TOPIC: 2013 Recap

Well...we finally made it home Monday night -- and the kids are in bed. I thought I would take this chance to jot down my thoughts on True Dungeon 2013.

General Impression: Despite a few glitches that need addressing (I'm looking at your XP room), I think we put on great show. I am very happy with many of the changes we put into effect in 2013. All in all, I would say we managed to kick it up another notch.

Private Coaching Rooms: Looks like this idea will make a return in 2014. It appears to have been well received, and I really liked how it helped start the adventures off in a great way. Kudos to an outstanding Coaching staff who rolled with all the changes and maximized the benefits of the new event start area.

Volunteer Training: Stu Ough, one of our two Directors, put together a well done online training program, and I think it showed. We had many new DMs, and they did very well without much experience under their belts.

Install and Dismantle: We had a great crew made up of Indy locals who spearheaded our Install and Dismantle efforts. They did an outstanding job considering many of them were new, and I think next year they will be even better. We also had lots of help from general volunteers during Dismantle -- and they stepped up and worked like hungry ants to tear down our event.

NPCs: The NPCs seemed to really turn it up a notch this year. Well done!

XP Desk: One sour note that needs addressing...the XP Desk suffered from a slow response time. We addressed the issue as best we could, and we will DEFINITELY improve the "end of game" experience in 2014.

Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls: There was some controversy here -- mainly due to lack of communication from me. It was designed to be a surprise as a gift from a long-time TD fan who wanted to give all of TD a selfless gift. It was a one-time thing brought about by the sacrifice of the last Arcane Recipe token. NOTE: The person did not know exactly what would happen...only that he would make thousands of TD fans smile in 2013 with his sacrifice. No special treasure will be available in 2014.


Thoughts on 2014: Next year will see the party adventure aboard the Zephyr as they seek to direct the airship to the last known location of the missing dwarves of Icecrag Keep. Perhaps the reptilian visitor briefly seen in the village holds a clue to where the airship might travel.

My main worry for 2014 the lack of available tickets for volunteers. For all intents and purposes, we sold out in 2013 while putting on a good show. I cannot see how we can add any more tickets for quite some time, so with the coming increase in demand I fear we will be faced with a ticket shortage for volunteers.


Final Thoughts: It is still very difficult for me to really process what True Dungeon has grown into over these past 11 years. It was an incredibly HARD year for me. I don't think I have ever worked this hard in my life, and sometimes I don't know how I survived for so many months on little sleep.

My day job is running Dwarven Forge (a miniature company), and all of 2013 has been consumed by a $2 million Kickstarter campaign for a new revolutionary terrain. I get giddy when I think of the 10,000s of gamers that will be using this terrain in the Fall, and it is a great feeling to know that something I have done will make so many people happy for years to come.

It was only with a lot of help from MANY friends that we were able to pull off True Dungeon 2013. It came down to the wire, and I still can't believe we were able to put on the fine show we did. You would not believe how much was not designed/built until the final week!

I am telling you all this because I want to apologize for my absence for much of the year on the TD Forums. I had to pick and choose where to put my time, and it seems building trees and puzzles was deemed more worthy. The next year has GOT to be easier, so I will be here more in the coming months. I honestly miss being here.

I am sorry if I missed your email or PM -- or I dropped some other detail. My brain is a disorganized beast, and it is ill-suited for many of the tasks required of me to do True Dungeon. Again, your patience is appreciated.

Finally, I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to give me some words of encouragement this year at the event. After the bone-crushing year that was 2013, I must tell you that I really needed to hear that the pain was worth it. I want to give special thanks to Pat Rothfuss (the well-respected author) who sought me out during Dismantle on Sunday to share some eloquent encouragement. Those wall panels were much lighter after his visit.

I hope you had a great 2013 Gen Con Indy. I am very happy with what we accomplished, and I am very hopeful for an even better experience in 2014.

That explains the treasure stuff. Thanks for that

I hope the coaching rooms stay like they are(it saved me Saturday night, doing a whole side of combat by myself..well Raven saved me for a bit[thanks again Raven])

So please keep those like that..just in case 2 coaches bail again at the last minute

Thanks for the update Jeff and I agree, the event was a success overall. VERY glad to see that the XP desk will be looked into. I was half out of my mind with the pain in my feet from standing at the XP desk so long and so many times on Friday.

Never even heard of Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls. Hope they went well.

Altogether, I thought it was a stellar year for True Dungeon. When relaxing at the end of Sunday and asking my group what the best part of the Con was, many of them answered without hesitation, "True Dungeon".

I want to thank you and all the volunteers for putting on perhaps the best event yet. All the dedication and hard work has certainly brought smiles to the faces of all the gamers in my group. We can't wait for the next year! I feel honored to be even a small part of this True Dungeon family.

And to hold us over until next year, how about one last Huzzah of victory!

cdsmith wrote: Thanks for the update Jeff and I agree, the event was a success overall. VERY glad to see that the XP desk will be looked into. I was half out of my mind with the pain in my feet from standing at the XP desk so long and so many times on Friday.

Never even heard of Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls. Hope they went well.

Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls----was why so many URs etc were pulled. Whirt turned in his recipe for that(for everyone)

lazlo_hollyfeld1985 wrote:

cdsmith wrote: Thanks for the update Jeff and I agree, the event was a success overall. VERY glad to see that the XP desk will be looked into. I was half out of my mind with the pain in my feet from standing at the XP desk so long and so many times on Friday.

Never even heard of Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls. Hope they went well.

Whirt's (Special) Treasure Pulls----was why so many URs etc were pulled. Whirt turned in his recipe for that(for everyone)

Oh My! That is a VERY special recipe indeed.

Whirt, thank you from myself and from several of the people that I run with. A brand new player pulled a Charm of Heroism and he was thrilled. I think he might become a long term player because of that treasure draw.

Thank you Jeff!!

I was constantly blown away by the attention to detail and dedication of those involved in putting on a great show.

Despite nit-picks, nearly everything improves every single year. Hopefully next year I will finally be able to volunteer and help out with those wall panels!

Jeff,

Thank you for all the hard work and long hours you put in, it was a great time on the 14 runs I did and enjoyed and again thank you for helping with the ring

Thanks Jeff and the entire crew for putting on a great show. The dedication and effort of volunteers and management do show through. We all had a great time.

This year's best aspect:

private prep rooms

This year's aspect most needing improvement:

XP desk and software - I know you knew that already.

Entry area lighting and creating a centralized area encouraging of player and trader congregation

Suggestion for next year:

Bring back True Craft in one form or another - make that large central area a happier, more inviting place to hang out, more tables, maybe a small food and drink vendor or two.

Jeff,

Thanks for the great summary and thoughts, and thanks to you and all the wonderful Volunteers that put on such a great True Dungeon experience this year! And a special thanks to Whirt for so selflessly making so many people happy with the special treasure draws!

Thanks!!
Mike

Jeff,

Thanks for putting on a great show! I was the impromtu XP guy, the crew that worked the XP desk has made suggestions in the volunteer forums. I think a few of us are willing to volunteer next year to work the XP desk again.

Cheers,
Ed

Thanks to Jeff and all the TD crew for the awesome dungeons this year!


More lighting would be good in some areas especially. Since I am unsure of the restrictions placed by the ICC on electrical draws and what not I am not sure some of the ideas I have would be allowed...

Temp lighting solutions could include string lights and possibly using cables to lower a light fixture enough so that only one small section was lit by it. String lighting might be the easiest to pull off and conceal/modify so that it was more suited to TD's look though.