So, IGT 2014?

[Kaled]

We've got the framed artwork and the pistol (and treasure chest) we can use as prizes, plus normally we get a few donations, so we could try making it cheaper or free for a year and see how that goes...

[TheNephew]

I can only say this for certain for myself, but I suspect it will ring true for a sizeable sector of potential attendees:

My train fare makes just about any entry cost pale into insignificance, and at a tenner or so (IIRC) will have no impact at all on whether I attend or not, it'll rest entirely on what else I've got on around then and how much it'll cost me to get there.

Prizes are a nice bonus (must paint that squig...), but again are a small point in the balance of actually getting to play a few games versus having to spend a wad of cash to get up there.



[I'd offer to eat up a big chunk of the printing expenses, since no-one ever checks usage around here, but I managed to forget my own dice for the Autumn Conclave, so I wouldn't trust myself with vital materials.]

[MarcoSkoll]

To come back to this...

I also have never really seen the entry cost as a deterrent; when the entry fees (almost) all go back into the prize pot in the form of vouchers that people can turn into what they actually want, a small entry fee is not really a deciding factor. The costs of travel and lunch are usually considerably larger.

However, I'm struggling to see how an entry fee can efficiently turn into prizes when we consistently have late cancellations/confirmations (so cannot reliably purchase prizes to a suitable value in advance*) and GW no longer supply the 54mm range (making vouchers of limited value to some participants).

So, I think the only feasible option is to try running it as a free event, circulating the appropriate prizes plus handing out any donations that might be made, although I'm not sure if it will make any difference to the number of entrants.

*Particularly if we don't know the scale breakdown of players. I'm not expecting a large 28mm turn-out, but I'm not making an assumption to that effect.

[MarcoSkoll]

Right... for the sake of not procrastinating over at least one thing in my life, I'll put my name down solidly to run the 2014 IGT (perhaps as a joint effort with Gav, but that's up to him) so that it doesn't not happen because there's no-one to run it. The small-print behind that is:

- I will be looking to insert myself into as much of the gaming as possible - I'm not up for just standing around not doing much.
- Unless some really smart idea regarding prizes comes up, I'm expecting it to be a free event. Prizes will be whatever donations we get, plus the circulating trophies.
- I may adjust some of the scoring categories or guidelines to a degree. Nothing dramatic though.
- I am hoping it can be dual scale. However, the previously low turnouts of 28mm ready players will mean that some asking around will have to happen to see if there's actually enough interest to pull that off. If not, then the date won't need to be planned around 28mm events to the same degree (and the below point also becomes moot).
- Given the different nature of the prize pool, I may reconsider whether 28 and 54mm scoring can be combined into one. As the rankings will lose their monetary prizes and become basically just prestige positions, I hope there'll be less to argue over on this front.

Any complaints, speak up now...

[TheNephew]

Sounds good to me Marco.

As I told Koval (possibly in another thread, possibly PM), I'm hoping to be able to bring 28mm clones of my crew to at least one event.
Everyone's in robes - shouldn't be too hard.
That should make it possible to have at least one or two crews present in 54mm and 28mm scenarios, tying them into the same plot.

I don't suppose a couple more people would be willing to play a scenario or two with someone else's 28mm bands to give us enough of a playerbase to run two interwoven campaigns at both scales?
If it turns out that there is close to enough 28mm interest, a couple of extra people for a game or two could shift it from a tacked-on bunch of games into an equally integral part of the plot.

[MarcoSkoll]

The IGT is not a campaign event with one interweaving plot, though. As it's (very ostensibly) an all-round competition, attendees will spend one of the games GMing a scenario they wrote (or sometimes two if there's not the right number of attendees to have same number as the number of games).

So, it doesn't have any one central plot, but it works very well - while games don't have a knock-on effect on other games, that means everyone can write scenarios that don't have the restriction of being a piece in a larger story.

[TheNephew]

Fair point, I had completely forgotten that.

In that case, it should be even easier to get a handful of 54mm players into a 28mm game to keep the 28mm exclusives company if necessary. Ha.

[MarcoSkoll]

Wee bit trickier than that, as the scoring includes characters and people have previously had to take the same characters for the whole day... but I'm considering changing the latter part.

Certainly, I think it should be allowed for players to willingly change scales, although I have no plans to force anyone to.