Ravenwood Castle - A GWJ Friendly Travel Destination

But she sure does love property taxes?

(NH born and raised, in refuge in MA for the moment, and would move back in a heartbeat)

McIrishJihad wrote:

But she sure does love property taxes?

(NH born and raised, in refuge in MA for the moment, and would move back in a heartbeat)

Long live President Bartlett!

What, they just added West Wing to Netflix Instant Queue!

Mixolyde wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

But she sure does love property taxes?

(NH born and raised, in refuge in MA for the moment, and would move back in a heartbeat)

Long live President Bartlett!

What, they just added West Wing to Netflix Instant Queue!

I've recently gotten her and her mom addicted to that. They were very upset that Bartlett mis-pronounces "Concord".

Nevin73 wrote:

So Teneman, with the new position you can't live at the castle, granted, but does it come with all the boardgaming and beer that you can consume?

All the boardgames you can play indeed. Mono gets to spend a huge amount of time playing or teaching games and pretend it's a business thing. I get to spend a huge amount of money buying games and pretend it's a business thing. We both get to go to places like GenCon, Con on the Cob and AnCon and pretend it's for business.

We'd definitely be sharing all that pretending with the new assistant innkeeper.

Teneman wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

So Teneman, with the new position you can't live at the castle, granted, but does it come with all the boardgaming and beer that you can consume?

All the boardgames you can play indeed. Mono gets to spend a huge amount of time playing or teaching games and pretend it's a business thing. I get to spend a huge amount of money buying games and pretend it's a business thing. We both get to go to places like GenCon, Con on the Cob and AnCon and pretend it's for business.

We'd definitely be sharing all that pretending with the new assistant innkeeper. :)

I can attest to this! "Honey, you are all set with wrapping up the books for the night right? Because they really need someone to teach them how to play Ticket to Ride and well you know the USA map plays better with 3 people then two. So I'll see you in a couple hours." We haven't talked about it yet but I am planning to institute regular "mandatory" training to make sure we all stay up to speed with the rules of new games as they come out.

Teneman didn't point it out either but it also comes with board game "pro-deals". Being able to buy games right from distributors is amazing! and dangerous. As proved by the pile of games that just came in today that I have to unpack. You know to make sure all the bit are in them.

And laminate the rules, and sort everything into baggies.

And play to make sure they're fun...

Bummer about the Ohio thing. That job was made for me!

Following in our tradition of giving GWJ folks a heads up on events, I thought I'd let you guys know that we've scheduled our next two gaming conventions.

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Next year's Child's Play convention has been scheduled for February 27th to March 2nd, 2014. We've changed the name from RavenCon to Hoop & Stick Con, and to go along with our new name and logo we've added another day to the convention.

Colby Dauch will be returning in the headliner role, and the schedule of events will be fairly similar to RavenCon 2013. The structure will be similar as well, tickets will be $75, and will include dinner one night (likely Saturday), a dice set, and a $50 donation to Child's Play. We'll also be donating 50% of all room rentals to Child's Play again, as well as having another Silent Auction.

The event is still ten months away and as of yet unannounced, but we've already booked a third of our onsite rooms. Given the level of excitement for the event and the extra day, we're optimistic that we'll be able to exceed this year's fundraising total of $5,573.

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We've also added a new convention to our calendar. This one we're cleverly calling Con In The Castle. This convention (which to be clear is not connected to our Child's Play efforts), is going to be September 5th to 8th, 2013.

We're still working on some of the details for this convention, including signing a headliner for the event. Like Hoop & Stick Con, this is going to be three nights/four days, and although it will have some scheduled events, it's going to primarily be about open game room gaming. And if the Sportsfriends Kickstarter has been delivered by then - or if I can work out running a Mac O&S on a PC laptop - we'll also have a J.S. Joust Tournament.

So if you're interested in either, mark your calendar and keep an eye on our Facebook or website for more details. MonoCheli and I will also be glad to answer any questions by PM or email.

MonoCheli wrote:
Teneman wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

So Teneman, with the new position you can't live at the castle, granted, but does it come with all the boardgaming and beer that you can consume?

All the boardgames you can play indeed. Mono gets to spend a huge amount of time playing or teaching games and pretend it's a business thing. I get to spend a huge amount of money buying games and pretend it's a business thing. We both get to go to places like GenCon, Con on the Cob and AnCon and pretend it's for business.

We'd definitely be sharing all that pretending with the new assistant innkeeper. :)

I can attest to this! "Honey, you are all set with wrapping up the books for the night right? Because they really need someone to teach them how to play Ticket to Ride and well you know the USA map plays better with 3 people then two. So I'll see you in a couple hours." We haven't talked about it yet but I am planning to institute regular "mandatory" training to make sure we all stay up to speed with the rules of new games as they come out.

Teneman didn't point it out either but it also comes with board game "pro-deals". Being able to buy games right from distributors is amazing! and dangerous. As proved by the pile of games that just came in today that I have to unpack. You know to make sure all the bit are in them.

Yeah... I could see that getting dangerous lol

Hey creative type peoples. I've decided I need to fill in the "Insert Logo Here" image up there for Con in the Castle. Sadly, a graphics designer I'm not.

So I've launched a Logomyway contest, which is the same site we used for our main Ravenwood Castle logo. If you're creative and are interested in giving it a shot, you can view and enter the contest here.

We've got a $250 prize on it, so it might be worth your time. Let me know if you do enter, GWJers have a built in edge

Non creative types are welcome to hit that link up and vote on their favorite designs as well. It's a seven day contest, and we've found that the rush of submissions is usually the fifth day or so, so you may want to hold off rating until then.

Skimmer. Unapologetic.
Due to an unplanned family trip to Germany my honeymoon budget is a shadow of its former self (no, visiting my ailing grandmother with my family is NOT a valid replacement. So I am scouting out some options for at least a few days of 'us' time. The upside is that we will be in Germany for two weeks, the downside is that it leaves very little additional vacation time available for a meandering road-trip to Ohio, even if at the middle of it we get to spend a few quiet days and nights in a freaking castle.

Query the first - Easiest airport to target for regional flights departing Omaha? I tried some searches online, but for all I know I'm booking for a dirt-runway intended for ultralights.
Query the second - Looking over the event calendar... are there any specific periods or time-slots that would work best for a quiet, introverted couple to wander about? We aren't ultra-shut-ins, but we do tend to shy away from large crowds.
Query the third - In your mind, what's the length of time to make a quiet stay at Ravenwood 'worth it?' Obviously the values of 'worth it' will vary, and maybe there's no such thing as 'a quiet stay,' but for a general visit without a specific event or group gathering in mind... would we be in the shadow of the more focused groups?

Thought of making this a PM, but the third question may actually be better answered by any past guests of your fine establishment under similar circumstances... if such a thing exists.

Congrats on making this your full-time gig by the way! Really hoping I can use this 'marriage' thing as an excuse to experience Ravenwood!

So glad that I'm moving back to Tennessee on may 30th Me and my boys will be making a trip up there in the near future.

Rezzy wrote:

Query the first - Easiest airport to target for regional flights departing Omaha? I tried some searches online, but for all I know I'm booking for a dirt-runway intended for ultralights.

There is a really small airport really nearby if you happen to have a plane of your own but if not you are looking at coming in to Columbus as the closest and then getting a car to drive down to Ravenwood.

Rezzy wrote:

Query the second - Looking over the event calendar... are there any specific periods or time-slots that would work best for a quiet, introverted couple to wander about? We aren't ultra-shut-ins, but we do tend to shy away from large crowds.

We tend to keep it mellow most of the time anyway, but weekdays are for sure your best bet to get here when not a lot of rooms are booked. Weekends are hit and miss depending on what is going on that weekend but as a whole the summer is in full swing with most all of our rooms rented every weekend and about 25% bookings throughout the week. October is also very busy as it is peak leaf season. You can get on to our website and click the "Check Availability" button that is in the upper right and it will give you a calendar with what is booked and when so you can pick out dates that work. I would recommend against the Dukes Dungeon as the noise from the pub is hard to get away from unless you plan to close the pub down. Just let me know what rooms or cottages you are thinking about and I can tell you about them.

Rezzy wrote:

Query the third - In your mind, what's the length of time to make a quiet stay at Ravenwood 'worth it?' Obviously the values of 'worth it' will vary, and maybe there's no such thing as 'a quiet stay,' but for a general visit without a specific event or group gathering in mind... would we be in the shadow of the more focused groups?

In regards to a "quiet stay" again I come back to visiting in the middle of the week if you can swing it. Like last week there was a night where it was just my family and one couple here. We relaxed in the pub chatting and I ended up teaching them how to play Forbidden Island. This is definitely from my perspective but on the weekends I am rather busy keeping everything going so I don't have as much time to relax with guests like I do on weekdays.

When you make your booking I can let you know if we have any events going on those dates but we as a rule try to keep it all or nothing in regards to events so unless you pick an event weekend there shouldn't be any events going on.

Rezzy wrote:

Congrats on making this your full-time gig by the way! Really hoping I can use this 'marriage' thing as an excuse to experience Ravenwood!

Thanks! It has been a great almost year so far and am looking forward to doing this for awhile. It is a great mix of work and fun that is very fulfilling. That and um board games.

MonoCheli wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

Congrats on making this your full-time gig by the way! Really hoping I can use this 'marriage' thing as an excuse to experience Ravenwood!

Thanks! It has been a great almost year so far and am looking forward to doing this for awhile. It is a great mix of work and fun that is very fulfilling. That and um board games.

I'm guessing he was talking to me in that one Mono I posted in the Random Love thread that I'll be joining you full time in the near future.

Rezzy, looking forward to having you visit us! It looks like Mono answered your questions pretty thoroughly. The only thing I'll add is you asked how long a stay you'd need to get the most out of Ravenwood. The answer to that of course depends on what exactly you're looking for, but from my wife and my experience, we found that a one day stay was too short to really unwind. A two day stay was our usual, and we really enjoyed them. Longer stays are of course better, but two days works out well.

Definitely let me and Mono know when you're thinking about heading down. If it's a month or more out I'll be onsite too, and would love to meet you.

cartoonin99 wrote:

So glad that I'm moving back to Tennessee on may 30th Me and my boys will be making a trip up there in the near future.

Nice, we look forward to seeing you there as well!

cartoonin99 wrote:

So glad that I'm moving back to Tennessee on may 30th Me and my boys will be making a trip up there in the near future.

Nashville S&T!!!

trichy wrote:
cartoonin99 wrote:

So glad that I'm moving back to Tennessee on may 30th Me and my boys will be making a trip up there in the near future.

Nashville S&T!!!

Gross.

Talk about a Nash equilibrium. For some reason.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/Equilibriumposter.jpg/220px-Equilibriumposter.jpg)
?

New avatar.

Thanks for the feedback! At this point I'm still battling out the parameters of this Germany trip to see just how much damage will be done and how far we're willing to cut into our buffers to possibly do a train-detour down to Rome to hang out with my exchange sister for a couple of days while we're in Europe. There's a definite chance that once we're done my fiance/wife will nix my plan for a second trip in favor of making the mortgage payment. Silly woman. I'll keep checking the calendar on the site and be in touch as soon as I can lock something in! Thank again!

We haven't posted an update about Con in the Castle for a while, so I thought I'd drop this here.

We have a few more details on the event. We're going to be setting up some offsite group excursions, things like hiking, canoeing and horseback riding, for the people that want to see some nature while they're with us.

We have some events set up, including a Summoner Wars tournament.

And we've announced our guest of honor: Rob Daviau!

Rob needs no introduction to the GWJ crew, but for those who haven't heard about him or heard him on the podcast, Rob is the President of Ironwall Games and designer of numerous board games, most recently Risk Legacy.

Rob will be demoing some of his most recent games and playtesting some of his prototypes, including the next Legacy style game which he'll be publishing through Plaid Hat. He's also hinted that he may create a custom classic D&D adventure for us and run that throughout the weekend.

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Great catch, and it's sounding like one hell on an event. You guys are going to be one of the only things I'll miss about Ohio.

How did the Con in the Castle go?

Just wanted to pop a note in here - the Young Frankenstein Murder Mystery weekend looks freakin' awesome. My wife and I would love to come out for it. We're just not sure about the drive (coming from the Philly area) in January.

Aries wrote:

How did the Con in the Castle go?

Also this.

Nevin, we'd love to have you out for Young Frankenshteen! The weather should be fine, I completely non-guarantee it!

Con in the Castle went really well. There's pictures here.

Rob wrote and ran a 1st Edition AD&D adventure that was set in the castle and surrounding areas, which was very cool. I got to both play in it as a PC, and feature in it as an NPC. Which was interesting when NPC me got into an argument with PC me... And Rob's new legacy style game, tentatively titled SeaFall, is absolutely amazing. It's a 4x style game set in the Age of Sail. We got through 6 games of it over the weekend, two of which I was lucky enough to participate in, and I can't wait to play more.

Colby and Isaac from Plaid Hat (who is publishing Rob's game) also came out, and we got to play a bunch of games with them.

We will probably be changing the dates for Con in the Castle next year, likely to somewhere in July, but there definitely will be another one next year!

So whats the scoop on the Pathfinder Adventure Card game?

TigerBill wrote:

So whats the scoop on the Pathfinder Adventure Card game?

Is good. Is very good.

We had multiple copies going throughout the convention. At one point Saturday night around midnight we had three separate tables of it going.

It's basically a deck builder with persistence. Your deck consists of some spells, equipment and such, each of which you have to use (discard) to accomplish a task. Your deck is also your health, so when you've discarded all of it, you're dead. There are healing spells and potions which allow you to pull cards back from the discard into your draw pile. As you're adventuring through the various locations, you encounter items that you can acquire by various means (usually beating a roll listed on the card, with the assistance of cards in your hand), and monsters that you can defeat in a similar manner.

There are six locations per scenario, each of which has a sub monster or the boss monster. The goal is to chase down and kill the boss monster. Once that's done you get to keep certain of the items you acquired, which go into building your starting deck for the next game. Your main character card actually has little boxes on it that you can write on to track your progress, or you can print off character sheets if you don't want to permanently mark on your cards.

How did I not know of this Con, the shame of it all.

Teneman wrote:
TigerBill wrote:

So whats the scoop on the Pathfinder Adventure Card game?

Is good. Is very good.

We had multiple copies going throughout the convention. At one point Saturday night around midnight we had three separate tables of it going.

It's basically a deck builder with persistence. Your deck consists of some spells, equipment and such, each of which you have to use (discard) to accomplish a task. Your deck is also your health, so when you've discarded all of it, you're dead. There are healing spells and potions which allow you to pull cards back from the discard into your draw pile. As you're adventuring through the various locations, you encounter items that you can acquire by various means (usually beating a roll listed on the card, with the assistance of cards in your hand), and monsters that you can defeat in a similar manner.

There are six locations per scenario, each of which has a sub monster or the boss monster. The goal is to chase down and kill the boss monster. Once that's done you get to keep certain of the items you acquired, which go into building your starting deck for the next game. Your main character card actually has little boxes on it that you can write on to track your progress, or you can print off character sheets if you don't want to permanently mark on your cards.

So basically a lot like the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game. I approve of this message.