Main Menu

News:

If you are having problems registering, please e-mail theconclaveforum at gmail.com

Abyss - 3rd November, 28mm, Dark Sphere Megastore

Started by MarcoSkoll, May 30, 2018, 01:03:38 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

mcjomar

As noted on the FB post, I'm bringing a moderate ex-amalathian recongregator, who likes to hunt/collect archeotech/xenoarcheon.
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

TheNephew

#46
Navigator Octivia (and mooks) is up in the rules bit.

She's primarily angling to prove Carren's innocent, or guilty but her and hers are innocent, for almost entirely self-serving reasons.

Edit: I'm also quite happy for the intent and motive to drift, if that proves meta-narratively convenient.

MarcoSkoll

#47
Well...

Unfortunately, in major respects, Abyss was a serious failure. For something that was supposed to be a proof of concept for the idea of a future series of narrative Inquisitor events in London, it has not achieved that in the slightest. Of a meagre five tickets sold in the first place, only two of those players showed up. So far, I only know why one of those players was missing (what, at the time, seemed to be a genuine emergency - I'll leave it to them to share if they wish), but this still seems to show that the interest in London events simply doesn't exist. I'd hoped that the small ticket fee would (aside from funding the event) have helped reduce the commitment problems that have affected previous events, but it didn't seem to be the case.

Worse, only one of those players was actually on time. By the time our latecomer had rolled in at a quarter past twelve, I was just hoping that there was anything that could be rescued to not make it a completely wasted day.

Looking back on it now, twelve hours later? I can't currently think of any honest excuse to put Abyss below second place on the long list of Inquisitor events I've been to, and even that may be too low.

Although the turn out and the first hour of the day was a downer, once we actually got into the event, things went pretty swimmingly.

Of particular note was the way in which the players absolutely ran away with the mechanics for conducting the trial. Given I'd written and playtested the whole system in only an hour or two on Thursday, I had been worried that it might either be too complicated to quickly learn or too simplistic to provide interesting gameplay.

I'll have to provide fuller thoughts when I'm actually rested, coherent and have been able to mull things over, but even if my skills in actually promoting and marshalling events would seem to be a perpetual failure, I at least feel like my skills for creating the events themselves are improving.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

mcjomar

I was one of the (and very unhappy about it too) no shows, due to a possible gas leak.
Which massively sucks.

I was looking forward to it, especially as the campaign mechanics for a day campaign are really well sorted (having tried out previous examples at events like LGT).
If it hadn't been for the gas leak (which turned out to maybe not be a gas leak, so I'm still not sure what happened there), I'd have been there bright eyed and such, and raring to go.

It's a massive pity that the event doesn't seem to have gotten as many attendees as initial interest showed here, on FB, and on the ammobunker.
It's quite painful to see, and the more I consider it, the more I feel that it's a bit of a gutpunch, so I can't imagine how it feels for the person organising.
For what it's worth, Marco, I think you've proven a stellar job at sorting these events out, and providing good and interesting mechanics for campaign days.
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

MarcoSkoll

#49
After a long investigation and a gruelling trial (which inexplicably involved the prosecuting Inquisitor repeatedly calling harlots to the stand and quoting the traitor Magnus the Red, to the constant objections of the defence), Inquisitor Carren was found to be not guilty of the charges placed against him.

Not that this fact would particularly comfort him, as the veteran Inquisitor was assassinated within the court room as the trial came to its climax.

It does however set a disturbing precedent for the state of affairs in the Abraxis sector. With Inquisitor Carren absolved of crimes of sorcery, and the warp storm "Lord Hallen's Grave" approaching the sector, Abraxis is liable to attract Radical Inquisitors keen to study and practice the ways of the warp - an outcome that reactionary Puritans are already calling the death of the sector.

As always, only time will tell.


~~~~~

Have some photos.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DiBgGwVqi4Rsrri78

Quote from: mcjomar on November 04, 2018, 04:42:54 PMIt's a massive pity that the event doesn't seem to have gotten as many attendees as initial interest showed here, on FB, and on the ammobunker.
It's quite painful to see, and the more I consider it, the more I feel that it's a bit of a gutpunch, so I can't imagine how it feels for the person organising.
I'm not completely sure how I feel.

As far as Abyss itself - although I certainly didn't feel this way when I only had one player by twelve o'clock, in the end I enjoyed myself so much that it's hard to actually attach any sense of disappointment to the event.

I guess mostly I have concerns about what it means for the future, because this has hardly been the launching off point I wanted.

Quote from: mcjomar on November 04, 2018, 04:42:54 PMFor what it's worth, Marco, I think you've proven a stellar job at sorting these events out, and providing good and interesting mechanics for campaign days.
I feel I'm generally improving my skills as far as the events themselves.
In my opinion, the only potentially better event I've run was "New Dawn", which cheated monumentally by being an IRE event.

Not to say that other events were necessarily bad events, but the thing is, there will have been moments where I felt that one player or other wasn't enjoying it as much as I would like.
And that's not problems like we had for Legacy at the LGT, such as the price, or the huge queue for checking bags - I'm talking specifically about elements that I personally had control over.

By the criteria of whether I felt like I had screwed up anything in the underlying event, Abyss was the absolute best I've ever run, because there was nothing I felt I could personally have done better.

~~~~~

On another note - the new Dark Sphere store seems to have massive potential as a venue.

- Cheap (tables are a few quid each)
- Fantastic transport links (National Rail and tube stations just over the road)
- Long opening hours (no being shoved out of the door at 6 o'clock)
- Well lit (my photos have come out significantly better than normal!)
- A huge choice of food options (it's in a major shopping centre)
- No "GW models only" rule (although, to be fair, that's never much hindered us)
- And although it perhaps wasn't busy enough on the day to judge it in future, it's a lot less noisy than WHW (and certainly less noisy than the other Dark Sphere with the trains going overhead).

Although I will admit a certain personal bias (I can get there with models and two tables worth of terrain in an hour and a half from my front door), it does seem like an absolutely sterling location for events.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

TheNephew

As the late show-up, I had a fantastic time for the duration I was there.

As Marco says, as a stategic venture to expand the scene, this one didn't quite work, but I think Euan had a good time once we got going and I felt like it all went pretty great. It definitely was amontg the best events I've made it to thanks to Marco's prep work.

The prosecution of the court case was a great little diversion from the table events of the climax - complete with not just surprisingly persistent young women of questionable repute but also a boomerang book of forbidden texts that just kept popping up too.

I've got a quick sketch of the events put together that I'll fill out and post in the next couple of days.

New Dark Sphere was great for space, lighting, comfort, noise, food, product range, and not being two hundred miles from my flat.
It's a far better playing space than old Dark Sphere, and while it lacks some of the charm of Warhammer World it's also a lot easier to talk over the table.

Van Helser

Sorry to read that it didn't run as planned.  It is an age old question of how to get attendees there on the day - I would've thought spending money on a ticket would have guaranteed attendance (emergencies aside), but it just goes to show.  I am glad that the venue was a good one though.  Despite being further away, London is a lot easier to get to for an Invernesian than Nottingham.  If I do manage a hobby weekend next year, then I'd be okay with Dark Sphere.

Ruaridh

MarcoSkoll

I had thought that ticketing would improve commitment, but I suppose that when there are modellers out there who'll spend £35 on a five model box to only use a few parts out of it, the idea that someone might write off a £5 ticket if they don't really want to get out of bed on a Saturday morning isn't that surprising.

I suppose people might have been less likely to bail on a £10 ticket, but I only really wanted the price to cover the cost of the event itself (table hire, some printing, ticket store fees) - as tempting as it might be to try to recoup The Conclave's hosting fees (which I'm now paying for), that precedent feels like it could be awkward if I end up charging for more than just event costs, but other community members are running stuff for free.
(I honestly don't know how people would feel about that).

Quote from: Van Helser on November 06, 2018, 07:51:20 PMDespite being further away, London is a lot easier to get to for an Invernesian than Nottingham.
It makes sense. Nottingham is reasonably well connected, but not on the same scale as London.
(As I recall, you'd said that on at least some occasions you fly down to London and then get trains back up to Nottingham).

Depending on how things eventually turn out at WHW with the whole concept of removing bookings (where last I'd heard, there were a lot of contradictory reports about whether they were removing some bookings or all), it may even have to be that we'll have to start searching for new venues anyway.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles