Re: {Dragons on the Hill} Important Please Read We may be forced to lose a night

[Ricky]

I've been away so sorry for resurrecting this.

I'd back a fee of say £2 per person per night if money was the issue.

Do we need an etiquette guide to cover such things as: signing a new group up to  attend a night, GMs and others all signing up so they get these emails, not playing music/sound effects as it's not fair on others and not bringing your own food and drink (i've seen this a few times in the last month)?

Ricky

-------- Original message --------
Subject: Re: {Dragons on the Hill} Important Please Read We may be forced to lose a night
From: Benjoss <starsky...@gmail.com>
To: dragonso...@googlegroups.com
CC:

Hi Owen,

 

Firstly, apologies if it looks like I'm throwing all the points below at you, I'm not, it's all up for group discussion.

 

I would be happy to be the Tuesday representative if one is required.  I've been part of the club since January 2012.  Although I cannot guarantee my regular attendance absolutely every week, I should be there for the majority.  Work commitments and a 2yr old can sometimes get in the way.  Might make sense to appoint a second to cover those odd nights.

 

A few questions.

 

1. Would there be any way I could be directly notified if we are going to be bumped to restaurant or if the venue is unavailable?  I could then feed this to the respective GMs of each table.
2. How is table membership now being managed now for each night?  Appreciate there have been a few changes since I joined.  Should this be managed by the reps?
3. Do we have a maximum capacity of tables for each night?
4. Do we have a register of tables currently in use?  Not sure if the website is up to date.

I would be more than happy for each Tuesday night table to have my contact details so they can let me know if they will be coming or not.  This way we can monitor the attendance each week.  There are endless forms of communication these days, no reason we can keep the majority informed.

 

Couple of comments in regards to the venue.  I can fully appreciate their view point.  The attendance can vary from one week to the next which in terms of revenue for the pub is not ideal.  I know we have always been keen to avoid paying for attendance but perhaps we should consider at least some sort of minimum spend per night or group?  I know hat's not going to be a popular idea, so shoot me now, but I'm throwing it out there as I'm keen to not lose another venue.  Just think that we might need to be a bit more flexible.

 

Finally, any ideas for a bigger recruitment drive?  I've answered a couple of posts made directly on the website forum to people asking if games are available, but we could be letting some eager roleplayers slip through the next.

 

Anyhoo, thought I'd throw it all out there, happy to discuss further.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

On Wednesday, 8 May 2013 21:08:20 UTC+1, Owen wrote:

Ah well that may explain the impression of low attendance given that we have been missing a group since January.

Any volunteers to be the Tuesday representative?

I will try and get some one to alter the bookings page.

Owen

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[Owen]

Ben

Sorry I completely for got to post the answer to you questions.

If you are happy to be a Tuesday rep that would be great.  Tuesday night is the night we have very little oversight of.  It is also the night we have a few issues with.  It is the night that appears to have the lowest attendance,  there are indications that the pub may stop supporting us running Tuesdays and we have also have got some odd reports that there are some unsociable going ons.


As for your questions;

1.  Yes but I would prefer that we continue with the group email thing we are doing the post to the group method, hopefully all the GMs (and players) are on the down the group email.

2.  Membership for each night is supposed to be managed by the reps but this has fallen down on the Tuesday night when the previous rep left. 

3.  Max capacity is about six tables upstairs five tables downstairs.  Table space is a little more tricky to pin down upstairs may be up to 12 per table but in the restaurant eight tops.  In practice most groups are at max eight strong but i think most groups are about six people because that is the sweet spot for most ropleplay games.

4.  In short no we don't have an up to date register.  However we know Monday is fine because the President attends that night, and Wednesday is well managed as the rest of what passes for the exec is there,Tuesday is a black-hole in our knowledge.


Ben grateful if you would become the rep and if you could get a count of Tuesday's numbers look like.

Happy to discuss

Owen

[Benjoss]

Hi Owen,

 

Thanks for coming back to me. 

 

I've got to be honest, I am slightly more reticent to take on the responsability than I was previously.  In the main I'm concerned about the difficulties with regular communication and ensuring I can be available every week. 

 

The Tuesday night used to be well populated with the same regular groups in attendance.  Since we've moved this has fluctuated from week to week.  For example a month ago we were banged out and could barely fit everyone into the restaurant, then last week there were was only our group who showed up.  There is usually three groups (including ours) who turn up regulalrly with randoms (i'm guessing from other nights) from time to time. 

Again regular attendance by all the groups is a difficult thing to maintain week in week out.  For example our GM has already advised that tomorrow night is a no go, I'm currently trying to arrange something for our group to do instead.  However if everyone drops out then there won't be much point.  If it goes the way of last week then there will be no-one there and the pub would be well within their rights to close the Tuesday.  Is there a group from another night who would perhaps consider moving to Tuesdays to ensure we at least have a chance of a regular presence? (c'mon, Tuesday is the most rubbish day of the week, much better to have something to to do in the evening :o)

 

The odd reports you've had worry me also.  As far as I'm concerned every group in attendance has always been well behaved, we're roleplayers, it's really hard for us to get rowdy about anything.  Sure sometimes things can get a little noisy from time to time  and that is always going to be a problem when we are sitting on top of each other in the restaurant.

 

Talking of the restaurant we are often bumped from upstairs at the last minute, i.e. only finding out my the time we get there.  If I was to take on the position I would really want to know as early as possible so I could forwarn all the GMs.

 

Finally, regarding the proposals for the new websites.  We will be able to maintain a table list on there so that newcomers can see the available tables and any spaces?  I'd be keen to advertise that we have two available tables (possibly three) on a Tuesday night.  I would also want to ensure visibility for all, particulalrly those looking for games.

 

It seems to me that the biggest problem we have (certainly on the Tuesday) is that the club is seen as just an opportunity to get a table and run your game, as long as you can show up ad-hoc and play then it's ok.  I think we need to work towards ensuring we have support from both sides (club and individual tables) with some clear ground rules regarding booking and maintaining a table.  I'm not pointing any fingers here, both the club and the individual GMs need to take responsability for ensuring we are all joined up.

 

Sorry for the badly structured reply, I'm typing quick at work and just blurting out all of my thoughts...  More than happy to discuss further.

 

Cheers

 

B

[Ian Balboa]

Hi Ben,

 I might be able to answer a couple of your points:

"Finally, regarding the proposals for the new websites.  We will be able to maintain a table list on there so that newcomers can see the available tables and any spaces?  I'd be keen to advertise that we have two available tables (possibly three) on a Tuesday night.  I would also want to ensure visibility for all, particulalrly those looking for games."

I  can create a page that lists the tables on each night, and who is using them (something like this, from the current site: http://dragonsonthehill.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=241&Itemid=73) However, the problem comes with keeping this maintained. There would be now way of editing this online, as there is now, so I would have to make any changes, and I am not willing to do this as I want to reduce the amount of support I give, not increase it! To be honest, even with the current ability for users to edit the pages themselves, nobody does, so I'm not sure we are going to be missing much when we lose this facility...

 

"It seems to me that the biggest problem we have (certainly on the Tuesday) is that the club is seen as just an opportunity to get a table and run your game, as long as you can show up ad-hoc and play then it's ok.  I think we need to work towards ensuring we have support from both sides (club and individual tables) with some clear ground rules regarding booking and maintaining a table.  I'm not pointing any fingers here, both the club and the individual GMs need to take responsability for ensuring we are all joined up."

 

I totally agree with you here, Ben! However, the reality is that it is next to impossible to get people involved. I tried really hard when I was club secretary to put a system in place to allow us to book tables and monitor who was using them. Unfortunately it relies on having at least one person on each night who is willing to take responsibility for keeping an eye on things and reporting back to the committee. It was easy when we only had one night, but now that we have three it is very hard.

Any ideas you have would be welcome, I am sure! I am happy to change the site in any way that will help with these issues, with the proviso that I don't have to maintain it myself (more than making small changes to content every now and then, which I am happy to do.) If you can find a way to manage the table bookings online, then I am happy to link our website to it.

Cheers,

Ian :)

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[Benjoss]

Hey Ian,

 

Thanks for the clarification.  Trust me I know what a thankless task it can be, particularly when all you really want to do is just give people a chance to meet up and game.  Roleplayers are a notoriously fickle bunch and apathy is our curse.  I spent a few years involved in faction plot and reffing for the Gathering LARP back in the early 2000's.  Whilst I loved the plot, the politics of keeping 400 roleplayers happy is not something I'd like to do again...

 

I hate to say it and again please shoot me if I'm speaking out of turn.  With my logistics hat on the Tuesday night is beginning to look like a luxury that we can't sustain.  By consolidating down to two days we may be able to ensure both nights are packed, managed and generate money for the pub.  Also we could ensure that there are enough dedicated representatives for each evening with secondees for back-up when there are absences. Further down the line we could go back to three days again if demand became sufficient.  Tough decision, but it may be the way to go to ensure we can keep doing what we love.

 

Unfortunately for my group Tuesday is also our best night to meet, so we would have to do some soul searching on whether we could continue.  It's all a tough one, because, like I said, we all just want somewhere to meet and play our games that we love so much. I've made some great friends through the group, people I never knew 18 months ago and that's thanks to DotH. I fully appreciate that these things need organisation and willingness to provide support. So in a round about sort of way thanks to you, Owen and the rest of the team for taking the time out to keeps things moving.

 

BTW the table bookings page is exactly what I was referring to. Although I knew about the page I didn't even realise that this was something that could be maintained via proxy.  I would say that we certainly need the equivalent in any solution we come up with.

 

B

[Ian Balboa]

As far as Tuesday nights goes, I will leave that up to Johan and the other member so of the committee, as I am only (reluctantly!) supporting the website, not running the club any more!

I will do my best to find a way of having an updateable list of tables, perhaps something with FTP.

Cheers,

Ian :)

[Michael Hollis]

When I get some time (probably sunday realistically), I'll start experimenting with Meetup (as I'm already paying for it for another group). I suspect it will mainly be for discussion forum/recruitment at first. The proper scheduling/capacity management functionality may be a while off, as we don't exactly fit the standard meetup model! Although I'm sure we could do the table assignments on the forums there.

As for tuesday's, I plan on making a visit next week, to see what the current state of play is, but any information that can be given to Johan, Owen or myself would be gratefully received. As has been said elsewhere, we may have to consider letting the night go, but this can't be an uncontrolled process, particularly as we have limited capacity elsewhere, e.g. everyone expecting to change from tuesdays to monday night would probably not be possible, wednesday even less so!

Michael

==

Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

When you have their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow.

---

From: Ian Balboa <i...@balboa.me.uk>
To: dragonso...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 12:26

Subject: Re: {Dragons on the Hill} Important Please Read We may be forced to lose a night

[Mat Munro]

It might be worth checking out Groupspaces as well?

Membership lists

Mailing lists

Event lists etc.

http://groupspaces.com/tour/

Mathew Munro
+44 (0)7813 215 218
m.h....@gmail.com

[Ian Balboa]

Looks interesting! Anyone want to take on this task?

[Michael Hollis]

I've had a look and it charges, so I think it's a non starter. The only reason I'm trying meetup is because I already organise a group there and the first 3 groups are a flat cost.

Michael

 

==

Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

When you have their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow.

From: Ian Balboa <i...@balboa.me.uk>
To: dragonso...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 15:18