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To those who are going to attend Winter Haven... FYI

Right now, the Hanna House is not reserved for Winter Haven.

However, the Hanna House is the source of the indoor bathrooms, Kitchen and fireplace, among other creature comforts. The cost to rent it for the weekend is $280, and can be rented on the spot when we show up if we need/want it.

The cabins do not have heat (nor can we use space heaters, but Electric Blankets are allowed), and there are un-lit port-o-johns. There is also an outdoor (covered) fire/grill for cooking (and a possible shedded stove, if the camp owner allows). The Hanna House (as folks from last WH know) is quite a ways from the Cabins, and so it was suggest that maybe the building wasn't nessicary.

All I'm saying is that if enough folks really want or need hot water, toilets, mirrors, heat and indoor food cooking/serving, it will cost $280 additional for the building. If 28 people show up and pay $10 each, it could be done, but right now, it's not on the schedule to be rented.

This is not to disuade folks from going to Winter Haven in the slightest, it's just to prepare folks for what to expect, and what may be available if people really want the building available.

If I recall, the Hannah House can also accomidate a good number of people for sleeping. Why on earth would you rent out unheated cabins for a November Event when you could house everyone in a Heated structure?

Three reasons.

1. The hannah house has a hard wood floor. Only the downstairs cxan be used with shoes and no gear would be allowed upstairs. This is hard to manage.

2. Cost. Cost. Cost.

3. PLayer request. About half of our players requested we dropped the hannah house. So we are trying it.

EDIT:
Much of this dconversation can be seen at www.winterhavenlarp.com/phpbb2/

*shrugs*

Just struck me as a little odd. When we played NERO out there in the colder months, the Hannah House was the exclusive PC area while the Health Lodge was the NPC Camp - we didn't even use the woods when it was that cold.

Also, last I knew, the only accomidation one had to make for upstairs was to take off their shoes. Small price to pay for guaranteed warmth.

It was har enough to manage when it wasn't cold. It's non combat area, and a large number of the player base didn't like it. So we are trying something different.

If it too cold, there will be warm up areas available.

Last WH we used the Hannah House more as a central location but I do like the cabins because it gives you more "your own space" to put your gear and such...and I remember all the walking and walking and walking...

It's a hard call....It really depends on the weather....if it's below 30 degrees all night then it would make sense to use it....if it's going to be in the 40's-70's then we won't need it. November is a fickle month....(hoping for an indian summer instead of more snow)

My vote is to wait and see what the weather brings...as long as we know that if we are misserablely cold we can easily get a place to keep warm IF IT"S NEEDED that's insurance enough for me.

I'm planning on bringing a card table, coffee pot (for hot water and coffee), electric blanket, and layers and layers and layers to keep warm.

Shea Stonebrook wrote:It's a hard call....It really depends on the weather....if it's below 30 degrees all night then it would make sense to use it....if it's going to be in the 40's-70's then we won't need it. November is a fickle month....(hoping for an indian summer instead of more snow)

Yep... if it's warm, no worries. But if it's cold I'd like folks to know that it is an option if $$ is made available by the players (and if the GMs are cool with it too).

BTW, if anyone finds deals on electric blankets, maybe post them here? (Imagines several folks buying King-size electric blankets, laying them on the floor and everyone sleeping in sleeping bags on them...)

For those who haven't seen the Hanna House, it has a gorgeous hardwood floor upstairs. Yes, it's shoes off only upstairs...but as well as that (At least when we were there) there were a bunch of things with notes on them that were not to be moved (Like the Television and the tables). It was also unadjustibly modern looking on our curret budget (Albiet very nice). One of the problems with having gear up there is that it has the same problems of shoes, of scuffing up or scratching the floor.

We're not nessesarily looking at NEVER using the Hanna House again, it's just really expensive and doesn't seem to contribute much to the overall game or immersion at this time. In the future, when our player numbers swell and we are able to spend more time working on the building (decoration/screens/covers/whatever) so it doesn't look like a church basement, we will probably use it again.

If we need to use it because it is really, really cold, please keep the above in mind as well as the fact that the Hanna House has to be thoroughly swept AND mopped and all the carpets have to be vaccummed.

Also, the main point, which was brought up by many folks, is that it was WAY away from everything, and people felt like they were forced to roleplay out there. The cabins gave people the same feel that the Brighton events did, with the game-active cabins and no "safe" zones. Also, not having to sleep on the ground (Like you do in the hanna house) is a definate bonus.

Let me stress Travis' point: There WILL be places to warm up. However, we have discussed that they will also be out-of-game at this point and aren't meant to be long term (Overnight) solutions. Hopefully, you will be wearing lots of warm stuff when you are sleeping, and when you are outside, you will be moving enough to keep you warm. We just want to bring that up so that there will be no surprises if it's really flipping cold. I am told there will also be firepits availiable and several of the covered shelters have fireplaces.

We may get lucky and it may be an absolutely gorgeous weekend, but we just want to make people aware. I remember a really, really cold Final Haven weekend when I didn't prepare properly, because I wasn't really thinking ahead and spent most of the night in Phil's car.

I will personally be layering on the socks, investing in some gloves and probably a hat as well. I'm not sure if I have a working electric blanket, but it not I'll be looking into one of those as well.

Just a suggestion, if you're going to run a winter based game you might want to look for another spot that has heated sleeping areas.

We were going to use heated sleeping areas. It was at the players request we are not using them. I know that doesn't seem like much, but we need to keep the 14 players we have so far.

EDIT:
It was my orginal intention to rent NOTHING but heated areas. I was talked out of it.

Peace420 wrote:Just a suggestion, if you're going to run a winter based game you might want to look for another spot that has heated sleeping areas.

That is what I was implying. I've played at Shawadassee in the cold months, they have heated areas that are rentable - just not sure of the cost. Which is why I brought up the Hannah House and the Health Lodge (not exactly sure of the name). Both of these can sleep quite a few people - in beds, are heated, and have flushable toilets and shower facilities, as well as a kitchen. There is also a smaller cabin near the entrance that can sleep about 4 or 5, is also heated, has bunks, a shower and flushing toilet and a kitchen.

I know they're not in period - but that isn't what you're paying for in renting out the place - you're paying for comfort and shelter.

I slept in one of those rustic cabins in May - dayum was that cold! So be prepared to freeze your arse off - or bundle up for sleep (which just isn't comfortable for me, so I don't do it).

*shrugs*

However you look at it, if your player base wants to use the rustic cabins in order to feel more in period - more power to 'em.

Actually, the hanna house doesn't have beds persay (It has two small beds, but I'd hardly count that as sleeping a lot of people), it has floormats, but they didn't seem too bad, if you don't mind being on the floor.

Also, with our current playerbase, we just can't afford it, especially if people say they don't really care for it. It wasn't one or two people, this was about seven different individuals who brought it up. At this time, we can't really be flexible on storing gear upstairs in the HH because of the risk involved to the floor, although I have no problems with people sleeping up there, as long as they realize their resources and gear have to stay in-play downstairs. I believe it's been brought up that it's there if it gets bad enough.

Also, I know we have a great playerbase and hopefully we can do signup sheets for closing out the camp next time so we don't have this issue, but each building we rent is one that has to be cleaned as specified by the camp. The camp people are really nice, but the rules are very strict. Things have to be spotless. This means sweeping, mopping all hard floors and vaccuming any carpets. This means scrubbing and scouring the kitchenette, if the area is only used briefly. The more buildings we rent, the longer people have to stay cleaning up afterwards. I'll try to get a signup sheet going on the winterhaven forums so I know how many we'll likely have for cleanup, because that makes a big difference too. I don't mind people utilizing the space we have availiable, but those are the people I want to see cleaning it up right away (as they use it and) at the end of the weekend too.

Again, we're just trying to warn people, so there are no surprises, or people who don't understand why it is cold. We want people to have time to be prepared. My personal hope is that we won't have to have an event this late into the season again, I'm hoping for mid-october at the latest, because I don't like being cold either. I don't expect it will be worse than the November FH event last year where it was flipping cold in the lodge (And we didn't have the new bathrooms yet).

We don't want people to get frostbite. We don't want people to be miserable. We want people to have fun, but this IS WINTERhaven , afterall.

Yes, there were many reasons we went with the camp site rather than the Hannah House for this event. The biggest was the player requests to try it this way.

But, if it is freezing, snowing, and we need to have a heated sleeping space we will probably break down and get it again (About $280 for the weekend. That's 12 paying players just for that one building alone to break even for us, and we are still in the red after last event's camp rental, not to mention costumes, weapons, props, the cave, and all the rest.).

We aren't trying to be unsympathetic to anyone, so please have some faith in us. We have some latitude to make changes as they are needed, and we will work with the players to make people as happy as we can. We certainly don't want people to wave off attending because of the cold. But, the best way to make other options a real possibility is to get as many people there as we can.

As it is, we have unlimited free firewood, places to come in and warm up if your cold maybe even with some hot cocoa, and at least 2 real bathrooms...

On a side note: I think Walmart has some nice Twin sized (Bunk) electric blankets for like $25.

I wasn't trying to imply that the event would be miserable or that the GM Staff was unsympathetic (in the first post it was mentioned that the Hannah House would be rentable if necessary). I was just trying to assist in keeping everyone informed - as someone who has played at Camp Shawadassee many times, and utilized several different areas of the site.

I've been in touch with several of the people that were at Winter Haven last event.... I'm sure that we will be prepared for the cold and hope for great weather!! Myself I'm bringing extra blankets, hats and little gloves just in case If there is a snow storm that weekend there is always the Hannah House. No Worries

I thank the WH GM's for keeping us informed of what to expect and what is possible there...