TOPIC: Skull Con and Patron Side Event in June!

I'm trying to decide what to do with my extra skull access, so I second Mike's questions on how it would work if I sold skull access codes.

A couple of people have asked about selling Skull codes, but I think a partial answer already exists in the post about Skull Con.

IMPORTANT: You MUST present the actual Skull of Cavadar token(s) for validation when you arrive at the event. It will be validated via its unique number as well as with its unique embedded RFID chip. Failure to bring it to the event will result in you NOT BEING ADMITTED TO SKULL CON.

I'd assume that if you sell access, you need to be present when the person to whom it is sold arrives at the event. If you, the Skull holder, aren't physically attending, the skull still needs to be present at the event.

I wonder if the fix to the “present” would be a zoom channel open and when the live show person shows up, it is the responsibility of the live person to coordinate with the skull owner to get on zoom and present the skull. This would remove the logistical hassle from TDHQ and make it the responsibility between the live participant and the skull holder to communicate and gather their timing. Doing this removes the weirdness of someone showing up with an intent to use a skull that was already used due to some bad clerical error and then make TDHQ try to sort it out.

Jamie Campbell wrote: I wonder if the fix to the “present” would be a zoom channel open and when the live show person shows up, it is the responsibility of the live person to coordinate with the skull owner to get on zoom and present the skull. This would remove the logistical hassle from TDHQ and make it the responsibility between the live participant and the skull holder to communicate and gather their timing. Doing this removes the weirdness of someone showing up with an intent to use a skull that was already used due to some bad clerical error and then make TDHQ try to sort it out.

Zoom won't work. The skulls have rfid chips, so they have to be there to be scanned (the rfid chip is also why we are strongly encouraged to keep them in the plastic cases). Also, because the skulls can be scanned, there is minimal issue of clerical errors registering the wrong skull.

Jeff,

I want to say a big Thank you for Organizing this awesome event!! I for one am very appreciative of what you do for you clientele. I really feel you bend over backwards to try to make as many people as possible happy. That's a rarity in customer service these days, and I really appreciate it. As you know you'll never make 100% of everyone happy. But I am grateful for what you continually do!

Looking forward to a crazy week that will start in Ohio, pass through Florida, the Bahamas, and Cartersville, Illinois!

Here's the only way I can see "leasing" your Skull token to someone for money so they can get into Skull Con.

By April 1st you will have to have acquired their name so you can register them.

The Skull token you have leased them will have to be presented at Skull Con so the token can be validated. If you trust them, you can just send them the token and they will return it to you later. If you don't trust them, you (or an agent) will have to be present at Skull Con registration to show the Skull token leased when the leasee wishes to check into Skull Con. The authentication software will record all IDs and we will also record the unique number of each token so that a token cannot be used twice.

When someone checks into the Con, they will get a badge with their name on it. On the back will also be the start time of the two-hour event.

How the start time of their two-hour event is determined is not exactly known at this time. Lori is working that out, but that process won't start for a few months -- maybe even after April 1st.

Any other questions?

kurtreznor wrote:

Jamie Campbell wrote: I wonder if the fix to the “present” would be a zoom channel open and when the live show person shows up, it is the responsibility of the live person to coordinate with the skull owner to get on zoom and present the skull. This would remove the logistical hassle from TDHQ and make it the responsibility between the live participant and the skull holder to communicate and gather their timing. Doing this removes the weirdness of someone showing up with an intent to use a skull that was already used due to some bad clerical error and then make TDHQ try to sort it out.

Zoom won't work. The skulls have rfid chips, so they have to be there to be scanned (the rfid chip is also why we are strongly encouraged to keep them in the plastic cases). Also, because the skulls can be scanned, there is minimal issue of clerical errors registering the wrong skull.

some time ago, they released a token validator app. If that app updated, the skull holder could present that in live video...

now with the mention of the "app" Jeff mentions, I don't know if a manual entry could be provided to handle the "zoom".

anyway...I am just providing possible ideas.

Fred K wrote:

Jeff Martin wrote:

Arcanist Kolixela wrote: Yep, basically in a normal year the only thing I need is a badge for the convention and the patron pin/code.

This year if I don't own a skull I can't attend the patron event?

That seems really shitty to people who don't own a skull but might buy enough tokens to be a patron.

Is there something available for patrons who DON'T own a skull or are they just out of luck for 2022?

I guess I could just cancel the Patron event at Skull Con, but I was really looking forward to hanging out with Patrons after a few years of not seeing anyone. It is hard for me to get away from home these days, and I didn't get to go to GHC.

Okay...since I don't want to bum people out, and I want everyone to be happy...

Last proclamation:

We will ALSO host an exclusive Virtual event for Patrons in October of 2022 open to ALL 2022 Patrons -- even those who attend Skull Con. I will update the appropriate pages.

Jeff - I would encourage you to have the Patron event in person at Skullcon. The negative comments were VASTLY outnumbered by positive ones for combining the events. Arcanist doesn't speak for everyone regardless of his volume of posts. Virtual for Patron is good but in person is vastly better. Having 2 different adventures makes the trip more worthwhile for the rest of us who planned to attend. It sounds like placating a tiny number of very loud people to dampen what is available to the vast majority.

Before making changes, I recommend TD quantifies the number of people actually impacted who were really willing to spend the money to go and commit to that now. My guess is the total is less than 10 people would be negatively impacted and I'm 100% certain other skull holders can help them out (between myself and half a dozen other people - we have dozens of extra skull codes we can help with.) On the other side, moving the Patron event negatively impacts an order of magnitude more people who are planning to attend.

Fred

^^^I'm with Fred. However, I would also like to present an alternative that skates around your proclomation for an exclusive event for Skull owners and makes putting on this event less of a hit to the TD coffers.

1) Like TDC, open the event up to anyone. However, those that do not have a Skull of Cavadar cannot participate in that exclusive Skull of Cavadar run.

2) Have the Patron in person event. It's only for Patrons, just like at TDC.

3) Have a second run that anyone who attends can join.

4) Bring back Grind. It could be a small down and dirty, set up in the bar area even so people could watch as they hang out and drink. Grind is fun to watch and will turn the bar into a lively place of TD sport!

SnakeEyes (Eric) wrote:

Fred K wrote:

Jeff Martin wrote:

Arcanist Kolixela wrote: Yep, basically in a normal year the only thing I need is a badge for the convention and the patron pin/code.

This year if I don't own a skull I can't attend the patron event?

That seems really shitty to people who don't own a skull but might buy enough tokens to be a patron.

Is there something available for patrons who DON'T own a skull or are they just out of luck for 2022?

I guess I could just cancel the Patron event at Skull Con, but I was really looking forward to hanging out with Patrons after a few years of not seeing anyone. It is hard for me to get away from home these days, and I didn't get to go to GHC.

Okay...since I don't want to bum people out, and I want everyone to be happy...

Last proclamation:

We will ALSO host an exclusive Virtual event for Patrons in October of 2022 open to ALL 2022 Patrons -- even those who attend Skull Con. I will update the appropriate pages.

Jeff - I would encourage you to have the Patron event in person at Skullcon. The negative comments were VASTLY outnumbered by positive ones for combining the events. Arcanist doesn't speak for everyone regardless of his volume of posts. Virtual for Patron is good but in person is vastly better. Having 2 different adventures makes the trip more worthwhile for the rest of us who planned to attend. It sounds like placating a tiny number of very loud people to dampen what is available to the vast majority.

Before making changes, I recommend TD quantifies the number of people actually impacted who were really willing to spend the money to go and commit to that now. My guess is the total is less than 10 people would be negatively impacted and I'm 100% certain other skull holders can help them out (between myself and half a dozen other people - we have dozens of extra skull codes we can help with.) On the other side, moving the Patron event negatively impacts an order of magnitude more people who are planning to attend.

Fred

^^^I'm with Fred. However, I would also like to present an alternative that skates around your proclomation for an exclusive event for Skull owners and makes putting on this event less of a hit to the TD coffers.

1) Like TDC, open the event up to anyone. However, those that do not have a Skull of Cavadar cannot participate in that exclusive Skull of Cavadar run.

2) Have the Patron in person event. It's only for Patrons, just like at TDC.

3) Have a second run that anyone who attends can join.

4) Bring back Grind. It could be a small down and dirty, set up in the bar area even so people could watch as they hang out and drink. Grind is fun to watch and will turn the bar into a lively place of TD sport!

I think the problem is a space limitation more than anything.

Jeff Martin wrote: Here's the only way I can see "leasing" your Skull token to someone for money so they can get into Skull Con.

By April 1st you will have to have acquired their name so you can register them.

The Skull token you have leased them will have to be presented at Skull Con so the token can be validated. If you trust them, you can just send them the token and they will return it to you later. If you don't trust them, you (or an agent) will have to be present at Skull Con registration to show the Skull token leased when the leasee wishes to check into Skull Con. The authentication software will record all IDs and we will also record the unique number of each token so that a token cannot be used twice.

When someone checks into the Con, they will get a badge with their name on it. On the back will also be the start time of the two-hour event.

How the start time of their two-hour event is determined is not exactly known at this time. Lori is working that out, but that process won't start for a few months -- maybe even after April 1st.

Any other questions?

Jeff, Thanks, that mostly answers my questions. My main remaining question is: Let's say I'm bringing in enough skulls for 10+ people, some of whom will be doing a second run also. I'll have already registered all the names. Can I just show up at registration with all the skulls and get all the badges and hand them out later (assuming people will be arriving at different times), or does each person that I'm getting a badge for need to be with me at registration when I get their badge(s)?

Wayne Rhodes wrote:

SnakeEyes (Eric) wrote:

Fred K wrote:

Jeff Martin wrote:

Arcanist Kolixela wrote: Yep, basically in a normal year the only thing I need is a badge for the convention and the patron pin/code.

This year if I don't own a skull I can't attend the patron event?

That seems really shitty to people who don't own a skull but might buy enough tokens to be a patron.

Is there something available for patrons who DON'T own a skull or are they just out of luck for 2022?

I guess I could just cancel the Patron event at Skull Con, but I was really looking forward to hanging out with Patrons after a few years of not seeing anyone. It is hard for me to get away from home these days, and I didn't get to go to GHC.

Okay...since I don't want to bum people out, and I want everyone to be happy...

Last proclamation:

We will ALSO host an exclusive Virtual event for Patrons in October of 2022 open to ALL 2022 Patrons -- even those who attend Skull Con. I will update the appropriate pages.

Jeff - I would encourage you to have the Patron event in person at Skullcon. The negative comments were VASTLY outnumbered by positive ones for combining the events. Arcanist doesn't speak for everyone regardless of his volume of posts. Virtual for Patron is good but in person is vastly better. Having 2 different adventures makes the trip more worthwhile for the rest of us who planned to attend. It sounds like placating a tiny number of very loud people to dampen what is available to the vast majority.

Before making changes, I recommend TD quantifies the number of people actually impacted who were really willing to spend the money to go and commit to that now. My guess is the total is less than 10 people would be negatively impacted and I'm 100% certain other skull holders can help them out (between myself and half a dozen other people - we have dozens of extra skull codes we can help with.) On the other side, moving the Patron event negatively impacts an order of magnitude more people who are planning to attend.

Fred

^^^I'm with Fred. However, I would also like to present an alternative that skates around your proclomation for an exclusive event for Skull owners and makes putting on this event less of a hit to the TD coffers.

1) Like TDC, open the event up to anyone. However, those that do not have a Skull of Cavadar cannot participate in that exclusive Skull of Cavadar run.

2) Have the Patron in person event. It's only for Patrons, just like at TDC.

3) Have a second run that anyone who attends can join.

4) Bring back Grind. It could be a small down and dirty, set up in the bar area even so people could watch as they hang out and drink. Grind is fun to watch and will turn the bar into a lively place of TD sport!

I think the problem is a space limitation more than anything.

It seems there are other buildings on the property that could be used. Heck, an outdoor "dungeon" under a tent or partially in the woods would be a unique experience. Opening up this event to everyone, while still have exclusive elements would be very attractive to both new and long time players.

SnakeEyes (Eric) wrote: ^^^I'm with Fred. However, I would also like to present an alternative that skates around your proclomation for an exclusive event for Skull owners and makes putting on this event less of a hit to the TD coffers.

1) Like TDC, open the event up to anyone. However, those that do not have a Skull of Cavadar cannot participate in that exclusive Skull of Cavadar run.

2) Have the Patron in person event. It's only for Patrons, just like at TDC.

3) Have a second run that anyone who attends can join.

4) Bring back Grind. It could be a small down and dirty, set up in the bar area even so people could watch as they hang out and drink. Grind is fun to watch and will turn the bar into a lively place of TD sport!

Agreed. Having more options at SkullCon would definitely be a great way to offset the Origins absence.

Just to build on the “bring back grind” idea, how about a grind-like room where monsters just keep coming for an alloted period of time, and then have a leaderboard where they show the groups with the most kills, best time etc.