Guild of San Marcos Forum

Bestill my foolish heart, what is this I've gotten in my inbox but a missive from, GASP, Origins staff member Paul McGraw. Not only does he send me a copy of their Fill Rates sheet complete with a breakdown of LARPs, RPGs and a Total (TL:DR version - LARP did just over a third of its capacity, RPGs did over 110% of capacity and overall we hit about 78%), BUT he also lets me know that Event Submission begins September 1st! HOLY CRAP ON A STICK!!!

Alright, I can get this done and sent out, plenty of time. Just wasn't ready for this to hit so soon.

Maybe he was one of the fill-ins at the LARP.

No, he is not. He is just a staffer that is actually doing his job in a timely manner. (personally, I think they are jumping too far ahead. No point dealing with submissions until december and doing registration in april.) Too much life can change plans 10 months ahead. And Mark, can and need are 2 different things when posting this new schedule. As for the numbers, we already knew that.

I agree Dave, December would be plenty early. Only reason I see not to do it then is "other plans" (I mean both the Trade Show and X-mas events here). As it stands we get this weird dichotomy of, doing stuff way too early and way too late at the same time.

salamanca wrote:And Mark, can and need are 2 different things when posting this new schedule.

Ok, ok, I will be posting them (in the desperate hope our timeliness will get us assigned to a table that ACTUALLY exists).

Don't get me wrong I liked our location this year, plenty of exposure, but I would have preferred a bit less interruption.

Let's see... It wasn't stuffy in the hall. The gamer funk dispersed instead of lingering like it can in the smaller rooms. I got to see everybody at the con walk by in interesting outfits. Everyone else got to see what good GMs look like. I kinda like being in the hall.

Can we Ask for a few hall tables?

Plus, they were close to the bathrooms!

Lady Grace wrote:Plus, they were close to the bathrooms!

And the food court!

daundelyon wrote:

Lady Grace wrote:Plus, they were close to the bathrooms!

And the food court!

This. so much this.

I will lay odds at 90% that we will end up in one of the rooms in that first hallway across from the restrooms you keep mentioning. It could be marion, it could be knox but it will probably be in that hall. They like us and as a small team running this many events, we will land there. (unless the new team pulls a major overhaul of where RPGs in general are placed). And the guy responsible for table layout was not only very apologetic to me directly, he was making copious notes about space availability. I would ask for a table in the crow's nest of the atrium but Ken hates high places.

salamanca wrote:I would ask for a table in the crow's nest of the atrium but Ken hates high places.

Alright, I'll be the first to say it. Where is that exactly?

You know that elevator outside the Big Bar?. Well a floor above that is a 2 story ballroom above that 5 stories up is a little landing with a catwalk to the Management office for the site. It looks down over the whole Atrium. Edit: while it should fit a round table, that would block any traffic to the office and probably KILL the fire marshal.

*shudders* You can run up there ALL you want. Ill be down someplace where the fall will at worst be embarassing.

I want to jump off it with that military deceleration line they use out of helicopters. It may be my favorite spot in the complex. (but the old back part of the ball room that is now closed was a close second).

I'm with Kenderleech, both feet firmly on the ground, as I have enough problems just walking flat ground anyway, never mind adding vertigo to the mix.

Ok sent our events in (haven't received the confirmation email but its just been an hour or so). And that means that I can now share our schedule with all of you! (assuming Origins doesn't radically change it for some reason).

Wed (3rd):
1-5 HoA: Episode 5 – Evil Intent
7-11 HoA: Episode 7 – Scientific Method
7-11 HoA: Episode 9 – Mistaken Heresies

Thurs (4th):
9-1 HoA: Episode 8 – Acts of Desperation
1-5 HoA: Episode 10 – Command Performance
5+ Playtest

Fri (5th):
9-1 HoA: Episode 6 – The Balance of Profit
9-1 HoA: Episode 7 – Scientific Method
1-5 HoA: Episode 8 – Acts of Desperation
1-5 HoA: Episode 9 – Mistaken Heresies
7-11 HoA: Episode 9 – Mistaken Heresies
7-11 HoA: Episode 10 – Command Performance

Sat (6th):
9-1 HoA: Episode 10 – Command Performance
1-5 HoA: Personal Agendas
1-5 HoA: Personal Agendas

Sun (7th):
10-2 HoA: DOMINGO GIGANTE!
10-2 HoA: DOMINGO GIGANTE!

Just a couple of notes. When you sign up, don't worry about which GM you see, we just put enough events out to make sure the four of us (Dave, Me, Laura, and Ken) will all get badges. Then we just split the events into four. So they're mostly random. In general you can rely on me to run 9 and 10, with the others splitting up the bulk of the events.
Also there are now TWO DOMINGO GIGANTES! We will, of course, still have nearly unlimited seating (though we're going to try and let Dave out of this one since he will have stayed up all night on Sat). So don't worry about which one you sign up for.

Now, any other questions?

Just a note for you "Gotta get stuff done early" folks. You can already get your room for Origins booked. Just bypass all the garbldygook from the Origins webpage and call the hotels directly. Make sure to mention that you're there for "GAMA" and you should be all set.

This isn't early for booking a room. We booked ours on arrival for next year. That's how you get sweet digs at the Drury and avoid the nasty Hyatt elevator waits.

So, fun stories from Facebook (and the word "Fun" should be read sarcastically of course).

Origins has decided to close down their Forum Page in favor of a Company Page. What this means is, there will no longer be a place to ask Origins staff any questions without HEAVY moderation (you can post a question, but only a moderator can decide whether your question will show up on the page or not). It does mean that when they post something, it will be more likely to be actually seen on the home pages of people who've "Liked" their page, but, as I said, the common folk's questions can go completely unanswered, well, forever.

Fortunately, one of the attendees decided to make an Unofficial Origins Forum Page, and has gone on record as saying she will only be lightly monitoring what we say, so we're pretty much free to badmouth the idiots in charge to our hearts' content.

Well, nothing counterproductive about that. Then again, this still limits ALL communication with the con to people who actually facebook (and I am trying my damndest to be the last man alive without an account) so from that point, the general masses have always been limited in asking questions.

Truth be told if it weren't the best way to get info about GoSM (and my book) out to the masses, I'd have deleted my account long ago. I find the more I know about people, the less I like them. And there are so many, many people on FB who won't shut the hell up about themselves (yes, as I write this I realize the irony of my words). But I don't tell people about what I am having for dinner, who I just saw at whatever the newest hotspot in town is, how much I hate/love X/Y politician and how idiotic/brilliant they are. I just think most people don't care what I think unless it's personally relevant. Last thing I posted was a blurb about getting rooms for Origins next year. Before that, a link to the FB page for my writing.

Facebook??

But, Mark. Most of the chit-chat among people my age is age-infirmities and the most wonderful grandchildren in Creation.

I will never have a Facebook account.

I'm with you and Sal, LG. No Facebook account ever!

Got a cool letter from Origins today. Thought I'd share

Mark,

I see you added 3 more events then last year. You had fantastic fill rates last year, so I was wondering if you would be interested in adding a few more events?

Paul McGraw
Event Coordinator
Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA)

I responded that we would love to, but at this point our 4 GMs are pretty much at capacity. So while it's definitely on our "someday" list, right now we just don't have the people to do more. But it was nice to hear some recognition, and a great chance to let our players know that we wouldn't have gotten this letter without them!