TOPIC: Change in Ghost Policy

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Harlax wrote: In fact the Coaches guide tells us that we are going to do just that after a certain point in time. Is that going change? If not, are we not still vulnerable to this scenario?

At this point I just don't know. I'm not inclined to update the Coach's Guide until after this dust has settled. No matter how this issue winds up being handled, I assure you we will talk about eTictets during training on Wednesday night.

1) Thank you all for the great feedback and the help you have given us to know all the issues at hand. I must confess that this was not handled well by me, and I should not have said anything until I had good reliable info from Gen Con. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

2) Rest assured that TD, like always I hope, will take care of its players. Sometimes I am a bit dim about a need that should be addressed, but once I am alerted we usually take care of our folks. This will happen here. Whatever parameters we are given from Gen Con, the TD Crew will figure out a great way to take care of you all. So, please relax and know that TD has your back -- to the best of our ability. We have some ideas, like having a roving ticket checker in the Coaching Room area for each dungeon (so folks are checked in inside Coaching Rooms), but we can't say exactly what we will do until we get concrete info from Gen Con. That should happen in June some time. Stay tuned for more info then.

I said a similar "trust me we won't let it happen again" after the Origins ticket fiasco for 2017, and we had to develop a whole new ticketing website to make that promise happen. We will get this issue figured out, too.

3) Ghosting - Okay, this is going to throw you for a loop, but after feedback from some veteran collectors, I think we should keep Gen Con ghosting restrictions in place, but remove all restrictions from Gamehole Con and Origins. These two Cons don't sell out so any ghosting is not keeping folks from playing. And since the price of those adventures ($58) is close to the price of Gen Con last year ($62) there is not a big price incentive relative to established token values. If these two Cons start selling out, we could always put the Gen Con ghosting limit in place. Thoughts?

4) Chicken Coup - I just spent 10 hours retro-fitting a shed into a chicken coop for Lori's chickens. It's her Mother's Day present, and I'm dead dog tired. Sorry if this post is a bit scattered and confusing. Also, tell Lori how wonderful her husband is the next time you see her. I gotta now pull an all-nighter to finish the Origins map.

Thanks again for being such an amazing bunch of folks. We WILL survive 2018, and we will have an incredible time at Gen Con! Honestly, I'm so psyched. (We just tested the Astral walls, and they are sweeeet!)

Jeff Martin wrote: 3) Ghosting - Okay, this is going to throw you for a loop, but after feedback from some veteran collectors, I think we should keep Gen Con ghosting restrictions in place, but remove all restrictions from Gamehole Con and Origins. These two Cons don't sell out so any ghosting is not keeping folks from playing. And since the price of those adventures ($58) is close to the price of Gen Con last year ($62) there is not a big price incentive relative to established token values. If these two Cons start selling out, we could always put the Gen Con ghosting limit in place. Thoughts?

Just wanted to see if I understood the intent:
- No ghosting is the official policy for GenCon 2018?
- Ghosting being or not being allowed will be decided after tickets sales on an event by event basis?

I feel like the chickens should have to solve a puzzle to enter or leave the coop.

Jeff Martin wrote: 1)

4) Chicken Coup - I just spent 10 hours retro-fitting a shed into a chicken coop for Lori's chickens. It's her Mother's Day present, and I'm dead dog tired. Sorry if this post is a bit scattered and confusing. Also, tell Lori how wonderful her husband is the next time you see her. I gotta now pull an all-nighter to finish the Origins map.

I really hope the coop has a giant troll that rises up and intones “You not supposed to be here! Me smash you now!” That would be a .... coup.

Definitely myself and a handful of others are not happy with losing hundreds of dollars in return fees. But may wait until the last minute to do the return in case it changes again. Hopefully the e-ticket system will provide constant updates so TD does not come up short.

I echo Edwin... not happy loosing the restocking fee especially since when they were purchased there was an understanding that we could ghost...

But, I will support Jeff and his decision...

Which GenCon limits will be in place? Last years version or no ghosting as announced earlier.

Is the lifting of ghosting restrictions effective for Origins next month?



Thanks for your thoughtful response, Jeff. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say our ire was directed at GenCon not you.

Sorry for the confusion.

Regarding Ghosting...I am proposing that we make a simple change to the current Ghost policy on p. 54 of the PHB. It currently reads as below. My additions are in red. Obviously, we also need to change much below regarding how electronic tickets works once we have exact info on the ticketing system, but those will be changed later. Basically, Gen Con, Gamehole Con and Origins (in one month!) will have the same Ghosting policy.

Groups with Less Than 10 Players
In most circumstances, when the full complement of 10 players has not arrived before the official start time, we attempt to fill the group from players on the waiting list. However, there are exceptions.

Some groups prefer to play their adventure with less than 10 people but still maintain a “full” party. This is colloquially known as "ghosting." Ghosting is only permitted at Gen Con, Gamehole Con and Origins Game Fair—and is only permissible when all of these parameters are adhered to:

• All 10 hard tickets must be purchased by one or more players in the group. They may not pay for the runs with generic tickets. A hard ticket is a single ticket that specifies the exact date and time of the event the participant paid for.
  Note: The aforementioned rule for hard tickets only applies to groups deliberately running with less than 10 people. Players who fill in an incomplete party off the waiting list may pay with generic tickets.
• All 10 hard tickets must be turned in.
• All 10 wristbands must be put on members of that group. E.g., if a group chooses to run their adventure with eight people, two players would each wear two wristbands or one player would wear three wristbands. Determining which player(s) wear the extra wristband(s) is decided by the hard ticket holder(s).
• 10 bags of tokens will be distributed to the group, as determined by who is wearing the extra wristband(s). E.g., if a group chooses to run their adventure with eight people, two players would each receive two bags of tokens or one player would receive three bags of tokens. It’s up to the hard ticket holder(s) to decide how the extra bags are allotted.
• No matter how many wristbands a player is wearing, no person may play more than one character. So yes, someone could buy all 10 slots and solo the dungeon, but that person may only play a single character, not ten.
• Only Treasure-Enhancing (TE) or Synergistic tokens may be "equipped" on Ghost characters.
  Note: Ghost characters cannot duplicate a class currently being played by a real person. E.g., if the party contains a Bard, Cleric, Druid, Elf Wizard, and Wizard, no Ghost character can equip a Cabal item because none of the remaining classes are eligible to equip a Cabal item.
• Even though the maximum number of Ghost characters on a run is nine, no more than five Ghost characters may receive any Treasure Chip bonus. All Ghost characters can equip TEs if they wish, but only five Ghost characters will receive any Treasure Chips.
  Example 1: If one person buys out the slot of all 10 tickets, five of the ghost characters can have a number entered in the Total Treasure calls on the Party Card, but four will be left blank. The 10th character’s TE bonus will, of course, be that of the actual solo player. Synergistic TEs on non-eligible Ghosts count towards the synergy bonus on the eligible Ghosts. E.g., if someone solos the dungeon with 10 Charms of Avarice, only five Ghosts will get Treasure Chips, but the CoA bonus will be at its max.
  Example 2: The party consists of five real players and five Ghost players. In this case, all 10 characters can have a number entered into Total Treasure on the Party Card.
• 6th-level (or higher) players get one extra Treasure Chip for each wristband they’re wearing. Unlike treasure-enhancing tokens, level benefits count for all the extra slots that player paid for but were not filled with actual human beings. E.g., a 6th-level player soloing the dungeon would receive +10 Treasure Chips for being 6th-level, in addition to whatever other bonuses that person was entitled to.

Harlax wrote:
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Jeff. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say our ire was directed at GenCon not you.

Well said, Harlax...

And have already sent Fred K. a private apology for my reaction to his words. I hope he forgives me and takes me up on my offer...

Thanks for the update Jeff. We know you are doing everything you can behind the scenes to make sure we have the best TD experience possible, and we do appreciate it even if the discussion gets a little heated at times.