Tentative date for NYC is June 19, subject to the cafe space being available (and FFG approving our application, of course).
BUT WAIT! Be sure to come back on Friday for that big announcement we were talking about!
Desire to attend may be inelastic, but ability to attend is not... especially when it is several hundred dollars that is required.
I'm certainly not saying that it was a bigger factor than the LCG switch, or mediocre OP program, just that I would be surprised if it didn't have some effect.
Maester_LUke said:
dormouse said:
ktom said:
Here's the question: is the lack of "travel" and low relative turnout a product of there being no OP program to speak of, or a product of the philosophical direction of the LCG model? If the former, simply having Regional competition may help address the "numbers game." If the later, individual Regionals are unlikely to pull from too far outside of local play groups regardless. Should be interesting to watch.
I'm wondering what the impact of national/global economic recession has been.
I would probably say marginal impact in compared the overall change in the game. I would say that the demand (amongst those that have any interest in traveling) is actually pretty inelastic. It would be really intriguing to see a data setting showing regional attendance over the years, especially broken down by distance travelled. Presumably most "local" meta players (save an odd outlier) live within 25 miles, and then from 50, 100, and 100+. Of course this also ignores the demographic differences in geographic distance between nearest metas when you move from NE to SW.
dormouse said:
Desire to attend may be inelastic, but ability to attend is not... especially when it is several hundred dollars that is required.
I'm certainly not saying that it was a bigger factor than the LCG switch, or mediocre OP program, just that I would be surprised if it didn't have some effect.
Maybe I was unclear on my point. When you look at the historical environment (and I hope someday we can see a overall layout of past regionals in the "hall of fame" just to show the history/roots of the game), and relative distance betweeen regionals after the first year, the closest eve ts ever were was NYC and DC or MN and IA. (roughly the same travel time). Bus/Amtrak made it more feasible to avoid an overnight on the east coast. Gas balances out with tickets and foods gonna be a cost no matter what you do for a day. The close knit community generally helps out with overnights to avoid lodging costs. I'm sure there are a few people who could afford to travel & get a hotel (or even fly and do so) but I guess I'm thinking they'll still be able to. If they're not that demographic, I don't see the change being enough to affect their choice. I've always been one to hit the road, even when it's not always the wisest fiduciary choice, but I don't mind dozing in my car if things are problematic. 
The latest announcement on the main page says the application deadline is March 22, so a little more time to get your act together.
D.C. will be applying for Saturday, May 29th, to be held at an LGS in Chantilly (a close suburb). More details to come. (We wanted to do Saturday, June 5th, but that didn't work for the LGS.)
I've submitted the app for the NY meta to host a joust tournament on June 19th. The Metro Wargamers, a local game group that has some AGoT players, plans to submit an application for a melee tournament on May 16 also in Manhattan. I'm in communication with their organizers as we hope to both get approved and have members from our respective groups participate in both.
ah - that sucks FSW. 5/29 is my anniversary, so I'm definitely out for your event.
I suspect some of the NY meta will be travelling down though.
Stag Lord said:
ah - that sucks FSW. 5/29 is my anniversary, so I'm definitely out for your event.
I suspect some of the NY meta will be travelling down though.
But is there any better way to celebrate your anniversary than playing Thrones? Kidding aside, I'm sure everyone will miss your presence; I know I will.
I can say that at least 3 players (including myself) from Long Island will be going. I'm trying to figure out the best method of transportation. Where in DC will the tourney be?
Stag Lord said:
ah - that sucks FSW. 5/29 is my anniversary, so I'm definitely out for your event.
I suspect some of the NY meta will be travelling down though.
Man, that's really too bad, Stag. You'll definitely be missed. Still, I think most of the DC guys will probably see you at one of the other regionals...at least some of us planning on making a couple others. (I already have the NYC joust regionals on my calendar, and I'm currently waiting for a good time to spring to my wife the fact that at least one other weekend will be filled with card playing
)
FATMOUSE said:
I can say that at least 3 players (including myself) from Long Island will be going. I'm trying to figure out the best method of transportation. Where in DC will the tourney be?
Most excellent news indeed! We're hoping to host an event that draws in around 20 people we've got a pretty strong local player base at this point, so with enough of you guys coming in from the north I hope we'll at least get close to it.
We're applying to host the event at the Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA: http://www.gameparlor.com
For those of you who have to get to DC by public transportation, we'll help you guys work out something a lot of us ourselves will have to use the Metro system to get down to VA to meet up with those of us who have cars (myself included).
finitesquarewell said:
We're applying to host the event at the Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA: http://www.gameparlor.com
For those of you who have to get to DC by public transportation, we'll help you guys work out something a lot of us ourselves will have to use the Metro system to get down to VA to meet up with those of us who have cars (myself included).
I can recommend GP-Chantilly as a cool location. There was a regional there 4 or 5 years ago that SoNice won. And IIRC there was some decent BBQ in the neighborhood. Hoping I'll have a chance to make it...
Maester_LUke said:
finitesquarewell said:
We're applying to host the event at the Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA: http://www.gameparlor.com
For those of you who have to get to DC by public transportation, we'll help you guys work out something a lot of us ourselves will have to use the Metro system to get down to VA to meet up with those of us who have cars (myself included).
I can recommend GP-Chantilly as a cool location. There was a regional there 4 or 5 years ago that SoNice won. And IIRC there was some decent BBQ in the neighborhood. Hoping I'll have a chance to make it...
And what about NYC if we get selected? Any chance we'll see you or will I have to wait until the night before to see if I start getting text messages from you from the road before I'll know? 
LetsGoRed said:
And what about NYC if we get selected? Any chance we'll see you or will I have to wait until the night before to see if I start getting text messages from you from the road before I'll know?
We'll hears hoping we get those approved date's posted soon. Looks like they added an extra week for completion... and while I doubt they're going to fiddle with people's choice of dates, it's hard for med to play a 3-D (Longitude/Latitude/Date) game of Tic-Tac-Toe until I actually know the when's & where's.
LGR, another person from my play group already posted above, but I just want to back up the sentiment that the New Haven meta is hoping to have a nice showing at one or both of the NYC regionals (and by nice I mean greater than one!).
For anyone who comes directly to the forum without checking out the FFG main page, I just want to point out that the Regionals locations and dates have been announced. www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp
New York will have two Regionals, the first will be a melee tournament on May 16th at the Compleat Strategist game shop. This is being organized by others, including BrooklynMike on these boards, but I have been talking with them a bunch as we are working together to promote both events so can probably help steer you in the right direction if you have questions about that event. The second will be this year's "Kingsmoot in the East" and will be a joust tournament on June 19th at the Cranberry Cafe. I will post details about that on www.agotny.net shortly.
Schrecklich, I'm looking forward to the new CT players joining us on June 19 and encourage you to also consider coming down for the melee on May 16.
LetsGoRed said:
For anyone who comes directly to the forum without checking out the FFG main page, I just want to point out that the Regionals locations and dates have been announced. www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp
New York will have two Regionals, the first will be a melee tournament on May 16th at the Compleat Strategist game shop. This is being organized by others, including BrooklynMike on these boards, but I have been talking with them a bunch as we are working together to promote both events so can probably help steer you in the right direction if you have questions about that event. The second will be this year's "Kingsmoot in the East" and will be a joust tournament on June 19th at the Cranberry Cafe. I will post details about that on www.agotny.net shortly.
Schrecklich, I'm looking forward to the new CT players joining us on June 19 and encourage you to also consider coming down for the melee on May 16.
Just to clarify, Tennessee's regional will be held June 26th on Saturday, not the 25th as it says on the announcement. I emailed FFG about correcting the error, but until then, I wanted to throw that out there...
Man, I'd really like to make that TN regionals. I'm gonna have to talk with Finite about this one. (It may come down to when my in-laws plan to visit. Dates are still up in the air....)
LetsGoRed said:
For anyone who comes directly to the forum without checking out the FFG main page, I just want to point out that the Regionals locations and dates have been announced. www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp
New York will have two Regionals, the first will be a melee tournament on May 16th at the Compleat Strategist game shop. This is being organized by others, including BrooklynMike on these boards, but I have been talking with them a bunch as we are working together to promote both events so can probably help steer you in the right direction if you have questions about that event. The second will be this year's "Kingsmoot in the East" and will be a joust tournament on June 19th at the Cranberry Cafe. I will post details about that on www.agotny.net shortly.
Schrecklich, I'm looking forward to the new CT players joining us on June 19 and encourage you to also consider coming down for the melee on May 16.
We should hopefully have some showing. I have been so busy in the last few weeks that I haven't had any time to play. I will try to keep the June 19th date in mind - as of right now I can make it. Unfortunately I think I will be traveling across the western part of the US for the Melee regionals (if anyone plays AGoT near Santa Barbara CA, Berkeley CA, or Boulder CO, let me know!), but some of our other players might make it down.