Chicago Meetup: donezo. .

[BROseidon]

/hello

No guarantees but I'm definitely interested.

[BROseidon]

Going into boystown and not andersonville is pretty misogynistic.

Boystown has good food options that I'm highly familiar with, so...

[BROseidon]

Also, if I end up going, I'm totally making people go to Crisp b/c I didn't get to do that last time and that's still the best Korean Fried Chicken I've ever had.

[BROseidon]

Holy shit I'm getting hungry thinking of my favorite Chicago restaurants.

Damn Chicago is a good food city.

[BROseidon]

That I'm familiar with.

My ex lived in Boystown. I've spent a lot of time there.

That said, I'd be down for exploring a new neighborhood.

[BROseidon]

Also it's good that this isn't happening the last weekend of may, because then I would have to say, "Sorry guys, in Chicago but gonna go do IML instead"

[BROseidon]

and it's also next door to a bathhouse

There's a bathhouse other than Steamworks?

[BROseidon]

I'm getting progressively more hype about this.

I could probs be able to take a 1/2 day off or work remotely for a day to come to this. My boss is pretty chill #startuplyfe.

[BROseidon]

I'd consider this if there was a "home base" of some sorts. It's not fun to split hosting since people will never get to spend enough time with the people they want to spend time with, especially if drinking is involved. Is splitting an air b&b an option?

This is kind of a good point given how massive chicago is...

[BROseidon]

Like, when AP and I visited chicago last January, it was a bit of work to hang with everyone because it took like 2 hours by public transit to get from Evanston to Hyde park

[BROseidon]

Should have something by Sunday.

You lied!

[BROseidon]

Cool. So who wants to go to Steamworks with me?

[BROseidon]

Yeah I'll take a plane.

Probs Midway b/c Southwest is cheap.

[BROseidon]

We should start planning food.

I assume we want to keep any going out plans on the cheaper side?

[BROseidon]

My preferred name is "asshole."

[BROseidon]

1) I'm flying in
2) Would prefer to stay with someone, can fork out for a hotel if need be.

[BROseidon]

Are you guys keeping a list of who you all expect to sleep where?

[BROseidon]

Who still has room left? I'll take Friday the 13th off. Maybe fly in late Thursday and leave Sunday afternoon? Might also take Monday off if it looks like people are hanging around later.

[BROseidon]

I sitll haven't bought tickets, hoping for more info on lodging and how to get there from the airport.

Chicago has good public transportation - it shouldn't be a problem (may take a while, but that's b/c Chicago is massive)

[BROseidon]

Blue (ohare) or Orange (midway) line to red line. get off at loyola station.

Wait, so have we booked an airbnb?

[BROseidon]

Holy shit mind=blown.

[BROseidon]

Also I was about to say that I totally forget where the Loyola stop is but then I remembered.

Anyone staying at Shea's should eat infinite Indian food.

[BROseidon]

I would recommend flying into whichever one is cheaper. At worst, you lose about an hour to an hour and a half on metro.

[BROseidon]

Maybe a bit more. Chicago is really fucking big.

[BROseidon]

I'm thinking the base for the deck would be:

x Mafia
x Werewolf
x Serial Killer
x Vanilla
1 doctor

1 cop

1 vigilante
1 tracker
1 watcher
4 mason

Which leaves us a lot of roles to put in the deck in addition to that.

No.

[BROseidon]

It's 2016 we shouldn't be using cops anymore.

[BROseidon]

You really think that no setup anywhere should use a cop?

Rly?

If you're using a cop, it means there's bad design somewhere in your setup that you should probably fix.

[BROseidon]

I don't think I've ever been hit by a cop.

It's just shitty design.

[BROseidon]

If we can't do a single airbnb and need to do something to house everyone, we could split into a few groups for people who could get airbnb's kind of near someone.

[BROseidon]

Is there a way to split costs of an airbnb while booking?

[BROseidon]

I don't think I've ever been hit by a cop.

Check your privilege!

lolllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[BROseidon]

Depending on people's desire to eat out and budgets, there's tons of good food options in Chicago. Chicago is a really good food city.

[BROseidon]

Of note; this location makes midway more attractive than Ohare somewhat.

For everyone: MDW is a massive Southwest hub, so I'd recommend looking there first for tickets if Southwest has good servicing to your city.

[BROseidon]

We should defos play 2 rooms and a boom.

[BROseidon]

It's a fun party game.

[BROseidon]

I'd do an escape room.

[BROseidon]

I need to book my flights.

I haven't yet because ~lazy~

[BROseidon]

This is shaping up to be quite the meet.

Ive not been to Chicago in May. Is it going to be horrifyingly hot?

It's pretty hot, but not ~satan~

[BROseidon]

No u

[BROseidon]

Chicago is definitely a cool city.

[BROseidon]

I will likely be bringing at least Avalon and Roll for the Galaxy.

[BROseidon]

someone bring BSG

Rito pls no.

[BROseidon]

- Have a Drunk in the setup that is secretly either Leprechaun (wins game, must swap cards if co-revealing/color sharing) or Hot Potato (loses game). If a player co-reveals/color shares with the Drunk before the last round when the Drunk learns his role, they must exchange cards.

This was actually my favorite thing when we did this.

[BROseidon]

Also Shy Guy is just objectively the best role.

[BROseidon]

Actually if anyone has Arkham Horror (preferably with expansions) please play that. I will fucking solo-play it if nobody will play with me.

[BROseidon]

Does anyone have Letters from Whitechapel?

[BROseidon]

Booked my flights. Got them under $200 without having to go Spirit/Frontier!

[BROseidon]

Letters and Lords are both great games.

There's a non-zero chance that I buy more games b/w now and then. If I do, I may bring more things.

[BROseidon]

Also people are coming with me to KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN in boystown.

[BROseidon]

My game is Arkham Horror.

I'd wager that I am among the best Arkham Horror players in the world.

[BROseidon]

<3

[BROseidon]

I played way too much Arkham Horror in college.

And broadly got way too into it.

[BROseidon]

One time gypsylord and I almost won a 2-investigator game with all board expansions, Cthulhu Ancient One, and using both Father Dagon and Mother Hydra.

Tbh I don't really know how we did it.

[BROseidon]

I'll do my best not to be overbearing.

That's the real trap in co-op games - making sure everyone has fun and that it doesn't turn into "The best player micromanages everyone."

[BROseidon]

Mansions of Madness is better for that

Arkham Horror is very optimizable.

[BROseidon]

It also has a win condition and is, like, pretty hard.

[BROseidon]

These were nominally charged to your debit card?

[BROseidon]

1) Contact your bank and report the fraudulent charges. Also get a replacement debit card with a new card number.
2) Ask what further steps you can take. I'm much more familiar with how to deal with fraud with credit cards.
3) Contacting the Chicago Police won't do anything.
4) Get a credit card for fraud protection.

[BROseidon]

I would recommend also getting a credit card and using it for transactions instead of a debit card.

[BROseidon]

Also watch your credit report for new accounts that aren't yours

[BROseidon]

I pinged him on fb about it a while back. I'll try again.

[BROseidon]

Will we know which one we're at prior to arrival so that we know where to drop our stuff, etc?

[BROseidon]

Oh shit so soon!

[BROseidon]

Where is the airbnb located?

[BROseidon]

So...

Who wants to get Korean fried chicken with me in boystown?

[BROseidon]

Boystown is the gayborhood. My ex lived there back before he moved to Boston.

[BROseidon]

None of that was euphemism

[BROseidon]

I know a lot of good food places in Chicago because lol my ex and I would just eat a ton.

[BROseidon]

We should defos do a trip to Devon for some Indian food, too.

[BROseidon]

I'll be bringing roll for the galaxy, sentinels of the multiverse, monarch, and Elysium.

Still haven't played the last two >.>

[BROseidon]

If someone has Pret-a-Porter, I would massively appreciate it >.>

[BROseidon]

I can bring Arkham Horror if someone really wants to play it, although my general experience is that NO ONE wants to play it. I don't have any of the expansions, though. I also have Balderdash (and an extra copy of Hanabi).

I will play it solo.

[BROseidon]

Like, I like AH so much that I'm not that fun to play with because I just know everything

[BROseidon]

like genuinely Keith and I kind of have a collection so big that if you name something it's like a 60-80% chance we have it.

Pret-a-porter?

I want fashion empires! It's also an amazingly heavy game for being about fashion

[BROseidon]

Like, I like AH so much that I'm not that fun to play with because I just know everything

be my coach!

I'll show you ~the spreadsheet~

[BROseidon]

Also wow looking at the attendee list, I've met very few people coming IRL.

[BROseidon]

Have you been talking at all about sleeping arrangements or group activities? I'd really like to see Chicago, but I don't have the slightest idea of where to begin. A bunch of us will be checking into our AirBnB on Thursday evening/late Thursday night--I don't know whether we should meet other scummers who arrive then for dinner or if we should just do our own thing until the meet officially starts on Friday.

What do you want to know in terms of "seeing Chicago." What're you into?

[BROseidon]

And I'm the only one allowed on Shea's bed.

hawt

[BROseidon]

I'm getting in pretty early Friday, so id be down.

Also I would totally want to drop off my bag at the apartment before wandering around Chicago.

[BROseidon]

By early I mean my flight lands at 7:40

[BROseidon]

Also depending on where Shea lives I'm totally dictating where we go for lunch.

[BROseidon]

Rogers Park, right next to Loyola's campus

That's where I thought. So depending on when we get started, we can either:

1) Grab lunch in Devon, then head south to explore the city. (Late start)

2) Just go south, explore, and grab lunch while we're down there (probably in the Loop)

[BROseidon]

Ugh I should have flown in today.

[BROseidon]

I land in 10 hours ^_^

[BROseidon]

Wait 11 I can't timezone

[BROseidon]

If someone awake at Shea's place could let me in, that would be great.

[BROseidon]

Woohoo!

[BROseidon]

Uh, I definitely could have been better...

[BROseidon]

I thought you were pretty cool. Was bummed that I didn't get more of a chance to interact with you.

That was in response to Shea because, uh, Friday happened.

And yeah, this meet was tons of people and not enough time to hang out with everybody. Clearly the solution is more meets!

[BROseidon]

TSA was super easy for me too.

Lends credence to the sandbagging theory

[BROseidon]

Syr missed his flight having arrived two and a half hours early. Sunday night had about 700 people on cots sleeping at ohare.

Holy shit.

The worst I've ever had was almost missing a flight out of midway getting there an hour early. I had to cut some people in line and sprint to my gate.

This was 2 years ago during spring break

[BROseidon]

Yeah, a lot of 2 rooms and a boom is about information.

Like, I was playing poorly, but there's an actual reason I claim shy guy at the start of every game.

[BROseidon]

*actual reason that isn't trolling

[BROseidon]

I think you were blue the first game. I was transparently the red spy and just kinda sat on my hands all game.

My recollection is that blue had total control, but the bomb and president kinda remained in the room you and I weren't in at all times, anyway.

oh, that was the first game with MI6 and rival+survivor instead of the second where chevre gave me away

stealing control of the room on the final round as red the first game and that helping red team to win there felt pretty good though :3

I mean, my entire MO in 2 rooms and a boom is to basically be losing until I win.

[BROseidon]

Like, both teams can't have control of both rooms unless you get like all of the neutrals. Stealing control right at the end should almost always be possible if one team has control of both rooms.

[BROseidon]

That second game we played was weird b/c the neutrals just took control of both rooms at the start, and the numbers were such that neither team could ever actually change the status quo.

Which is also why I don't like even-numbered rooms. They make who gets elected at the start too powerful.

[BROseidon]

and I CAN'T COUNT.

lol maths.

Seriously though, I think 18 and 22 are my favorite numbers to play with. 9 and 11 player rooms are both really fun.

[BROseidon]

lol day 1 of DN mafia.

[BROseidon]

Willie was a very happy dog (and at one point, drunk dog)

MY APOLOGIES

[BROseidon]

Not before you take my hug and thanks for hosting tradegy looper.

I had a lot of fun with that and I think you and math and axxle really enjoyed it, which was fun for me too so.

I just could not get my brain to work that game

the game is a bit of a brain burner the first time you play it. Once you play more of it, it becomes easier to understand and more like a puzzle.

Just claim shy guy, pick your color opportunistically, and, unlike me, actually carry through with the line for a few rounds to see what you can learn.

[BROseidon]

lol

[BROseidon]

BROseidon discussed a game with 20 Hidden Immunity Idols.

Oh it gets worse.

[BROseidon]

I'm gonna make a game announcement soon, but let's just say.

20 idols wasn't enough

[BROseidon]

I like how bro is holding the doomed kraken.

Oh my god that is dank.

That made Friday almost worth it except not really

[BROseidon]

Most effort I've ever seen put into a f2f game. You guys deserve a lot of kudos. I think your points for improvement pretty much mirror my own thoughts, and I expect subverting crazy at meetreal!

[BROseidon]

The setup is really cool. I love the idea, and I love the fact it's really something that could only be done in person. The physicality of the notes was a really nice touch. I like it when meatspace games do something that virtual games can't (at least not easily).

Something tangential that I noticed re: how meatspace games work vs. online ones.

In meatspace games, you can have private conversations. You can walk around the room and talk to specific people about different things. You kind of have to do it at first, too, since you can't really talk to everyone at the start. It creates this cool effect where bigger games, by default, have dynamic neighborhoods.

This was really helpful in the DN game where Dram was claimed to like me/hiplop/Skrew, and I could just tell Dram who to target without it requiring that everyone know his role.

[BROseidon]

You were taking orders

[BROseidon]

I told you to swap her with Skrew!

[BROseidon]

Schrodinger's AniX

[BROseidon]

Steamworks*

*Definitely not Steamworks