TOPIC: 2013 Recap

Great job Jeff and all the volunteers. I'll echo many others in saying this was the best year yet. Golembane seemed particularly inspired. Didn't know till today about Whirt's special pulls. Thank you Whirt! Can't wait till next year.

Garrison wrote: Ro-gan, that was awesome! That room will be in my memory for many years to come as well.

I only wish the Fighter's piercing scream hadn't been less than a foot from my eardrum.

That rom will be in my thoughts for years
only because I was harassing(non bad way) the Fearful Spirit

I was following her around asking if she wanted to get food, go scare some kids,
I kept distracting her so my team could work on the puzzle

so much she was walking faster to get away from me

Thank you so much for this year! This was my 3rd year getting to run and 2nd year volunteering. I don't know if this is the place to share it, but I was listening as well as observing what I was seeing working and not working.

I worked Hostess in Lycans Puzzle and I really liked that the Puzzle and combat are now hosted separately, at one point I had to take over both for a couple of hours and due to all of higher volume of runs I was certainly feeling the pressure. I can't wait to take that on again for some time next year. We did get some off the street people coming in and asking questions about what the TD was (And I personally love getting to tell people about the TD, someone suggested that they shouldn't be able to get back as far as the hosting area). There was also the occasional player that didn't check in right away, sitting down in their coach room, though it did not happen often when I was on the clock, maybe 3 times.

I found their being more coaching rooms a great idea and helped smooth things as far as getting everyone's character ready to go. Even one who I found out later was coaching one whole side.

Training was great, I had Don for one of them and he was helpful to those that did not know what they were doing yet as well as even mentioning that DMs and NPCs need some positive feedback, I totally agree with this, it keeps everyone's energy up and pos, making it fun. I enjoyed all of the NPCs I got the pleasure of interacting with, some where better than others, but it all depends on experience and skill. I also liked most of the puzzles this year, especially the ones on Golembane (combat), I am not good at puzzles hardly at all, so even having one or two that I get really makes me feel a bit better about myself. Had some fantastic DMs who really tried to describe the room and their part in the story, I especially liked any that were really particular about HEARING bardsong, I can sing quite loud and I would like to entertain them as much as they entertain me.

XP was really the only problem I ran into and hear others running into. A friend of mine that I had run with made a suggestion of somehow when checking in having a barcode on the bracelets (then coded to the person's account) or using the barcode on their Gencon badge to check in. I do not know how possible this is, but if it is I think it might be a good idea to help things move more smoothly. They day I was in XP line the hardest part was people that either didn't have an account already so one had to be created or their name couldn't be found (I found out after my 2nd run that my name on here was slightly different than the name on my badge which is why they were having trouble).

I did help 2 hours with tear down (even though I'm not local) and I actually found there to be some fun in that, made a few more friends and the only problems I had there was finding out what I could do and working without enough light. I ended up hording the lights as we were pulling stuff down, just to make it easier to turn in at the end and giving me a bit more light in the mean time. I know why it was so dark, but yes, finding a bit more lighting especially after tech took the lights down would be helpful.

I think that's everything, I am so excited about next year and going back to full time.

Was good overall.
Still need more light everywhere.


Ideas for improvement:
Create Kiosk for new players and party card print outs.
New players should be directed to this kiosk to make sure they create a new account. Players that want to check XP could be directed there as well.
Also this gives experienced players and groups a chance to put together their groups and pre-print some cards.
Would require 5 laptops networked to a printer, only ones that would require internet would be the new account generators.


I had random people ask me questions like "What is this place?"
More sinage out front and a clear place to attract the attention of new folks would be good.


Final thoughts, The Ghost room was cool in concept but why spend money on a cool costume only to penalize the players that looked at it? Should have recycled an old costume and saved the new one.

Costumes looked great this year!

Bakajin13 wrote: One thought or idea on the check out afterword. Since we are looking to keep the private coaching rooms, perhaps we could somehow check everyone in to the system there and capture their ID's/email addresses etc. before they run and perhaps even print out a barcode to scan after the run and expedite the XP checkout process at the end.

I think this is a great idea. The coaching rooms were great this year and a HUGE improvement from last year. And if an extra minute in the coaching area helps with the XP checkout I think it would be a big help.

Another issue I had this year was the lighting in the storyscape area. A simple solution would be to put a small battery-powered candle type light on every table. A small latern-looking light would work great with the theme and add a good bit of much needed light. If it was battery-powered then cables that people might trip on would not be an issue. And I don't think it would be too expensive to get a bunch of them. The batteries might need to be replaced once a day or so, but double As wouldn't be that expensive either.

Many, Many thanks to Jeff, Lori and the pre GenCon Crew for making True Dungeon the fun experience it is.

Many, many thanks to the Volunteers. It was good to see many great veteran volunteers again, and many new faces who were very pleasant to work with in admin and coaching, and fun as NPCs and DMs.

I especially appreciate the Dryad who was a NPC and DM, and had to be barefoot for her shift. We had the same dryad for all but one of our runs. We really appreciate your enthusiasm and stamina that lasted into Saturday (our last Lycan run). Also, our gear room DM was great for giving flavor to the room, and was a new volunteer this year. I hope to see as many of the wonderful volunteers back again next year as possible. Hooray and standing ovation for all the Volunteers!!!

Many, many thanks to those who ran with my son and me. We had a blast on all of our runs, and hope to get to run again with all of you next year.

Many, many thanks to Whirt for giving up an arcane recipe to do something cool for all the TD players. Your altruistic sacrifice is greatly appreciated.

I'll never forget the puppet vine who took a liking to my character both times I ran elf wizard (although different volunteers playing the puppet vine), leading to my exclamation "Really?!?!?! Not Again?!?!"

Hugs to my main squeeze, the puppet vine!

Lots of great memories from this year, and looking forward to new great memories, seeing old friends and making new friends next year.

Yeah, quip. I'm learning that when it comes to puppet vines you're on your own! Gettin' me all snagged up because I defend you...

As a returning DM I had a blast as always, even with the last minute shuffling that meant I had to learn the switch puzzle in Golembane Seven in twenty four minutes (the shift change bubble plus the other DM helpfully sticking around to let me watch him run a group through before taking over myself). I understand that it was a result of some no shows and last minute call offs and I have no complaints because I had a blast watching everybody work at that confounding puzzle. It was nice that Jeff personally came by to ask if I was comfortable with running that room on short notice; in seven years I have never felt unappreciated as a volunteer and I'm impressed that Jeff can remember all of the volunteers names when he only actually sees most of us for one week every year.

As to the lighting in the storyscape and staging areas, I see a lot of that on the forums. I know that we don't want too many bright lights because it will easily mess with the vision of anybody going into the dungeon for a run. I would personally request checking into getting the bathroom lights dimmed a bit so one doesn't get flash blinded while taking a bio break during a bubble (I expect there is some minumum lighting requirement for safety reasons but MAN that's a pain in the eyeballs). I do like the suggestion of a candle or lantern style battery powered light on each table, though. Maybe something as simple as a little LED light with a tinted translucent screen/filter around it that lights up that table a bit but doesn't spoil the whole low light ambiance.

I'd also like to give props to our props director, who came by a few times just to check on the switches in my room because there were issues with the ones in the puzzle side (mine were fine, but the attention and diligence struck me as very professional).

All in all I had a great time being part of TD yet again and I'll be back again next year.

Edit:

PS Lori, I promise I will not use the words "Carbondale" and "podunk" in the same sentence again. Even though I grew up in the middle of nowhere and the nearest "town" (I think the census bureau classifies Amity, PA as a village, assuming they're even aware the place exists). Carbondale is metropolitan by comparison.

valetutto wrote: Was good overall.
Still need more light everywhere.


Ideas for improvement:
Create Kiosk for new players and party card print outs.
New players should be directed to this kiosk to make sure they create a new account. Players that want to check XP could be directed there as well.
Also this gives experienced players and groups a chance to put together their groups and pre-print some cards.
Would require 5 laptops networked to a printer, only ones that would require internet would be the new account generators.


I had random people ask me questions like "What is this place?"
More sinage out front and a clear place to attract the attention of new folks would be good.


Final thoughts, The Ghost room was cool in concept but why spend money on a cool costume only to penalize the players that looked at it? Should have recycled an old costume and saved the new one.

Costumes looked great this year!

Years ago the Medusa costume was AWESOME and we still took a penalty for looking at her...I mean the costume. Multiple penalties if you kept looking. I liked the idea that you get penalized. It catches us in unawares.

archmage78 wrote: Years ago the Medusa costume was AWESOME and we still took a penalty for looking at her...I mean the costume.

I had no difficulty not looking at her.

I liked it too until I was the only player out of the 8 that made his save leaving me alone to kill her (dirty shame really) and the only person fighting in the next room.