From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Fri May 27 15:42:22 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Sun Jun 26 23:52:52 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Games for GenCon Message-ID: <6.2.0.14.2.20050527152334.027ea890@mail.btopenworld.com> Hi all, Yes, it's a few months away yet, but you know us -- always prepared well in advance (hem hem). We were toying with the idea of doing one of this year's games -- probably the Friday one -- a bit different from usual. The tone will still be the same farcical nest of plots, bad puns and the like, but the setting and structure would be somewhat other. The idea is something like this: 24 people wake up in a sealed and otherwise deserted hospital-like complex, with no recollection of how they come to be there. They do though each have memories of their earlier lives, which may or may not have any bearing upon each other and upon their current situation. They must work out what they're doing here, and what to do about it; and aim to resolve it satisfactorily somehow. (The other game, which Mel will probably post about at some point, will be much more like our traditional games.) What would you folks think about that -- does it sound intriguing, or ghastly? Is your response one of "I'd love to see Epic Experience branching out a bit!" or more "I'd rather see Epic Experience stick to what they're so good at!" (If it's actually "I'm not going to GenCon anyway, so I don't care", that's equally valid of course, as we do want to be sure we can fill the game up! But if it's more "Your games are a heap of tosh anyway, who gives a stuff?" then do feel free to keep that to yourself ;-) Candidates for the normal-style game we might run instead of this, by the way, include: * a 1920s country-house murder sort of thing; * a corporate team-building exercise; * a 'Time Team'-style archaeological TV programme; * a prison; * Papal elections. Any thoughts? best, Mo Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mel at herald.co.uk Fri May 27 18:44:55 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Sun Jun 26 23:52:52 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Games for GenCon In-Reply-To: <8d.27ecd12a.2fc8b4db@aol.com> References: <8d.27ecd12a.2fc8b4db@aol.com> Message-ID: <20050527174455.GB2221@mail.herald.co.uk> For those as might be curious as to the content of the probably-Saturday game, if I say: "The year is 2257. The name of the place is Bassethwaite 5..." I'm sure you'll all be able to figure it out... Cheers Mel From mel at herald.co.uk Thu Jun 16 12:58:01 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Sun Jun 26 23:52:52 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] GenCon UK Message-ID: <20050616115801.GE20952@mail.herald.co.uk> Hi folks, Okay, GCUK have finally announced their pricing structure: http://www.consupport.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=427 (on page 4 if that doesn't take you there). I imagine it'll be up on the main site at some point soonish. Given that I have already heard this cause some people decide not to go, we'd be very interested to hear from people who _do_ plan to go -- obviously it makes better sense if we can plan ahead for something approximating the right number of players, rather than having to cut down bigger games the night before they're run.... (and anyone who says "But Mel, aren't you usually still writing them at that point?" will be dealt with appropriately). Cheers Mel From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Thu Jun 16 14:27:14 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Sun Jun 26 23:52:52 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] GenCon UK In-Reply-To: <20050616115801.GE20952@mail.herald.co.uk> References: <20050616115801.GE20952@mail.herald.co.uk> Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050616142529.02bab4d0@localhost> At 12:58 16/06/2005, you wrote: >Hi folks, > >Okay, GCUK have finally announced their pricing structure: Slight caveat though, in that one of their staff has posted to their forum saying that this is not the whole story -- there will also be a cheaper pass available which just covers admission, in the traditional way. Doesn't yet say how much cheaper... Mo Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mel at herald.co.uk Thu Jun 16 14:43:25 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Sun Jun 26 23:52:52 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] GenCon UK In-Reply-To: <6.2.1.2.2.20050616142529.02bab4d0@localhost> References: <20050616115801.GE20952@mail.herald.co.uk> <6.2.1.2.2.20050616142529.02bab4d0@localhost> Message-ID: <20050616134325.GB23765@mail.herald.co.uk> On Thu, Jun 16, 2005 at 02:27:14PM +0100, Mo Holkar wrote: > At 12:58 16/06/2005, you wrote: > >Hi folks, > > > >Okay, GCUK have finally announced their pricing structure: > > > Slight caveat though, in that one of their staff has posted to their forum > saying that this is not the whole story -- there will also be a cheaper > pass available which just covers admission, in the traditional way. Doesn't > yet say how much cheaper... > ... unfortunately if you follow the topic further on he posted again yesterday saying that it _was_ the whole story... -- Mel From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Mon Sep 5 14:41:57 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Mon Sep 5 14:42:04 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Epic Experience games at GenCon UK Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050905142727.02f0cde0@mail.btopenworld.com> Hi all, As usual, this year we're running two games at GenCon UK, which is 3-6 November at Bognor Regis. See http://genconuk.com for con details! However, in a wildly exciting departure from the norm, just to show what thrill-seekers we are, this year Mel's game will be on the Friday and Mo's on the Saturday, rather than the other way round as has been customary. Can you handle the pace of change?? === Friday 3pm (Slot 5) -- Bassethwaite 5 "The crew sent out to build the fifth of the Bassethwaite space stations thought it a dream come true when they found a mysterious alien shell so close to where they had planned to construct their own. They moved in and took over; now, twenty years later, the station is a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats, and travellers from a hundred worlds. Humans and aliens (and sentient Uplifted ferrets) mix and mingle for business, pleasure, negotiations and occasionally conflict. But now the peace that has lasted for most of the station's life is threatened... "The year is 2257. The name of the place is Bassethwaite 5." Saturday 3pm (Slot 8) -- Human Racing You wake up cold, weary, puzzled, in what looks like a hospital bed, in a large, white room. You have no idea how you got here ? your last memory is of a perfectly normal evening in the sleepy town of Bassethwaite. Around you are other beds, each containing a patient dressed like yourself in a white robe, each also waking up. You recognize some of them... but others look very peculiar indeed! All is quite silent, there are no nurses or other staff, and there is no clock. And there are no doors or windows... Prepare to have your vital signs tested in Human Racing, the enigmatic new freeform from Epic Experience. === Both games are for 36 people and will last around 4 hours. As last year, Horsemen Events are handling bookings for the games, together with your GenCon booking itself. We cannot make a booking for you, you have to do it through their site. Last year this process had a few teething worries, but it all worked fine in the end, and I expect something similar will be true this year... at the moment you can only book for one of our games, and that not by the obvious route, and we can't see ourselves who's booked up, but we're sure they'll iron all that out before too long! We've also updated our website http://www.epic-experience.org.uk -- nothing fancy, but it does now include details of these and other recent games. Anyway, let us know how you get on trying to book up... we'll keep this list posted as things progress. best, Mo and Mel Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Thu Sep 8 06:56:42 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Thu Sep 8 07:32:14 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Signing up for GanCon games Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050908065534.02b4a800@mail.btopenworld.com> Hi all, Here's a very helpful summary created by Mark, in case you're having trouble with the GenCon site (apols if you've seen this already): === Hi peoples, Just like last year, the Gencon event booking website is a nightmare of confusing options and similar but not quite the same pages which perform different functions for no readily apparent reason. I've spent a long time this evening trying to find the events I'm interested in and work out what I need to do to sign up to them. As such, here is my step by step guide to how to sign up to a freeform: 1) Go to http://www.consupport.com 2) Login or register for an account. 3) Select the "Registration - Summary" option on the "Sign up" menu. 4) Select an entry pass option. This should then appear in your "Event schedule" on the right. I selected the "Early Bird" option, which gives you 4 days (& 16 tickets) for the price of 3 days (12 tickets). Note: You don't appear to have to pay for this immediately, any time before the 16th October seems Ok. 5) Browse for events using the "Events by" options on the "Events" menu. Note: Don't try to use the "Events by" options on the "Sign up" menu, as those pages only allow you to volunteer as a GM, not sign up as a player (Doh!). 6) The most useful "Events by" option for me is "Events by category" followed by "Live Action". This should list all freeforms and LARPs. Note: Many of the freeforms are missing at present. For instance while EPIC's "Human Racing" is up, "Bassethwaite 5" is not. Similarly although all of the Millennium Moon freeforms are up, none of the Mystery in Mind ones are available yet, nor is "Farewell Father Ted". Rather a shame, since the missing games are pretty much the games I want to play. *8'( 6) Freeforms seem to be costing 3 tickets each, so you may need to buy extra tickets. It isn't clear how you go about buying extra tickets, or even if it's possible from the website. Note: If you only buy a two day pass then you will only get 8 tickets included, which isn't even enough for 3 freeforms. So depending on how much extra tickets are, the "Early Bird" option might even be worthwhile for people only coming for two days. Sorry if everyone else thought this was obvious, but it had me stumped for a good hour and a half, so I figured I might as well try to help other people avoid that. Take care & see you all again soon, Mark.......... === Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Thu Sep 8 21:13:42 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Thu Sep 8 21:14:12 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Games both now signable uppable! Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050908211016.05f8d6d0@mail.btopenworld.com> Hi all, Right then, both our games should now be signable uppable -- go to: http://genconuk.com pull down the events menu, choose Events by type / The Epic Experience, and there they should be. Give it a go! best, Mo & Mel Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mel at herald.co.uk Mon Sep 26 12:50:14 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Mon Sep 26 12:50:18 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] Signups for GenCon Message-ID: <20050926115014.GI5312@mail.herald.co.uk> Afternoon all, I'd just like to encourage those of you who are thinking of playing in our games at GenCon to sign up earlier rather than later, as it makes our lives MUCH easier in terms of game planning/writing.... Also, a heads-up re: Bassethwaite 5 on Friday afternoon. If I don't get a sensible level of signups I will probably run a slightly different game, set on a spaceship travelling to Bassethwaite 5 instead of on the station itself. This is because I think the B5 concept cries out for a largish game and I don't want to wind up trying to shrink it below its "natural" size. Cheers Mel From mel at herald.co.uk Tue Oct 11 12:05:01 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Tue Oct 11 12:05:08 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] More signups needed Message-ID: <20051011110500.GB936@mail.herald.co.uk> Okay, guys, here's the deal. Currently genconuk.com is showing a grand total of six signups for Bassethwaite 5 on Friday afternoon. This is, to put it bluntly, not enough. Normally I would hope to pick up some people on the day, but I suspect that's not going to happen to any significant degree this time. The minimum number I am willing to run for is twelve, so I really need to see at least ten advance signups by October 21st (two weeks ahead of the actual game) or it isn't going to be worth putting in the effort to get it finished for this convention. I realise that a lot of you are either not attending GenCon UK this year, or are only coming down for the weekend; I am, however, reliably informed that some of our usual suspects have signed up for the con but haven't yet signed up for the game. If you would like to play it, speak soonish or you won't have the chance. (Also, do please sign up for Human Racing if you'd like to play in it, to give us a better idea of what sort of numbers that's going to level off at.) Cheers Mel From mel at herald.co.uk Tue Oct 11 13:50:27 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Tue Oct 11 13:50:33 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] PS Message-ID: <20051011125027.GL936@mail.herald.co.uk> If you are trying to sign up and see a page showing the game as "full", you are almost certainly trying to sign up as a GM for it rather than as a player. You won't be the first to have that problem. You might want to tell Ratty (ratty@genconuk.com) how confusing it is. -- Mel From mo at epic-experience.org.uk Wed Nov 9 15:09:44 2005 From: mo at epic-experience.org.uk (Mo Holkar) Date: Wed Nov 9 15:09:54 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] GenCon report Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20051109150526.03035148@mail.btopenworld.com> Hi there, Welcome to the Epic Experience mailing list, if you're one of the new people who signed up at GenCon! This is just a quickie to say that we ran two games at GenCon: Bassethwaite 5: Intimations of Danger, and Human Racing. Both went really well, and overall we had a pretty good GenCon experience -- the Bognor Regis venue is maybe the best out of all those that the convention's had. We use this list really just for telling people when we're about to run games, of which at the moment there are none planned, so it'll probably be a while before you hear from us again. But if you're interested in general discussion about freeforms, you might want to take a look at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uk-freeforms/ which is a mailing list that covers all sorts of things relating to this kind of game! All the best, Mo and Mel Mo Holkar -*- The Epic Experience http://www.epic-experience.org.uk Spreading chaos, disorder and fun From mel at herald.co.uk Wed Nov 9 15:14:46 2005 From: mel at herald.co.uk (Melanie Dymond Harper) Date: Wed Nov 9 15:14:49 2005 Subject: [Epic-List] GenCon report In-Reply-To: <6.2.1.2.2.20051109150526.03035148@mail.btopenworld.com> References: <6.2.1.2.2.20051109150526.03035148@mail.btopenworld.com> Message-ID: <20051109151446.GC26811@mail.herald.co.uk> Note also the presence of the Epic-Waffle list, which you can sign up for at http://lists.herald.co.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/epic-waffle -- it's a general chat list for our players and is (currently, at least) pretty low-volume. (So far: notes about a review of one of Mo's games on RPG-net, and a discussion about some scientific research involving ferrets watching The Matrix.) -- Mel