The RPG Duelling League
Social Forums => Discussion => Topic started by: Luther Lansfeld on March 04, 2016, 06:57:21 PM
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Welcome to Vancouver, where you can retreat to upon the election of President Trump. We have cookies.
The dates are August 11th - August 15th!
Okay, it looks like DLC Vancouver is going forward. First of all, given this, two things we need to know.
-What dates work best for you?
-Will you be attending? (and/or likelihood of doing so)
General information that may help with planning:
-If you intend to come, are not from Canada, and don't yet have a passport, start applying for your passport NOW. I can't stress this enough. Don't let your holidays be hostage to your government's bureaucracy. The passport is good for 10 years anyway (in many countries, at least) so it's hardly a bad investment even if you end up having to cancel.
-There are a few different ways to get to Vancouver by air:
--Vancouver airport (YVR) is by far the simplest. It's a quick Skytrain ride (20 minutes max) from there to downtown Vancouver, our apartment, and various other parts of the city. The downside is it has high fees to airline prices to Vancouver can be pretty pricy depending on where you are flying from.
--Seattle is about 2-3 hours away by car and 4 by bus. There is bus service (http://www.quickcoach.com/) which connects directly from Seattle-Tacoma airport to Vancouver, with only a small number of stops along the way (though the border takes a while). The travel time will obviously be longer if you go plane + bus, but it might be cheaper. (It might also not be, you'll have to do your research.)
--Bellingham is a small city just across the border from Vancouver. The same bus that services Seattle to Vancouver stops in Bellingham, so you can take that too. In my experience though, the only cheap flights Bellingham connect to relatively nearby parts of the country, but could be worth looking at for Californians.
--You can also fly to Seattle/Bellingham and rent a car (or, if you're coming from California or any other "close" places, drive from there). Do be careful, though: if you're renting, not all rentals will allow you to cross the border. (Some will, though.)
-We will most likely be renting a house, similar to what we've done in San Francisco in the past. The price will obviously depend on what we're able to find and how many people attend. We've tentatively found places which would run about $200 CDN ($150 US) per person for 12 people for 4 nights (Thursday night to Monday morning). You might want to budget a bit more than that in case prices rise by the time we actually get confirmation for dates and can book things.
-Prices for food and similar things in Vancouver are expensive, i.e. similar to priciest US cities like San Francisco and New York... normally. However, the current Canada-US exchange rate is extremely favourable for US travellers ($1 CDN = 74 US cents, at the time of this post), that should help a good deal; this is definitely the best time to visit Canada in this regard since DLCons first became a thing. (I haven't looked into the current exchange rates for Australia or Finland or the UK or Japan or anywhere else, sorry.)
More to come at some point, but for now, that's the basic info. Please give feedback about your availability as soon as possible.
Coming:
1. Elfboy
2. Ciato
3. Grefter
4. Snowfire
5. Excal
6. Meeple
7. Laggy
8. Magey
9. Gate
10. Lady Door
11. Andy
12. Tonfa
13. Djinn
14. Djinn's boyfriend
15. Sopko
16. Alex
17. Tal
18. Jim
19. Aziraphale
20. CK
21. MC
Maybe:
1. Gourry
Not coming:
1. Zenny
2. Super
3. Idun
4. Niu
5. Neph
For anyone who is interested, there is a Shakespeare festival going on in the city during the summer (http://bardonthebeach.org/). If you are interested, please let us know!
Passport information:
Since it looks like y'all will be having a con in Canada land and most of us aren't Canadian, and I work with passports, I figured I'd talk some about getting passports.
SO
I'm doing the math for you, but US Passports are gonna run you 135 dollars. I'm making some assumptions here. 1)You're getting the book and 2)You're getting a first time passport.
Go here. https://iafdb.travel.state.gov/ Stick in your zip code. Apply at that place. When do you apply? My recommendation is at least 7 weeks ahead of schedule, but honestly, more than that if you live in California, you guys are backed up. Apply early. Not applying early will come damn near to doubling your total cost and might not get you a passport anyhow.
What do you need?
A birth certificate. The original or a copy directly from Vital Records. No photocopies. Valid ID. A photo. Have a professional take the damn photo. Did I mention 135 dollars? Yeah. That's it.
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Things to do in Vancouver besides play video games in a large house:
The aforementioned Bard on the Beach
Museum of Anthropology if you are interested in learning about the native culture of B.C.
Stanley Park - It's mostly just an absurdly beautiful place to walk/jog/bike
Vancouver Aquarium - If you love adorable animals
Vancouver Art Gallery - I've never actually been here so I'd be up for visiting
Granville Island - Pretty touristy but enjoyable and has a fish and chips place literally on the dock which is great
Dr. Sun Yan-Sen Chinese Classical Gardens - A Chinese style garden in Chinatown
Kits Beach - It's a nice beach and not too far away
Queen Elizabeth Park - It's a really nice park really close to our apartment
Beatty Biodiversity Museum - Has a huge ass whale skeleton. For science nerds.
Richmond - It's a suburb of Vancouver with a large Asian population. It will probably be a cool place for the Nius and Nephs of the world and I'm sure will fill Neph's request of Japanese karaoke.
All of these places are accessible by public transit.
Places to visit if you wanted to book a longer vacation:
Victoria (the capital city of BC)/Vancouver Island - It is accessible only by ferry (which is quite a beautiful ride). The city has a very strong British influence compared to Vancouver which has more of the Northern Pacific feel. There is a very British fancy hotel called The Empress that's really fun to stay in, and you can have fancy high tea if you hate your money. Much like Vancouver, it is very green in the summer.
The Interior - About three hours outside of Vancouver is the lower-lying Okanagan Valley. There's mostly wineries and other such things in the region, so if you were interested in being a wine snob, this is the place to do it.
Mountains - If you are into hiking, there are tons of mountains in the area, including the mountains that hosted the Olympic events here in 2010. Whistler is a bit of a trek and pricy as fuck, but Cypress, Seymour, and Grouse are all pretty close. The Grouse Grind is a hike that a lot of people really enjoy (or you can just take a gondola up the mountain).
Sechelt - Our favorite place, it's a small community only accessible by ferry. It has lots of beautiful sites, including the spectacular Skookumchuck Narrows, a rare place with large tidal rapids just randomly inside of an inlet. Smuggler's Cove is one our favorite relaxing nature walks. Elf's parents have a house there, so if we suck up to them they might let people stay there. :)
Food in Vancouver: Heavily Asian. Chinese and Japanese food are two things cited by most people as Vancouver's strengths, but I'm personally pretty fond of Indian and Thai food. You can find whatever you want, though.
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Capilano Suspension Bridge might be worth a visit for people willing to take the drive. It ain't cheap ($38 what) but if you like nature you'd probably enjoy it. Perfect for when you start to feel Canada infecting you and you want a healthy dose of 'Muricah - it has bald eagles.
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That's totally only like 30 USD. Bald eagles are fucking amazing, though.
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The Butchart Gardens in Victoria are gorgeous if you have the time to go there. It is definitely an extended trip thing though since you have to ferry over.
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For real reals though guys, you want to go to Bard.
It is like the fifth highest on my list of reasons that I visit Vancouver every year I can.
Vancouver Aquarium - If you love adorable animals
Erek, step away from the keyboard.
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Would love to do it but yeah, way too far and too much money. Definitely out.
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Capilano Suspension Bridge is also easily available by transit if people want to go. If you want something similar but cheaper, there's also Lynn Valley which is its less popular cousin.
Science World also exists, it usually has some pretty awesome displays going on.
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In. Will hash out the details later.
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Have we settled on dates yet?
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I'm fairly certain Ciato mentioned Aug 11-15 as the selected dates? Especially since nobody has voiced any majour opposition to those days yet.
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So after calculating out how much it's going to cost to get to Vancouver and back plus housing costs, I can't really justify spending that amount of money until I know I'm going to have a steady income back in the states. If I end up having a job lined up before coming back I may change my mind, but almost 99% assuredly not coming now.
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I, on the other hand, now have the official go ahead from work to plan things and buy tickets. I've never been to Canada so it'd be cool to stay a few extra days outside the con for a long trip from Japan. My BF is also very interested in coming so I wanted to ask what would be the best way to make that all work out.
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I've never been to Canada so it'd be cool
You do realise they get Summer as well right?
My BF is also very interested in coming so I wanted to ask what would be the best way to make ... out.
I expected you to have worked this out by now.
Also woot more Shun in our lives makes them better lives.
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Djinny - You can come before or after Con, it doesn't matter. Not sure how well we'll be able to host multiple people in our apartment since it's not very big, so you might want to find some lodging for the extra time unless someone else wants to offer.
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If you can't find anything, it's possible I might have a pair of couches that could be crashed upon. But I won't have a firm answer until after the move is done, and things are discussed with the co-habitant.
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Doing the airline ticket search now. God this part always takes so long...
If worst comes to worst and tickets are exorbitantly expensive, not having to pay for a hotel for X days even if it means sleeping bags on someone's living room floor will make the financial hit a little less heavy.
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... it's $137 R/T from SFO to Seattle versus $362 R/T from SFO to Vancouver. Since my family lives near Seattle anyway, I think I may end up doing the driving thing. I will talk to my family about borrowing their Jeep for the week and renting a car for them to use so that I don't have to worry about the border crossing.
If that works out, I can fit ~2 more people in the cross-border caravan! Just in case someone wants to factor that into their plane ticket search.
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It's looking increasingly likely I will be able to make it. Being cautious though before committing. I'll know in 2 weeks prolly.
I'dve been up for that, but sadly there's no price or time savings to be had between Seattle and Vancouver (Seattle is actually 40 bucks more expensive).
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Doing the airline ticket search now. God this part always takes so long...
If worst comes to worst and tickets are exorbitantly expensive, not having to pay for a hotel for X days even if it means sleeping bags on someone's living room floor will make the financial hit a little less heavy.
Yeah, we can certainly host you for some extra time if necessary. and/or one of the other Vancouverites may be able to (our place is a bit small for hosting two DLers at once, though it has happened before!).
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House is booked for August 11-15.
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Hooray!
Do you have details on ~cost per person, number of people you need to stay at the house, if there's room for activities there or we need to find something else, location, etc?
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It will be about 225 CDN per person depending on the specific number of people paying (we will be chipping in but probably not staying), and 16 is its capacity. There should be room for activities (it's 2500 square feet) although we might want to bring in some extra tables or something https://www.vrbo.com/816040#photos. There is also a cooking area if people want to do that sort of thing (I may). Location is in south central Vancouver. It's about a 15 minute transit to and from the airport and about a 8 minute transit to the downtown core. It is pretty centrally accessible to whatever you want to do in the city and we shouldn't really need cars unless people really love riding in cars for some reason. The house is from Thursday at 4pm to Monday at 11am.
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Depending on attendance, I suspect I might be up for splitting a nearby hotel room with others. Basically if the house is going to be at capacity, I'm more tempted to want to do this if anyone else is up for it; if people staying at the house is low, then I'll be down for splitting the house.
That's not really why I'm posting here of course; it was either here or Misc. Links, but as a warning, I think the next Fast & the Furious movie is gonna be set in Vancouver:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/world/americas/canada-vancouver-chinese-immigrant-wealth.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
In 2011, the police impounded a squadron of 13 Lamborghinis, Maseratis and other luxury cars, worth $2 million, for racing on a metropolitan Vancouver highway at 125 miles per hour.
Intense.
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I will ask that anyone who is coming but chooses to not stay at the house to chip in for some of the cost since it is a community space we are all using.
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Ash: Border cross caravan sounds like a plan. What day would you be doing that? I'm planning to hit up the WA area early and hang with a friend in Tacoma for a few days, but he can prolly drive me to wherever you'd be leaving from no problem.
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I have tickets booked for Alex and myself. We'll arrive directly into Vancouver at 1PM and 1:30PM on Thurs Aug 11. Departing on Mon Aug 15 at 5PM (same flight).
Probably will stay at the house unless it is filled to capacity, but I will chip in regardless.
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Hey Ciato, I shot you a PM!
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Just booked my flight, so I'm a definite go.
Unfortunately, due to travel times (no direct flights, all flights were 9-12 hours due to layovers) and cost, I had to book Wed the 10th to late Sun the 14th.
Probably will need to crash with a local on the Wednesday if possible, or barring that go in on a hotel room with someone else arriving early.
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Public Transit in Vancouver
There is a three zone system for transit in Vancouver (although I suspect that the third zone won’t be used). All buses cost $2.75 for an hour and a half of transit, regardless of location. The Skytrain, on the other hand, costs $2.75 inside the city (and you can transfer your ticket from the Skytrain to the bus and from bus to bus), $4.00 for adjacent suburbs (this includes the airport), and $5.50 for the distant suburbs. http://www.translink.ca/-/media/Images/content/fares/fare_zone_map/ctl_fare_zone_map_2013.png There is also a DayPass which allows you to transit as much as you want for the day for $9.75.
The single most expensive part of the journey will be the tourist tax when you leave the airport. It will cost $9.00 to leave the airport since there is a $5.00 surcharge for all transit leaving the airport unless you have a DayPass or a ticket purchased outside the airport (we might figure out a way to do this for you, we'll see). If you are in town for a couple of weeks, you might want to invest in a Compass Card, which saves you about ~$0.65 a ticket and costs 6 dollars. (It can also be returned if you want your money back, although it’s a bit of a pain.)
If you have any questions, just ask me. :)
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Why do good things happen to people?
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I plan on coming, but not 100% confirmed.
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Okay, flight booked. Shun and I will be coming. For a much longer time than the rest of you. Except perhaps Grefter.
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Shun and I will be coming. For a much longer time than the rest of you.
no need to brag about how long it takes you, in fact sometimes that's not a good thing
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Question, since the dates say 8/11 to 8/15, is arrival on 8/10 night okay?
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I'd suggest renting a hotel with other people who want to arrive early in that instance. With Djinn, Shun, and Grefter around we will likely have trouble accommodating anyone else.
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Ash: Border cross caravan sounds like a plan. What day would you be doing that? I'm planning to hit up the WA area early and hang with a friend in Tacoma for a few days, but he can prolly drive me to wherever you'd be leaving from no problem.
Sorry, still haven't made this plan official yet.
The thought is that I'd fly up on the 9th or 10th, and we'd drive up the morning of the 11th (since the house isn't open until 4pm on the 11th). Then we'd drive back down to Seattle and leave Sunday (14th) evening.
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Would it be possible to get addresses for the relevant sites so that Shun can start his inevitable guidebook scouring for tourist-y things to do and places to stay?
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Ash: Border cross caravan sounds like a plan. What day would you be doing that? I'm planning to hit up the WA area early and hang with a friend in Tacoma for a few days, but he can prolly drive me to wherever you'd be leaving from no problem.
Sorry, still haven't made this plan official yet.
The thought is that I'd fly up on the 9th or 10th, and we'd drive up the morning of the 11th (since the house isn't open until 4pm on the 11th). Then we'd drive back down to Seattle and leave Sunday (14th) evening.
Well, if you do drive up on the morning of the 11th, I can have my friend take me to wherever you'll be leaving from(I'll be staying with him in Tacoma for a bit before the con, not that far from Seattle iirc), and can ride up with you. Would rather do that than grab a seat on a bus up if the option is open, and I'm perfectly happy to like buy lunch/pay for a tank of gas or something.
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Would it be possible to get addresses for the relevant sites so that Shun can start his inevitable guidebook scouring for tourist-y things to do and places to stay?
http://www.no.com
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Late, but better than never. I should be able to make it since my firm gave us +4 flex days to make up for busy season. Will see how things look like finances wise after RPGLB trip.
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Received my passport book in the mail today, so I'm confirmed good to go.
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Flights booked! Andrew and I are official.
We're flying into and out of Seattle and making a drive for the rest.
Arrival
Thursday, August 11 @ 11:10am SEATAC - we'll drive immediately from airport to Vancouver.
We'll be leaving the house Sunday afternoon. Going to spend a few days with my parents after the con.
Departure
Wednesday, August 17 @ 8:25pm SEATAC
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Booked a flight for Nick and myself.
Arriving 8:20pm Aug. 11
Departing 8:00am Aug. 15
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At this time I'm going to assume that everyone except myself/Mage/Excal/Elfboy is going to stay at the house, which puts us exactly at capacity for normal sleeping in the house. We'll be able to get some air mattresses for any additional people, though!
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A change of plan and I can no longer attend to this con.
Unexpected expenses has occurred, so I longer has the cash available to make this trip.
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That's a shame. I was looking forward to meeting the legend himself.
Hope things are going ok for you.
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Passport GET.
Haven't set up travel plans yet but yeah, definitely in now.
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Oh, right, I have my tickets. Driving up from WA with Ash/Andy and flying back on the 15th from YVR to SFO at 6pm.
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My time off has been approved for Thursday through Sunday.
ALSO, my parents say that we can use their house (as long as the people in the house are people I consider trustworthy etc). So that's pretty cool.
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(as long as the people in the house are people I consider trustworthy etc)
Good luck finding some!
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*sigh*
Well, much as I was planning to make it, I cannot now (looks like I wasn't put on the list initially, which is probably a good thing, so at least the numbers work out!). We just bought a house, so...again, like last year and needing a new car + wedding, I can't justify the cost at this time. Promotional raise next year will make it pretty easy finance-wise. I could probably make it work, but the responsible thing to do is to be safe and frugal with the money :(
Seriously, the fuck is wrong with me?
Positive note - DLCon Pittsburgh may be a thing in several years once the house is good to go! So...yay? Seriously, though, sad, since I haven't been able to make it in a while. You guys better have Skype or something set up so I can bitch at Super during the Con!
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I would be super down for DL-Con Pittsburgh. I have family up there.
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*sigh*
Well, much as I was planning to make it, I cannot now (looks like I wasn't put on the list initially, which is probably a good thing, so at least the numbers work out!). We just bought a house, so...again, like last year and needing a new car + wedding, I can't justify the cost at this time. Promotional raise next year will make it pretty easy finance-wise. I could probably make it work, but the responsible thing to do is to be safe and frugal with the money :(
Seriously, the fuck is wrong with me?
Positive note - DLCon Pittsburgh may be a thing in several years once the house is good to go! So...yay? Seriously, though, sad, since I haven't been able to make it in a while. You guys better have Skype or something set up so I can bitch at Super during the Con!
A: I'm not going, whore! Wish I could but oh well.
B: PM me, I'm going to be heading your direction sometime next month or in august and we could meet up.
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I've figured this for quite a while now, but I really can't come.
I had to take three weeks off of work for surgery which has left me both broke and unable to take time off of work. So showing up is a pipe dream at best.
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*sigh*
Well, much as I was planning to make it, I cannot now (looks like I wasn't put on the list initially, which is probably a good thing, so at least the numbers work out!). We just bought a house, so...again, like last year and needing a new car + wedding, I can't justify the cost at this time. Promotional raise next year will make it pretty easy finance-wise. I could probably make it work, but the responsible thing to do is to be safe and frugal with the money :(
Seriously, the fuck is wrong with me?
Positive note - DLCon Pittsburgh may be a thing in several years once the house is good to go! So...yay? Seriously, though, sad, since I haven't been able to make it in a while. You guys better have Skype or something set up so I can bitch at Super during the Con!
A: I'm not going, whore! Wish I could but oh well.
B: PM me, I'm going to be heading your direction sometime next month or in august and we could meet up.
Winter mini meet when?
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Confirming that I'm in. Since nobody else seemed interested in a hotel, guess I'll join the group at the house anyway.
As a note: It sounds like the house won't be available for Wednesday night / Monday night? Should I book a hotel for those two nights specifically? (And if so, anyone else want in?)
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Also. Does anyone in Vancouver have a PS4? Slash is renting one? Should I grab some of my (ludicrously over-expensive) PS4 controllers if there's going to be the likes of Towerfall shenanigans? (Note, that game was made by Vancouverites who all lived in some weird gaming house I believe...)
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Andrew and I could bring ours, I think, if people want. Though I'm going to label the fucking cords and get the right ones back this time goddamnit.
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Probably not a mini-meet this year - still getting the house put together and REPLACING SHIT THANK GOD FOR HOME WARRANTIES. But perhaps the year after.
Super - PM sent.
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Confirming that I'm in. Since nobody else seemed interested in a hotel, guess I'll join the group at the house anyway.
As a note: It sounds like the house won't be available for Wednesday night / Monday night? Should I book a hotel for those two nights specifically? (And if so, anyone else want in?)
I know I'm a little late on this,a nd should have responded early, but I'd be in for chipping for a hotel in for one night anyway, since I'm going to be in the "I'm coming early and can't get to the house" predicament.
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It's ~120 CAD for the night, so okay with spending ~60 CAD?
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I want to make a joke about refusing to spend more than 59.99, but I think it's just easier to say "yeah, that's cool."
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If anyone is interested in going to a play, please let me know as soon as possible! There is Romeo and Juliet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and Othello on Sunday of Con:)
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I'm very interested in Othello, and would go to R&J if others are going in a group on whatever day is most convenient for them.
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We'll be leaving at noonish on Sunday so Othello is out by default, but we'd be interested in R&J for the sake of seeing some Shakespeare!
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It sounds cool, but I think going to an event that requires not only native English, but some solid knowledge of old-timey English might be excluding Shun by default.
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So working out the Con costs, it will be about 150 USD or 200 CAD per person for the house. I have an American bank account, so I can deposit checks for free, or you can pay with American or Canadian cash.
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Consoles here in Vancouver will be: PS2, 360, WiiU. If you wanna play something on the PS4, you should bring your own!
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I regret to inform my constituents that I will be unable to attend. My apologies for the short notice, but I intend to make plans to go to next year's.
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I regret to inform my constituents that I will be unable to attend. My apologies for the short notice, but I intend to make plans to go to next year's.
It is regrettable. I will be certain to uphold American Justice in your absence.
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Herp derp I am good at checking topics
If it's not too late, I'd be down for Othello. If it is, oh well, my bad. <_>
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Not too late! We were actually gonna book tickets today, so great timing. :)
Oh yeah, also, if anyone wants to pay via Paypal, just let us know. :)
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I have PMed everyone attending our address and phone number, should you need them.
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I've been looking at the weather, and it looks like (though obviously it could be wrong!) that the weather will be around 70-80(21-26 C) during Con. It might be a little cooler in the evening, although not all that much.
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We're bringing our PS4 if for no other reason than that I want to explore the universe in my spare time.
What about board games?
I know we were already planning to bring Tichu, Hanabi, Avalon and Tragedy Looper. We can bring ONE OF Eldritch Horror, Mansions of Madness, or Betrayal at the House on the Hill (those things are huge, we can't bring more than one). We have a huge list of other games so if there's something else you're interested in or want to know more, let me know soon. We fly out tomorrow morning so you have... today.
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The tabletop collection lives over here.
https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/AndrewRogue - Just sort by owned. To do so, click Views, then click Owned.
PS4 will have GGXrd Revelator and Towerfall Ascension. I got one controller, Snow promised he'd bring more.
We will also have a lappytop that contains Melty Blood, Under Night in Birth, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and maybe some other BS, I need to check. I only have one compy controller because seriously fuck getting PS controllers to work on PCs.
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Excal is bringing a bunch of board games too: Eight-Minute Empire, Akrotiri, Aqua Sphere, The King is Dead, Love Letter, Innovation, Zimbabwe, and Twilight Struggle at minimum.
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My preference is obvious (Eldritch Horror), but really down for whatevs. Something Coop is always appreciated and good people to play it with is in supply.
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Andy, Ash, just gonna say 7 Wonders is pretty decent for 7 player fun if you can fit it in.
Will also be bringing Blood Bowl Team Manager, Timeline, and can, on thursday, fit in one of Clash of Cultures, Colloseum, Asgard, or Patchhistory.
Will be leaving home at 6AM PST, so if you have thoughts, let me know before then.
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For board games, I have Bang! and Cards Against Humanity. Due to work I can only be there Saturday and Sunday, but let me know if anybody wants me to bring either of them.
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There has been a request for Cards Against Humanity.