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Henry said:As for the Pizza Deal, I'm likening it to an RPG: The mechanics were sound, and worked well, but the flavor was kinda bland.
I had no problems with the meal (other than some scalawag stealing my first drink I bought), and the pizza was good, but at mealtime we kind of kept to ourselves - the RPGA people and the boad gamers kind of sat by themselves, the NC people sat to themselves, etc. As for me, I sat BY myself, because most of the crew I was used to socializing with had either left early, or were still protecting the Emorian Outpost.The Pizza Deal worked great for both cost and convenience, but I'm glad I attended the Errico's gathering the night previous, or I would have felt like something was missing compared to earlier gamedays.
As for Errico's, I didn't find the prices too out of line, and ended up paying about 12 bucks for a salad, a main course, and a drink. I love the atmosphere there, though I also loved the atmosphere at Rock-ola too. Each one has its charm, and both are cool with me.
Since little else is ironed out at this point, let's talk about the food.
And please understand that what I'm about to say are my personal preferences with a bit of a nod toward the logistical concerns that must intrude upon such things. I do want to hear other opinions should they differ from mine.For the Pre-Dinner, what I'm looking for is a friendly gathering where we can shoot the breeze and hang out with the ENWorld folks who I've come to know from the previous game days and anybody else who's joining us for the first time. My primary focus is on the strictly social aspect and it is a fun way to blow off some steam on a Friday night. An ancillary benefit is that we can discuss any last minute issues pertaining to the gaming to follow the next morning.
For this purpose, a place where we can gather as many people as want to attend is necessary. Preferably this will also be in the sort of place where you can switch tables and seats easily in order to talk to all the various people you wish to visit with. I want the food to be tasty, plentiful and varied. I want the service to be prompt and friendly, but also not put out if we spend upwards of two hours at the same tables without constantly ordering more food.
Errico's fits this profile well in my experience.
For the Post-Dinner I am interested in getting feedback on the games I've run and participated in during the day. I want to be able to hear others talk about the games I didn't get to play in. I want to hear things that people liked and didn't like about how the Game Day was run so that we can make it even better the next time. I would also like the opportunity for some fellowship with the people who don't regularly visit ENWorld.
The fact is that, while they lack the connection of being fellow board members, they have a ton in common with us. They obviously have a love of gaming and they are (relatively at least) local to us. This is a good opportunity for people looking to recruit new folks into their gaming groups or find another group looking for players. I also think it promotes ENWorlders to consider participating in Trinocon when it rolls around next year and it encourages them to consider registering at ENWorld. Win-Win.
Talley seems an ideal venue for this in many respects. It is obviously large enough and has plenty of tables. There's zero travel time. Nobody has to worry about finding it. It's cheap. We don't have to worry about irate wait staff wishing we'd vacate the tables instead of talking about Critical Hits and Tenser's Floating Disks.
On the other hand, it seems that it is almost too big a venue in that it lends itself well to people lurking off in some corner with the same people they've been gaming with all day and not really mingling too much. It also means that, with no firm time set to depart the premises for dinner, people may let their games run a bit long. I'll let others decide whether that is a feature or a bug. Either way it does mean that it potentially breaks up the crowd a bit into smaller groups.
From a practical standpoint it would be difficult to fit a group the size of our total attendance (which was at least 40-50 if you only count RPG's) into a local restaurant (Rockola for example) without making large scale reservations in advance. The further problem with this is that many people don't know whether they'll want to participate in the Post-Dinner until Game Day or close to it. That makes such a reservation very difficult to make.
What might be feasible is to have a sign up sheet, similar to the pizza, only without any actual money changing hands. Then sometime in the mid-afternoon we call over to Rockola (whom we've previously warned that we'll be descending upon that evening) and give them our estimate of the number of people that'll be coming. That way they could set up tables for us in one section of the restaurant. I'm still not sure that it fixes our "cliques" problem but at least it puts us all in the same place at the same time.
Anyhow, I'd appreciate any input others have on this matter. In the mean time I'll probably contact Rockola and see if they'll even entertain the concept of us making a tentative reservation for 50 to be confirmed the afternoon of the same day we'll be dining there.
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