MEPBM Las Vegas 2019 Event Details

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MEPBM Las Vegas 2019 Event Details

Status update from 16 January 2019 – 163 days until the event!

Who: You and a bunch of other awesome MEPBM players, and Clint Oldridge from M.E. Games Limited, all the way from Cardiff, Wales, UK

What: A face to face game of MEPBM 3rd Age 1650

Where: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

When: June 28-30, 2019 (Friday through Sunday)

Why: Because we are fans of MEPBM

How: Played over a weekend in-person with quick turns and a whole bunch of fun

Join the Event Online Group:

https://groups.io/g/mepbm-lasvegas2019

Event Organizer/Volunteer:

Raven Zachary, raven@rinzai.com, Rinzai on the MEPBM Forums

Dates:

June 28-30, 2019 (Friday through Sunday)

Location:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Cost to Attend:

Still being determined – more details below.

Venue:

This is most likely going to take place in a few meetings rooms in a hotel in Las Vegas. If we can’t get a good package deal from a hotel for the event, we may find meeting space near a hotel. We are getting quotes from various venues soon. We will update the group when we have something to share.

Travel:

Travel to Las Vegas:

Everyone makes their own flight (or driving) arrangements, of course. If you are going to go ahead and book travel in the near future, we encourage you to fly in on Thursday, June 27th (or earlier) and fly out on Monday, July 1st, (or later) so that your travel occurs outside of any planned game time. Some of you are planning to stay in Las Vegas longer for vacation before and/or after the event.

We understand that most of you are working adults and may have job responsibilities limiting your time off from work, only able to commit to to coming in for the weekend. In that case, we encourage you, if at all possible, to take Friday, June 28th as a vacation day, and fly in Thursday night or Friday morning. When departing Las Vegas after the event is over, we encourage you to get a flight out of Las Vegas as late as possible on Sunday (ideally Sunday night) to avoid cutting the game short. If you have to leave early on Sunday, your nation will get turned over at that point to another player who can stay later. Ideally your outbound flight would be on Monday, if you can also take Monday as a vacation day from work.

Stay in Las Vegas:

Hotel – please do not book hotel rooms yet as this will be impacted by the event venue. We are likely to get a block room rate for cheaper hotel rooms and some people will want to room share to further reduce the costs of the event.

We are recommending that every player stay in the venue hotel to reduce travel time to/from the event during the weekend. We want to reduce transportation delays that impact start times every day. If you have friends in Las Vegas that you are planning to stay with for that weekend, or you want to select a different hotel than the venue hotel that is selected, we ask that you be extra responsible to be at the event on time every day so that it does not negatively impact your team. Give yourself extra travel time.

Room Sharing:

Some people have expressed interest in hotel room sharing to reduce travel costs for the event. We will help to coordinate room sharing for people interested in this. Stay tuned for more details. Ideally, we would like to arrange for room sharing between players on the same team (let’s leave secrets to the 585 order only).

Event Costs:

The most expensive portion will be your own personal travel and hotel costs for the event. There will be an event registration fee to cover the event itself, but we don’t have those numbers to share with you at this time. This is highly impacted by the venue choice and the amenities provided. In a prior email sent back in early October, it was shared that we were aiming to keep the total event costs down in the $50-$100 USD per player range. While that may be possible with player sponsorships (see below), we think that is it more likely to be in the $150-$250 USD range. I’m hesitant to give out estimates without having quotes back from the possible venues, so my apologies if the end price doesn’t match the estimates.

The more people who attend the event, the lower the individual cost will be for all attendees. This is especially true in the case of playing one nation vs. two nations in the face to face game.

This is a not-for-profit-for-anyone-other-than-M.E Games Limited event, meaning all volunteers (Raven Zachary, etc.) are doing this as unpaid volunteers and all money collected will only go towards event costs and paying M.E. Games Limited to run the event.

There are four cost components to this event:

  1. Travel: air/car/train/whatever, hotel, transportation – you cover all of that directly and make your own arrangements, although we are hoping to have a hotel block discount to use, stay tuned. We are also hoping that people stay in the venue hotel, as this will reduce downtime, and likely get us a better price for the meeting rooms by bringing them hotel room revenue.

  2. Clint’s out-of-pocket travel: A portion of the event fees will cover Clint’s hotel and food during the three-day event. We don’t want him to lose money to run the event for us. Clint is already planning to be in Las Vegas for vacation, so we’re not having to help pay for his airfare. The fact that his airfare is already accounted for will bring the total price to attend down for everyone. This is one of the primary reasons we selected Las Vegas as the location for the event.

  3. Game Fees: Whatever Clint charges each player to participate. This will be a flat fee per nation, not a per turn cost. Clint is still putting together the cost structure for this, but it’s looking to be around $150 USD per nation. If you end up with two nations at the event, that’s double the nation cost.

  4. Event Amenities: We need meeting space with power and WiFi. And, ideally we get catered food (special diets will be accommodated) provided to the space so that we don’t have to take long meal breaks that disrupt game time during the weekend.

Items 2-4 above will get rolled into the event registration fee you pay.

At this time, the plan is for M.E. Games Limited to collect the registration fees from players through PayPal or an event registration website.

Player Sponsorships:

Events generally have two sources of funding – attendee registration fees and commercial sponsorships. It is not uncommon for events to raise 50% of their funds through registration fees and 50% through sponsorships (sometimes even more than 50% through sponsorships). These sponsorships help reduce the cost of the event for attendees so that registration fees can be reduced to a reasonable amount. Due to the nature of this event (a fan-organized gaming event), there are no commercial sponsor opportunities. To compensate for this fact, we are going to introduce player sponsorships. This will allow us to collect additional funds to run the event at a reduced cost for all players. All money collected through player sponsorships will be allocated to reduce the registration costs for all players.

We are still working out the cost and details for player sponsorships, but here is how we envision this working (it’s a work-in-progress):

  • A player with financial means to donate additional money to help operate the event will be classified as a “player sponsor”. This may include several cost tiers of sponsorship (e.g. $250 USD, $500 USD, $1000 USD). TBD.

  • A player sponsor will be compensated for their generosity with a special Friday morning and/or afternoon session for player sponsors only that will include lunch with Clint and Champions of Middle Earth (CME) 1vs1 games played on-site with the other player sponsors.

  • Player sponsors will be placed onto the Event Planning Committee for the event and help with decision-making on the venue, event logistics, and face to face game structure.

  • Additionally, a player sponsor, based on their tier level, will be allowed to pick their team (FP or DS) and/or pick their nation for the weekend game.

We need to provide enough incentives for players to consider donating above and beyond the standard registration fees to help operate the event in a way that doesn’t make the other players feel excluded. This is the best set of ideas we have right now to create incentives for donations in a way that does not diminish the experience for the other players. Players sponsorships are entirely optional. Those with financial means to be a sponsor will be greatly appreciated, but there is no pressure to do so.

At this time, the plan is for M.E. Games Limited to collect the player sponsorship fees from players through PayPal or an event registration website. If you are interested in being a player sponsor, please email Raven Zachary, raven@rinzai.com. More details will be posted on this program in the future. We’re not quite ready for a sponsorship drive, but you are welcome to reach out in the interim as we finalize the details.

Agenda:

(Tentative - to be refined)

Friday:

Friday Morning & Afternoon Activities (Player Sponsors Only):

  • Champions of Middle Earth (CME) 1vs1 Games

  • Player Sponsors Lunch with Clint

Friday Late Afternoon (All Players):

  • JOverseer Training (all players are invited to this – bring your laptop) - even you JOverseer pros will learn something by attending this

Friday Evening Activities (All Players):

  • Group Reception (likely including a catered dinner)

  • Clint Presentation / Updates from Middle-earth

  • Team and Nation Assignments – team go to their team rooms for planning, extra time planned for the first turn

  • 1-2 turns likely that night

NOTE: A player has requested that team and nation assignments happen prior to traveling to Las Vegas. This is an open-item to discus with Clint. Stay tuned.

Saturday (All Players):

  • Times TBD - likely 9am-9pm with three catered meals provided on-site

Sunday (All Players):

  • Times TBD - likely 9am-4pm with two (possibly three) catered meals provided on-site

  • Optional post-game drinks nearby

NOTE: If players can schedule out-bound flights on Monday or later, or get a late night Sunday flight out, we will keep playing past 4pm.

Game Length / Turns:

TBD, but if we’re efficient and focused as a group, we could get as many as 20 turns in during the weekend. We’re aiming for at least 12-15 turns. How successful we is entirely in the hands of the players. The game might not have a clear winning team by the end of the weekend. In that case, Clint will call a winner when we finish.

Current plans are for one turn per hour, but this may change.

Game Format:

3rd Age 1650, 24 nations, 12v12, no Neutrals - this is Clint’s request

NOTE: At this time, this does not include the Champions variant. I will be curious to know if players want this or not.

Based on the number of people who attend, we have three game tiers that we can pursue…

  • Tier A: 4-8 players in attendance: Likely Untold War variant, either 2 nations each or 1 nation each based on turnout

  • Tier B: 12-18 players in attendance: 3rd Age 1650 no neutrals 12v12, both teams in Las Vegas in separate rooms. Most players starting with two nations

  • Tier C: 18-24 players in attendance: 3rd Age 1650 no neutrals 12v12, both teams in Las Vegas in separate rooms. Most players starting with one nation

If only 4-8 players can attend the event, we will likely reserve two adjoining hotel suites with living room spaces instead of getting meeting rooms. Right now, based on interest level in the event, I don’t think we are going to have a problem getting at least 12 people to attend, so we’re almost certainly going to do a 3rd Age 1650, 24 nations, 12v12, no Neutrals game.

What happens if more than 24 people want to attend the event? We don’t know…yet. : ) At current interest levels, we don’t believe this will be the outcome. Stay tuned. If it happens, it happens, and we will need to accommodate for this in some manner, whether than means two games at once or some other solution.

Special Game Rules:

These are still being determined. Initial thoughts from Clint include…

  • If we end up with 12-18 players with mostly two nations each, we will give one of the double nations to any players who have been eliminated in the game so that they can keep playing through the weekend. We will need to figure out the financials of this situation (e.g. if one player pays for two nations, but then needs to give up that second nation to an eliminated player), but we will make sure that it is fair.

  • If a nation is eliminated due to a mistake (e.g. bankruptcy timing issue, order error, etc.) Clint will use his judgement and may allow that nation to stay in-game with some penalty to the team (e.g. gold reduction, etc.).

  • Clint may play a nation (or nations) based on turnout. If this takes place, players on the opposing team of Clint will understand that Clint will do an excellent job separating his role as player and his role as GM for the event. : )

Venue Setup:

Ideally, we will get three large conference rooms next to each other in the venue - one for the FP team, one for the DS team, and one for Clint to process turns and used as a shared meeting room for meals and socializing and talking to Clint about any rules or processing issues. Team rooms will have tables, seating, power, and WiFi. We may even try to get some extra-large, laminated game maps printed up and hung in the rooms so that you can do planning in the room with white-board markers. Or, perhaps a projector and an extra laptop to project a JOverseer game map onto the wall.

You will need to bring a laptop for JOverseer turn processing. If you cannot bring a laptop with you, we will make arrangements for players to volunteer to bring an extra laptop with them for others. Stay tuned for more details on this. If you do not have a laptop, but plan to attend, please email Raven Zachary, raven@rinzai.com.

Team Forming:

  • Clint will assign players to teams based on balance. GM choice here. Any player sponsors who purchased a sponsor tier with the choice of team and/or nation will be given priority.

  • Players will provide Clint with a list of preferred nations for their assigned team and Clint will make every effort to assign one of those preferred nations to you. However, there are no promises.

  • You may have a life-long MEPBM buddy coming to the event that you want to team up with. Clint will do his best to accommodate team and/or nation preferences, where possible. However, there are no promises. There are a lot of pairing variables to deal with and not everyone will get the exact team or exact nation they are hoping for. Regardless, it will be fun for all.

Player Commitment:

We need to get a good idea of who is in and who is out for planning purposes. This impacts not only the structure of the game we will play, but also the type and size of venue and meeting spaces we need and we will ultimately be financially responsible to pay for. To help with us having to financially commit to a venue, we will likely have a pre-registration free of $50 or $100 USD in the coming months that will go towards your registration fee as a credit once the final cost is determined. Stay tuned for more details. This will be a non-refundable deposit. There are costs to run an event regardless of how many people ultimately attend, and we can’t refund money if we owe money to the venue. In cases where there is emergency and you cannot attend (and you cannot find a replacement player to take your seat), it will be at Clint’s discretion whether a refund is issued.

What’s Next?

We are planning to start the search for a venue next week. This process may take one to two months to complete. As a reminder, please do not make hotel reservations in Las Vegas, as some venues will want a room block assignment as part of the total pricing package.

We need your help promoting this event! Please reach out other MEPBM players who you think would be interested in attending. The more people who attend, the lower the individual attendee costs will be.

Please join the online group for this event if you have not already done so. This is the best place to be kept informed of the details:

https://groups.io/g/mepbm-lasvegas2019

If you have the financial means to be a player sponsor, please email Raven Zachary, raven@rinzai.com.

Stay tuned for more details on the pre-registration deposit.

Questions / Comments / Concerns?:

If there’s anything we did not cover in the information above, there’s anything you don’t like, or you have ideas to make this event even better, please email Raven Zachary, raven@rinzai.com, and we will do our best to answer your questions and update this information for the benefit of all players.

Thank you!