MD-VA-DC Game Day - 10/2/04: Crunch Time Approaches - Volunteers Needed!

[MarauderX]

I used Silver as my color.

DM: MarauderX

SLOT: AM (morning)

GAME: D&D 3.5

TEASER: From the emerging young Kingdom of Correl, the eastern Baronies have been operating as a loose confederation, each with their own interests, beliefs, and sometimes vastly different laws. Seeking to quell the Barons before open violence erupts, the King of Correl has come from the west to meet them in the grand city of Kargam, once called the capital of the east. Tournaments of sport are sponsored, and a feast honoring the Barons consumes an entire week before the summit finally occurs.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 to 6

NUMBER OF OPEN PLAYER SLOTS: 6

PC TYPES/LEVELS: Pre-generated characters of levels 16-18

GAME RATINGS (SCALE OF 1 - 10):

Action = 8 (knock-down, drag-out battles)
Role-Playing = 5 (paranoid politicians can make poor decisions; will you?)
Puzzles/Mystery = 7 (Pack your bags, your going on an acid trip)

MATURITY RATING: NC-17. (descriptions of violence galore, mind twisting, mildly threatening role-playing and tones to be expected)

SPECIAL NOTES: This is a D&D 3.5 game using my own homebrew campaign setting of Correl, a mid-magic setting similar to Greyhawk. The PCs are rulers, land owners, respected leaders and retired adventurers in charge of armies and vying for the best interests of their respective barony. Each pre-generated character will come with a map of the lands, simplified barony assets, and issues to be discussed. Rules from the Fields of Blood will be used should mass combat be necessary.

DM: MarauderX
Player 1: Open
Player 2: Open
Player 3: Open
Player 4: Open
Player 5: Open
Player 6: Open

 

[Xath]

Ok, here's the deal. I've called and chatted with alot of local vendors, and I've found evidence to support my theory.

For a convention which is expecting (at most) 300 people, vendors only really attend for advertizing purposes. $50 is top dollar for such a small con, and is usually only charged by annual cons which have been running for at least 2 years. Realistically, we should be charging about $20, maybe $30, as a venue with such a small turnout, and competing vendors is not going to make a profit.

Also. We need to make some concrete decisions. Which room are we going to host the con in, and on which date? Are we opening up to vendors? If so, how much are we charging? I've had about 10 signs of interest, but I won't get any confirmations until we get concrete plans.

 

[D'karr]

Stupid Question

Okay, if we are going to have vendors, which implies that we are going to need security, wouldn't it make sense to allow preregistration but also allow general audience for a charge?

I thought originally we wanted to keep this a no-charge event because we wanted to avoid having to contract security. And we also wanted a somewhat exclusive ENWorld game day.

However, if we are already going to have security, we might as well just charge $5 to all to cover the costs.

Does that make sense?

 

[Old One]

Thanks...

Ok, here's the deal. I've called and chatted with alot of local vendors, and I've found evidence to support my theory.

For a convention which is expecting (at most) 300 people, vendors only really attend for advertizing purposes. $50 is top dollar for such a small con, and is usually only charged by annual cons which have been running for at least 2 years. Realistically, we should be charging about $20, maybe $30, as a venue with such a small turnout, and competing vendors is not going to make a profit.

Also. We need to make some concrete decisions. Which room are we going to host the con in, and on which date? Are we opening up to vendors? If so, how much are we charging? I've had about 10 signs of interest, but I won't get any confirmations until we get concrete plans.

Xath,

Thanks for your continued work on this. Is early next week too late to have a confirmed date (like COB Monday or early Tuesday)?

I have gotten donation commitments totalling another $50 in today, plus one of the donors who is "iffy" for 10/2 is in for $100 regardless of the date. This puts us at $300 from EN Worlders for 9/25 and $250 from EN Worlders on 10/2.

Adjusting our stats on the vendors...if we go with $25 each, can we pull in 5-10 vendors? This doesn't even cover security costs of $250 (unless we get 10 vendors), so the vendors would essentially be an expense, instead of a benefit...which doesn't do us much good.

I am all for having vendors there, but the added security costs outweigh any economic benefit to helping us stage this unless they are willing to pay more - at least enough to cover security - which is probably a minimum of $35-$40 each, depending on number of vendors attending. I know the vendors have to make sound economic decsions on attending such a small gathering, but we need to do the same.

$300 (EN World) + $250 (TGC) gives us $550...only $75 short of what we need for the Grand Ballroom on 9/25 if we don't need security. DRM, can you confirm that we won't need security if we don't have vendors and no $s actually change hands on the TerpCon date?

Likewise, $250 (EN World) + $250 (TCG) gives us $500 for 10/2...easily covering the costs of the Colony Ballroom, with enough left over for some door prizes, provided we don't have to spring for security costs.

~ Old One

 

[Old One]

Not Stupid at all...

Okay, if we are going to have vendors, which implies that we are going to need security, wouldn't it make sense to allow preregistration but also allow general audience for a charge?

I thought originally we wanted to keep this a no-charge event because we wanted to avoid having to contract security. And we also wanted a somewhat exclusive ENWorld game day.

However, if we are already going to have security, we might as well just charge $5 to all to cover the costs.

Does that make sense?

D'karr,

You were posting as I was thinking ! I would prefer to keep it "no charge" for the majority of attendees, if possible. The vendors increase the expense without really adding to the bottom line. Under our current "donative" scheme, we would pre-reg, but all monies would be paid to U of M up-front from donations/TGC so people can just show up, eat, play and have fun.

If we add vendors and security, costs go up significantly, so that we would probably need to charge $2 per head to cover the shortage. Not terrible, but a bit of a pain, since someone will have to handle collections. Plus, I am not sure what the legalities of charging admission at a campus venue is (even if we have pre-reg) and who gets the money.

Therefore, I really think it would be much "cleaner" for TerpCon to be a "no-money-changin'-hands" environment.

~ Old One

 

[D'karr]

D'karr,

You were posting as I was thinking ! I would prefer to keep it "no charge" for the majority of attendees, if possible. The vendors increase the expense without really adding to the bottom line. Under our current "donative" scheme, we would pre-reg, but all monies would be paid to U of M up-front from donations/TGC so people can just show up, eat, play and have fun.

If we add vendors and security, costs go up significantly, so that we would probably need to charge $2 per head to cover the shortage. Not terrible, but a bit of a pain, since someone will have to handle collections. Plus, I am not sure what the legalities of charging admission at a campus venue is (even if we have pre-reg) and who gets the money.

Therefore, I really think it would be much "cleaner" for TerpCon to be a "no-money-changin'-hands" environment.

~ Old One

Then it seems like the vendors are more of a liability to the event than an asset.

Don't get me wrong I think that having vendors there would be cool but I can also see the disadvantage to having them there. In addition, if they are just bringing competing product lines it doesn't make much sense for the vendors themselves.

BTW guys, I just wanted to say thank you for putting this whole affair together.

 

[Xath]

I think we should just go with people this year. If all goes well, and we decide to do this again, then we can expand. It would make it easier and less costly for everyone.

 

[Old One]

I agree...

I think we should just go with people this year. If all goes well, and we decide to do this again, then we can expand. It would make it easier and less costly for everyone.

Xath,

First, thanks for all your work on contacts for this. Second, I concur...let's save the vendors for a future event if this one goes well. At least we (you) have made the contacts and we can look at this down the line.

~ Old One

 

[Old One]

Paging DRM (Kevin)

DRM,

Is the TGC a "go" for the $250? If so, can you lock up the Grand Ballroom for 9/25? This will give us all the room we need, assuming we don't need to worry about any security issues.

I have firm commitments for $300 from EN World for the 9/25 date and will, barring any further donations from EN World, cover the $75 balance myself (of course, further donations would be most welcome - wink, wink, nudge, nudge ).

This covers the $625 for the Grand Ballroom and gives us the opportunity to put together a first-class gig. As noted above, as much as I would love to have vendors there...they won't be able to cover the added cost of having them, so it really doesn't make sense. Maybe down the line.

If I get confirmation from you over the next couple days, that:

(a) TGC is good for $250

-AND-

(b) The Grand Ballroom is a go

-AND-

(c) We won't need to worry about security (since there will be no $s changing hands)

Then we will formalize the date for 9/25 and move into Part II of the planning - Pre-Reg and Game Sign-up. I will make arrangements to collect the donation $s and then reconvene with you to get the U of M folks paid.

I will wait to hear from you...

Thanks for all of you help, suggestions, etc and thank you to the other TGC folks!

~ Old One

 

[UniversalMonster]

Latecomer I know-but I 'd like to come and play. I'll try and bring my group, and let me check things out. I may be able to GM something if there are slots still available.