NOT Ok.

It seems as though there were some negative connotations against Cascade Games with respect to the Anime Matsuri convention. I had heard of it through a friend and then had to do some digging. It could be related to this article or something similar here although they do not go into details much elsewhere http://www.houstonpress.com/news/anime-matsuri-organizer-accused-of-sexual-harassment-7541555 :

Edit: It seems as though it was Cascade who boycotted the convention and not of a boycott of anyone of their employees or they themselves. So the above has been stricken out. Their decision to boycott a convention with shady business is perfectly reasonable.

But a response in an e-mail mentions that Cascade was not aware of these issues they encountered, nor of the player boycott at the convention. Which is reasonable given the circumstances if that is the case. And does this responsibility now fall upon Cascade Games? Meh, maybe. But they are just the crew that was assigned. If they cannot be there for the event then it surely is FFG responsibility to make corrective action and have an event somewhere. Cascade has mentioned otherwise. They mention that they are sorry and that the event will just have to be a different weekend.

Well, that is not ok. And it was also mentioned that this was a discussion made on both parties with Cascade and FFG. Step up FFG. Do not leave your players in the dust. Afterall, I have spent prepaid money on a flight and hotel to the event, bought tickets and taken vacation time off for. I have also been practicing for weeks/months in preparation for this event. And now, I am going to a convention to which I do not even have interest in. Another weekend is not ok either. I can't just travel several hundred miles down there a secondary weekend for multiple reasons.

I understand they are offering to help with cancellations going through, but let's be honest. That isn't going to go smoothly and I likely would have to suffer a loss on one of the paid components of the trip. If they were writing a check to those registered at the time for their events covering all losses, that would help. But my time is also lost in prep.

And this seems to have been done quietly. Were you expecting for people to just show up at the convention with a shocked look on their face? Why was their no official announcement on this on the FFG website (perhaps there was and I missed it; even though this wouldn't excuse anything). Instead, you will see that the Kotei has just been quietly removed from the list on their page.

Well, what do they intend to do about it? They are cancelling it with plenty of time still left to have someone attend the event and run it for them. In light of the edit above, it makes sense that they wouldn't send someone to the convention in Cascade's place if they are boycotting the convention. What about a local game shop nearby that could host up to a hundred people? It's just not the right play for your players to do nothing but find some other time frame to do the events. If this is the result, then I am certainly not coming to any of your events again. Why would I risk it? If this is how you will treat your community when something goes off the rails. I wanted to hope the community would have some support for this. If they were in a similar situation travelling and prepping for a competitive event somewhere, I am sure they wouldn't want this to happen either.

And to be clear, even if I can get my travel money back and hotel after a bunch of conversations with airlines/hotels, I have practiced for this event for weeks/months. And I likely cannot go to another coming up with short notice. Even if I could, the meta has changed with the new pack releases and now the work that I put in has been in vain for practice. It's a real downer.

To be clear: this went down on Friday evening, meaning there has been very little time for anyone from FFG to react. Here's the statement issued by Cascade Games:

Quote

After consulting with Fantasy Flight Games Inc and Anime Matsuri, Cascade Games has decided to reschedule the Legend of the Five Rings Kotei and the Star Wars Destiny Galactic Qualifiers that had previously been scheduled for Anime Matsuri. Cascade Games is reaching out to process refunds for the players that preregistered for our events and we sincerely apologize. We are currently looking for venues in the Houston area and expect to make a final announcement as quickly as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me; [email protected].

Tim Shields
Founder, Cascade Games LLC

Your first assertion above (after 'not ok') is totally wrong and misleading - Cascade haven't been accused of anything. If you want to see the reasons behind the drive to have people boycott Anime Matsuri, the convention where the Kotei and other events were going to be held, please check out this link: http://www.boycottam.com/why-boycott-am/

Personally, I feel the decision not to support a convention run by these folks is absolutely the right one, but I also sympathize greatly with anyone who has already made travel plans and laid out considerable money. I would expect there to be further announcements from both Cascade and FFG on Monday, and I'm certain they're doing everything they can to make the best of a terrible situation.

Looking at Cascade's responses on their Facebook page, they're definitely reaching out to people regarding convention badges and hotel fees. If you're personally affected and haven't already done so, I strongly urge you to contact them.

Fair enough on the boycott of the convention and not the other way around. I have edited my statement above in certain segments. Perhaps there is no proper approach to handling this available, but I can only assume that the options of hosting the events nearby have not been exhausted and cancelling a large event on short notice is going to effect a large quantity of individuals. I can't risk going to more conventions to play at this point anymore. It has unfortunately determined for me the end of competitive play; even if drive-able. There was too much time invested into it in preparation and different times means more practice. And if they were willing to just drop everything and not have an alternate solution for their customers, then they have made a grave mistake. It sounds as though they have already made their decisions on this.

Like I said, I'm totally sympathetic to those affected by this, but sometimes things are more important than gaming.

28 minutes ago, Hinomura said:

Like I said, I'm totally sympathetic to those affected by this, but sometimes things are more important than gaming.

Like I said, it's not about the choice to exclude oneself from this and be part of a boycott. It's about the choice to not plan an alternative for their player base and just drop everything and say "oh well, we can't do anything". FFG can and should be doing something so that an event still takes place somewhere in the vicinity on that same weekend. There are even several stores in New England that can host hundreds of people for events, and I am sure there are stores or other options down there to host people nearby. Not enough has been done, not enough thought has been provided to this situation, and it has been marketed terribly as to what their thoughts are moving forward other than them mentioning they will 'likely be doing something at a different date'. How informative. It's a total mess.

They just don't care enough about their player base, and I am sure its not just me that is going to now be boycotting FFGs products. You can't treat your customers poorly and expect them to keep coming back.

This is Jeremiah, right? Dude, I don't think you're giving the people involved anywhere near enough time to formulate a response - the statement from Cascade came on Friday evening, probably to give disgruntled attendees as much notice as possible, but FFG aren't at the office over the weekend. If we get to this time tomorrow and there's no word at all from FFG, then sure, they've really dropped the ball, but they deserve some time to adequately respond.

It'd be a real shame if you do decide to walk away over this as you've always been someone I've looked forward to seeing at events, but that's totally your right. Really hoping that there's a course of action they can take that will prevent that.

Take it easy, man.

Cascade has already replied to me and another on Saturday and mentioned that discussions/decisions were already made and decided upon that it wouldn't be that weekend. So I don't expect that to change.

Over a week later and still nothing reported from them directly but a silent cancel (unless I missed something). Now with less than 2 weeks remaining, there will be some people showing up at the event there that weekend with more frustration than what I had when I first heard about it through a friend who happened to be reading a forum. Now there are sympathies in my view for those who don't even know that their practice and travel is for naught.

No argument now, dude - the lack of information or explanation is shockingly poor, especially as it appears Cascade are still running other non-FFG events at the same convention.

For what it's worth, I've brought this thread to FFG's attention. There may still not be an official response, but they are at least aware of it and the distress both the cancellation and the subsequent lack of information have caused you.

The cancellation has negatively impacted me in that this was the first FFG OP (outside of store events) I was to attend and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, there were non-refundable costs associated with cancelling the plane / hotel accommodations for this event. Although Cascade Games has said that this has never happened in their 20 years in the business, I am now forced to hesitate when planning for attending an FFG event, especially given the lack of transparency when the decision was made and the lack of official reasons put forth outside of speculations from other organizations.