Subject:
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Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.gaming
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Feb 2002 02:01:06 GMT
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Viewed:
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1680 times
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Ok, just read seven messages and decided that each justifies some
response. As a result, I may repeat comments others have already made...
Mr L F Braun wrote:
> That's definitely true. If we'd had more cargo space, maybe I could
> have brought some useable ships--but in the event our islands and
> MOCs took up the available space. I wouldn't be surprised if the
> fleet provision falls to me this coming Brickfest year; I've been
> buying on BrickBay and retail with that exact concern in mind since
> before I heard you (Frank) might be heading out West, but I accelerated
> that process afterwards.
I'm really not worried about having enough stuff for a game. The only
time we've ever been short on stuff was the start of the game at BF
2000, and we managed to squeeze by with some quick emergency cutters. A
few minutes in a K-8 would have also put something useable on the high
seas.
> > I would also like to seriously suggest Brickfest change how the outlet
> > shopping runs. Having everyone trek out to the store Sunday morning
> > effectively kills Brickfest for Sunday.
>
> I don't know when else it would be possible to do it, though--
> unless we were to do it *after* hours, which might raise protest
> from those who normally have to leave at a decent hour of the day
> to get home for work on Monday.
My thought was to not have a big event, but for the store to
continuously stock the scratch and dent table, perhaps suggesting folks
mention BrickFest at which point a clerk would go in the back room and
pull out a few more items, possibly even taking a request or two. I
suspect only 10% of the attendees really benefit much from the "big
event".
> Ideally, if there could be one or two enormous ballrooms/convention
> halls, that would be perfect. There's something about being in one
> place where *everything* is going on, separated only by linear
> distance, that I find attractive.
Big ballrooms work for some activities. Panels don't work so well in
that setting. There needs to be enough space that you can ask a noisy
activity to put some distance between itself and other activities.
> See above. If the spatial layout can be improved, a lot of the
> desire for intermittent wandering can be accomodated without "shifts"
> of GMs. Personally, if we can have the equivalent of our peak Pirate
> Game attendance at BrickFest 2000 (I think it was 16), I don't think
> 3 or 4 GMs is a problem--especially if two of them are also running
> ships, or if the "neutrals" are parceled out among them for role-
> playing.
Even though the two "play" activities at BricksWest were adjacent, I
couldn't escape to the train play for enough time to actually play (I
did peek in on them a few times though). A GM isn't going to be able to
take a significant break for another activity unless said GM can be
totally unloaded. Sunday night's game at BricksWest did allow this since
we only needed one GM, Derek started out and I was half there, when
Derek realized we really only needed on, and wanted to go talk to folks,
he bowed out and I took over for the rest of the game.
> (I still like that latter idea--one GM is the blue Imperials, one
> is the red Imperials, one the independent Merchants, and one "master
> GM"--others taking over new roles as breaks are taken, etc.)
>
> Having a dinner hiatus with ordered pizza also helps break up any
> exhaustion. :)
Yes, but not completely. I can at most do like 8 hours before I will
need a significant break.
> If my experience playing BrikWars with NELUG is any indication, the
> amount of time needed to get people up to speed with that system is
> a lot less than you'd think. Now, we *did* have a balance problem,
> but that wasn't a matter of not taking enough time to fix it. We
> took maybe four hours to get everything ready to go, set-up, table
> building, and everything included.
Mike's game probably consumed about 2 hours of table setup, and then I'm
guessing about an hour to get the players going, possibly less. A less
structured game could see the field setup in like 15 minutes.
> How many people attended BricksWest? I get the impression that,
> while large, it wasn't quite the size of Brickfest (this year).
If I remember what Matthew said, about 120.
> The downside, from a LEGO viewpoint, is that I may be in South Africa
> from August until God-knows-when. I've already passed the US side
> of the Fulbright competition, so if South Africa finds nothing
> objectionable about me or my application I'm going to be off on
> Fulbright this coming year. Back to the storage unit with you, LEGO. :(
Lindsay, you need to stop being such a wanderlust... Man, get your
priorities straight... :-)
> We'd have to figure out where to have it--if it were much more than
> 20 people, Chris's long room might not do (and his cats would probably
> go insane). Rutgers function space just plain isn't available, and
> I'm not sure where else we could find space at a reasonable cost.
Cats would probably make a game area tough on me. I'm definitely
allergic (which was a deciding factor in who I stayed with on my way
home from Boston last fall).
> That would be an interesting thing to explore, if not for the fact
> that I really don't like Car Wars. I'd suggest Ogre, but if you know
> anyone who can build 160 armor units' worth of vehicles in scale,
> then you're more well-traveled than I.
Ogre would be another cool game. I think Car Wars would be more
attractive though.
> (The K-8 box, however, is ideal for "Turtles, Turtles, and More Turtles.")
>
> > It would be nice to feature some of the simpler LEGO games also (heck,
> > even have some tables running some of the commercial titles, and perhaps
> > some computers with the computer games running).
>
> I dunno about that. Too much distraction, to my mind.
Not if you get a large enough draw.
> Yes indeedy do. I'd be inclined to write off importing Steve for the
> first gaming 'con or two--the revenue just won't be there (sorry Steve!),
> but if he wants to come anyways, we'd surely be hospitable (I'd be willing
> to foot free pizza!). ;)
If done right, the revenue could happen. It would be cool though for
Steve to come on his own (in which case, I'd definitely tell him to feel
free to come purely as a fan, and not feel obligated to GM).
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| (...) That's definitely true. If we'd had more cargo space, maybe I could have brought some useable ships--but in the event our islands and MOCs took up the available space. I wouldn't be surprised if the fleet provision falls to me this coming (...) (22 years ago, 25-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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