Meet up?
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For a while I toyed with the idea of a murder mystery dinner for the Knightmare Convention, so it would be interesting to do one in case it becomes a possible future event.
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I will do Alton Towers in a heartbeat. Saving up for a spa treatment visit in the hotel there (I'M STRESSED OUT DON'T JUDGE ME), and I'm more than up for co-inciding the two.
Murder mystery is awesome too.
Also, Paintball. Just throwing that out there. I'm not saying I'd like to shoot all ya'll with painty bullets, but... actually, I AM saying that.
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Here is the basic idea:
Knightmare Weekend Social: October 2014 (exact date TBC)
Where: Alstonefield YHA (Peak District) ( http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/alstonefield )
Proposal for a 3 night social spanning a Friday-Monday.
A pre-devised role playing game will take place. It will have a cast, and will require a good number of willing participants.
It will be in three stages, the first taking place on the Friday evening and in to the night
Part two would be Saturday daytime, with part three following on the Saturday nighttime.
The game will be played within the confines of the hostel and possibly some nearby locations.
SUNDAY: Park day at Alton Towers. Yay!
The game itself is not murder mystery, but there is a Halloween element to it, and the team will be given information as the weekend goes on. They will eventually act upon that information in Part 3.
Alstonefield YHA has been used for projects and socials in the past. If we go there, we will likely need to consider transport for people to get to the hostel. Those with cars could perhaps pick people up who are traveling via train, as the station is not very close.
If that sounds at all interesting to anyone then I'd be interested to hear.
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The programme itself looks good. My main concern is the venue, which in turn causes other problems.
I'll admit to not being a fan of youth hostels and this one gets particularly poor ratings (1.5 out of 5).
That point notwithstanding, this particular youth hostel looks especially remote. It leaves no alternative for people wanting to stay elsewhere and its remoteness causes some logistical headaches - particularly for station pickups and going to get food etc.
Consider, for example, that people coming from London may not arrive at the station until after 9pm if they leave work at exactly 5pm. Then you need to rely on some poor soul to be ready to ferry people backwards and forwards all evening as people arrive.
Exactly the same programme would work better in a youth hostel closer to civilisation. Mightn't it be better to pick one near the train station or at least in the city centre?
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Ravenstor is closer to Buxton Station. It looks a fair bit nicer. Main problem is it can only be reached on B-roads.
http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/ravenstor
There's also Ilam Hall near Ashbourne.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/YHA-Ilam-Hall/Peak-District/46896?sc_sau=sfab&sc_pos=1
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Common sense would dictate if one was to travel from London, one would book the Friday off to ensure they get there earlier. If the event was held closer to London, people would have to do the same in order to get down, and accommodation nearer to London is expensive all year round.
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Ravenstor is closer to Buxton Station. It looks a fair bit nicer. Main problem is it can only be reached on B-roads.
http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/ravenstor
There's also Ilam Hall near Ashbourne.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/YHA-Ilam-Hall/Peak-District/46896?sc_sau=sfab&sc_pos=1
Ooh! I'll have a gander at other places to stay when I get home, see if there's somewhere which ticks the boxes of being reasonably priced, closeish to the station without compromising on the Peaks
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Common sense would dictate if one was to travel from London, one would book the Friday off to ensure they get there earlier. If the event was held closer to London, people would have to do the same in order to get down, and accommodation nearer to London is expensive all year round.
You're missing the point. This has nothing to do with London versus not London.
The point is that wherever we hold it, being far away from a train station means that someone has to stay up late in the evening to ferry people between the station and the youth hostel.
I appreciate the logic of saying that people should book the Friday off, but I guarantee that won't happen, especially if people are going to have to take Monday off in order to travel home. People will see there's nothing planned for Friday daytime, get the train after work, arrive late on Friday, and rely on someone giving them a lift.
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Ravenstor is closer to Buxton Station. It looks a fair bit nicer. Main problem is it can only be reached on B-roads.
http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/ravenstor
There's also Ilam Hall near Ashbourne.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/YHA-Ilam-Hall/Peak-District/46896?sc_sau=sfab&sc_pos=1
Those places are both much nicer looking and more convenient. Good find!
However, I remain concerned about the remoteness. They are both a 20 minute drive from the train station. That means that anyone going out to pick someone up from the station has a 40 minute drive.
For me, the test has to be whether I could make my own way to the hostel without having to inconvenience anyone. In other words, how would I get there if nobody was available to pick me up? I am not sure I would be up for a 9 mile walk at 9pm. A taxi would apparently cost about 15 to 20 pounds, which is also a bit pricey.
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Common sense would dictate if one was to travel from London, one would book the Friday off to ensure they get there earlier. If the event was held closer to London, people would have to do the same in order to get down, and accommodation nearer to London is expensive all year round.
You're missing the point. This has nothing to do with London versus not London.
The point is that wherever we hold it, being far away from a train station means that someone has to stay up late in the evening to ferry people between the station and the youth hostel.
I think you will find that that was noted in 2 very recent posts, a compromise needs to be made on the place to hold this to accommodate the need to be closer to the station without compromising on the views or the cost of staying.
Regarding booking the time off, I believe even the most unreasonable of employers would struggle to refuse leave requested on 3 months+ notice, which I think is good that the social is being discussed now, rather than 6-8 weeks prior.
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I think you will find that that was noted in 2 very recent posts, a compromise needs to be made on the place to hold this to accommodate the need to be closer to the station without compromising on the views or the cost of staying.
I agree, and that's why I said that the test I'm using is to assume that nobody will be there with a car. Wherever we pick, it needs to be somewhere that public transport serves.
The reason for that is simple - we can't guarantee anyone with a car will be there or that anyone with a car will be willing to do 40 minute round trips to pick people up from the station. The majority of the Knightmare community do not drive. Of those that do, many do not have access to a car.
Now I'm lucky enough that I have a car, will almost certainly drive and am generally willing to ferry people. But I'm not going to allow anyone to rely on me for that in case I have to drop out or don't feel up to it at the time.
Regarding booking the time off, I believe even the most unreasonable of employers would struggle to refuse leave requested on 3 months+ notice, which I think is good that the social is being discussed now, rather than 6-8 weeks prior.
The issue is whether someone will be willing to use up two days holiday. Previous experience shows that, in general, people won't do this. They'll travel after work on the Friday because nothing is scheduled for Friday daytime. I suspect that was Kieran's intent in designing his excellent programme.
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I'll admit to not being a fan of youth hostels and this one gets particularly poor ratings (1.5 out of 5).
I would balance that rating, wherever it's from, against the personal experiences of the dozen-plus Knightmare community members who have stayed there.
Some background: we used the Alstonefield hostel first in August 2005 for the filming of Knightmare RPG7, for which we were able to book the entire hostel. (For those who don't know, the Knightmare RPGs were a series of fan-made projects, shot mostly against a bluescreen, involving a mixture of original KM characters and new characters.) Its remote location made it ideal for filming, and summer is a good time to escape to the countryside. We liked it enough to return there for a few days in October 2005. That meetup included a day at Alton Towers.
Every potential meetup venue has pros and cons. There's no denying that with Alstonefield, there was a reliance on those with cars. There will always be those who are happy to be chauffeurs and those who just fall into the role.
The whodunnit mentioned earlier in the thread was an evening activity during the August '05 stay, organised by Forester (a.k.a. Aaron, the Knightmare Convention photographer) with input from me. The clues centred around the RPG7 characters and their backstories.
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Yah, that's the only reason I didn't properly stamp on it
The problem is that we don't know what date the reviews have. It could be that the place has gone downhill.
EDIT: Although I do notice it does okay on tripadvisor.
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Right, here we are:
http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/hathersage
Deeper into the peak district
Quarter of a mile to the nearest train station
Higher reviews
Lower prices
Also only 6 miles away from Speedwell cavern
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Right, here we are:
http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/hathersage
Deeper into the peak district
Quarter of a mile to the nearest train station
Higher reviews
Lower prices
Also only 6 miles away from Speedwell cavern
nods Okie dokes, we'll need to check whether it can.support the needs for the games and wotnot
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I love murder mysteries, so could be up for a social (depending on work commitments, etc, etc). Honestly though, I'm not likely to attend one that isn't easy to reach by public transport, because it's embarrassing to feel like you're putting other people (especially people that you don't know very well) to trouble giving you lifts. Even if the drivers don't mind doing it, I'd still feel bad.
Hathersage looks very nice there, and easy to get to.
BTW, I've written a Knightmare-themed pub quiz challenge that I'd dearly like to test out on a Knightmare-savvy audience sometime. I'm not saying this to muscle in on Kieran's plans for October, just throwing it out there in case there's interest for some future social/convention.
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I've done a lot of hiking in the Hope Valley, including Hathersage. I can certainly recommend it for scenery, it's a gorgeous place. There's not a great deal there though apart from countryside. There are several fantastic old-fashioned inns there on the other hand, which means if all else fails, there'll be plenty of healthy options for, er, 'self-imbibement'... what more do you need?
(And yes, those inns would make good territory for a pub-quiz, Greystagg.)
Another option, if the Hope Valley is viable, would be Edale. Really nice Old Nag's Head pub just off the Pennine Way, and the views of Kinder Scout and the Great Ridge are stunning.
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Just comments on the main points raised...
Alstonefield - Used before, worked before, more than enough people to arrange collection from train station(s) so long as people are given a time to be collected. We've used it twice previously without a problem. The reviews don't give their reasons for rating it so poorly - I certainly don't.
Time off work - Required really for any distant trip that's going to be more than just a Saturday evening & Sunday morning. With advanced notice this shouldn't be a problem. Every larger event we've ever done has always had an element of requiring time off to it.
Hathersage - looks good to me, dates are limited for hiring venue outright. Meaning for a weekend it'd be December or March. Alton Towers opens late March and there is still availability. If we got 18 people it'd be about £64 each for the weekend (Fri - Mon). More people drops the cost. Location gets my support in principle.
To elaborate a little further, the game that's in mind requires sole use of a single venue and location with good features to support it. It's not a murder mystery, it's more a rp scare adventure / quest.
London & other big cities - World doesn't revolve around them, they're not the right setting for the specific idea in mind and hotels there would probably cost the same per night as a Hostel would per person for the weekend.
Ultimately it's entirely down to what people want to do. You could do a casual evening meetup at Tulley's Farm - in fact that could happen in addition to what's been said here. Or we could just meet for an afternoon drinking session in a pub. Greater things require more time, more planning and greater commitment.
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