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OK, first I am not Dissing the open house, but I feel that our goal should be a better open house every year. So this thread is to make suggestions on what to do better in the next Open house based on what you felt where mistakes in the last two.

For me I saw three primary problems:

#1 the Game sign up was terrible, the sheets did not list when the games took place so you had to search through the sheets and the time sheet to match what you wanted, and it should have been all posted on a board that multiple people should have signed up for.

#2 get a better voice amplification toy than a Karaoke machine, nobody could hear you.

#3 Kevin, your game is the holy grail of gaming at the OH, and even if you ran games non stop from friday to sunday you would not be able to let everybody play. So raffle off tickets to your game, run a GM's only game that only people who have taken the time to run a game can play in as a reward. This will prevent hurt feeling to a degree.

thats all I got for now.. any thoughts?

Oh, and even if Subbie did buy 7000 raffle tickets, he only gets to play once.

Great idea RB, couple of comments:

1. Game Sign up: there was vast improvement from last year to this year and after Levi and Diane got done separating the sheets into time slots things were even better. I know next year (and there will be a next year) things will be even better.

2. Kevin's games: A paid raffle for one of his games is a great idea but a "free" for anyone in attendance, that is interested "lottery" would be great as well.

3. Games run for Freelancers/Artists only: or maybe just a couple of seats saved for them in a late block of games. I know some of the artists particulary wanted to play but did not get the chance.

4. Julius Clones: We would need at least 3, 1 to get things done around the OH, Julius was everywhere at once. 2 to run games non-stop, he is a great GM and everyone in his games had a blast. 3 to tell stories, a open to close Julius storytelling seminar. The original Julius could just play games and enjoy himself.

That is my 2 cents.

Ninjabunny wrote:First, I'm with you on the GM game. I'll allow any G.M., Freelancer, Palladium staff memeber, or fan that wants to play into my game next year. My saturday game was a hit, Me throwing chairs and yelling and acting out what happened seemed to be a big hit. So I would diffentily let anyone in one my game next year.
Second The next year we need a hotel that will put everyone in the same area not spread across the whole hotel. Shini, Clovie (our freind, and me were no where near anyone else and that sucked.
Third, more panels. Enough said.
Thats all I can think of for now.

Also the floors are to hard for you, your room needs to be padded...

All great ideas, but last time I heard, there is no guarantee that there will be a next Open House. I'm hoping though.

Vinny wrote:All great ideas, but last time I heard, there is no guarantee that there will be a next Open House. I'm hoping though.

I hope that we can convey, that even if we have to have the OH in a dirty park by the freeway... we want one.

Reddenedone wrote:

Vinny wrote:All great ideas, but last time I heard, there is no guarantee that there will be a next Open House. I'm hoping though.

I hope that we can convey, that even if we have to have the OH in a dirty park by the freeway... we want one.

Kevin said that he OH tradition will continue, if there is no warehouse next year then there will be no 08 Open house, but there will be a 09 open house.

Reddenedone wrote:

Vinny wrote:All great ideas, but last time I heard, there is no guarantee that there will be a next Open House. I'm hoping though.

I hope that we can convey, that even if we have to have the OH in a dirty park by the freeway... we want one.

No doubt. I hope they make this an annual event.

rat_bastard wrote:

Reddenedone wrote:

Vinny wrote:All great ideas, but last time I heard, there is no guarantee that there will be a next Open House. I'm hoping though.

I hope that we can convey, that even if we have to have the OH in a dirty park by the freeway... we want one.

Kevin said that he OH tradition will continue, if there is no warehouse next year then there will be no 08 Open house, but there will be a 09 open house.

ahEM

Chello!

I don't know about MI, but in Texas, Knights of Columbus halls and NG Armories usually have reasonable rental rates.

Tony

I remember a lot of booze....we had it at the Freelancers Table, y'know, because us artists are so trustworthy with that kind of thing.

Next year it will be me dressed as the blind warrior woman.

rat_bastard wrote:Next year it will be me dressed as the blind warrior woman.

I'll make sure not to bring my kids then, too much of a Horror Factor

verdilak wrote:

rat_bastard wrote:Next year it will be me dressed as the blind warrior woman.

I'll make sure not to bring my kids then, too much of a Horror Factor

It could be worse... Me ad Subbie and Reelman could dress up as Blind Warrior Women!!1 ewwwww...

Wow, thats one low-rent Splugorith....

The Deific NMI wrote:

verdilak wrote:

rat_bastard wrote:Next year it will be me dressed as the blind warrior woman.

I'll make sure not to bring my kids then, too much of a Horror Factor

It could be worse... Me ad Subbie and Reelman could dress up as Blind Warrior Women!!1 ewwwww...

I guess we figured a way to clear everyone out at midnight. Diane does not like me to show that much skin in public (or private for that matter).

Reelman wrote:Game Sign up: there was vast improvement from last year to this year and after Levi and Diane got done separating the sheets into time slots things were even better. I know next year (and there will be a next year) things will be even better.

I'm sure it will be as well. I made some suggestions to Wayne, and I'm pretty sure I debated my side well enough to make them stick. Depending on how busy I am next year, I'll even volunteer to help coordinate pre-registration for games. Essentially, I suggested a 50/50 system with half of available slots being open for pre-registration. That way, it would hopefuly cut down on the number of people needing to stand in line.

I think having the times/tables/etc on the sign up sheets have been addressed enough, and they'll do it differently in the future.

Here's a new one. See if there's a way to have no games going during the seminars. For example, open the doors on Saturday at what, 9:30?
Have the seminars from 11-12 and 12-1 then gaming commences after that.

Xar wrote:I think having the times/tables/etc on the sign up sheets have been addressed enough, and they'll do it differently in the future.

Here's a new one. See if there's a way to have no games going during the seminars. For example, open the doors on Saturday at what, 9:30?
Have the seminars from 11-12 and 12-1 then gaming commences after that.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't give much time for the panels, as well as making scheduling even more of a headache (I probably just about made Wayne pop a blood vessel).

Xar wrote:I think having the times/tables/etc on the sign up sheets have been addressed enough, and they'll do it differently in the future.

Here's a new one. See if there's a way to have no games going during the seminars. For example, open the doors on Saturday at what, 9:30?
Have the seminars from 11-12 and 12-1 then gaming commences after that.

The thing is, not everybody is interested in the seminars.

Yes, people will find themselves having to choose between playing in a game they want, and in seeing a seminar they want, but there's too much going on at the Open House for people to get to do everything that they want.

rat_bastard wrote:I feel that our goal should be a better open house every year.

Great idea!

The OH was WAY better organized that I imagined for a convention only on its second year. Kudos to PB on making that happen.

(1) I agree on the Pre-Reg. The ability to pre-reg at the VIP night really was wonderful, but we need an easier way than one book to be passed around. I snagged the last spot in Kevin's second game around 12:20 that night. That alone made VIP Night essential.

(2) Kevin needs to run more games so the number of players can be limited and the interaction increased. His PF game was awesome fun.
I would love to play Rifts with him at OH 3.

A raffle for seats would be a good idea. I am quite sure a charity raffle would do nicely, especially if there was some kind of "commemerative doodad"

A GM Only game would be great. BTW, wasn't there supposed to be some surprise for the GMs?

(3) Better promotion of the 24 hour hotel rooms is needed because the hotel did not put up any notices and many people did not even know there was gaming to be done or where. I was lucky I bumped into Braden who had all the secret lore of the Ramada.

(4) A more unified gaming schedule would be good. With games starting and ending all up and down the clock, it was hard for some people to maximize their gaming time. I got lucky repeatedly.

(5) It would be fun for the freelancers to pitch their new stuff on VIP night and just have each one give a 2 minute song and dance on what they are working on or what they have completed.

(6) I think this is going to sort itself out, but hopefully more artists will bring prints because it seems like the OH would be a great place for $5-$20 prints to sell like hotcakes.

(7) We need more kraut & sausage and swedish meatballs!

One thing I think would help with the registration would be to have multiple schedule copies posted and to move the registration from near the front door. People were stuck outside not because there was a hold up getting badges, but because of the traffic jam from the sign up list.

kamikazzijoe wrote:One thing I think would help with the registration would be to have multiple schedule copies posted and to move the registration from near the front door. People were stuck outside not because there was a hold up getting badges, but because of the traffic jam from the sign up list.

..True, after waiting for nearly ninety minutes I gave up and didn't sign for a single game.

-Mike <8[

Also MI has leash laws and nobody put a leash on MMM, or followed him around with a plastic bag.

rat_bastard wrote:Also MI has leash laws and nobody put a leash on MMM, or followed him around with a plastic bag.

Blame Xar, he's the one that brought him.

In seriousness, that no fault accident law was a bit of a shocker.