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TravellerCon expansion

RossWinn

SOC-12
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I was wondering if Mongoose was interested in utilizing and expanding TravellerCon.
This convention is limited in size by two major factors. The first is the location, and the second is costs. Lancaster Pennsylvania is incredibly difficult as a destination except by car. There is no major airport nearby. There is also a very limited number of hotel rooms, and there are no hotels adjacent to the site.
It would be fantastic. If Mongoose could take a more active role in supporting the convention. Moving it to a better facility, expanding hotel options, and expanding programming to encompass the width and breath of the Traveller and Cepheus community.
As a point of comparison: I could fly to PHL for $250 round trip or less. Flying to Lancaster is $500. The hotel charges $367 a night outside the room block. This is outrageous. I would have to spend $1600 without food, beverages, or a single purchase in the dealers room. I didn’t pay that to attend GenCon.
 
Traveller is a Global brand with fans across the English speaking world. Moving to Philadelphia would eliminate travel issues for thousands of Americans and those abroad. I do not believe this is inconsequential.
 
I'm a retired airline employee, so travel is not much of an issue with me. However the remoteness(sp?) of the site, and dearth of hotel choices is a deal breaker for me.

I'm really 'jonesing' to attend though.

Re: Living across the 'pond', you guys in Europe can fly to the US cheaper than anyone can fly from Kansas City to St. Louis, and that's less than 300 miles.
 
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I live in Philadelphia and i have never attended TravellerCon. I can understand how location can be a deal breaker for some.

All I am saying is that whoever runs it probably doesn't have the time or ability to do anywhere else. If Mongoose took over TravellerCon, they should definitely move it to a major metropolitan area. As long as it's just a labor of love, then it should be wherever the organizers are able to pull it off.
 
Just curious, how would Mongoose take over the Travellercon? Isn't it a third party team running it?
Does Mongoose even want to buy it and get into the convention running business?
And if it is going to move, why pick Philadelphia? What makes Philadelphia the best choice in the whole Eastern Seaboard for conventions?
Just this conversation gives me lots of questions, sorry. :confused:
 
I was just suggesting Philadelphia because it’s the closest major city with an international airport. Less than 100 miles away from the current site.
I found the Embassy Suites at the Philadelphia International Airport with an average room price of $139 a night and free breakfast with ample meeting space. Even with the premium normally offered to include the meeting space I doubt that the room rate would exceed $200 per night.
As an aside I would offer any visitor who paid for three room nights a free membership for the convention.
For full membership I would also charge $100 per person and include a free T-Shirt.
100 attendees would provide enough budget for travel and expenses for Matthew and Marc to attend as guests, and the hotel offers suites to accommodate them comfortably.
I’ve planned and executed many events. It is supremely reasonable and achievable to plan a fantastic event for 250 people with great games, panels, and a swap and sell area. With some simple marketing this event could be a lot of fun.
Oh, and you could plan the entire event by telephone.
 
Having run conventions, the expense of renting the hotel convention space is the single most expensive part of the process. Part of the reason to keep the Conference in Lancaster is to keep the hotel convention space rental to a reasonable level. Finding a hotel with cheap rooms isn't the hard part. Find a hotel with enough convention space at a reasonable cost is a real challenge. Having a long term relationship with a hotel is the best way to keep that under control.
 
Just curious, how would Mongoose take over the Travellercon? Isn't it a third party team running it?
Does Mongoose even want to buy it and get into the convention running business?
And if it is going to move, why pick Philadelphia? What makes Philadelphia the best choice in the whole Eastern Seaboard for conventions?
Just this conversation gives me lots of questions, sorry. :confused:
I picked Philadelphia because it's the largest major city to Lancaster. That's all.

Ho would Mongoose take it over? Well, they would ask nicely if they could take over TravellerCon and run it as an official Mongoose convention. It would be up to the people that run TravellerCon if they want to just hand it over and enjoy someone else doing all the work, or get paid for taking it over.

I don't know if Mongoose wants to take it over. But I like having an annual get-together. Of course with Mongoose being on the other side of the pond, that makes things a challenge logistically.
 
Sure, but having available a number of attendees that can support a budget is more important.
A bigger convention is more work. I don't know if TravellerCon turns a profit for the people that run it, or if it just breaks even and is a labor of love.

I don't think Traveller will attract the same number of people that PAX East or Gen Con does. Perhaps Lancaster helps keep the price at a reasonable level and makes it easy for the people that run it to set things up.
 
Winter War in Champaign Illinois is where some of the early Classic Traveller adventures were playtested. I saw Marc W. Miller there once. And Don McKinney was a part of the organization there before he unfortunately died. His widow and son still go to that convention. And there's an airport nearby. Not a real big one, tho.

And several people in the Chicago area have expressed interest in a Chicago area Traveller Con. I think it was the guy from Page 121 (on Youtube) that brought it up.
 
Well, if your choice is that TravellerCon happens in Lancaster, PA or it doesn't happen at all, then you go with Lancaster, PA.

I'm pretty sure TravellerCon was a labor of love by a husband and wife team, and not any kind of official con run by FFE or Mongoose.
This. It all started so that Rick and Megan could get some FTF Traveller time, at a time when Traveller players were comparatively fewer and farther between, and things like VTT weren't - maybe you had IRC and hacks like GRiP. On dialup. At 9600bps, if you paid for the EXPENSIVE modems.

Lancaster _does_ have an Amtrak station, but you'd need to arrange to be picked up to get to the hotel from there - taxi, Uber/Lyft, some other con-goer that you've got buddyhood with, etc.
 
I have met up with people at gencon.
Me too, and that GenCon is cheaper for me than TravellerCon is a testament to just how much this needs to be improved. I can fly to Indianapolis for $200 round trip from TPA nonstop. To get to Lancaster it is $560, but I could fly to PHI for under $300 round trip. My room for GenCon was $210 per night, the room I was quoted for TravellerCon was $325 per night. So to go to GenCon for three days $900+F&B, TravellerCon $1650+F&B.

If you have 250 attendees at $100 per membership and includes the best quality Hanes printed t-shirt I could buy printed with a 2 color logo. That leaves $20k. First Class airfare for Matthew is about $1800, First Class for Marc is about $800. RFB for both is $2k. This leaves $3k for registration cost and $12k for meeting space.
This includes no discounts for anything and is probably attainable with zero travel budget.
Just spitballing.
 
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