Deltas at 4th Street

[Cass]

Oh My.
A SU LARP.
I lourvs me some LARP. Although I agree with Miminnehaha that 4th St may not be the best venue.
What rules set would you think?

[Mattador]

I've got a ruleset used in the Fargo LARP circuit but not, as far as I know, anywhere else, and I was tweaking it a little to be SU-suitable.

As for other venues, I'm open to notions, but unless a bunch of Deltas come up to Valleycon in Fargo one year, I'm not sure where else I'd be likely to be.

[miminnehaha]

I think it *could* work-- a panel here, an invitation there, a little planning ahead, and it could come together: a celebration (and examination?) of the Shadow Unit cooperative-electronic-meta-fiction* experiment at 4th Street Fantasy Conversation 2014. It is a growing topic of conversation on the cooperative-fiction side as well as the internet-fiction side, and Emma & Will & Bear are likely to be in attendance (!), so: timely and appropriate...

Oh, the panels!




Who wants to suggest it to the 4th Street folks**?





* _{there's a more succinct term for this floating around twitter, but I can't find it just now.}

**_{she asked in a passive, "if I was that bold I wouldn't be asking," I-know-the-PTB-could-do-this-if-they-wanted-so-don't-they-want-to? kind of way...}

[will shetterly]

If 4th Street did not have single-track programming, I would've suggested a Shadow Unit panel ages ago. But it seems presumptuous to ask for one when people don't have the option of catching another panel, and we Minnesotans really hate being presumptuous.

I am kicking myself for not suggesting a Shadow Unit panel at Convergence, though.

Hmm. Maybe 4th Street could let us have a space during one of the hours that're normally free. Well, we'll try to come up with some sort of get-together there.

[Mattador]

Otherwise, there's always Convergence 2014?  But based on extremely unscientific anecdata on the boards, its looks like more Deltas try to make it to 4th Street than to Convergence.

There's also the possibility of times outside of Con but near it -- Thursday evening or Sunday after things wrap, if people have the flex time in their travel schedule.

[Mattador]

Oh and while I'm at it -- I haven't been to a convention with so many authors who are represented on my bookshelves, well, ever.  If someone could gently educate me on the etiquette of asking to have books signed without being rude, it'd be very much appreciated.

[will shetterly]

What works for me is "Do you have a signing scheduled? I've got a few things I'd love to have you sign." But "Do you have a minute to sign a few things?" is also totally cool. And I would probably be more amused than otherwise by "Hey, you, sign these!"

[miminnehaha]

If 4th Street did not have single-track programming, I would've suggested a Shadow Unit panel ages ago. But it seems presumptuous to ask for one when people don't have the option of catching another panel, and we Minnesotans really hate being presumptuous.

I am kicking myself for not suggesting a Shadow Unit panel at Convergence, though.

Hmm. Maybe 4th Street could let us have a space during one of the hours that're normally free.

I wasn't picturing Shadow Unit themed 4th Street panels* so much as panel topics derived from an SU-inspired perspective. But I am in no way invested in this idea. I like 4th Street just the way it is!


CONvergence 2014 is a good idea for a "SU" track; it's certainly a more appropriate LARP venue. (I'm trying to justify the cost this year, but I'll only be (back) in town the last day... there are some amazing panels.) Same premise: if we invite Deltas here to a meet-up there, and people there direct readers here, it could happen!

http://schedule.convergence-con.org/ 

Well, we'll try to come up with some sort of get-together there.

I do think it would add to the whole experiment if we gathered "IRL"...** let's have lunch!



*After 20 formative years in Minnesota followed by 20 counter-cultural years in Michigan, my anti-presumption meter runs high, yet I see it this way: speculative fiction people are talking experimental fiction, Internet story-telling, & shared worlds, and 4th Street is home to many authors who have more-than-average experience with some or all of these topics. It's a natural fit.


**<sub>MN-me says "you can't invite PTB to lunch, even if you pose it as a Delta get-together, because they have plans for their weekend already and have friends they don't see often to hang with and are appropriately leery of being cornered by rabid fans" and on and on and on. MI-enhanced me says: "but it's for the project! It furthers the meta-fictional experiment!" And social-anxiety-me chimes in with "there's no restaurant in this hotel so you won't get to sit with Brust for lunch again so you need lunch plans!"

So I can jump on the "let's have a Shadow Unit coffee klatsch or something" bandwagon, but suggesting lunch has given me a stress headache.</sub>

[jimsmyth]

I think it may be okay by New England rules if we plan a lunch for us, and invite the PTB as people who are also more-than-sanely attached to these characters.

(Without actually mentioning the more-than-sane thing, of course. That would be prying, which is rude.)