Announcing ScapeCon III

[OEAO]

SEE THE OFFICIAL ScapeCon III THREAD TO SIGN UP (HERE)

Cost
Badges will be $400 for the full weekend, and $350 for no breakfast ($25 increase).
Hotel rooms will be $134 a night ($5 increase).

Important Dates
August 13: Sign-Ups open for ScapeCon I + II attendees
September 13: Open slots on the Going List and the Wait List are opened to all others
February 4: Full payment opens and must be made by February 18


We are pleased to announce that ScapeCon III will be happening! We are very happy with the community’s response, engagement, and energy at the last two ScapeCons!

The hotel is happy to have us back, and we expect the menu to be very similar to the last two Cons.

With that being said, we wanted to announce now the changes that we are making for this year to make ScapeCon III the best experience it can be. We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received, and many of the changes are a direct result of these suggestions. These changes are being made with an eye towards making the process more efficient for us, our TDs, and the attendees. The last three changes are being made to increase clarity in-game.



Please take some time to read and digest this. I know there’s a lot here, but I wanted to get the major changes out of the way now. Very few of these were easy decisions, and none of them were made lightly.



BIG CHANGES:

EDIT: THE CAP HAS BEEN RAISED TO 72.

1. There will be a 53-person cap. This year, there were many logistical headaches that we are still working to straighten out. We believe we can solve all the problems we had last year, but to effectively do that, we are limiting the number of attendees to 53 (the same number we had last year). Our goal is to increase the cap moving forward once we have a good system in place. But until the system works as intended, we can't keep adding attendees.

One day badges will be available if there are empty spots on the Going List closer to the Con. We will figure out the cost of those when necessary.


2. Going along with the 53-person cap, we will be opening sign-ups for the first month to only those who have attended ScapeCon I or II (EDIT: AND THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMILY) to ensure that those attendees who put their faith in us these past two years are able to attend. We will also keep a waiting list for those who have not attended but would like to attend this year.


3. The Official ScapeCon III thread will be posted on Saturday, August 13, 2022. You will be able to post there to reserve your spot on the Going List. On Tuesday, September 13, 2022, people who have not attended ScapeCon before can post to take an open spot on the Going List (if possible) or reserve a spot on the Wait List.


4. No deposit is necessary for the initial sign-up. Your payment will be due in full on Saturday, February 4, 2023. You will have two weeks to pay in full, after which time anyone on the Going List who has not paid will be dropped to the bottom of the Wait List, and those spots will be opened to the next people on the Wait List. Those people moved to the Going List will then have two weeks to pay in full before they are moved to the bottom of the Wait List. The cycle will continue until we have 53 badges paid for.


5. If you were not at ScapeCon II and you are on the Going List, you must send me an email address. Email will be the way future announcements and reminders will go out so that even those who do not frequently check the site are always aware of what’s happening. My payment information will be sent via email.


6. Along these same lines, we are comping three badges. The first two are for us for the countless hours we put in each year before, during, and after the Con. We've paid in full the last two years, and we're still not going to take a profit.

The third is for Breanna. Breanna will be second-in-command to me during the entire five-day event. If I'm not in the room, she's in charge. And even if I'm in the room, she will still be in charge during designated time slots. She was an excellent TD, and she stepped up and took charge Saturday morning following a miscommunication. The event is getting too big for me to not have a second person directing the HeroScape side of things.


7. You will only be able to get prize tickets at a designated time each day. Similarly, you will only be able to spend prize wall tickets at a designated time each day. Vydar will be in charge of the prize wall. He will hand out tickets, and you will turn tickets in to him, but only at the designated times.


8. Restrictions on Dice: Everything should be crystal clear for your opponent. As such, the following restrictions will apply (and any other reasonable restrictions as necessary):
A. No third-party D20s. Only official HeroScape D20s may be used (black, red, and flag bearer D20s).
B. Skull sides must be red, and shield sides must be blue (unless using separate red and blue attack and defense dice).
C. The base color must be the same for all dice you're rolling (ie no mixing black, white, and tan base colors).
D. The base color may not be red or blue, unless they’re specifically red and blue attack and defense dice. The base color must be a neutral color, such as white, tan, or black.
E. If you're using a dice tower, it must face your opponent such that they can easily see what you rolled.


9. Order Marker numbers must be painted. 3D printed OMs are fine as long as the numbers and X are painted such that it is immediately apparent to your opponent what OM you revealed. Again, it's about making life easy for your opponent by making things completely clear at all times.


10. I plan to draft ScapeCon Tournament Regulations, which will be posted on HeroScapers prior to the event. But the big takeaway is this: if you have a question, call the TD immediately. Coming to me after the game puts me in a terrible moral situation where I have to decide to either let a somewhat questionable result stand, or overturn it based on limited knowledge after the fact.


11. We’ve negotiated with the hotel a Board Room for our use at no additional cost to the attendees. It’ll serve as a quiet place where we (and our TDs) can have discussions (as needed); it may also serve some other purposes (again, it’s completely free for you).



We have other changes we're making (new table setup to spread out maps, clocks to help players keep track of time, a microphone/sound system, cheaper pricing at the top end of the prize wall, etc.), but these are the biggest changes. I’ll be getting to work on events soon enough, but I obviously can’t promise anything specific from that side of things yet.

All in all, the event will remain the same great experience; we just need to tighten things up moving forward. We hope to see you at ScapeCon III in August 2023!

Mike and George

[MegaSilver]

Looking forward to it!

[Brean of Philly]

Looking forward to another great ScapeCon! I'm honored by the trust Mike has placed in me and hope to help everyone have a great time next year.

[Sir Heroscape]

I'm excited!

The comped tickets make a lot of sense and I'm glad you're doing it. You've deserved it.

I agree with and support the changes you've outlined. Heck...this is year 2 of a major event for our community...and it's been this successful? Hat's off to all involved. Adjustments are good and natural at this stage and it still may take a couple more years to "tighten the ship"...but these are good problems to have...just means these next few years should be dynamite (assuming we get it right :P )

EDIT: also...out of curiosity...has the hotel told us what their max capacity/support would be for our events? 53 is a pretty good number...and I know you said this next year (and maybe the next who knows?) will need a personal cap to make sure logistics and things are corrected/running smoothly...but I could see over the next few years this really taking hold with the community. Not to get ahead of ourselves...but do you (or have you even bothered) thinking about max capacity of that hotel and/or if we went above that max capacity? Again no need to get ahead of ourselves...just curious if that's come up with the hotel or in your discussions internally at all.

[Master Roshi]

Sweet! I'm excited

[Dragon Ruler]

Originally Posted by Sir Heroscape

I'm excited!

The comped tickets make a lot of sense and I'm glad you're doing it. You've deserved it.

I agree with and support the changes you've outlined. Heck...this is year 2 of a major event for our community...and it's been this successful? Hat's off to all involved. Adjustments are good and natural at this stage and it still may take a couple more years to "tighten the ship"...but these are good problems to have...just means these next few years should be dynamite (assuming we get it right :P )

EDIT: also...out of curiosity...has the hotel told us what their max capacity/support would be for our events? 53 is a pretty good number...and I know you said this next year (and maybe the next who knows?) will need a personal cap to make sure logistics and things are corrected/running smoothly...but I could see over the next few years this really taking hold with the community. Not to get ahead of ourselves...but do you (or have you even bothered) thinking about max capacity of that hotel and/or if we went above that max capacity? Again no need to get ahead of ourselves...just curious if that's come up with the hotel or in your discussions internally at all.

In response to the above quote and private inquiries we have received, below is a more complete explanation of the rationale behind the 53-person player cap.

During ScapeCon I, I met with the hotel’s sales director and he indicated that the hotel could accommodate 72 attendees. That would result in a dining room setup of 9 round tables of 8 per table. That would be a very tight fit and it would be very loud in the dining room. We had several issues with food service this year (although many of you might not have noticed, particularly if it was your first ScapeCon) with the increase in attendance from 39 (ScapeCon I) to 53 (ScapeCon II.) We need to work these issues out with the hotel before increasing the attendance any further.

We believe that a more realistic figure in the future for the space at the hotel is 64 attendees, which would result in the use of 3 rounds along each of the long walls in the dining room and 2 rounds spaced in the center of the dining room between the groups of 3.

Additionally, the noise level in the gaming room with the increase in attendance was exponentially louder this year. Several people commented to us that they had trouble hearing their opponents during the games (as did we) and had to yell back and forth to hear each other. We are redesigning the table set up so that maps are spaced further apart. 53 attendees requires 26 maps (as there will be a TD during each time slot.) Once we successfully run the tourneys with 52 players, we can consider 64 (32 maps) for next year.

We will also relocate the extra tables for other gaming strategically throughout the gaming room so that those people playing quieter games at night can play them further away from the louder party games. It was great to see all of the non-Scape gaming at night and we want everyone to enjoy their chance to play other games as well.

We have spent hours considering and discussing capacity issues (both optimum capacity and maximum capacity.) It was a very long 14-hour ride home from Indy to CT after the Con, and all aspects of the Con were discussed at length. We continued to discuss capacity over the last two weeks (the ideal capacity for ease of operation is 49 – that allows 3 tournaments of 16 in any given time slot with a TD and a result of only 1 4-0 player in each tournament.) After much discussion and consideration, we decided to cap at 53 so that anyone who attended in years I and II will have the opportunity to attend again. Not everyone will attend (32 from ScapeCon I attended ScapeCon II), and this should allow for new attendees.

Attendees are spending a considerable sum of money for the Con, and everyone deserves to have the best experience possible. All gaming conventions have caps – even GenCon and HeroScape events in the past at GenCon (and even if the cap at ScapeCon is higher in the future, there will always need to be a cap). Again, our goal isn’t to prevent new people from coming; our goal is to create a system that works for 53 people before we expand further. But until the system works as intended, we are not comfortable going above 53 people.

[vegietarian18]

I really hope to see the 53 player cap reconsidered. It's very low for an event of this size and importance to the community.

[Sir Heroscape]

Yeah…I mean I get the reasons for the cap…but I’d have to agree with Vegie. ScapeCon has become something bigger and better than we ever hoped. And it’s quite reasonable and affordable for people to make the trip. In fact, with it being so “new” and an amazing experience, I feel like there’s a very real hype. That is, if we had 32/39 (82% return rate) return from ScapeCon 1, then we could expect roughly that same rate of return from 2 —>3…which would be 43 attendees…leaving just 10 spots open. Take into account that almost 20 new attendees came from 1–>2 and you’re cutting off a fair portion of potential attendees. While easier for scheduling…I fear that will stunt the growth and hype of this event if people just hearing about it realize they can’t attend.

I’m not discounting your points or frustration of scale for this event…those are very real…I just also agree that this event - while in its infancy - is very important to our community…and I think we should try our best to keep the doors open as much as possible these first few years. As it is, as it is, the average scaper still doesn’t know about this event…even those on Heroscapers…I think a few more years gathering as many scapers as we can will help to establish a strong base of attendees for years to come as well as continue to grow the community and keep the hype going.

Of course, more people makes more work. Lean on us. Ask for help. We’re able and willing to assist in keeping this thing going. If you need community members to step up and help because of the scale, we should and we will. I’d rather a few more people volunteer (myself included) their time to assist you managing things than to cut off access of this event to excited and prospective Heroscapers.

[BodaciousBlood]

The more we can take off your shoulders, the better for everyone. I'm excited to attend next year and am more than willing to help where needed.

[SuperSamyon]

With today's big news, something tells me you guys are going to need a lot more spots

[TalesOfValhallaOfficial]

Originally Posted by SuperSamyon

With today's big news, something tells me you guys are going to need a lot more spots

Agreed. Heroscape the game is rising from the ashes! This is going to be a lot of fun!

[Master Roshi]

Originally Posted by TalesOfValhallaOfficial

Agreed. Heroscape the game is rising from the ashes! This is going to be a lot of fun!