The RPG Duelling League
Social Forums => Discussion => Topic started by: Shale on December 22, 2013, 04:38:22 PM
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This is a brainstorming topic for things to do during the con. We will be close to DC, so if you want to do a monument tour or the Smithsonian or go kick dirt on Congresspeople, this is your chance!
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It is less than three weeks to the con, so it is definitely time to start thinking about what we're going to do at those times when we're not hanging around at the house in Herndon or eating food.
My thoughts:
- Saturday is probably the best day to do the tourism thing in DC proper, because as crowded as it might get at the actual sites, we won't run afoul of DC-area rush hour traffic. You don't want to deal with rush hour. Plus there's free parking at the Metro on weekends.
* However, if anybody's interested, the secondary Air & Space facility - the one that has Enterprise in it, among other big things that wouldn't fit in DC - is less than 10 minutes from me. We can do that on Thursday or Friday if anyone wants. (Who doesn't want to see the space shuttle?)
* Follow-up question: What exactly do people want to do in DC? Monuments, museums, tour the actual government buildings? Sound off! - Bowling?
- Game store I think I'll leave up to what we're actually feeling on a given day. DC-area malls are not to be taken lightly.
Other thoughts? Let's hear it.
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I am pretty much strongly for seeing whatever museums and sites other people are up to. It's my first trip to DC and who knows when I'll ever be back and much as I like hanging out with you guys, it would feel like a colossal waste to miss out on some of these places.
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NoVa malls are a bad time and I highly recommend skipping them if at all possible. They combine boring stripmalls with absolutely miserable amounts of traffic and bad parking.
E: Shale, would it be possible to take the metro into the district on friday? Because going into DC in July on the weekend goes past crowded and into 'knife a bitch to see anything' range.
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Elfboy, Meeple, and I are planning on going to the Holocaust Museum on Wednesday. If there's other people interested in that we could go there on Saturday, but otherwise we will probably stick to that plan. I am pretty much up for any of the other stuff; Natural History Museum, Museum of American History would be two things I have particular interest in.
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I don't see why rush hour traffic on the weekdays is a big deal - go to the Metro stop at an off-hour (say ~10:00 AM), ride Metro rest of the way, have lunch & possibly dinner in DC, take Metro back, pick up car from parking lot, drive from Metro at ~8:00 PM after traffic has died down. NoVa traffic is awful but the Metro should be crowded-but-fine. I say this as someone who attended Obama's first inaugural which was literally the most crowded the Metro system has ever been.
I was kind of assuming the reverse, if anything - I'd be up for doing DC tourism on Friday during the day (I think Dhyerwolf also said he'd be interested in DC tourism?), but then presumably hanging around Shale's house chatting & playing board games on Saturday when the most people are around and thus it'd be the most unwieldly to do sightseeing. Also per notes already made, the free museums in DC will be *packed* on the weekends but somewhat more sane on the weekdays.
On that note... would there be interest in role-playing games for whichever day is dubbed the hang-around-Shale's-house-day? I can easily bring down Fiasco & The Shab-al-Hiri roach, which are super-casual pickup storytelling games, but I also have a Trail of Cthulhu one-shot I've run before and could run again (and I know Shale played in Cthulhu mafia and knows something of the setting). Said one-shot might run better with at least a little forewarning of who the players are and how many. For those that don't know Trail of Cthulhu, the system is *incredibly* light and very narrativist, so there isn't any fear of not knowing the system; the party can fail, but usually by making the wrong decisions, not via the dice rolling poorly.
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Yeah, I'm coming in Monday night so I have an extra 1-2 to days of sightseeing. I'm completely open in terms of what to see, but I figured that with so much I might need some extra time. If Super is coming up, he may hang around with me those two days. Basically I want to see at least a good number of monuments, and the Smithsonian is my top museum (I also love good natural history museums), but since there's so much I don't know, I'm open to whatever (I'm not as keen on tours of government buildings, but yeah sure if others wanted to). So definitely determining what group sightseeing will be done when will definitely be needed for me so I can plan what to see earlier.
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I've been to DC a ton (was actually there a couple months ago for a conference, and will be there again in August), and have seen all the attractions already. So not terribly interested in going, but I can lead the bunch of people who just want to stay and hang out (since I haven't seen people in about a year!).
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I've seen a lot of what DC has to offer myself, so I'm not really keen on doing these things, but not necessarily against it. Call it a null vote and I'll pretty much play it by ear based on what others decide to do. As Ciato noted, we'll be down there on Wednesday doing things, what exactly is a good question!
Also, are we going to do the yearly Saturday Night Bowling Trip?
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If there's interest, definitely! I believe wholeheartedly in the bowling tradition.
Friday vs. Saturday, I was thinking of the rush-hour crush in the Metro itself, yeah. If people are up for a longer trip (say, 11-6 and then dinner) we'd be able to miss it both ways.
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Yeah, I'm coming up monday to hang out with Dhyer, then headed towards the main con whenever. I'm pretty neutral on sightseeing with the main group (It's basically my backyard+rather spend time with people) but I'll be one of the drivers so I might not have as much choice.
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Is anyone interested in board gaming? I won't be there, but I can send a game over if there are interested people .
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I was potentially planning on bringing maybe Elder Signs at least. It's chibi Arkham Horror, so you get a similar core game without the massive setup or 3 hour gameplay time.
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I like Elder Signs more than Arkham Horror! I just played another game of that this weekend. It's a fun "lite" version of Arkham. Different mechanics, but same basic feel.
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I will bring Bang! so we can all bang each other in Shale's house in front of his wife
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We'll bang okay. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjRwWQcD14Y)
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Okay, so here's what I've got so far:
Wednesday: People start to arrive in the evening. No real plans, just hanging out.
Thursday: The DL descends upon my home. Hangouts and airport/hotel shuttling in the afternoon, organized dinner in the evening.
Friday: The DL descends upon Washington, DC. People interested in doing the tourism thing will leave Herndon at about 10:30-11 AM and Metro into the city from Vienna (http://www.wmata.com/rail/station_detail.cfm?station_id=103). Due to a childcare issue I may have to come back home in time to pick up my niece from camp at 1, which would mean I'd catch up with the group around 2 PM. I'm trying to avoid that but there might be no other option. We'll see!
Saturday: Games day! Board games, fighters, etc. Music quiz in the afternoon, bowling in the evening.
Sunday: Wrap up. People go back to the airport.
One thing I'm still grappling with is the auxiliary Air & Space Museum, which is awesome (The space shuttle! A reconstructed Zero!) but also not actually in DC, so it would delay us getting into the city proper if we do it on Friday. Would there be interest in a separate excursion on Saturday, maybe?
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A game store visit is cool with me; I do want to see if I can pick up a copy of BD since I can't find it here anymore. I'm similar to NEB otherwise. I'm down for whatever since hanging out with peeps is generally enjoyable.
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There's a mall to the north of me that's considerably less hellish than the one that was local the last time I hosted a get-together. It's right on the way to bowling, too.
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OK just PMed me that he's had to cancel due to car failure. That means we won't have a Belmont to make fun of, which is very sad, but it also means we're down a car, which is a logistical issue. It's me, super and Meeple with wheels at this point, I think? Cid, when might you be available?
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Not realistically earlier than 4:00 or so weekdays (taking time off this week or the next is not an option). Not the first half of Saturday. Sunday's fine.
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Okay, so getting to and from DC will be interesting.
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OK you suck. :(
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Yeah, I am...sorry and terribly disappointed. My car actually blew yesterday, and is currently in the shop, will be ready tentatively tomorrow (the need to order parts in), with an estimated cost of ~$1000 (it's stuff that never died before, but it picked a bad time to do it :( ), so I don't know if I can really justify the drive now, since I need it for work and am saving for that wedding in 10 months. Which means I probably won't be at DL Con next year, since right after wedding. I will try to hit any mini-meets, but it will probably be 2 years before I come to a con again. Barring unforeseen circumstances. It's just really tight with money right now.
But hey, I can always skype in. I have no problem with that - I'll just be sitting at home :(.
Sorry again - I really was thinking I might still even try to come last night depending on what they told me about my car today (it died late last night, when no place was open to evaluate it, so I was hoping it was something simple, but alas...), but I can't really justify it.
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I don't know what I am doing on the weekend other than gym stuff. You wanna sit on skype in out underwear, eat ice cream and moan at each other? I will be playing FFX-2 and thinking of you and RICHARD either way.
Also getting married right before DLC 10? Sounds like I should fly in pre con then and take our virginity before you marry the Prince.
Edit - phone typo missed the Y in your, but whatever it still works.