuff so far. I've been trying to bring people into HARP then hit them with Rolemaster but getting everyone together at a good time is a rarity these days.
I do know that there are a lot of people who are shying away from Pathfinder because of it's video game like atmosphere. The time is ripe to bring in new HARP/Rolemaster players but gaming time is the clincher.
Bruce
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Hi all,
Gathering-wise, Sunday is a possible but I have another group thinking the same day ... :(
Regards,
Old Man
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I just checked the Gencon events listing and most of the newly added RPG events are AD&D 1st ed and Legend of the five rings. There are loads of both though most of the AD&D ones are only an hour or two.
Bruce
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With this being the first year that I've paid much attention to the length of events, I'm surprised at how short some of them are.
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My events still haven't been accepted (still pending) They are scheduled for Friday afternoon but timeslots may change if they are approved.
In the case of a no-go (the events are rejected) maybe a group of us could just grab a table and play through a scenario or 2 anyways?
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With this being the first year that I've paid much attention to the length of events, I'm surprised at how short some of them are.
Yeah, I think a good number of them are likely set too short. In the past they wanted you to have a realistic time window in order to be able to start and finish about 10mins early so the GM had time to setup/arrange from a possible previous group and so the participants could get to their next game if they were running back to back events (which is not uncommon at all). I think at some point a lot of people stopped doing that and, worst yet, are also underestimating game length. Fortunately the only back to back events I have this year are Seminar/Workshops so it shouldn't be an issue. Course, I still might add some things in ...
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I think I only have one set of back to back events... I have all of my events so far programmed into my calendar on my phone so I will be notified 15 mins before they start.
There are still no ICE game events. I posted a question on the Gencon forums asking how long it could take to get the other events listed. Hopefully one of the people who handle the event scheduling will chime in.
Beggarking, It would be great to sit and experience a RMU game with the other forum members going this year, I'm game... Though we will have to see when it comes to what times we will all be available.
Bruce
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I think the only back to back's I have are seminars in the Westin and the Crown Plaza. 2 block hike, but since they are seminars I'm not at all concerned. Everything else I have one hour gaps between at least.
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Hi guys,
When you all know which ICE games (if any) you are hosting etc did you want me to put a shout out on social media to see if any other ICE fans want to join in or meet up?
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The response from Gencon is they should be able to go through the rest of the events and have them posted within a week. They said there are a handful of Rolemaster but no HARP events.
Bruce
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Hi guys,
When you all know which ICE games (if any) you are hosting etc did you want me to put a shout out on social media to see if any other ICE fans want to join in or meet up?
Yes, I think that would be great. I'm sure there are a lot of RM fans that don't frequent these boards, so tossing it up on your Facebook page would be a good idea.
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My 6 events have been accepted (received the emails early this morning (3:42 June 3rd). But in the notice that they were it was stated that they have not been added to the list of available events and that locations have not yet been assigned for them. So they are slowly making progress on processing submissions.
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Mine too - "accepted for consideration" means they don't have a space or timespot yet - essentially means they found nothing wrong with the submission.
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This is good news. I just hope I can get into at least one of these events. I am not sure what my roomies are willing to give up so I am not sure what time I can purchase for the events. The guy, Pete, who does all the scheduling for him and Chris (the other guy) is on his 2 week honeymoon in Greece (started yesterday). So unless there is a way to contact him I am just going to wing it and hope for the best.
My friend Walt said look to see the events approved by tonight, but I'm not feeling that is a good time for the Gencon planners.
Bruce
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Judging by the fact that none of the RM events are posted yet I am guessing they had "a lot" of late submissions.
Bruce
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I believe they still have 100's of events left to fit in.
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I was actually discussing GM badges and their policies with the lead event organizer yesterday by email and he was saying that all of the remaining events should be appearing within the next few days.
On that note (GM badges), when ICE is able to have an official presence there (hopefully next year with the upcoming release of the new Rolemaster), they need to have someone (who will be attending) act as an official "event organizer" that can then get (work with the GenCon folks and can pick up the associated GM badges at the opening of the convention) GM badges for those who are willing to run larger (large number of player-hours) quantities of events that can then get complimentary GM badges. He had asked me if I was the offical ICE event organizer and I told him no, that I was just one of a couple of independant GM's who are working with the ICE folks, but that I didn't think any of us were running enough to qualify for the complimentary badges, but that there might be someone next year due to the upcoming release of the newest versio of the rules, as well as for other ICE products such as the HARP product line.
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Assuming ICE can ever spring for a booth and possibly cover a portion of trip costs I'm willing to work the both with someone and act as the go-between with Gen Con LLC for things like arranging GM Badges and possible housing reimbursement. I live in their neck of the woods (20 miles or so) and am aquainted with them and working Gen Con (I've run events in the past and have worked the Con as a WotC employee - which is who owned it at the time and technically Peter is still the 'man in charge').
To get a GM badge you only need 70 player hours of events. Assuming you have 6 players in a 4 hour event that's 24 hours of player hours. So that's only 4 event slots. Do one like 10am-2pm and one somewhere from 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm to 10pm, 11pm or Midnight on Fri night, Sat morn, Sat night, Sun morn. That's not bad really.
However, to get 1/4th room reimbursement you need 200 hours. That's tougher.
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Last year my badge cost was reimbursed due to running enough hours worth of events. This year I'm not running enough hours worth of events to have my badge reimbursed in that way unless every event is completely full (which didn't happen last year, but we will see if all are full or not).
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I will highlight to John Seal for consideration for next year.
If it is a possibility, I am sure he will want to work with both of you considering your prior experience in this area - and of course, this would earn you bonus OIC DP. ;D
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Booth-wise, time permitting, Mrs. Old Man and I would likely be able to assist in staffing as well. We helped Fred of Cloven Fruit when he did an ICE booth in 08 (?) and also, "back in the day" did the ICE/Grey Worlds booth in 92-94.
Regards,
Old Man
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When ICE is ready to again have a presence at GenCon, there will likely be many of us who will be available to help. Hopefully next year with the release of the new Rolemaster and with a variety of HARP products on the market, it will hopefully be a good year for ICE to return to GenCon.
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As an update, I just received notice from GenCon that locations have been assigned for my 6 events
"JW : 305 : 1-or-2" which I'm assuming is room #305 at the JW Marriott, with the table number being 1 or 2 depending on the session.
I just did a search and no events are showing up for Rolemaster yet, so it hasn't been added for access yet, but hopefully it will be soon.
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Check out this link...
http://gencon.eventdb.us/ (http://gencon.eventdb.us/)
Up top there is a tab for "Changes" that will let you track was has been added, removed completely or had tickets returned recently (it updates a the 6 and 12 hours, so four times a day)
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I got an email from Gencon and I quote:
Thousands of events have been added and updated since the initial event schedule release in early May, and the next batch of late-submitted events will release at approximately 6 pm eastern on Sunday, June 8.
So I need to be on here then to get the events I want, like Rolemaster.
Bruce
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Looks like a couple of my events were just approved:
https://www.gencon.com/events/search?fri=true&sat=true&sun=true&thur=true&title=Intrigue+in+the+Magical+City+of+Aram&wed=true (https://www.gencon.com/events/search?fri=true&sat=true&sun=true&thur=true&title=Intrigue+in+the+Magical+City+of+Aram&wed=true)
RPG1460709
RPG1464400
Hm - should probably look at booking that plane ticket now....
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Yup, just got a notice about my events also:https://www.gencon.com/events/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&event_type=&commit=Search&game_code=&keyword=&title=&game_system=Rolemaster&wed=true&thur=true&fri=true&sat=true&sun=true&hour= (https://www.gencon.com/events/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&event_type=&commit=Search&game_code=&keyword=&title=&game_system=Rolemaster&wed=true&thur=true&fri=true&sat=true&sun=true&hour=)
There are now 8 different rolemaster events available for registration.
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8 now - 6 Channel Cities and 2 Aram
RPG1460763 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Thursday
7:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
RPG1460764 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Thursday
10:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
RPG1460709 Intrigue in the Magical City of Aram
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Friday
3:00 PM 2 hrs $2 6
RPG1464400 Intrigue in the Magical City of Aram
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Friday
5:00 PM 2 hrs $2 6
RPG1460765 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Friday
7:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
RPG1460766 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Friday
10:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
RPG1460767 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Saturday
7:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
RPG1460768 Channel Cities at Night
Rolemaster, playtest Edition
Saturday
10:00 PM 3 hrs $4 4
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Added everything to my Google Calendar (my events, beggarkings events (in case I can watch or help, although will probably have to duck out for his second event to grab some dinner before my events start up), as well as other events that I purchased tickets to). Thursday is pretty well booked up for me from noon on and Friday is also looking kind of busy, but Saturday during the day is still pretty open for me to spend time in the actual hall, and sunday is wide open. I purchased some generic tickets in case I get the opportunity to sit in on other things that look interesting.
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Alright, I dumped an event to sign up for...
Channel Cities at Night / Sat at 10:00 PM slot.
I was going to do all new stuff I haven't done this year, but I just can't go to Gen Con and not play at least one RM event.
FYI, anyone trying for Paranoia there are two new events up for it. It's one of the most in-demand game system events there is... so they'll go fast. (I signed up for the Thurs night 7pm slot).
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Ok I tried signing up for the events, but they are all in conflict with other events I have signed up for. How do I override the conflicts?
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I was able to schedule both events. The "Intrigue in the Magical City of Aram" on Friday at 5pm for just me, and the "Channel Cities at Night" on Sat at 10 pm for all three of us. Now I am also attending the Realm Works tips and tricks on Friday from 4 till 5pm, I hope they aren't far apart. I am not sure how to tell where each event is by what the give as location and what the map shows, nothing matches!
All three of us are attending the "Intro to sword fighting" on sat and it ends at 9pm, so there is a chance we will be a little sweaty....
Bruce
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If you follow the link that Cory provided above there is a drop-down with maps for each of the hotel conference rooms. But if you need to see where each of the hotel's is relative to one another or to the convention center you can zoom in on the area using mapquest, google maps, or google earth. Most of them are positioned around the convention center.
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Thanks but I was directed to an interactive map of the places and one is separated by a good distance....The Realm Works seminar (which I really want to attend) is in the Crown Plaza. It is just before the Rolemaster event "Intrigue in the Magical......" I am not sure f I would make it on time... so I might have to cut the RW seminar short, if not cut it out entirely... dinner and all...
As of right now I am free Friday eve after the Rolemaster event. If anyone wants to get together for a few drinks let me know...PM me or what not.
I was thinking of attending either the Friday Night Live! or Unlockable Characters comedy events. We could meet at one of those if they serve drinks (food is a bonus).
Bruce
PS Are we still on for dinner at 430pm on Sunday? I have one event (Savage Worlds) that day from 2pm to 4pm at the Marriott.
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Well, now that I think my schedule is pretty much set (unless I can attend a new Star Wars at a time that doesn't conflict with what I have)...
I'm up early for a Thursday morning one hour seminar, then into the dealers hall until 2pm. Have a go at Wings of Glory 2pm-4pm, then free from 4pm until 7pm... then into Paranoia until midnight.
Friday is fairly booked 10am-11pm (have four sporadic hours free in there - most of which will probably be spent relaxing/eating). Five hours of seminars and four hours of Space Hulk.
Saturday is utterly booked 10am-1am (I've only got 2 hours free in there). I may regret Saturdays schedule... if I look sleepy it won't be due to your GMing Wolfhound. 11 Hours of events!
Sunday I do an early one hours seminar again (if I can manage to wake up and get there on time) I've got the rest the day free. I'll probably hit the dealer hall again to see if there are any good deals going.
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Actually, Wolfhound, if you'd like me to drop the RM event Sat so someone new to RM can try it out I'm be completely fine with that.
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I am glad things are coming together, it was sounding a little bleak there for a time.
MDC
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Cory, do whatever you think. From a time perspectivr th late saturday event is the only one of mine that anyone has claimed tickets for so far. As far as being tired, that's not a big deal on my end but if it is toommuch going on that day for you, do what you think is best.
Bruce, if I'm not too worn out after the last rolemaster event that night I might be able to, just a matter of is I get much sleep the night befor.
On Bruce's note about locations, beggarking did you notice thatmyour two events are located in two different buildings, even though theymare sceduled one right after the other? If I'm able to swing by your first event I can help you get stuff gathered up and moved from the Marriott over to the JW Marriott (they are on opposite sides of the big parking garage that sits next to the Indianapolis Convention Center). As it is my first event that day is sceduled on the exact same table that your second event is scheduled at right after yours is done.
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beggarking did you notice thatmyour two events are located in two different buildings, even though theymare sceduled one right after the other?
Yeah, I noticed that - surprised that happened. Luckily the Marriott and JW are fairly close, but it means I'll have to really watch my time. Weird that we have the same table - coincidence?
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I have that table for both of my events that day (one right after the other), and another table in that same room for the remaining four events that I'll be GMing over the following two days.
Last year the six events I ran were at 4 different tables but all where within the same two rooms that were right next to one another (on the second floor of the older Marriott Hotel), but then again I set the events up last year with a 2 hour block of nothing in between (so I'd have time to grab some dinner between). So I think they generally do try to have similar events in the same area when possible. In fact those two rooms that I was running in last year had the same 4 or 5 of us running most of the multiple events in those rooms around that time.
But with that said, it is odd that they scheduled your sessions in different buildings. Not sure if you want to, but it might be worth contacting Derek Gruder about it to see if it was a mistake or if they simply didn't have any tables available at the JW Marriott at that time. They may simply have overlooked that your two events were one right after the other but scheduled in different buildings.
If they can't change it and you are stuck needing to make the walk from the one to the other, be sure to let me know as I can probably head over there a little early and let others who show up for your second event that you are on your way, and with how I've got things arranged with my sessions I can probably let you use the table for a little extra time if need be, and try to shift each of my events back a little (as I doubt anyone is running anything after me, or I'd be surprised if they were anyways due to how late it will be getting).
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Good grief. I just realized I booked myself for 13 hours on Saturday. Maybe I'll skip the event between Numenera and RM. Otherwise I'm booked straight from 3pm-1am Saturday night. I suspect I'm going to want to eat some real food in there somewhere.
Where did everyone end up hotel-wise? I'm in the Omni.
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Good grief. I just realized I booked myself for 13 hours on Saturday. Maybe I'll skip the event between Numenera and RM. Otherwise I'm booked straight from 3pm-1am Saturday night. I suspect I'm going to want to eat some real food in there somewhere.
Where did everyone end up hotel-wise? I'm in the Omni.
I'm in the Candlewood Suites Indianapolis south. It's a 30 min ride from the convention area.
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Mrs. and I are at the Hampton Inn.
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No idea where I'm staying at, as I'm staying with some friends who reserved a room that is out by the airport somewhere.
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At this point one of beggarkings events is nearly full (5 of 6 tickets claimed) and the other is half full. Two of my six events are full, one is nearly full (3 of 4 tickets claimed), one more has a singlemseat open while the other two are still completely open. So there are still open seats if anyone else is interested.
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Is it allowed to record your event for uploading to YouTube or other such medium? Or live streaming?
MDC
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Is it allowed to record your event for uploading to YouTube or other such medium? Or live streaming?
I'm not seeing anything in the Event Host Policy about recording/streaming. I'd want to warn folks about that before they signed up and paid their 2$ tho.... maybe something to consider for future events?
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I was just thinking about if there were people who would want to watch an event being played since they could not make it themselves. So there woudl be no interaction on the viewers part just watching what was going on and getting a feel for the game system and adventure.
MDC
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They managed to switch around my back to back events so that they are at the same table (Marriott :: Lincoln :: 7) - so got that going for me. I'm not going to do the video thing this year but I do plan on sharing all of the files/materials/scenario stuff I put together. Having fun right now putting together the character packages players get to choose from.
I'm bunking with a friend from another game company that's running a slew of events and has a bunch of space in the DM area, but I'm not sure which hotel we are at yet.
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I was just wondering with the age of technology upon us if there were any Gen Con Reg's about Video Conferencing? If they have not told you about it then I do not think that there are any.
MDC
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Looks like I'm staying at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown - schedule is almost put together. We still planning on getting together Sunday afternoon?
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Looks like I'm staying at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown - schedule is almost put together. We still planning on getting together Sunday afternoon?
That puts you where your event is I think, right? That'll be handy.
I think Sunday afternoon is the best time, if people are good with meeting up after the hall closes on Sunday (4pm).
I always book myself up for post-dealer hall hours Thurs-Sat. Before I was able to get my hands on Paranoia, the new Star Wars, and Numenera slots it wasn't so bad... but Thurs/Fri I have one hour dinner breaks from only 6pm-7pm and I booked myself up pretty solid Saturday. Going from 10am Sat morning until 1am Sun morning with only a 2 hour break at lunch.
I guess we'll need to pick a place and price range Anyone with out of the ordinary preferences? Vegetarian or Vegan?
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I guess we'll need to pick a place and price range Anyone with out of the ordinary preferences? Vegetarian or Vegan?
I'm okay with just about anything.
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We've got plenty of time to hash it out, it'd be good to have a plan before we all arrive, so...
Assuming all are going and can do late afternoon/early evening Sunday we have...?
Myself + 1 friend
Wolfhound (solo?)
Beggerking +1 friend?
Bruce +1 friend?
OldMan +1 wife?
Pyro + 3 wife/daughter/niece?
Food-wise I'm not sure how busy Sunday night is. I'm betting it's busy post closing, so I can make reservations if possible.
I'm going to avoid the cheap 'fast-food' like places. I'm sure we'll all be more happy at a 'nicer' sit down place.
Mid Price Range? (maybe $15-20 per person?)
~1 block from ICC: The Ram (I'm getting it'll be packed some of us might be "rammed out" by the end of the con).
~2 blocks from the ICC: Hard Rock Cafe (often a bit loud...)
~2 blocks from ICC: The Old Spaghetti Factory
~2-3 blocks from ICC: Napolese Pizza (likes kinda like it's individual pizzas?)
~2-3 blocks from ICC: Buca di Beppo (good, but family style - i.e. a plate will feed 3-6 people depending, so we'd have to decide on food by committee and bring cash to make it easier).
Upper-Mid Price Range? (maybe $25-35 per person?)
~1 block from ICC: Harry and Izzy's
~2-3 blocks from ICC: Weber Grill
Upper Price Range (probably $45+ per person?)
~ 1 block from ICC: St Elmo's Steakhouse (this one might hurt for you Pyro)
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Yes, likely to be solo, but very slim chance of 1 to 3 others.
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As for cheaper (read mid-ranged) places to eat at Gen Con, I've found the Colt's Grill to be under the radar of most attendees for some reason. It caters to the gamers (video game room, sci-fi and fantasy movies playing, cosplaying waitstaff, and they were even giving away custom dice last year), has pretty good food (their pretzel appetizer was great!), and has never been very busy when I've gone there (about 5 times in the last two years). For a place that is only a couple blocks from the ICC it seems to be a pretty well kept secret.
And I still haven't heard from my wife when she thinks we want to leave Sunday. So I may or may not be able to make it.
I hope to see some of you guys there!
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Hi all,
Sunday afternoon is probably iffy for my wife and I as well. We usually poop-out mid-afternoon and are on the road before the con and vendor close (4 pm).
Regards,
Old Man
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We could try doing it earlier on Sunday, just not sure if anyone is hoping to do a final cruise through the dealer hall then or not.
I've got a couple hours between 5pm and 7pm on Thursday and it looks like none of the events Wolf/Beggar are running interfere with that.
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Either earlier on Sunday or Thursday evening (so I have time to get back to the JW by 7:00pm) would work for me if others are available. Don't have anything in particular scheduled at those times.
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My Thursday evening is booked :( - Sunday should work for me, although still juggling some stuff...
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Ok, looks like Sunday it is. So Pyro and OldMan, I think you two just need to see how late the the ball and chain will let you stay. ;)
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To further the noble cause of the Order of the Iron Crown, we are asking anyone who is running games at, or attending GenCon 2014 to get in touch to discuss any of the following options which they might be interested in taking part in:
- Having flyers available on their gaming tables
- Writing pre and post GenCon blog entries
- Live tweeting games / con experience
- giving quotes/updates on preperations for GenCon for social media
- Submitting pictures of GenCon/games for social media
- Anything else that you think will assist you or the OIC
I'm not 100% what the rules are at GenCon relating to some of these points but they will be thoroughly researched if someone is interest.
Thanks for being the vanguard of the OIC, delving into the deep unknown to spread the word of the Iron Crown. You are kings amongst men.
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Thanks - wouldn't be an RPG event for me without some RMing - will send you PM.
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...
- Writing pre and post GenCon blog entries
- Live tweeting games / con experience
- giving quotes/updates on preperations for GenCon for social media
- Submitting pictures of GenCon/games for social media
...
I will be doing some or most of these as I go through the event. Time/schedule permitting I will see if I can drop by an RMU slot and post some pictures from it.
Any hashtag thoughts? #oic? #oic-gencon?
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I'd suggest #IronCrown and #gencon or #gencon2014. We want people who are just looking for GenCon related things to be able to find it as well as people that are looking for ICE specific things.
If you PM me your twitter handle I will follow you from the official ICE account to make sure I don't miss anything.
In fact, if any ICE forum members want to PM me their twitter handles I'll follow them. It would be nice to get some friends and familiar faces in the ICE feed. Don't get me wrong, I love Will Wheaton but adding some of you guys into the mix would be just swell.
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In fact, if any ICE forum members want to PM me their twitter handles I'll follow them. It would be nice to get some friends and familiar faces in the ICE feed. Don't get me wrong, I love Will Wheaton but adding some of you guys into the mix would be just swell.
I don't spend much time with social media type things (these forums are about the extent of it for me), but Will Wheaton follows or comments on ICE's twitter feed? While I knew he was a gamer, I didn't realize that he was interested in the ICE product lines. On that note, that is something I've wanted to figure out how to contact the writing staff at Big Bang Theory about for years now, as with the characters on that show being the way they are, I'm sure that they would prefer games like Rolemaster, Spacemaster and Eve Online where there is logic and challenge to it rather than the games that they normally portray on the show (like the D&somethin' rpg and WoW). Something like that would be a great publicity thing for ICE if such mention cold be made. While the show may be nearing its end in the next few years (I would expect within another 1-3 years, even though I hope it doesn't), such a mention would do wonders for ICE's publicity as it is a great outlet for gamer geek culture. Might be worth even considering sending free copies of the new RMU books once they are published to the Big Bang Theory staff or actors with a letter about such a possibility.
But the unfortunate part is that the writers aren't supposed to read anything on the internet that is written about the show (so that people can't claim that they "stole an idea" from some fan). So how to get something like that in front of them to hopefully get it mentioned on the show is the difficult part.
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It would be great for ICE to get the nod on BBT, but often products represented are product placement and require $ from the company selling it.
MDC
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yup, I know that unfortunately that is the case. But I thought that maybe a letter explaining how the ICE products tend to be played by the more logical thinking and better educated members of the RPG market and supplied with free copies of the product might help, especially if Will Wheaton also pushes for it if he is truly a fan as well.
I'll have to take a look at what his involvement as been on the twitter feed (just for curiosity). Actually, with me not ever reading twitter feeds, how would I access such stuff (I may get involved it is something that doesn't require too much time and is not too difficult)?
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Sorry, I didn't mean to start rumours. I have no evidence to suggest that Wil Wheaton plays, has played or ever will play an ICE game, he just comes up in the ICE twitter feed because I follow him.
I am however pleased that I'm not the only person who believes that the BBT guys would not play D&D, they'd play Rolemaster.
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Wil Wheaton is a rather prolific poster too. As much as I like him in general, I finally unfollowed him on Facebook because of the sheer volume of stuff he posts that I have absolutely no interest in (Like: what beer he happens to be drinking, anything to do with the L.A. Kings, etc). His politics are also sometimes a little too "knee-jerk uninformed rants" for me.
I just don't do Twitter though. A bit too narcissistic for me.
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Sorry if I jumped to conclusions there. I must have misunderstood what you were meaning.
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Hey all, sorry I have been in Hiatus the last few weeks or so. Been busy with work and all. As far as the dinner meet up, Sunday afternoon is good after 4pm (I have a savage worlds game from 2 till 4pm). I have two friends that will probably make it with me. The third friend (Walt the guy who helped design the Victoriana game line) will not be able to make because he has a flight home on Sunday afternoon. On that note I have an extra ticket for the Victoriana game on Thursday from 2pm till 5pm. If anyone is interested in playing this game please let me know by PM. The ticket is free for ICE gamers (though it is not an ICE game...lol)
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So it sounds like we plan for getting together after the exhibit hall closes and any 'official' events are over, we'll say 4:30pm? Trying to communicate at the con itself might be problematic, so I suspect it's best if we get a fairly solid plan up front. Something close to the ICC is probably best too, so once we know who's going to be able to show we can figure out where we're going. Hopefully they'll take reservations for larger groups, just in case the post Con crowd hits the restaurants hard.
So it sounds like it'll be...
2 - Myself and a friend.
3 - Bruce, sounds like you plus two friends.
1 - Wolfhound, assume you're solo?
2 - Beggarking, still you plus one?
4? - Oldman and Pyro, any word from the wives?
jdale, I think you were going to be at Gen Con... have time/any interest?
Obviously anyone else speak up if you'll be there.
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Sounds like there might be 2-3 people coming along with me to the dinner get-together (from the RMU play-test group I run) as well.
Bruce, I would be interested in the Victoriana ticket, but already have something scheduled that would overlap with the first hour. However I may at least swing by to see how the game is played and such (and if no one else claims the ticket and it would not disrupt things too badly (although I suspect it probably would be disruptive) I can join in late).
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...
4? - Oldman and Pyro, any word from the wives?
...
Don't count on me, I expect to be on the road by then.
For those twitter-wise, my handle is @ACDurston
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Sounds like there might be 2-3 people coming along with me to the dinner get-together (from the RMU play-test group I run) as well.
Bruce, I would be interested in the Victoriana ticket, but already have something scheduled that would overlap with the first hour. However I may at least swing by to see how the game is played and such (and if no one else claims the ticket and it would not disrupt things too badly (although I suspect it probably would be disruptive) I can join in late).
It probably would be a little disruptive, but as I remember Walt was a good GM who could handle such situations. But, I don't know if it would be possible based on the situation we will be in when you arrive I will ask Walt and see what he thinks.
Though if someone else here wants to play and lets me know, then the ticket is their's. Otherwise it will be a first come first serve basis.
Bruce
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Word from my wife is that we need to be leaving around 4 to 5ish at the latest. My child starts preschool that Monday in the morning and is going to need to be rested before the big day. With a several hour drive ahead of us that is as late as we could really push things.
So I probably won't be able to make it, and if I can it would only be for a few minutes to say hi and get going.
I will try to find some time to swing by the RMU games and see who I can catch sometime however.
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4:30 on Sunday works for me. And it's just me, solo. Looking forward to this gathering of rogues....
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Has anyone thought of a place to get together? The reason I am asking is I saw this ad in the Gencon newsletter about this place Ruth's Chris Steak House and a special deal they have for Gencon attendee's. Anyone who has been down there ever eat at this place?
Anyone that is going and interested in exchanging phone numbers please PM me.
Bruce
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Has anyone thought of a place to get together? The reason I am asking is I saw this ad in the Gencon newsletter about this place Ruth's Chris Steak House and a special deal they have for Gencon attendee's. Anyone who has been down there ever eat at this place?
Anyone that is going and interested in exchanging phone numbers please PM me.
Bruce
We've had dinner there which was good but it is pricey (had gift cards to soften the blow). They are doing a pre-ordered lunch special for Fridays. I've read mixed reviews about that.
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We have a Ruth's Chris in Seattle, very good food. On the moderately higher end cost-wise. (Steak ~$45, sides are a la carte $8 baked potato for example, etc). I'm good with that, but if everyone is good with spending that kind of money St. Elmo's might a good option. I've seen a lot of good reviews of them, seems they are on par, but local instead of a chain - and about as close, within a block of the ICC. They also own a cheaper place (Harry and Izzy's) right next door that does pizza.
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Hi guys,
Anyone off to GenCon that wants flyers to hand out, please PM me with an email address to which I can send them. Any other questions, let me know.
Enjoy GenCon!
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Ok, since it's almost G-Day... let's plan on St. Elmo's at 4:30pm on Sunday.
It's akin to Ruth's, but local and only a block from the ICC. I'll see if they will take a reservation and make it for a dozen.
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Let me know by text if you get the reservation or not.... This is probably my last post (and last time checking) until after Gencon.
Bruce
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Quick Q for all - anyone else printing the various posters/fliers from Colin?
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Ok, St. Elmo's Sunday 8/17 4:30. Held for 12 people.
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Quick Q for all - anyone else printing the various posters/fliers from Colin?
Quick Q for all - anyone else printing the various posters/fliers from Colin?
I printed a copy of most of them, then photocopied them (so that it wouldn't kill my printers ink cartridge).
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Well I briefly saw Aaron at one his slots but had to leave Indy around 2:30pm so couldn't make the meetup today.
Things went pretty well for me this Gen Con (as well as they can when you are hauling around a 4 year old). So I'm pretty happy with this years con myself.
Hope everyone had a great Con, and I hope to be able to meet some more of you next year.
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Hi all,
Had fun watching a bit of the Saturday night slot. Did you end up having to check the structural integrity rules for tenement walls? :)
Ciao,
Old Man
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Went fairly smooth this year. Played a bunch of Wings/Sails of Glory and got enough coupons and freebies that I ended up with like 11 ships for about $70 (just three of the larger ones would be $75 normally). They were also discounted about 20% at the booth which was nice. I refuse to pay full rate, likely have to stand in line just to look, then have to carry it home when I could just buy it onlne for 30% off and get it shipped free (lookin at you Fantasy Flight).
Played in Aarons game late Sat. I think we BS'd about a 3rd of the time away. With a little on-the-spot tactical choices we mopped the enemy pretty good. Nice putting some names to faces at the event and dinner Sunday.
Sitting at the airport now hoping that, for the first time ever, I won't have an issue going through Chicago. Have tomorrow off to recover just in case... recover from vacation day. The best four days in gaming is often enough gaming before you need a break!
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Great to see you guys there and see who is who (pyrotech, OldMan, Bruce and Cory in particular), although I might not be remembering correctly, but I think OldMan may have stopped by last year also. He took some photo's of the game, not sure if he put them up online somewhere for others to see but I thought that was the plan. Sorry I missed the dinner Sunday night, but I didn't realize that a couple of the people in our group needed to be back to work early Monday morning, one at 6:00 am and another another at 8:00 am. While I had taken the day off Monday, others needed to get back at a reasonable time. But I was pretty well worn out and nearly fell asleep at the wheel a couple of times while driving north (about a 6 hour drive), so probably good that we didn't stick around any later for dinner, otherwise might not have made it home. The lack of sleep for several nights in a row probably didn't help with that either.
Met several other people who are only semi-active on the forums who also participated in the Channel Cities at Night sessions. Can't recall who they said they were from a forum ID standpoint now if they told me. But some of them showed up for the games or stopped by to see if there were any openings, which there often were. All 6 sessions had sold out, but I think only one had all four of the people who had originally purchased tickets for it show up. But the sessions generally seemed to go well. There were also several people who are Rolemaster and/or HARP fans from way back that hadn't played in a decade or more, as well as two younger guys who had never played it at all, but said that they had heard about it and wanted to give it a try. They walked away from the table saying that they will definitely be using Rolemaster in the future. It was a combination of the critical tables and the mechanics (open-ended rolls, character creation flexibility, wide range of spells, and the gory details of the criticals) that got them hooked. There were a lot of questions about when the new version will be released or when the next version of the open-playtest will be available, neither of which could I answer since I'm just as curious.
OldMan, no we didn't go to that depth with it. I just had them make a strength check to try to bash through the wall (which failed, even without the penalty that I applied to the roll). But they did come up with an alternative entry method.
Also picked up a few games and other items, as well as talked with various people about different aspects of game publishing and design, tried out several games that are not yet in production (some were pretty good, others sucked) and paid attention to how they presented the information and talked about each game. Especially what worked and what didn't from a teaching and "sales pitch" perspective.
And yes the lines to get into the Fantasy Flight games booth was downright ridiculous. Didn't bother looking at their stuff even though there was some things that I might have considered purchasing if it would not have been an hour or more wait just to look.
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Aaron
Yep stuck my head in Saturday but should have introduced myself. I took one pix that I put on Twitter. Attached it here as well (if it will fit).
Regards,
Old Man
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This was my first Gencon and I had a really great time. Especially meeting the guys from the ICE forums. I haven't played as a player in over 20 years (except for recent Pathfinder organized play and that doesn't count). It was really refreshing that in every RPG game I played in all the players were good role players. But I will have to say the most interesting group of players were the ones in the Rolemaster game on Saturday night. It was only three of us but we worked great together in the game. I have never actually played Rolemaster as a player and I have never had any combat in Rolemaster where no one took any damage (at least combat damaege from the enemies). Both happened during Gencon.
It was a great game and we had a lot of fun, not just playing but also just chatting amongst ourselves. I'm sorry for those of you who were at the convention and couldn't make it to the dinner because we had a great time and the meal was amazing.
I played in both RMU events and both were a lot of fun. The one on Friday run by Beggarking (Thomas) was essentially a combat demo but it was great fun and in that one I played a Mentalist. I was dead last when it came to initiative and hung out in the back anyway as a mentalist normally would. I don't believe I took any damage in this one, I'm not sure. It was a little tough but everyone seemed to know what they were doing.
In the one on Saturday night run by Aaron (Wolfhound) I played a Magician and was joined by two other members of these forums. If it wasn't for the fighter failing his climbing roll I don't think anyone would have taken any damage during the entire session. We all played some great tactics during this session though I believe the bad perception checks on the NPC's really helped our cause.
One thing these two sessions did was re-ignite my fire to play RMU and unfortunately the two friends that I came to Gencon with had to skip out on the Saturday night game. So they weren't able to experience anything RM related this Gencon. Meaning that I will be a little hard pressed to get them into a RMU game anytime soon. It was great meeting everyone, though I can only actually name three of you. I'm not sure who pyrotech and oldman were.... The other player in Aaron's game on Saturday I can't name and I didn't get his forum name (pyrotech?), but he was fun to play with.
Bruce
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I heard about that little incident on the way home. It really wasn't a good week for you, driving-wise. I'm glad that you made it home all right. It was an exhausting weekend.
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I heard about that little incident on the way home. It really wasn't a good week for you, driving-wise. I'm glad that you made it home all right. It was an exhausting weekend.
I won't plan to run stuff that late again unless we have a connecting hotel. I think that was a big part of it with me was the lack of sleep being out by the airport and everyone in our g
roups sche
dule ranging across such a wide range of times. BTW, sorry I drove kind of fast on the way back and you and Larry fell behind, we probably should have tried to stick together better on the drive back north. They told me when I called them to let them know that I made it home that you guys mised your exit coming through Lansing (probably the same interchange I missed on the way down, which was the second time I've done that over the years even though my brother only lived about 2 miles from there for a couple years almost a decade ago, so I'm familiar with that area and still missed themramp).
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Welcome back from GenCon guys!
If anyone wants to send me a write up of their game/experience at GenCon I'd be happy to put it up on the blog and social media etc.
Thanks
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I will try to write something up when time permits (but it will likely be a couple of weeks before I get to it due to being swamped with other things right now). Also, please pardon my last mangled response, was typing that on my cheap tablet and it doesn't work very well for such things, plus it was right after I woke up so was not fully awake yet.
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Hey Colin,
I just PMed you a write up of my Gen Con this year. I don't know if it is what you are looking for, but I sent it to you anyway.
My family doesn't do as many events as we used to. We like to treat Gen Con like a family vacation now, so we keep it more relaxed. But between us we still did quite a few events.
Regards,
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Alright, so it's been a week and I am almost back to normal now. :) I don't know why, but I have a harder time dealing with 3-4 hour time differences than I do with 8-9 hour ones.
I did not get through Chicago without issue. No surprise. The flight leaving O'hare for Indy that was my plane to be left Chicago late due to issues there. I don't even need to BE at O'hare for it to cause me problems. Fortunately I knew like an hour in advance that this was going to cause us to miss out connecting flight, so we re-arranged it up front with the airline. Not a huge deal, but we got home about three hours later than planned.
So, what all did you guys buy?
I really didn't spend much AT the Con (maybe $125), but I am spending money as a RESULT of the Con (about $200). I refuse to pay full rate, plus tax, and have to lug an item home with me when I can buy it online, 30% off or so, no tax, no shipping and I don't have to lift a finger (well, other than to type on my keyboard). So, the Fantasy Flight booth (which you had to stand in line for about 30-45mins just to get into to look) had full normal rate. Didn't give them a second glance (and I could have spent a lot of money in there). I guess there's a whole lot of people that "have to have it now". I think I can wait a week to have a decent amount of money and effort.
The Ares booth (Wings/Sails of Glory) not only had the 20% off but you also could buy 2 and get 1 free. Essentially almost half off if you made your purchases right... so, as I mentioned before, I picked up about 11 ships (worth over $200) for a little more than $70 as a result of both the discounts and gift certificates/giveaways from playing in the events. I bought some extras for the Sails of Glory online and also purchased the Omega Protocol board game from Level 7. Looks/sounds to be a slightly more robust version of Space Hulk essentially.
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Ha, what did I buy? I bought to much at Gencon. I basically purchased three main books that were signed by the authors (which you can't get online). They were Victoriana (which was signed by my childhood buddy Walt). Consequently I also played in a game he GM'd for Victoriana and had a great time. The last time we gamed together was more than 20 years ago, I told him it brought back memories and he stated that we would have had to switch roles half way through the game for it to bring back memories...lol. And yes I probably could have gotten him to sign the book at any time outside of Gencon (but then there is the mailing costs). Then I purchased Firefly and the adventure book from none other than Margaret Weis herself, and she signed it with the other two developers there. She is such a nice and humble person, it was really great meeting her. I purchased a print from Jason Engle who also signed the print (can't get that online either). I also purchased a bunch of books from the buy 1 get 3 free booth. Plus I purchased one of those dice rings (percentile of course!) which consequently are a little cheaper on Amazon but I couldn't find any percentiles and nothing in my size. I purchased a crapload of dice (mostly percentiles) but buying dice online isn't really an option as I like to see and touch them before purchasing. The metal percentiles will come in handy when an unsuspecting player does something really stupid...lol. I also got some games on the cheap side on the last day because there were some vendors that simply wanted to get rid of their stock so they didn't have to lug it home. All in all I spent more than I should have at around $400. But I believe a majority of that was spent on food. Then there was that stupid shuttle pass that cost me $50 and I only used once.
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How does that Dice Ring work for you?
MDC
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The dice ring is really cool. It works pretty good as long as I don't get it wet, which if I do I have to run it under a blow dryer or one of those hand dryers in the bathroom for it to work properly. Either way it is just meant as a gimmick but it works none the less. Sometimes I can get an open-ended roll in less than 10 spins but other times I can spin it 50 times and not get an open-ended roll... or spin if you will.
Bruce
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Just now catching up on day-to-day after gencon + other travelling, but want to emphasize how much fun I had playing RMU at the convention and catching up with folks on this forum. Colin, I'll PM you my summary.