And soon. But picking a hotel sort of means picking at least the other major event (Sunday afternoon). Or finding out if a lot of people are flying. Basically, here's the deal. Bonner Springs, where the Fairground is, is actually west of Kansas City, on I-70. (If you've been to Sandstone Amphitheater, you've been there, they're on the same little access road.) The airport is north-northeast of town, IIRC. (And it's a good-sized town, so we're talking a pretty good drive.) Worlds of Fun, to name one of the suggestions, is also northeast, although closer in. Great Mall of the Great Plains is southwest. The horse/dog track is northwest. And so on. So... are large numbers of you planning to fly in, or is most everyone driving? And is being able to rent a ballroom at the hotel a major concern, or would people rather run private in-room games, or does no one want to game? -- Karen J. Cravens (silver@phoenyx.net) ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Karen Cravens wrote: > And soon. But picking a hotel sort of means picking at least the > other major event (Sunday afternoon). Or finding out if a lot of > people are flying. > Basically, here's the deal. Bonner Springs, where the Fairground > is, is actually west of Kansas City, on I-70. (If you've been to > Sandstone Amphitheater, you've been there, they're on the same > little access road.) The airport is north-northeast of town, IIRC. > (And it's a good-sized town, so we're talking a pretty good drive.) > Worlds of Fun, to name one of the suggestions, is also northeast, > although closer in. Great Mall of the Great Plains is southwest. > The horse/dog track is northwest. And so on. What is World of Fun? I missed that, if it was mentioned. > So... are large numbers of you planning to fly in, or is most > everyone driving? And is being able to rent a ballroom at the hotel > a major concern, or would people rather run private in-room games, > or does no one want to game? I will be flying in. It looks like Allison will be with me, so count that as two people. As for gaming, I would be willing to run a one-shot. If I do, I'll probably throw it together on the spur of the moment. Given that, I doubt I could handle more than 3 or 4 players, so a hotel room works for me. How many people are we looking at? Can we get a show of hands so we can get an idea on this? (Because if we only have 15 people coming, we would have no use for ballroom anyway. A suite would be fine for that level of participation.) -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On 18 Aug 2001, at 21:47, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > What is World of Fun? I missed that, if it was mentioned. A theme park. Carl, the acrophobe, is determined to ride the SkyCoaster again. (He's an acrophobe/masochist, I guess.) Whether anybody will want to tromp all over a theme park after tromping all over the RenFaire is an as-yet-unanswered question. I'm not sure I'm up to it, but then again I dunno what else I want to do that *wouldn't* involve lots of walking. The Internet has taken some of the fun out of gamestore tours... it's very unlikely I'll run across an "I had NO idea anyone was producing a game like this!" anymore. > As for gaming, I would be willing to run a one-shot. If I do, I'll > probably throw it together on the spur of the moment. Given that, I > doubt I could handle more than 3 or 4 players, so a hotel room works > for me. I'm thinking the ballroom will work better if we plan to have a bunch of pickup games with lots of people circulating. Which probably means card/board games (preferably non-collectible, I sold my Magic cards about seven years ago to buy this house. I'm reasonably sure it was about seven years because I'm suddenly getting all sorts of telemarketers telling me the FHA has sold my name to a bunch of telemarketers because the seven-year requirement is almost up. Hmph). > How many people are we looking at? Can we get a show of hands so we > can get an idea on this? (Because if we only have 15 people coming, > we would have no use for ballroom anyway. A suite would be fine for > that level of participation.) Thus far, we have twenty subscribers to the subtopic. And an unknown number of people reading via web. -- Karen J. Cravens (silver@phoenyx.net) ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Karen Cravens wrote: > On 18 Aug 2001, at 21:47, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > > What is World of Fun? I missed that, if it was mentioned. > A theme park. Carl, the acrophobe, is determined to ride the > SkyCoaster again. (He's an acrophobe/masochist, I guess.) I know the type. I'm in a similar situation myself. I *refuse* to let the fact that my hindbrain has all sorts of problems with falling freely and kicks in the adrenal glands to try to "fix" this deter me from having fun. > Whether anybody will want to tromp all over a theme park after > tromping all over the RenFaire is an as-yet-unanswered question. > I'm not sure I'm up to it, but then again I dunno what else I want > to do that *wouldn't* involve lots of walking. The Internet has > taken some of the fun out of gamestore tours... it's very unlikely > I'll run across an "I had NO idea anyone was producing a game like > this!" anymore. I have to admit that a day of tropping followed by a day of tropping is not *high* on my list of stuff to do. > > As for gaming, I would be willing to run a one-shot. If I do, > > I'll probably throw it together on the spur of the moment. Given > > that, I doubt I could handle more than 3 or 4 players, so a hotel > > room works for me. > I'm thinking the ballroom will work better if we plan to have a > bunch of pickup games with lots of people circulating. Which > probably means card/board games (preferably non-collectible, I sold > my Magic cards about seven years ago to buy this house. I'm > reasonably sure it was about seven years because I'm suddenly > getting all sorts of telemarketers telling me the FHA has sold my > name to a bunch of telemarketers because the seven-year requirement > is almost up. Hmph). Well, I can always bring a couple of things along. "The Works" should be a fairly fast/easy game for pick-ups. -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote:
> I know the type. I'm in a similar situation myself. I *refuse* to
> let the fact that my hindbrain has all sorts of problems with falling
> freely and kicks in the adrenal glands to try to "fix" this deter me
> from having fun.
My biggest problem with the rides is the slow climb... I love
rollercoasters, I *hate* waiting through the chain-ride up to the top. I
found that the SkyCoaster was very tolerable as long as I kept my eyes
closed all the way to the top. I was doing real well until we clear the
tops of the trees and the breeze hit me... letting me know that we'd
cleared the tops of the trees.
It was a blast, though. I spent half the day talking myself into riding
it.
> Well, I can always bring a couple of things along. "The Works" should
> be a fairly fast/easy game for pick-ups.
I've got a few Cheap Ass games and other fast-and-fun stuff, too. And for
long-and-fun, I can bring Robo Rally.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ Trim Your Quotes! ]
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On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Karen Cravens wrote:
> A theme park. Carl, the acrophobe, is determined to ride the
> SkyCoaster again. (He's an acrophobe/masochist, I guess.)
> Whether anybody will want to tromp all over a theme park after
> tromping all over the RenFaire is an as-yet-unanswered question.
I'm kind of thinking that we ought to keep costs to a minimum... while
entry to the RenFaire itself isn't terribly expensive, it's a fun place to
spend money. WoF has around a $30 gate fee if we can't find a good
discount offer (and even then is $20 or so).
The casino thing might have the same problem... I'm not sure it'll be that
fun for folks on a budget.
I'm tempted to leave Sunday unspecified and let sub-groups choose what
they want to do with the day... we might spend it gaming. And if we have
to drive half-way across KC to go do something, that's not really that big
a deal. We'll probably end up doing that just to go somewhere fun to eat
anyway. (I did it all the time I was staying with Guy & Fia.)
> Thus far, we have twenty subscribers to the subtopic. And an
> unknown number of people reading via web.
At the moment I don't think we have enough people to justify renting an
event room. We have very few committed attendees.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ Trim Your Quotes! ]
Error locating MAFIA.EXE - program not executed.
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On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Carl D Cravens wrote: > On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Karen Cravens wrote: > > A theme park. Carl, the acrophobe, is determined to ride the > > SkyCoaster again. (He's an acrophobe/masochist, I guess.) > > Whether anybody will want to tromp all over a theme park after > > tromping all over the RenFaire is an as-yet-unanswered question. > I'm kind of thinking that we ought to keep costs to a > minimum... while entry to the RenFaire itself isn't terribly > expensive, it's a fun place to spend money. WoF has around a $30 > gate fee if we can't find a good discount offer (and even then is > $20 or so). > The casino thing might have the same problem... I'm not sure it'll > be that fun for folks on a budget. I have to say that I have *no* interest in a casino, unless it has some other attraction to it. > I'm tempted to leave Sunday unspecified and let sub-groups choose > what they want to do with the day... we might spend it gaming. And > if we have to drive half-way across KC to go do something, that's > not really that big a deal. We'll probably end up doing that just > to go somewhere fun to eat anyway. (I did it all the time I was > staying with Guy & Fia.) Driving somewhere is not a problem, as long as suffient time is alloted for the drive (a constant failing of Allison, she remembers that it take 30 minutes on the highway, forgetting that it also take 15 to get *to * the highway). -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote:
> I have to say that I have *no* interest in a casino, unless it has
> some other attraction to it.
Nope, just the riverboat casinos. I've never been. I have an interest,
but I don't know that I can afford it and the renfaire at the same time.
There wasn't a strong interest in it... just one of the things to do in
KC, so we listed it.
> Driving somewhere is not a problem, as long as suffient time is
> alloted for the drive (a constant failing of Allison, she remembers
> that it take 30 minutes on the highway, forgetting that it also take
> 15 to get *to * the highway).
Gotta remember that we're from Kansas, outside of Kansas City... anything
over twenty minutes is "a long drive" here. :)
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ General RP Discussion -- http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/ ]
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On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Carl D Cravens wrote: > On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > > I have to say that I have *no* interest in a casino, unless it has > > some other attraction to it. > Nope, just the riverboat casinos. I've never been. I have an > interest, but I don't know that I can afford it and the renfaire at > the same time. > There wasn't a strong interest in it... just one of the things to do > in KC, so we listed it. It's just one of those things that I have never been able to understand. Gambling itself is just a way to dispose of excess income. I can do the math and think of more interesting things to do with my money, thank you very much. (That was not a personal comment, just a comment on the whole "gambling" thing.) > > Driving somewhere is not a problem, as long as suffient time is > > alloted for the drive (a constant failing of Allison, she > > remembers that it take 30 minutes on the highway, forgetting that > > it also take 15 to get *to * the highway). > Gotta remember that we're from Kansas, outside of Kansas > City... anything over twenty minutes is "a long drive" here. :) And I'm from Michigan (originally) and anything under an hour is "nearby" there. The normal New England attitude is that anything that isn't with in walking distance or 10 minutes by car is "far away". Luckily, Allison likes to drive and doesn't object to things that are "far away". -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote:
> It's just one of those things that I have never been able to
> understand. Gambling itself is just a way to dispose of excess
> income. I can do the math and think of more interesting things to do
> with my money, thank you very much. (That was not a personal comment,
> just a comment on the whole "gambling" thing.)
I've enjoyed the dog track... seem to make it out there once every couple
of years or so. Spend about $20 or $30 and it makes for a fun evening.
And that's really all I view it as... $20 spent for a few hours of fun. I
don't go in expecting to take home more than I started with.
> The normal New England attitude is that anything that isn't with in
> walking distance or 10 minutes by car is "far away". Luckily, Allison
> likes to drive and doesn't object to things that are "far away".
We're looking at hotels and trying to find one that's reasonably placed
and priced. The problem with KC proper is that a lot of it is, well...
you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany. Maybe not
that bad, but we'll probably end up with a hotel in one of the suburbs,
which means driving a bit. (Which isn't bad... I was looking at the map
and realized when I stayed with friends there, they live in one of the
suburbs furthest from downtown KC, and half of what we were doing was in
downtown. It means a bit of driving, but it's not painful driving.)
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ Trim Your Quotes! ]
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On Mon, 20 Aug 2001, Carl D Cravens wrote: > On Sun, 19 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > > It's just one of those things that I have never been able to > > understand. Gambling itself is just a way to dispose of excess > > income. I can do the math and think of more interesting things to > > do with my money, thank you very much. (That was not a personal > > comment, just a comment on the whole "gambling" thing.) > I've enjoyed the dog track... seem to make it out there once every > couple of years or so. Spend about $20 or $30 and it makes for a > fun evening. And that's really all I view it as... $20 spent for a > few hours of fun. I don't go in expecting to take home more than I > started with. Racing is different, in that you can see something interesting/entertaining. Casinos are just there to take your money away. > We're looking at hotels and trying to find one that's reasonably > placed and priced. The problem with KC proper is that a lot of it > is, well... you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and > villiany. Maybe not that bad, but we'll probably end up with a > hotel in one of the suburbs, which means driving a bit. (Which > isn't bad... I was looking at the map and realized when I stayed > with friends there, they live in one of the suburbs furthest from > downtown KC, and half of what we were doing was in downtown. It > means a bit of driving, but it's not painful driving.) Fine with me. I can deal easily. -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Mon, 20 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote:
> Racing is different, in that you can see something
> interesting/entertaining. Casinos are just there to take your money
> away.
I guess that depends on whether you find things like blackjack to be fun.
The dog track is there to take your money as well and what's the real
difference between watching your chosen dog win and watching the ball of a
roulette wheel fall on your number? (Granted, I think you could throw
money away faster on casino games than on the dogs if you're betting the
minimum and looking for a couple hours of entertainment.)
Of course, I may end up agreeing with you... I've never gambled at a real
casino.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
[ Trim Your Quotes! ]
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On Mon, 20 Aug 2001, Carl D Cravens wrote: > On Mon, 20 Aug 2001, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > > Racing is different, in that you can see something > > interesting/entertaining. Casinos are just there to take your > > money away. > I guess that depends on whether you find things like blackjack to be > fun. The dog track is there to take your money as well and what's > the real difference between watching your chosen dog win and > watching the ball of a roulette wheel fall on your number? > (Granted, I think you could throw money away faster on casino games > than on the dogs if you're betting the minimum and looking for a > couple hours of entertainment.) The difference, in my mind at least, is that playing a "friendly" game of cards with your friends or at least aquantences is one thing. Playing against a house, with everything set up mathematically to ensure maximal pay in and minimal pay out, that's what I don't find entertaining. > Of course, I may end up agreeing with you... I've never gambled at a > real casino. You'd be surprised at how *little* of the "action" at a casino is cards, dice or roulette. Most (almost all, really) is just slots. Dry land casinos at least just have miles and miles of the things. They rake in so much with those that could loose every hand of cards (which they don't), every throw of the dice (which they don't) and every spin of the roulette wheel (which they don't, by a long shot) and *still* make an obscene profit. But I think we're a bit off subject here. . . . -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
> We're looking at hotels and trying to find one that's reasonably placed > and priced. The problem with KC proper is that a lot of it is, well... > you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany. Maybe *chuckle* It's hard to spend time in KC, or have friends there, and not hear eventually about what a cesspool downtown/central is. > not that bad, but we'll probably end up with a hotel in one of the > suburbs, which means driving a bit. (Which isn't bad... I was looking The best access to downtown IIRC is going to be from the Kansas side, viz. Overland or Olathe. (Provided construction isn't too bad.) I agree in principle that you have to drive... and drive... and drive... to get anywhere in that town! *sigh* At least it's not as bad as California, SoCal particularly... > at the map and realized when I stayed with friends there, they live in > one of the suburbs furthest from downtown KC, and half of what we were > doing was in downtown. It means a bit of driving, but it's not painful > driving.) Heh. Enjoy your trip. 'Course there are lots of neat places to go within a couple of hours' drive, but... -- Ben Henick Web Author At-Large Managing Editor http://www.io.com/persist1/ http://www.digital-web.com/ persist1@io.com bmh@digital-web.com -- "Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?" "I think so, Brain, but... (snort) no, no, it's too stupid." "We will disguise ourselves as a cow." "Oh!" (giggles) "That was it exactly!" ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
Well, the first hotel on my list turns out to be booked up Saturday and
Sunday night. That sucks... they had a free hot breakfast buffet and were
only $67 a night.
Here's what I'm looking at right now...
http://www.redroof.com/reservations/inn_details.asp?innNumber=061
It's a Red Roof Inn... nothing fancy, but they're about $50 a night. I'm
running into problems with not being able to find places with many
rooms... this one only has 14 available rooms right now. No conference
rooms available (which it looks like we might not want anyway, considering
the current response level), but there are several gamer-type eating
establishments nearby. (Denny's, Tippins, Hooters...)
Karen's kind of nervous about choosing an inexpensive hotel sight-unseen.
I'm worried that the longer we wait the harder it's going to be to find a
hotel with more than a couple rooms available. (There are a *lot* of
hotels that are already fully-booked for that weekend.)
Hunting down how many rooms a hotel has available means calling them...
they don't want to give that kind of information on web pages it seems.
This is the best I've found so far... Expedia.com isn't showing that many
availabilities overall. There are a lot of fully-booked hotels already.
Of course, these 14 rooms could go in the next two or three days... I
dunno. Staying in different hotels isn't going to kill us, but it would
be inconvenient.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Gamers List Owner
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> http://www.redroof.com/reservations/inn_details.asp?innNumber=061 Okay, here's the scoop. I've reserved five rooms... I can cancel any of the reservations up until the day of arrival at no cost, so this works out for me. You can either take one of these rooms or try to reserve your own. While not guaranteed, they'll attempt to put these rooms in a single block or on the same hall. I also got my AAA discount, which is worth $6 a night. I got a king + recliner (mine) which is large enough to hang out in during the evening, Fri, Sat, & Sun. $54.99/night + tax. I got a king, Fri, Sat, & Sun. This one's your's if you want it, Mike. $47.99/night + tax. And I got three rooms with two full beds, Fri & Sat. $51.49/night + tax. They were kind of short on kings and the two full beds are more flexible if people want to share rooms. I have no idea how many of these we'll fill, but at least this part's out of the way. I can transfer reservations to you if you want by giving you the confirmation number, but you probably won't get my AAA discount that way. -- Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) Everyone is gifted... Some open the package sooner. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Carl D Cravens wrote: > > http://www.redroof.com/reservations/inn_details.asp?innNumber=061 > Okay, here's the scoop. I've reserved five rooms... I can cancel > any of the reservations up until the day of arrival at no cost, so > this works out for me. You can either take one of these rooms or > try to reserve your own. While not guaranteed, they'll attempt to > put these rooms in a single block or on the same hall. I also got > my AAA discount, which is worth $6 a night. > I got a king, Fri, Sat, & Sun. This one's your's if you want it, > Mike. $47.99/night + tax. Snagged. > I can transfer reservations to you if you want by giving you the > confirmation number, but you probably won't get my AAA discount that > way. We can discuss this off the list. -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On 29 Aug 2001, at 21:47, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > Snagged. Well, that's four people for the Gathering. Since Meera (and her entourage) are unlikely to make it, per the chat which you're currently missing. Anybody else thinking about coming? -- Karen J. Cravens (silver@phoenyx.net) ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Karen Cravens wrote: > On 29 Aug 2001, at 21:47, Michael Feldhusen wrote: > > Snagged. > Well, that's four people for the Gathering. Since Meera (and her > entourage) are unlikely to make it, per the chat which you're > currently missing. Sorry, I was building an art show all day (more properly, I was watching union carpenters build an art show frame work most of the day, before we were allowed to put the panels on it). After that, it was dinner, one of the bid parties and off to help the tech crew for a while. I checked email briefly at some point in there. I always forget how freaking *big* a WorldCon is. Oh well, at least we'll be ready at 10:00 am when the artists show up. And hopefully tech will have the stage ready to go at noon (they were planning on working all night in shifts to get it done, they had both union and loading dock access problems). -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
> Okay, here's the scoop. I've reserved five rooms... I can cancel any of
> the reservations up until the day of arrival at no cost, so this works
> out for me. You can either take one of these rooms or try to reserve your
> own. While not guaranteed, they'll attempt to put these rooms in a
> single block or on the same hall. I also got my AAA discount, which is
> worth $6 a night.
Remind us when this weekend is, for those of us who Haven't Been Paying
Attention? (Is there a webpage anywhere that summarizes this? Yeah, yeah,
I know, the archives for the mailing list.)
-Rob, who really doesn't expect to go, but you never know.
(I'd love to meet some of you folks, and I'm less far from KC
than I used to be.) (I mean, heck, it's a long day's drive now.)
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On 1 Sep 2001, at 19:50, Robert A. Knop Jr. wrote: > Remind us when this weekend is, for those of us who Haven't Been Paying > Attention? (Is there a webpage anywhere that summarizes this? Yeah, yeah, > I know, the archives for the mailing list.) October 12-15th. The web page is http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/gather/ but I haven't gotten the hotel decision/contact info put up there yet. -- Karen J. Cravens (silver@phoenyx.net) ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
> At the moment I don't think we have enough people to justify renting an > event room. We have very few committed attendees. Our triad isn't committed yet, but I'm still very interested in following the plans -- it's not that far a drive for us, but I'm unsure of my time committments that far in advance. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
