Events in 2016 (Latest news: IRE playtest day?)

[MarcoSkoll]

Latest news:

I'm proposing an IRE playtest day at Dark Sphere (in London). It's somewhat hypothetical until I've got a release (or have imminently got a release), but I am personally available on the following Saturdays:

25th June (at an absolute pinch. I've already got a clash on this day, but if I cancel one of them, I could still just about do both the IRE event and my evening commitment).
9th July
16th July
23rd July

The format, will be primarily about testing IRE, so won't be that heavy on story. It's also likely to be just a two game day in order to give people more time to play (given they'll be using a new ruleset) and also open up time for discussion on the day.

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Previous version of post

The 2016 IGT is now done and dusted, with several reports and photo galleries in. We're looking for our next event!

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Previous Version of post:

The 2016 Inquisitor Grand Tournament is now booked for 9th April at Warhammer World in Nottingham.

Event Pack: http://www.mediafire.com/download/6ali9680lq9oldz/IGT+2016+Event+Pack+V1.01.doc

We have three standard tables and Zone Mortalis (woo, scary catacombs!) booked as our feature table.

More details once Cortez gets them to me!

Confirmed IGT attendees:
Cortez
Greenstuff_Gav
Holiad
Lord Borak
MarcoSkoll
mcjomar
Van Helser

Possible IGT attendees:
Mike Blake
Shard0808

Cancellations:
RobSkib (& goons)

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Original post:
Right, as it's coming up to the end of November and nothing is booked for December, it looks like we've had all our events for 2015. With that in mind, it's not a bad time to start looking ahead to 2016. That way, we might actually have an event before the middle of the year...

We can also open up discussion as to location. I believe WHW will remain viable, particularly as GW actually seem to be going back to their roots a bit with some of their recent announcements and articles, and I felt Dark Sphere proved to be very good as well.
If anyone wants to nominate other venues, then do go ahead. I'd suggest that what'd be most useful is venues in other well connected cities, expanding our footprint rather than just having a mess of options all in the same place.

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1) I presume we want another Inquisitor Grand Tournament at some point in the year, in which case we need to discuss who we want running it. That could potentially be me again, but I'm not yet committing to that.

But whoever it is, I think if we're keeping the three round format, I'd suggest a slightly re-adjusted timetable - taking a few minutes off the game rounds again to encourage slightly more snappy play (a couple of people commented that they might have become a bit too long) and instead using it to buy a little more slack in the schedule when it comes to lunch and score tallying time.

Unless people have radically different ideas, I presume the IGT will remain at its current home of WHW.

2) I'm still slowly planning Legacy to follow up on the events of The Saint in 2011, which I hope will be a fairly large narrative affair.
This is probably going to be a WHW event too.

3) Anything you guys can think of. I've run or co-run the last three events, so an opportunity to step back and attend as a player wouldn't be unwelcome.

I believe Van Helser has had plans for an event for a while, although I don't know where he is with those.

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Also, I've been thinking a bit about event organisation following Lachesis. While we did get a couple of new players along, this was considerably fewer than had expressed interest.

I may be wildly off-base here, but I'm almost wondering if ticketing for certain events might help. Personally, I find the psychology of actually having a ticket in hand is quite powerful when it comes to helping me commit to attending something, rather than have second thoughts at the last minute (particularly for events I've not been to before, which is when my introvert side is most likely to have its reservations).

A modest entry fee might help with this commitment (as well as help event organisers get a more solid idea on definite numbers) and probably wouldn't be a huge deal for most people on top of transport/accommodation/food. As for what the money does... well, I could see it potentially funding some cool "roleplaying" prize (voted on by the other players) or helping improve the event (paying for fancier printing, props or the like), but I wouldn't personally have any trouble knowing that it's just going to buying the host a beer for the hours of work they've put in organising everything.

Of course, it's also possible that other people think that's a terrible and unreasonable idea.

[Cortez]

I'll tentatively put myself forward to run the next IGT. Although my organisational skills are fairly dire so it would probably be a good idea if someone else booked the tables as I can pretty much guarantee that I'll forget until it's too late.

[Lord Borak]

Aye, Put me down for the IGT as well. I need to have a game.

[Van Helser]

I believe Van Helser has had plans for an event for a while, although I don't know where he is with those.

Yes, I do have an idea for a campaign day. It has been a while since I've seen the notes I wrote for it last year, but I still remember the basics. I would need to have an idea of what warbands people intended to bring, as there is a forces of order/disorder theme attached to it. I am open to any venue, as I will have to travel regardless (unless I can convince a half dozen of you to plan summer holidays to the Highlands...).

As I said on Skype the other day, a ticketed event may be a good way to ensure there are fewer last minute drop outs, but it may also lead to some people refusing to sign up in the first place. I would say that trialling advance tickets for the IGT which traditionally has required an entry fee is probably the best way to see if it works. Take cheques or paypal payments in advance for a reduced fee of say £8, and charge £10 to folk turning up on the day. That £2 difference might just encourage early bookings.

Regardless of what event comes first, I will need a couple of months notice at least to arrange time off work and make travel arrangements.

Ruaridh

[greenstuff_gav]

Aye, Put me down for the IGT as well. I need to have a game.

well, that's me out for the best painted again :lol:

to paraphrase Field Of Dreams ... if you book it, i will come!

[Lord Borak]

Sounds good. I don't mind WHW nor the price tag.

well, that's me out for the best painted again :lol:

Mid 2016 right? I'm not sure I can can commit to such a short deadline. You're safe........ for now

[MarcoSkoll]

I would need to have an idea of what warbands people intended to bring, as there is a forces of order/disorder theme attached to it.

It depends on whether by "disorder" you mean "evil" or "rebel", but I've certainly got concepts for warbands that aren't entirely within the law. I've still got that Xanthite concept* to work on and I will get around to Haynlin Hursh** one day (both of whom I plan to approach in dual scale).

* Although I've only really nailed down the concepts for two of the characters - an Inquisitor who's got some basis in the Roger Delgado Master (a highly intelligent telepath with very grey morals, but in this case not quite evil) and a melee based Slaaneshi Daemonhost.
** A past/future Inquisition agent who was on a ship that had a warp travel mishap and thus arrived thirty-ish years before she left. Between her falsified cover identity on the ship's cogitator and escape from the "purification" of the ship, many Inquisitor believe her to be a dangerous heretic/traitor - and it's difficult for her to disprove that, seeing as she didn't know who her Inquisitor was and her Inquisitor doesn't (yet) know who she is either.

As I said on Skype the other day, a ticketed event may be a good way to ensure there are fewer last minute drop outs, but it may also lead to some people refusing to sign up in the first place.

That is of course the compromise here.

But while the IGT is a natural test bed, it's perhaps the event that least benefits. It doesn't need a lot of prep work and scales easily, because much of the material needed is brought by the players themselves.

For a narrative event, which usually has one organiser producing the distinct majority of the materials needed, not having clear numbers usually means a lot of wasted work - scenarios, plot lines, NPCs and props that were prepared for hypothetical players. That's where being able to count ticket numbers will be most beneficial.

[Van Helser]

I would need to have an idea of what warbands people intended to bring, as there is a forces of order/disorder theme attached to it.

It depends on whether by "disorder" you mean "evil" or "rebel"

Weeeellll, "disorder"  in this case is probably more accurately represented with characters that are  extremist in outlook. It's possible that a Xanthite could be trying to hold things together while a Monodominant is trying to exterminate everyone involved. Having a bit of pre-warning as to what warbands are coming would let me roughly split people into one of the two camps.

Ruaridh

[MarcoSkoll]

Fair enough. I haven't got a lot of outright extremist concepts on hand, as "kill everyone who disagrees with me" sidesteps a lot of moral questions I'd rather answer, but dependent on the plot one or other of my characters could probably find the motivation to be an antagonist.

[Cortez]

So what kind of dates are we looking at for these events? We used to have the IGT around April sometime (usually near Easter), or we could hold it in the summer again like last year.

[MarcoSkoll]

The IGT has been all over the place. It started as December, then skipped 2010 because it got pushed back to about March/April, skipped 2014 due to lack of interest, and ended up at the end of May last time because we didn't even start thinking about it until mid February.

My vote would be to put it in March (which GW will start taking bookings for sometime soon) as that gets it on the schedule and leaves the rest of the year free to put other events in as and when they're ready.

[Lord Borak]

My work seriously limits time off at Easter and outright bans it during December. So sometime other than then would be awesome

[Cortez]

Easter Sunday is on March 27th next year. What weeks in March will you be unavailable Lord Borak?

[greenstuff_gav]

April 2nd'd be great for me but not the 16th but otherwise i'm generally good

[Lord Borak]

Easter Sunday is on March 27th next year. What weeks in March will you be unavailable Lord Borak?

Well, any date other than Easter weekend should be fine by me.