Western New York/Eastern Ohio/Ontario Region - Player Meet Up July 5 or 6, 2013

[Sapience]

OK guys, once again I'm taking a little trip and willing to give up a day to bring some swag and conversation to players. This time I'll be spending the July 4th Weekend in the Buffalo/Cheektowaga area.

What you need to do:

• Someone needs to step up and find a location and handle the organization of this.
• Everyone pays their own food/drinks.
• Post in this thread expressing your interest and where you are located.

What I'll do:

Bring STUFF! For example:

• Codes for the title "The Well Met"
• LOTRO Hoodies
• LOTRO Flags

When?Where I'd prefer to do this.

Either Friday July 5 or Saturday July 6 from 8:00PM - 11:00PM. I'll let you guys decide which works best for the majority. I'd prefer somewhere in the Buffalo/Cheektowaga area. A little further south is OK. Rochester is too far east. Cleveland is too far West. Toronto is too far north.

So let me know your interest level and let's start putting together a rough number of players who would be interested in attending this.

[Alcaniel]

I'm definitely interested in attending something depending on location. I'd be coming from about 25 miles south of Rochester. Saturday would work best for me as I'll have to make arrangements for someone to stay with my elderly mom. Buffalo area would be doable for me.

[cdpengys]

I was going to say I'd be interested, then I looked at a map and realized that where I am in eastern NY, I could make a round trip to Boston in about the same time as a one way trip to the Buffalo area.

[PoeticNightmare]

How about Westchester, NY? No? Fine! Be that way.

[Sapience]

I'm definitely interested in attending something depending on location. I'd be coming from about 25 miles south of Rochester. Saturday would work best for me as I'll have to make arrangements for someone to stay with my elderly mom. Buffalo area would be doable for me.

Probably looking at the Cheektowaga/Hamburg/Orchard Park area.

Don't know enough places in the area to host this, which is why I'm hoping someone steps up and starts making suggestions.

[Exion_Blade]

Anything for those closer to the Michigan area?

[Lethareth]

You left out North-western PA, which is actually closer to the location you are going to be in than Ohio. :/ I live in Central Ohio, and I think it's too far for me to make it. Hope ya'll have fun though!

[ThorgrinIronhide]

I am assuming that you are coming to visit family since I can think of little other reason to take a vacation here, why not ask them for a venue suggestion? I actually live in Buffalo though I am not terribly familiar with venues south of the city as I live north of it myself. How many people are you expecting and what type of thing are you thinking of, like a reserved room etc... If you had a list of exactly what you are thinking you'd need I could see if I know any places that would fit the bill.

[Comstrike]

Anything for those closer to the Michigan area?

LOTROcon.com.

Save a hour or two or three of driving. July 26-28.

[Sapience]

Anything for those closer to the Michigan area?

That I'll be attending or will have official swag? Unfortunately no. I'm just taking a day out of my vacation to spend it with players if they're interested in free LOTRO stuffs.

You left out North-western PA, which is actually closer to the location you are going to be in than Ohio. :/ I live in Central Ohio, and I think it's too far for me to make it. Hope ya'll have fun though!

True. We had people drive nearly 5 hours on a friday night when we had a meet up in Orlando,FL. Not sure how long your drive would be, but I know Cleveland isn't terribly far (did that drive last year).

I am assuming that you are coming to visit family since I can think of little other reason to take a vacation here, why not ask them for a venue suggestion? I actually live in Buffalo though I am not terribly familiar with venues south of the city as I live north of it myself. How many people are you expecting and what type of thing are you thinking of, like a reserved room etc... If you had a list of exactly what you are thinking you'd need I could see if I know any places that would fit the bill.

Yes this is a family trip, but like I did for the folks in Orlando I'm willing to give up an evening if players want to meet up, talk about the game, ask some questions, and get some LOTRO Swag.

What the Orlando group did was one person, Kickman77, put together the venue, stirred up some interest, and we kept a running head count of people and got all their sizes for hoodies. We ended up with 30+ people at a Wing place (hey Buffalo has wing places! ;p) and a good time was had by all.

I would say; low cost, decent food, able to accomodate 10-25 people and easy to reach from all points (near or reasonably close to a major through way is good).

I don't know the area well and I'm actually asking for places about an hour away from family as they're a bit further south of Buffalo than my suggestions.

I'm just keeping a promise that if I did trips to other locations I'd try to carve out a night for players who were interested.

[lostor]

Something like this place?

http://www.anchorbar.com/original.php

I'm not close enough to Buffalo to help plan anything though.

[ThorgrinIronhide]

I mean Anchor Bar and Duffs are probably the two big draw wing places if that is the route you are thinking of and both of them have a few locations each to choose from. Pearl st. (http://www.pearlstreetgrill.com/home) is a huge multi-story bar with their own beers and tons of space. It hosts a lot of parties, proms etc... and in fact I just went to a catered party there last weekend in one of the large rooms. A big place like that might need some coordination to direct people where to go and I don't know if it costs money to reserve space or if they are just happy to have 30 captive patrons in one space. There are large decks outside also with bars located on them.

But as you mention maybe Buffalo might not have the most support, somewhere south and closer to PA maybe? I guess a head count of interest might sway your final choice of locale.

I should add all of these places would probably require some kind of reservation I would assume if its that many people but Duffs and Anchor bar are much smaller and more crowded so they would definately require one unless you enjoy hour plus waits.

[PoeticNightmare]

I never get attend these meet ups due to the locations. I live about 15min north of NYC. But, this seems to be as close as I've seen so I'd like to bite the bullet and make the trip. Is this an open invitation? If so my girlfriend and I would absolutely love to attend. Unfortunately, I've never been to the area so I can't contribute much in the way of venues.

[Summer_Beor]

Erie, PA seems like it would be a good place to have this considering the region. They have a great Quaker Steak & Lube!

[Sapience]

I never get attend these meet ups due to the locations. I live about 15min north of NYC. But, this seems to be as close as I've seen so I'd like to bite the bullet and make the trip. Is this an open invitation? If so my girlfriend and I would absolutely love to attend. Unfortunately, I've never been to the area so I can't contribute much in the way of venues.

Well set one up! Pick a place near you and get to work! You could probably find some folks willing to get to gether for a meal and some drinks.

Erie, PA seems like it would be a good place to have this considering the region. They have a great Quaker Steak & Lube!

Trying to keep this close to where I'll actually be, without the need for a couple hours of driving. I'll be doing enough driving (Boston to Buffalo ~7.5 hours) and adding another couple isn't really in the cards.

If no one's interested in picking this up and running with it, that's fine. I know a couple good RC fields and a Casino.

[Malhirviel]

I'm in the Central New York area and might be able to make it out to Buffalo for an evening, depending on how other plans work out. It would be fun to get to meet people!

A few comments:

* Anchor Bar - http://www.anchorbar.com/menu.php - is not a bad choice, as there is plenty of parking in the city, and they have a good variety of food which isn't too expensive (plus their famous wings!).

* Cantina Loco - http://www.cantinaloco.com/fullmenu.html - I've never been here, but it's rated well on Yelp (better than Anchor Bar, surprisingly), it's not super-expensive, and it also has a large selection of tequilas. It's not clear exactly how much space they have there, so I'd want to hear from someone locally to make sure it's sufficiently large.

* There's tons of chain restaurants in Amherst which would probably be able to accommodate us - Red Robin, etc.

* While I really like the wings from Duff's in Amherst (near Buffalo), it's probably not the greatest location, just because it's small and the parking is pretty tight. Their menu is also more limited than some other places.

I'm open to any other suggestions - these are just some preliminary thoughts.

[KKMacLeod]

Anchor Bar in Buffalo sounds pretty good to me. The day doesn't matter too much but if I had to pick I'd go with Friday.

[Llvhearthen]

I live in WNY and the Anchor Bar is a nice place. They tend to be packed but I will call to see if tables can be reserved unless we are going to hang out at the bar.

[Sapience]

I live in WNY and the Anchor Bar is a nice place. They tend to be packed but I will call to see if tables can be reserved unless we are going to hang out at the bar.

Thanks for stepping up! let us know what you find out then we can get an estimate of guests. From the initial looks of things I think we're around 6 now, but suspect we'll get more once we have a time, date, and location locked down.

Then I can go raid the goodie closet.

[Llvhearthen]

Have a call into Anchor Bar with both days. I will update when I hear back from them. Hopefully it will be by Tuesday at the latest.

[Llvhearthen]

July 6 @ 8 PM at the Anchor Bar reservation has been confirmed.

[Alcaniel]

I'll definitely try to make it on July 6th, have to do some checking to make sure someone can plan to spend the evening with my elderly mom so I don't have to worry about her.

[Sapience]

July 6 @ 8 PM at the Anchor Bar reservation has been confirmed.

Ok, now we need an accurate headcount and Sweatshirt sizes. That way I can make sure I bring enough, and in the right sizes, for everyone.

I'll also bring along the One Ring banners we gave out at PAX East this year and of course a code for the "well met" title for everyone attending. I think I can scare up some other cool stuff, too.

[Boskone08]

I hope you have an excellent turn-out for this event, and I'm sure those that are able to make it will enjoy it. Just a wee bit far from west Texas, I'm afraid... <grin>

[Alcaniel]

I'm definitely in, have made arrangements for someone to stay with my Mom while I enjoy an evening out! Make mine a Medium for the sweatshirt.