FinalHavenLarp.com

*sigh* I know we've talked about the fact that 80% of the player base is from West Michigan and Chicago. This adds a lot of time for those players, who represent the majority of the active player base. For those who are already on shoe string budgets, this may very well count them out, sadly.

Personally... this means I can't go to any of the events. I know I'm just one person... but with a newborn... I can't, in good conscious, be more than an hour and a half from home. This pretty much ends my ability to hope to play for the next year. Huge bummer.

I'm sorry... but I find myself very disappointed by the locations. Not a single one anywhere near the West side...

How are the two camps near Jackson more than 90 minutes from you? I drive just over 3 hours to get to FH, and Jackson is just past the halfway mark.
I also think some are closer to the staff, which should carry MORE weight since without them there is no game.
Having been a LARPing parent to a new born, I can relate to the concern about being close. We (the ex and I) missed several events due to not having trustworthy sitters for an entire weekend. I also undertsand that since the staff wants the game to grow, it needs to be more centrally located.

Not a set of decisions and priorities I envy them having to make.

Anyone who wishes to do the work of finding camps that are in a good location, offer the amenities that we have come to expect and frankly need at our age, and is affordable so that we can keep costs down for those on a shoestring budget, I'd be more than happy to pass that off to someone. And before you say where Winter Haven plays, I was told by the girl scouts that the policies have just changed and that it is required to have the full event cost plus 250 dollars deposit simply to hold the reservations. I know that's not the deal that Winter Haven has, but that is what I was told from the person taking the reservations. Since we rely upon money gained at one event to fully pay for the next one, this is not possible for us. So when you are looking, take girl scout camps out of the equation. I'm not trying to sound like a jerk; I really do want to know what you find.

In other news, either the date or the location of the one day will need to be changed as there was a scheduling error on Rota-Kiwan's side of things. The October date and location is now tentative as they are unable to schedule this far in advance. The original post has been edited to reflect this.

One day event has been changed to March 2. I updated the original post to reflect this.

Yeah, not good for any of us on the west side. Not one even close to us.

They're all about the same distance as the old Brighton site, and only Lapeer is comparable to what the east-siders drive to Rota Kiwan every event. I'm willing to try these out and see if the right deal at the right camp brings something new to the game.

I also encourage folks who don't like the locations to take Mike up on his offer. Start checking into camps on the West Side. If we don't fall in love with any of these we'll likely be in the market next year as well.

I also encourage folks who don't like the locations to take Mike up on his offer. Start checking into camps on the West Side. If we don't fall in love with any of these we'll likely be in the market next year as well.

That's correct. In fact, I know there's a camp on the western side of the state that is fantastic. We would need a regular 55 players to make that work, however, so the more people who come out and tell us our event locations suck, the better

The fact that the game is more Westerly is likely why it's 80% West-siders.
If the game moves more Easterly, yes, West-siders will likely drop, but more East-siders will return/join as well. I don't think anyone is saying that they're going to boycott Final Haven because of the locations, but that the distance isn't what they personally are interested in for any number of reasons. It also doesn't mean that going to select games are out of the question, just that the extra hour of driving, or whatnot might be the little extra that changes their decision to attend. We all have the same issues (some folks might not go if it's going to be a hot, or rainy, or cold event as well.)

So I don't think (or, at least I hope not) anyone wishes ill-will towards Mike, or FH for trying to find new sites, nor that someone on the East side of the state might naturally be more inclined/influenced/able to find East-side sites more readily available than Westerly sites. I certainly hope you can regain old Eastern-sided members who might find a shorter drive that little bit of encouragement needed to return to the game as well.

One thing I would suggest is contacting other East-side LARP groups (especially any who use the sites that are being used) to come out and try Final Haven with it being "in their back yard".

We are currently having a scheduling hiccup. It may not be an issue if I exercise some patience but there was apparently a double booking that happened for the first event. We are looking at options and it may be a moot point, but one option we have is that we could replace the first event location for Long Lake Outdoor Center, which is part of Yankee Springs State Recreation Area, which I believe is near where CJ and Dani live. From everything I've heard and seen, it's a really nice site. However, they have two rental seasons, winter and summer. The end of April is still considered the winter season, during which time they close the bath house and turn off the water so that the pipes don't freeze. There MAY be water, depending upon the spring weather. Otherwise they can bring water in to use in the kitchen and there would be vault toilets and no showers. So this would give one event on the west side but it may or may not have all the amenities we're used to. I'd love to hear any thoughts people have on this

From what it sounds like, the one thing I can say that is a definite plus about the Long lake site is that is is a pretty site, with a damn good size. Lots of small cabin units scattered about that would make interesting sites for adventure (adventuring in actual villages, including one cabin site of about 6-8 cabins that's about 200 yards from the main mess hall, hell yeah??) all placed along trails that lead easily down to a lake, which is about as far from player camp as the lake at the current Winter Haven site, for players who are familiar.

Plus the site backs up to the entire Yankee Springs State game area, so players could effectively go several real-world miles in several directions and still be in absolute wilderness, which is crossed by tons of hiking and cross country ski trails, though we don't usually tend to travel too far from the main "hub" at a one-day for that to play into things. I've hiked or biked most of it.

The building that would likely be the main hub is pretty awesome for being in-game, if it hasn't changed. It's a good size rectangular mess hall (fits a hundred, I think?) that has a rustic interior with a kitchen offshoot, with raw overhead beams like the Port Huron Site did.

The lack of water is a big, big bummer. The big question, though....would we have heat? Depending on the state of the weather, that is a huge deal for players to take a rest in, and would probably be the make or break for staying overnight, obviously, as well as lack of bedding. Vault toilets I know I personally can handle easily, even in the winter, though I can't speak for other LARPers.

The lack of water isn't that big a deal, it would just mean that players would have to be on their own to bring enough to stay hydrated, but there is a local small store right on the road to the camp that nearly all players would pass that carries everything we would usually need, with at least two gas stations before that, (one with a MCDonalds) about 4-5 miles from the camp.

PS: I believe if we can get it, there are several largeer cabins (20 man, I think as opposed to 8-man?) that are in close proximity to the mess hall, too. So sleeping in heat and with bunks could be a possibility.

We would rent the larger cabins and possibly one set of smaller cabins. The larger cabins have heat, as does one set of smaller cabins. The other set of smaller cabins have space heaters available and the lodge/kitchen has two large fire places like Bertha Brock had for those of you who recall that site.

Ok. I vaguely remember some of the cabin units had built-in heaters, because some of the groupings had a large propane tank outside. The time I was there was in the middle of summer, other than a quick bike through there once with Dani when we took a wrong turn and ended up there, lol.

Forgot about the fireplaces in the main mess hall.

I say heat is the important part, because there are always ways to bring and store stuff to drink.

So in the ten years of scheduling events, I've never had the problems I've encountered this year with people I'm reserving from saying yes and then no and then maybe and I'll get back to you but yet never doing so. I sincerely apologize for all the confusion this causes as I post things prematurely (though in my defense I thought I posted after verification). Anyway, we're taking on Long Lake Outdoor Center for 2 events next year. The October event will definitely have running water, and the April one most likely will have running water. All the buildings have heat except the lodge/kitchen (which has fire places or space heaters if necessary). I know that site is fantastic.

All the events have had a deposit paid at this point so I don't expect any more issues from here on out. I apologize to Winter Haven for having to move the October event up a week so that now there is only one week between events. I will assume this scheduling was an anomaly and that things will return to running smoothly again next year. The original post was edited to reflect all change. I will fix the events page in the near future as well.

Thanks everyone,

Mike

I've edited the map and colored post I created on the first page.

But, for ease-of-use, here's just the updated graphic.

I forsee my gas budget giving a sigh of relief this year...