finitesquarewell said:

Bah, it was really only busy for x-1 days... your just bloating your estimate.

I was thinking... there has to be folks who know the companies that make plaques and other stone work... and actually making stone house cards, with the carving and the painting. I'll see if I can talk to an ex-Agot player (no, not ethan) to see what he was talking about when he mentioned it to me.

Bloodycelt: how far south can you realistically travel for this thing?

I did some quick Internet research, and it looks like there are companies that could make glass house cards like those that FFG used to offer as prize support, and in some cases these were not very expensive. (I believe a "house card" falls into a category that is similar to a "business card holder," which means it should cost less than $20, and could cost as little as $5, per item.)

Of course, this is all hypothetical, because using an AGOT symbol would likely violate copyright (or trademark?) laws,, and that would be wrong, indeed. (~just thinking aloud...I suspect that very few of the previously mentioned glass shops would actually research to see if an outline of a wolf, lion, or stag were part of some obscure fantasy game.) Excepting the major legal dilemma, the second obstacle would be to get a high-resolution black-and-white template of the object to be transfered to glass (or stone, etc.). The websites that I saw just required an uploaded .jpeg file that would be lasered into the glass, but acquiring such a high-quality image could be a bit of work (I mean this/not being sarcastic) without the right software and a decent time commitment.

all right, here's what we've got so far from this thread and private conversations. when i refer to the 3 DC players i can speak for, i'm talking about twn2dn, myself, and a guy we play with regularly who isn't on the forums. we're likely to be joined by a fourth and fifth from DC if the date and trip are amenable to them.

concerning location, we've heard from:

-- 3 guys from DC who are willing to make a day's trip at most
-- 2 responses from NYC players who might not go farther than philly, and who think we can get a lot of players hosting in NYC or even philly
-- 2 responses from a TN player who prefers DC
LUke's semi-ambiguous responses with preference for DC (though from private discussions i know he'd be down for any place that's a day trip)
-- 1 ambiguous response from a boston player who prefers NYC
-- 2 very ambiguous responses from northern MD/DE players
-- 1 other out of towner who said they would "love to attend an east coast tourney"

a cafe in manhattan has been proposed, but if we decide on philly -- which seems to be a middle ground for everyone listed above save maybe the TN guys -- we need to find a card shop, which stag lord has said that lars might be able to suggest. let's focus on philly or NYC, and drop the idea of glen burnie unless overwhelming support appears out of nowhere for a location farther south than philly.

concerning a date:
-- 1 out of towner without stated location prefers the 11th
-- 2 players prefer the 18th (letsgored and the 3rd from my crew who will for sure come)

with expected attendance being the statistic we wish to maximize, i decree that the tournament is to be hosted 18th of july. so if overwhelming opposition does not surface sometime very soon, spread the word that there will be a tourney either in NYC or philly on the 18th of july.

let's pinpoint and discuss our options for a venue in or near philly, now; it seems that a cafe in manhattan would be the default if NYC is selected.

let's try to agree to a location by the end of the coming weekend, and then make sure we can set this thing up. i have no preference for brick and mortar gaming stores over other public venues, so long as it is easily accessible to everyone, has enough place to play, and is near restaurants.

Thanks for the update, Finite. The 18th works just fine for me. (Note: If we do hold a tourney out of town, it's going to be harder for the DC meta to organize this thing all by ourselves, so we'll definitely need local help/support.)

This is a rather low-priority request, but it would be great if there is parking near any venue that we end up at...all else being equal. Again, this isn't a big deal, and it might be an impossible request if we play in NYC.

Yeah - if it ends up being here, parking will be a nightmare. In fact, we are off Tiem Square, which you can no longer drive in. I highly recommedn mass transit if it ends up being NYC. The Cafe is just a few blocks north of where the new Strategist used to be. And if we can get the Strategist - its even closer.

I was going to recommend All Things Fun in West Berlin NH (http://www.allthingsfun.net/) but I hadn't contemplated it's non-convenience for purblic transportation, particularly it's distance from someone bus- or train-ing it. Also, it looks like they already have an MtG event and Yu-Gi-Oh tourney going on. They probably big enough to accomodate a score of AGOTians too, but let's consider alternatives.

Greg in Claymont DE is accomodating, and there's a good public house a block-ish away from the store, but it's more of a "couple tables int he back of a musty book" kinda place. It would be sufficient, but I'm not sure how keen he'd be on an all-day event... Though everyone deserves the chance to meet GRRM's prettier "cousin." Lars, your thoughts?

Taking the notion of a cafe further, could we (either in NYC or Phlly) find a convenient for inbound travlelers, not-so-crowded cafe/bar, that would be happy to have some tables filled from 11-7 on a Saturday, esp. if we guaranteed them $10-15 bucks a head. I don't think that's unreasonable from our end... and should be greeted enthusiasticly on theirs. I'm gonna msg a couple artist friends there for suggestions. Which would be another point in our favor... AGOT artists Jarreau Wimberly and Miek Capprotti could potential be enticed to show up, particularly if we buy them a beer.... And I really need to have them sign another batch of cards b/c at this point I think my collection was lost/stolen. :/

finitesquarewell said:

That's jeff from philly

finitesquarewell said:

I'm not trying to be ambiguous, but philly is not going to be conducive to hosting. There are zero, zhilch, zippo card stores within the city. The closest suburban stores aside from claymont are just as equally far and require a car or like three transfers on mass transit. That leaves Luke's idea. If you plan on having it in Philly on the 18th you lose half of the philly players oddly enough.

Maester_LUke said:

Its not more of a couple tables in the back, it is a couple of tables in the back. It is not easy for travelers to get to w/out a car. Plus saturday is a big general gaming day and is already crowded. I love Gregg to death, love his store, but its not going to work for this as much as i wish it could.

a cafe/resturant/hall might work, but unlike NYC philly's transportation hub is not really near all that stuff. 30 St Station is where amtrak and buses from out of town arrive (i leave the traffic nightmare alone for now as they are doing concstruction galore al around it) and there is excatly one bar within walking distance of the station. All the places that might be willing to host us are at least a cab ride or two subway (blue line) stops away and are in Center City itself. I can look around for a '$10-15 a head' place, but its going to be a crap shoot (i.e. blind calling and no established relationship to help get a cheaper price). I'd be willing to do it, but it would require a lot of work and might best be a backup plan.

I know that 30th Street Station very well - I have been there numerous times. And yes - we'd need to cab it into the downtown area - maybe somewhere on Locust or Chestnut? Its been a while, but you probably shoudl ask aorund.

what about braz's place? Though that's like a few hours from Philly, right? If so - it will probably depress the NY numbers, but it might be an option.

braz's place is closed.

Lars said:

I think the math was to maximize overall attendance, not necessarily "brotherly lovers."

It's sounding more and more like we should do this thing in Manhattan if we want to maximize expected attendance, so why don't we say somewhere in Manhattan on the 18th, find a public venue willing to let us occupy their space for 7 or so hours, and try to get as many of the NYC guys to come as is possible. Consensus?

That works for me - and I'll round up 4-6 of the LI guys for this thing. If GJ Chris, LGR and I are there - we shoudl be aournd nine players or so. we'll work on drumming up some more of the locals.

LGR will need to finalize the venue and confirm his attendance.

Maester_LUke said:

yeah i know. i was just pointing it out.

Are we finalized on the 18th?

I called Compleat Strategist to inquire about July 18th and they said that is not a good date --they have a Warhammer tournament for that day that may gobble up all of their space. I'll try to check tomorrow with the midtown cafe that has been accommodating to our group.

Lars said:

yes; it's a go

If the 18th is the set day and Luke makes the trip, I may be able to come out of retirement for a bit of play. The store in Towson will be in my new backyard. but I understand that may not be the best for the NY crew although you wouldn't be able to tell for all the Yankees fans who come to O's games.

18th NYC? Is that concrete?

.... West Berlin, NH? Does anyone actually play agot up that way? I know all you Valar Midwestous folks travel 5 - 6 hours to your bathrooms, but even then I can't fathom the multi-day hike it would be for anyone from New York (traffic would also be horrific).

Just an FYI I can check with Pandemonium if they would take us on a saturday afternoon, not only do they have the space... they're a bock from public transit. And... 15 mnutes subway from south station. That is if you wanted to come up to Boston. Bus from NYC is rather cheap. Depends on how important an actual gaming store is. (And how many people it would be out of range... ) ... Then again, you can suggest a nice sunday on the cape to your S.O's, come up Saturday and let them shop and go to the cape that evening.

The 18th of July in Manhattan is concrete -- working on finding a location. If you NYC guys want to try contacting the cafe you frequently play at, I'd greatly appreciate it; if that doesn't work out, I'm going to start calling cafes with space more or less at random, starting with Cafe 28 where Greyjoy Chris and I played last Saturday.

Erick

I started a new thread in the new forums, maybe they are trying to tell us something?

I'm posting there now...

Ok, let me paste in what I posted over in the new organized play subforum so folks interested but only following this thread see it. Then, perhaps people can post responses in that subforum:

Here's the deal at the midtown cafe where we tend to play: they have a private room off of the open dining area that can hold up to 40 people an has it's own AC. It's full of ~3'x~3' tables that are **** near perfect for playing joust on. Obviously easy access to food/drink/snacks. Reasonable walk from Grand Central and Port Authority; probably want to use the subway if coming from Penn Station, unless you like long walks. There's a parking garage across the street (I'll check its Saturday hours). The room charge is $300 and we get it for the day (which I think means morning until late evening (11pm), at least that is the weekday hours, I'll have to confirm).

So, $300 is perhaps a bit pricey; I could bear eating some of that cost, but I'd be looking for folks to put in, say, $15 each to defray the cost. I think it has several positives: clean, spacious, good table set up, private, and the potential long hours mean after "official" event winds down at 6pm or whenever, folks can stick around and play pick up games to maximize their AGoT bang-for-bucks. If this sounds generally agreeable to people, I'll flesh out the details more with the cafe to make sure of what I said above (and I'll try to talk price, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll budge).

LetsGoRed said:

That sounds fine, and $15 is OK.

juts curious but does the cafe give any food for $300?

$15 is okay, but when you add it to travel costs it would be nice to get some food w/ it too. Not a deal breaker though.