Boston, MA Area GwJr's

I had fun! Great games to everyone who showed up! We should make this a monthly thing --every first sunday or something similar. Although Pandemonium might be better for table space, considering how thin it was down there.

Sorry for my errant F bomb Atras!

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I had fun! Great games to everyone who showed up! We should make this a monthly thing --every first sunday or something similar. Although Pandemonium might be better for table space, considering how thin it was down there.

Sorry for my errant F bomb Atras!

No worries, movies get one before they go from PG-13 to R, and I don't think he was paying attention.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

We should make this a monthly thing --every first sunday or something similar. Although Pandemonium might be better for table space, considering how thin it was down there.

Looking at their website, Sunday nights (6 - 11 PM) is open board game night. Something to keep in mind.

EDIT: How late/early would you be thinking of starting? There's some great places to eat in Central people we could all meet at before/after games.

1 seemed like a good bet. Not too late, and early enough considering how quickly things close on sundays.

Atras wrote:
Atomicvideohead wrote:

I had fun! Great games to everyone who showed up! We should make this a monthly thing --every first sunday or something similar. Although Pandemonium might be better for table space, considering how thin it was down there.

Sorry for my errant F bomb Atras!

No worries, movies get one before they go from PG-13 to R, and I don't think he was paying attention.

Yeah, it seemed like he didn't notice, and you said as much in person, but still I felt compelled to apologize. Anyways, was a blast losing waterdeep to you all.

shoptroll wrote:

EDIT: Should have photos up tonight or tomorrow...

Late on getting this done, but here's my photos from the May 26th gathering

We had a great time too! It was a lot of fun to see everyone and get a couple of games in. Looking forward to the next one

EDIT: Should have photos up tonight or tomorrow...

EDIT: Here they are

I had a lot of fun meeting you guys, and would totally be down for making this a monthly thing. Coolidge is closer for me than Pandemonium, but Central is easy enough to get to that I'd be happy to go there as well.

Anyone have plans for Labor Day weekend? Want to make some?

Late to the party, but I've recently moved from Somerville/Cambridge/Arlington to Stow, about 45 minutes west of the city.

Is there any interest in trying to do something in October? Maybe apple picking or a corn maze somewhere and then games afterward?

shoptroll wrote:

Is there any interest in trying to do something in October? Maybe apple picking or a corn maze somewhere and then games afterward?

There's a fantastically large hedge maze in my town (Stow, MA) -- ostensibly, the world's largest, and an exact replica of a famous one in England. I'd be down for exploring it with Goodjers, if folks are interested.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...

Hey, just found this thread and chiming in - I live in Lowell, MA and work in Nashua, NH, and would love to meet up with other Goodjers.

shoptroll wrote:

Is there any interest in trying to do something in October? Maybe apple picking or a corn maze somewhere and then games afterward?

I'd be down for something.

shoptroll wrote:

Is there any interest in trying to do something in October? Maybe apple picking or a corn maze somewhere and then games afterward?

I'd love to! I'll be away for one weekend in October, but if I'm around then definitely.

That hedge maze in Stow sounds cool

It would be nice to meet up with some goodjers and do something fun. I know someone mentioned it before but pinball wizard in Pelham is a good time and its right next to a chunky's. But that's more of a winter thing. It would be good to do something in the nice weather till its gone till next spring.

I'm considering running a Call of Cthulhu one-shot on Saturday night. Currently, my wife's planning to join us (for her first game ever!), and one of my friends is coming with his wife. Would anyone in the MA area be interested in joining us?

As a bit of color on the game, this is the teaser I sent around to the folks signed up to play earlier today:

We're a group of friendly, professional, but generally busy 30-somethings. We skew more towards "busy, privately geeky professionals" than college kids; this will be a relaxed, role-play-centric game, set in a modern environment, with pre-generated characters. My place (per the thread above) is in Stow, MA; we do have cats and a dog.

I realize it's short notice, but we're planning a 7pm-11pm game. Drop me a note if you might want to join us!

A Wii U launch party sounds fun!

I had a job in Tech Square, Cambridge which I think validated parking at the parking garage across the street, but I'm not sure if that's the norm.

I'm starting my new gig tomorrow and I have a wedding to attend in October so I don't want to commit to a meetup. Atras and I had mentioned the possibility of a Wii U launch party in November, though.

Anyway, Bostonians! I need some advice. As I said I'm starting my new job and it's within walking distance of my apartment. However I need to attend orientation in Boston, and the parking in the area is around $35 a day unless I'm mistaken. Also, a one-way ticket on the T from my place (zone 6? Methuen/Lawrence) to Boston seems to be $8.75 plus parking, so that's not a very affordable solution either.

I guess my question is, do employers within the city generally validate parking to reduce garage costs? I expect I'll find this out tomorrow at orientation but for now it has me nervous. The job is with the federal government so I don't expect they would skimp, but I expected they would have a garage at the federal building, so who knows.

edit: I should note that I don't know how many days this orientation is going to last, either. If it was just a couple days I wouldn't mind ponying up for the parking. Two weeks, however, is asking a lot.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Anyway, Bostonians! I need some advice. As I said I'm starting my new job and it's within walking distance of my apartment. However I need to attend orientation in Boston, and the parking in the area is around $35 a day unless I'm mistaken. Also, a one-way ticket on the T from my place (zone 6? Methuen/Lawrence) to Boston seems to be $8.75 plus parking, so that's not a very affordable solution either.

Let me introduce you to Chinatown Parking.

One of the places I parked at all the time was 658 Washington Street, which usually had an all day rate around $20. Not sure what it is now, but it has to be sub-$35.

There's also another lot directly across from State Street Financial Center (1 Lincoln St.) that was $20. You had to leave your keys though.

There's another lot that my co-workers sometimes used on Essex that was also $20 or so per day. Again, you need to leave your keys.

So, there are options, you just have to know where to look.

BTW, every single one of these is close enough to a T stop to make it worth considering even if you aren't going to be near Downtown Crossing or South Station.

The Lincoln Street looks far enough away that a T ride there and back would be necessary, so even if it's $20, that brings it to $24, and I'm not sure $11 is worth the trouble of figuring out the T system and not being within walking distance of my car (I have been to Boston maybe three times, mind, I'm new to the area).

Then again, according to Google maps it's 1 mile from that location to New Sudbury St., so I could maybe just walk. It says most of the walk is on Congress St., is that one hazardous for pedestrians?

Edit: apparently that garage is up to $30 now.

Glad I didn't get a job requiring that commute full-time.

shoptroll wrote:

Is there any interest in trying to do something in October? Maybe apple picking or a corn maze somewhere and then games afterward?

I was just at that maze on Saturday. Good maze and the best apple picking I have seen in these parts (I live in North Worcester county). I have never seen that many apples on trees before.

Whenever I go into Boston from the Worcester area I usually do Alewife. 8 bucks for all day parking then the red line both ways for 4.

IntangibleFate wrote:

Whenever I go into Boston from the Worcester area I usually do Alewife. 8 bucks for all day parking then the red line both ways for 4.

That's a good point, although coming from Malden he's probably better off coming down to Wellington Station here in Medford and getting on the Orange Line instead of trying to fight the traffic on 16 to get to Alewife. Although I'm looking at the map and I see there's an Orange Line stop called "Malden Center". Not sure if that's reasonably close to you Blind, but the map is showing that there is parking available there as well. Orange Line will get you down to Downtown Crossing / Chinatown area which is fairly central to most of the stuff in Boston. Whereabouts is the office located?

Malden? Methuen! I live right next to the NH border, so to do this redline business I'd have to leave enough time to get into Cambridge (which I remember being hellish) AND time for the train to run.

The office is the Federal building at 15 New Sudbury St. Link to the google map here.

I think I'm just going to take the $35 on the chin the first day and hope they give me a better option and/or validation in orientation. The last thing I want to do on my first day is show up late because I couldn't figure out the subway/train system. If I do end up needing to make that commute for more than a day or two I'll look into public transit. Thanks for the ideas, everyone.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Malden? Methuen!

My bad!

The office is the Federal building at 15 New Sudbury St. Link to the google map here.

I think I'm just going to take the $35 on the chin the first day and hope they give me a better option and/or validation in orientation. The last thing I want to do on my first day is show up late because I couldn't figure out the subway/train system. If I do end up needing to make that commute for more than a day or two I'll look into public transit. Thanks for the ideas, everyone.

According to Google Maps that's right near Haymarket. If you end up needing to go back down there again I still suggest Wellington Station since you can take an inbound Orange Line train there to Haymarket (3-4 stops down the line).

Yeah, that plan looks pretty good, if time consuming. 32 (likely 50-60 with traffic) minutes to the station, 17 minutes from my car to the office and just $11 per day. Then again, I'm planning on leaving at 6:30 to get there at 8:00 anyway, to be safe (normally a 40 minute drive).

Thanks again sir!

I'm pretty sure each employer has their own thing worked out for parking.

The place I worked at in Cambridge had no break in our first building for parking (so I drove from Lowell to Alewife, taking Rt 2 off 95 to "limit" traffic) and then the Red Line to Kendall. When we moved buildings, we were over by Lechmere, and had a discounted monthly rate (direct billed to your salary) with the garage across the street.

If time isn't as big a concern as money, as much of the rest of the guys have mentioned, you'd probably be best off parking at a T station that has amble parking, and riding in from there.

I'm not sure about the Malden station's situation for parking, but there's a "secret lot" near Lechmere that only costs $10/day, but fills up by 8:30 or so. Then the next nearest options start at $25/day and a few blocks of walking, plus having to transfer from the Green to Orange at North Station.

For a decent balance between time and money, the commuter rail isn't that bad of a gig. Getting on the train in Lawrence and taking it down to North Station will probably be about 60-90 minutes, and then you're only one stop on the Orange from Haymarket. FWIW, Google also says it's only a 10 minute walk from North Station to that building, letting you cut out the T entirely if you take the commuter rail.

TheHipGamer wrote:

I'm considering running a Call of Cthulhu one-shot on Saturday night. Currently, my wife's planning to join us (for her first game ever!), and one of my friends is coming with his wife. Would anyone in the MA area be interested in joining us?

I realize it's short notice, but we're planning a 7pm-11pm game. Drop me a note if you might want to join us!

Damn you! If I could time travel I'd be totally into that!

I used to live in Malden, and I don't think there's an official T-run garage at the Malden Ctr stop. There is a private garage right next to it that had a sign for (if I remember right) "in by 9am, out by 7pm" for $8. Don't know how fast that filled up or if it would work with your schedule. Wellington definitely has a big garage.