The Twin Arches (Autumn Conclave 2012) - December 1st, WHW

[Necris]

I'm not going to be able to make this event as I've started up an new business and am booked in at a trade fair over that week sorry folks

[MarcoSkoll]

Sorry to hear it, but real life obviously has to take precedence.

~~~~~

In other news, I'm compiling the requests for the WHW events team.

Looking back over the last page, I think this is the list:
- Space Hulk board
- Necromunda terrain
- Township terrain
- Maybe the Basilica Dufaux, if I can work out if my plot can make enough use of it.

~~~~~

Ah... on that note, I should add that I am not specifically requesting players to write scenarios this year. If anyone has an idea they really want to run, then feel free to talk to me - but I'm currently planning to do (all) the writing myself, to give a more coherent and integrated overall plot that has narratives weaving between scenarios.

[Van Helser]

I too am going to have to drop out of the event.  I have a course on the Friday and it turns out there isn't sufficient time to get myself to the airport in time for the latest flight down.  Stupid real life commitments.

Ruaridh

[Koval]

Would've been good to actually meet you, Ruaridh, but needs must.

Dave, why am I down for only the 28mm scale rather than for both?

[MarcoSkoll]

@Van_Helser: Oh dear, we're not doing at all well between real life (there's one of the 28mm players that may also drop out) and some players uncertain on the event.

This event does need a reasonable turn out to offer full flexibility about running tables at both scales*, so consider this a general appeal for people to make sure their name is on the list and coax any possible +1s they might know to join us.

*This will NOT mean becoming a single scale event - but it may mean I'll have to request volunteers for certain scales to make sure that people playing at only one scale won't be playing against the same small pool of others over and over. This was, I guess, the case anyway - but with enough players, it became statistically unlikely.

@Koval: Because I wasn't that sure until recently that you'd be there at 54mm and I plain forgot to update it.

[Keravin]

I'm still waiting on figuring what Inq54 models I'm borrowing so I can figure out mutually supportive warbands as I won't have my own done by then due to charity event painting that needs to be finished this month.

[Holiad]

I'm afraid I'll be giving this one a miss too, probably. Nothing to with the dual scale aspect,  its just on the same day as an annual hordes of the things tournament I like to attend, which is only forty minutes away by train compared to two hours plus for nottingham, and the only time I get to play HOTT at all, so it takes precedence.

[MarcoSkoll]

I think clean-up is certainly in order, but I'd prefer not to confuse things with a second thread. I'll PM Gav with a request for clean-up.

I'll just get him to zap all the posts since Monday and I'll copy the more relevant stuff across as quotes:

Clean up done - thanks Gav.

So is it possible to go 2/2 on the games, or will the scale you play at in Game 4 be influenced by decisions in Games 1-3?

I'm still waiting on figuring what Inq54 models I'm borrowing so I can figure out mutually supportive warbands as I won't have my own done by then due to charity event painting that needs to be finished this month.

I'm afraid I'll be giving this one a miss too, probably. its on the same day as an annual hordes of the things tournament I like to attend, which is only forty minutes away by train compared to two hours plus for nottingham, and the only time I get to play HOTT at all, so it takes precedence.

@Koval: It is possible to go 2/2 on the games, but there are two caveats:
1) Due to GMing requirements, players may have to do that around playing in the scenario they're GMing (if indeed, they volunteer/ are asked to GM). Player-GMs can be arranged/allowed for people who want to do it.
2) Tying yourself into only choosing one scale for the finale might mean having to sacrifice a spot on the Alpha tables. That's  mostly "first come first served", so if you place such that all three spaces for your desired scale have been filled up by the time it's your choice, then it'll mean either negotiating to get one of those players to swap, or taking a place on one of the "side" tables.

I'll freely admit that I'm rather bad at dealing with scuppered plans... I might try and resolve some of Pinion's UST in story form so that I can focus on a cohesive narrative for the 54mm side of things instead. That's not to say that I'm dropping out of both scales, just that I think I know where my current priorities lie.

I wouldn't worry too much! Of the players placing between #4 and 6 - those that cannot be guaranteed full scale choice in the finale - statistically (assuming equal likelihood of players choosing either scale) two and a bit will get their first choice. And even that's assuming no-one can be persuaded to swap. For any individual, it'd be pretty unlikely that it'll be an issue. Less than one person is likely to have a problem out of however many we get.

Also, the side tables will be their own brand of fun, if not as directly affecting the fate of worlds. Possibly also a safer place to be - last time I tried this kind of thing, the main table was destroyed from orbit.

I have a lot of events for various systems coming up, and may or may not have time to create a 28mm warband.

[Hadriel Caine]

Hello... I might be up for this. Can't be more specific right now. Is there a date I have to be certain by? Its my best mates birthday in London but he may not be doing something on the same day... will find out.

[MarcoSkoll]

There's no deadline. Beyond the limitation that if you haven't got a time machine, you can't decide after the event, I mean.

However, you will get more personalised agendas for the day if I know you might turn up (and what is motivating the characters you're turning up with).

[MarcoSkoll]

Sorry about the continued delay to getting the system data sheets to you guys. I've got somewhat sidetracked and delayed by trying to check the astrophysics for a binary star system.

What's really interesting is that the length of a year varies for circumbinary planets. As you may know, satellites closer to the body they're orbiting have a higher velocity, and thus a shorter "year" (Kepler's 2nd and 3rd laws of planetary motion).
Thing is, when orbiting two suns where their orbital period isn't a neat multiple of your own, the average distance from the sun(s) changes every year.

So, I'm not actually sure how long a year is on Kharybdis VII. Treating both stars as a single sun of their combined mass, it'd be 2597 days - on average. However, I'm not sure whether the maths holds for binary systems.
(My gut instinct is that it should, seeing as the average distance to the barycentre is going to be the same, but I can't prove that off the top of my head).

I certainly know that it can vary by several percent year to year. Not that its even easy to define a year, seeing as the suns orbit each other and you thus haven't any fixed point of reference for completing an orbit.

Really, it turns out its a frakking weird place to live, given that a year changes every year and you can't even work out what a year is.

Not to mention the seasons. The heat from the suns changes because of how far away they are at any given time, but that doesn't correlate with the time of year or the planet's axial tilt (which causes its own seasons)
And the suns eclipse each other about fifteen times a year. (And one of the suns is only about a quarter as luminous as the other, so half of those times, it's going to be a mite cold.)

I'm sure a lot of people would just make it all up with no thought to the physics, but that would mean missing out on all the interesting implications.

That said, I am slightly ignoring the potential instability of circumbinary orbits (what with the fluctuating gravity, planets have the potential to be thrown out of their orbits) - however, we do know of genuine circumbinary planets, so stable (or pseudo-stable) orbits are clearly not impossible.
Whether this system is or isn't entirely feasible will have to remain assumed though, as I can't easily run a few hundred million years of computer simulations to check it all.

Anyway, I'll stop wittering now and actually get back to writing it!

[Koval]

Seems to me like the main problem is that second sun. Is it hugely necessary to the plot that Kharybdis has two suns? I mean, getting rid of it would make the mechanics of it much easier.

[MarcoSkoll]

Your error is assuming that this is a "problem". It's difficult, but it's interesting.

Is it hugely necessary to the plot that Kharybdis has two suns?

That's for the players to find out. It might be relevant, it might be one of the red herrings.

In any case, as all my notes so far assume it is a binary star system, getting rid of the second sun wouldn't actually save much time - largely because I've sorted out most of the issues now.

[MarcoSkoll]

After too much procrastinating, I've sent in the table/terrain requests to the events team.

The other thing is I once again need to book my trains - and given I know Van Helser's not going to be there, I may need to work who else will be and if I should call it an earlier night than the last couple of times. If no-one's hanging around longer, I think I have an option at about half eight, should I want it.

[Keravin]

Need to figure out more on the Inquisitrix's background so I can send in her aims, but prepping the warbands in both scales.