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There are stranger things than Trad Games Secret Santa, but not very many! It's time again for our weird little subforum's annual gift-exchange tradition.  Oh boy! She is super happy about Christmas! SPECIAL NOTE: LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS ARE OVER! Sorry. If you're just getting to this thread, feel free to read along, but it's too late to participate this year. What's Trad Games Secret Santa? It's an anonymized gift exchange for the goons who hang out in the Trad Games subforum. Goons sign up to trade presents with other goons. I handle the anonymization of assignments, sending your personal information to a total stranger, who will then mail you a gift. Similarly, I'll send someone else's info to you, and you have to send them a gift. We waste a ton of money on postage, but gently caress it, this is fun! How do I do it? Read all the STEP BY STEP RULES in this post (scroll down) and follow them carefully. If you have problems with reading comprehension maybe read it twice or have an adult read it to you. There's a bunch of rules and you have to obey them and follow instructions. Each of the rules has a reason behind it so don't skip them. So I am going to buy something for someone? Yes. You have to get a gift for a Trad Games goon. Ideally your gift should be picked out specifically for the goon you're assigned. Since this is the Trad Games forum, we're generally focused on games-related stuff, but you kind of have free reign so it doesn't necessarily have to be a game gift... but it probably should, unless you're sure your non-game gift will delight your target Santee. Signing up for this is a financial obligation. It is not okay to sign up and then disappear, because someone will send you a present, and then whoever your assignment is, gets grinched. Please take a moment to think seriously about this before you just mash the Reply button.  How much does it cost? US$30 (or its approximate equivalent in Foreign Money), plus shipping. You don't deduct shipping from the gift dollar guideline amount because it's not your Santee's fault he lives in Tuvalu and he shouldn't have to have a worse gift just because you're 8000 miles away. You can save money on shipping in several ways: keep reading. What if I live in an Exotic Foreign Land like Laos, the Mothering Sunday Islands, or France? I try to match goons to other goons that are in nearby countries. There are always a few gaps, though, so if you are willing to cover the extra cost of international shipping, then you can say so and I will randomly choose from among the volunteers where needed. If you do get matched up with a Foreign Goon, remember that you can often order directly from an online retailer in their country instead of paying international shipping. I can't afford $30 plus shipping! If $30 plus shipping is genuinely a hardship for you, you might be too poor to be buying presents for strangers on the internet. You can make something, but your made thing has to have a value to your Santee of at least $30. Plus you still absolutely have to ship it on time. International shipping is too expensive! Based on past years, if you live in the continental US, Canada, the UK, or Australia, and you don't volunteer to ship internationally, you'll probably not have to send anything overseas. Eurogoons usually get matched to other Eurogoons. Anyone in another country will almost definitely have to buy internationally, although again, you can just buy online in the target country. I'm scared!  So far the track record for this thing has been pretty good, and as far as I know, we've had zero incidents of stalking. The great majority of goons were happy they took part, and most have been coming back in subsequent years. I did a survey last year so now I have statistical proof that most goons think this is a good time. This Year's Deadlines – NOTE DEADLINES HAVE CHANGED Some time on Saturday, November 19th, (which is the weekend before Thanksgiving in the US) I will make assignments and email them out. You will then have until A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS which is approximately, Monday, December 19th to get your gift delivered to your Secret Santee. To meet that deadline, I am asking that all gifts be mailed by December 13th. It will be up to you to decide if you want to get your gift sent on time using a cheap shipping option, or wait and then get your gift sent on time using an expensive shipping option. This year I have moved the final date up because too many goons have missed it every year. You're still getting four weeks of time, which is plenty. SPECIAL NOTE: LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS ARE OVER. What if I forget? Don't forget. Bookmark this thread. Something Awful provides a fancy bookmarking feature just for you! You should use it. Click on your Control Panel link to see your bookmarked threads. Maybe also set up an alarm clock in your calendar app or something? I will send out email-based reminders during the first week of December to people who are worrying me with their absence but you should not rely on that. If you are the kind of person who gets excited about things and then blows them off and forgets about them the next day, then this gig is not for you. Don't sign up. You can of course make things easier on yourself by just buying something and shipping it immediately after you get your assignment. I have timed it so you will get your assignment just in time to take advantage of the “cyber monday” online sales. Online retailers like Amazon offer all kinds of great discounts during that week, so you can take advantage and get your gift mailed automatically directly to your Santee and have nothing to stress or worry about all December.  What if I don't get a present because my Secret Santa is an rear end in a top hat? This is called “being Grinched.” If you get Grinched, like an old-west Sheriff I will round up a posse of de-Grinchers and together we will cover for the rear end in a top hat out of the goodness of our hearts. You will get a present no matter what. And Grinches get Stitches. There are consequences. It's already after the deadline! Does that mean I can't participate? You are in luck! After the first deadline, we run LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS!. Beginning November 19th, and continuing until December 10th, we will have a series of extra bonus rounds. It works like this: you use exactly the same process to sign up. I collect names until either I have at least 8, or, a whole week has passed AND I have at least 3, whichever comes first. So each LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND will have from three to eight goons. Then I do a mini-gift-round assignment. You immediately fire off a Trad Games Present at your Santee, and they do the same! And the instant one LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND ends, the next one begins. Since the pool of participants will be very small, the odds that multiple goons will have to ship internationally go up, though, so keep that in mind. You can participate in as many rounds as you want. SPECIAL NOTE: LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS ARE OVER! I guess your luck ran out after all. But, you could come back next year (earlier!) I'm rich and/or greedy. Can I send two gifts? gently caress yes you can! Just let me know in your email (step 2) how many gifts you want to send and receive, and I'll make it happen. Each gift still has to meet all the standard requirements.  The Shitlist of Shame These goons hosed up enough to get called out: The General. It's been seven years now but he managed to Grinch goons two years in a row. His only excuse was that basically he was too lazy to go buy a thing and mail it. He is not allowed to participate in TGSS. Arrgytehpirate. In 2011, this guy never managed to follow instructions, insisting on using PMs instead of emails. I let that slide but then he too forever to respond. Finally he sent me a photo of a package he was supposedly sending out but it never arrived. Weeks later he supposedly got it returned in the mail but his santee, who had also participated in a lightning round, had received a gift from his other santa so the address was definitely fine. Arrgytehpirate was the epitome of disinterested and disconnected half-assedness. For doing a little less than the bare minimum he was disallowed from participating in 2012. In subsequent years, he's invited to participate, but in a probationary way where I will cut his poo poo off if I'm not impressed by his reformation into a responsive person who can follow instructions. NutritiousSnack. NutritiousSnack doubled down on TGSS in 2013. His main round Santee finally got his gift on January 13th, and his Bonus Round santee finally got his gift on February 2nd. One major shipping snafu might be an honest mistake; two is a pattern. NutritiousSnack was also difficult to get ahold of, with days or weeks going by between responses. Being multiple months late with your gifts is bad, and being slack about communicating when your stuff has gone missing is worse. NutritiousSnack was on probation in 2014, but now he can participate if he wants. Demonstrating reform could get him off this list! MySwan in 2015 sent his santee a pair of socks, and something on DTRPG. He didn't follow up for ages, and when he did, he let things slide a lot. He was hard to contact, and in the end I don't think the DTRPG thing was ever worked out. He's on probation this year. EatinCake in 2015 claimed to have made a handmade gift, claimed to have forgotten to send it before going on vacation, claimed he would send things on the 4th, and nothing ever arrived. He was very unresponsive via email, and eventually his Santee had to be degrinched. Flaggy and NovaLion were both brought back into the fold. They both screwed up, but have proven themselves subsequently through acts of charity and contrition. See? Redemption is possible! I only want specific kinds of stuff That's fine. Just put your requests in your post when you sign up. There's no 100% guarantee, but really that's just like Christmas at home, isn't it? The worst case scenario is you get some $30 Thing that wasn't exactly what you wanted. That's not such a big deal.  I might get something I already have! That's true. There's only one way to avoid this for sure, and that's by posting what you've already got. You can use boardgamegeek for that, or just make a list, or be more specific about what you do want. There's still a chance you get a duplicate of something you have, though. I can't think of a way to avoid it completely, so you need to be ready for this specific thing to possibly happen. I'm sorry.  What if I never post in Trad Games? You're welcome too. If you have an SA account in good standing that existed before I posted this post, you're eligible to participate. Welcome to the club! Probably you'll get something TG related, though. Or a dong. If you have a brand new SA account registered after this post was posted, then I'm worried about you. Let's have a chat and figure out if you're trustworthy. Send me an email before signing up.  STEP BY STEP RULESThese are step-by-step instructions. Just do all of them, in order. 1. Announce your intention to participate in this here thread. Put the following information in BOLD so it's easy to see: Your Gift Preferences. This means describe things and categories of things you'd love to receive. This is mandatory. You can be specific but it's better to be general. E.g., “I'd love a blueray movie” or “I need tabletop wargaming scenery” or “I'd like the hardback Kings of War 2nd Edition Rulebook.” You can also specify things you don't want, like “I have enough dice thanks” or “I hate animes” or “Do not give money to Games Workshop” or whatever. The more help you give your Secret Santa, the higher the likelihood you will get something that you will actually like. If you just put “I'd love anything at all,” be prepared to receive anything, up to and including Dongs. But more likely, you might something you already own, especially if you chat about it in TG. Your General Location. You'll be telling me your address via e-mail anyway, but goons like to know where in the world all the other goons are. It's funner that way. You can say things like “Chicago” or “Wisconsin” or “Australia”, however specific or general you feel like being. Your Solemn Vow that you will keep up with the thread, send a gift on time, and will post in the thread when you get your present and tell us all what you got and who sent it to you. 2. Send an e-mail to me at tgsecretsanta@gmail.com containing the following information: “Secret Santa Sign Up” or similar in the subject line so I can be sure you're not a computer program trying to sell penis pills. Your REAL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS. This is important because someone is going to mail things to you and they need to know how. If someone mails a thing to this name and address and you don't get it because you moved or it's not a real address or the postal carrier refused to deliver a package addressed to “CockDragon1986” or something, that's your fault and you will have self-Grinched which is the most embarrassing thing ever. Your Something Awful login name. It should be obvious why I need this. Your willingness or unwillingness to ship internationally. Please be specific if you have restrictions. For example, if you're only willing to ship within North America, please say so. Remember, shipping costs are in addition to the $30 gift guideline. Anything else of importance. Special information might include a list of your mortal enemies which I had better not match you with, a date after which you will be at a different address, your allergy to cheese, or whatever. I promise not to match you (as Santa or Santee) with anyone you don't want to be matched with, and I will pass along any messages to your Santa or Santee that you need passed along. 3. Check for a confirmation email from tgsecretsanta@gmail.com Everyone who signs up will get a confirmation email within a short amount of time (usually within a day or two). If you don't get one, check your spam filters and then PM me, send another e-mail, or post in the thread and I'll troubleshoot the issue. Your confirmation email is sent at the same time that I put you on the Official Spreadsheet of Cheer, so it's important. 4. Wait until Saturday, November 19th and then check your inbox. That is the day I will close registration for the main round, and assign names using a secret method. It's also the beginning of a holiday week for most goons in the US, and also various holiday promotions have usually gotten going by then so maybe you can get an online discount. I will post in the thread as I get these assignments out. You must keep your Santee's personal information secret and private. Don't post or forward or copy their real name, other fake name(s), address, or email address in the thread or anywhere else. Don't try to go visit your Santee, that's creepy. This is important. Respect your Santee's privacy. 5. Check the thread, find your Santee's first post, and read up on his or her greedy demands. And then buy them a present and mail it. The Officially Recommended Spending Amount is US$30. It is OK to spend a bit more than that if you feel generous. It is OK to spend slightly less than that if you have the perfect thing which costs $28.95, or whatever. But it is not OK to Grinch your Santee by sending them a used paperback book and $8 of baseball cards. The only truly universal gifts are love and money. For everything else, it's best to at least try to determine whether your amazing gift idea would actually be delightful to your Santee. Many people like to leave their options wide open and you can feel free to send whatever you like to them. Others have a more focused domain of Trad Gaming they enjoy, and it's best to try and fit your present into that domain if you can. Also, we may have Santees under the legal age for drinking, or who don't drink, so you must check with me before sending alcoholic beverages to your Santee. Some people have food allergies, too. Don't send food without checking. Sometimes you have a thing that you already own that you want to send, that's OK too, just try and figure out what that thing would be worth, roughly (in its present used condition of course), and make sure your giftee is delighted by your largesse instead of saddened by your cheapness. Regarding handmade gifts: A lot of us really enjoy the personal touch of a handmade gift, so this might be a great idea. But there are hazards. If you haven't already made your gift, be sure you'll have plenty of time. The estimate of value of the thing you made isn't “what I'd probably sell it for if I sold this,” it's “what my giftee would probably pay for it if they bought it from anyone else.” For example, it takes a huge amount of time to knit a pair of socks; but socks are still only worth a couple dollars to most people. If your giftee asked for a Dice Pouch, it's likely they're thinking of a typical dice pouch which usually costs like ten bucks. So if you make one yourself, maybe you better fill it with some cool dice as well? Use your best judgment and run your plans past me if you have any doubt. Regarding ebooks and Print-On-Demand services. PDFs and eBook versions of gaming products are very hit-or-miss, and so are POD services. Some of us love them, some of us hate them. I'd like you to please be certain that your giftee loves them before you send one. Check their post and if they don't mention it, contact me and I can confirm with them whether an ebook or printed-on-demand book is a wonderful or horrible thing. We need to confirm your e-delivery was e-delivered promptly because your Santee probably isn't expecting it. Last year, DTRPG hosed up someone's order, and that's happened before, so seriously: DTRPG and other e-delivered gifts require special attention and handling. If you get stuck on gift ideas, send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com and I will help you out. I can ask your Santee questions while preserving the veneer of anonymity, and I also am full of great ideas for the difficult-to-shop-for. 6. Send a gift to your Santee in a timely manner Every shipping company is heavily impacted by the holiday shopping season. Volumes rise every day as you get closer to the 25th. The sooner you get something shipped, the less likely it is to be delayed. Retailers may also run out of stock. If you procrastinate and delay, you are still on the hook for on-time delivery, and that may mean having to select a more expensive shipping option. It's OK to take a few days or even a couple weeks if you need it to get your awesome present together, but keep your eye on the calendar and don't screw yourself over by waiting too long! I mean it. EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL I have a handful of goons who wait till the last goddamn second and then complain about the cost, or – worse – simply decide they can't afford expedited shipping and their Santee doesn't get their gift until after Christmas. That is not OK. If you can't afford like $40 or maybe a lot more for shipping, don't wait! If you purchase a gift online, please confirm with the retailer that the item is actually in stock. Check and make sure it's shipped. Get a tracking number and check it every day. You can send me your tracking number if you want, but it's up to you to monitor it and see that your gift got delivered. I can't monitor 100 tracking numbers. Let me know right away if there's a problem or delay. If a gift receipt is an option, please get one. I know it's not always available, but it's best to make sure that if your Santee already has one of what you got him or her, he can return the new thing and/or exchange it for something else that is great. This isn't a rule, just a preference. POST INDICATING YOUR PRESENT HAS BEEN MAILED BY NO LATER THAN Tuesday, DECEMBER 13th, 2016. Your gift has to be delivered by Monday, December 19th. To meet that deadline, I am asking that all gifts be mailed by December 13th. If you have some genuine excuse like “I am trapped in a blizzard” or “my house burned down and I can't afford a stamp” or “the vendor promised to mail it but I have discovered they were filthy liars,” that's OK, come post about it in the thread or send me an e-mail or ask your Red Cross coordinator at the disaster relief shelter to send me an e-mail. In this modern world there are very few legit excuses for being unable to communicate for several weeks. And you can avoid this altogether by just shipping a gift within a few days of getting your Santee assignment. If your only excuse is “I am lazy and didn't get around to it” then you are an rear end in a top hat who should never have signed up. Being deployed is also not an acceptable excuse. 7. Post in the thread when you receive a gift You can open it right away or you can wait till your preferred present-opening moment and open it then. Regardless, you need to post in the thread as soon as your gift has arrived. This way your anxious Santa knows you got your present, and I can register that they have fulfilled their duty by putting a symbol into a box on a spreadsheet, which I loving love doing, you don't even know. Please don't blow this off. Every year a few people dutifully send their gifts, and then disappear from the thread, and we are left with no easy way to confirm that they also received what they were supposed to. That's not being a Grinch, but it is a source of anxiety for your Santa and for me and that's not very nice. 8. Post what you got! Whenever you get around to opening your gift, please let us know what you got. Photos are the best but even if you don't have a camera (and seriously who doesn't have a camera these days?) at least describe what you got. You should also say thank you and describe your joy. Half the fun of giving a gift is experiencing your Santee's pleasure. THIS IS AN ACTUAL RULE, NOT JUST A SUGGESTION. Something like a quarter of participants never bother and that sucks. 9. If you got a lovely gift, or didn't get a gift, send me an email immediately. Email me at tgsecretsanta@gmail.com if you get something lousy. That doesn't just mean you got a nice approximately $30 thing that you don't especially love: unless you specifically said “I hate anime” you can't really complain that you got some animes. But, you do need to let me know if your Santa has not lived up to the spirit and intent of the rules, OR – and this has actually happened – if your Santa was victimized by a shady retailer who has ripped both you and your Santa off. 10. Please stick around in the thread until a week or two into January, or until I close the thread, whichever comes first There are always last-minute hiccups and if someone gets Grinched, I'll be asking for volunteer de-grinchers. This is likely to happen in January, if it happens. Even if you don't want to be a de-Grincher, you can still participate in the tarring and feathering, and that's not something to miss out on. Plus people sometimes get stuff a little late, like when they go back home from their holiday travel or whatever, and it sucks when they have nobody to share their fun with when they open their gift. TGSS Mailing List Would you like to receive a reminder of TG Secret Santa next year? Send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com and ask to be added to the official TGSS Mailing List. I will use this list to send out a heads-up each year when I post the new TGSS thread. I won't sell or share the list with anyone, and I will use BCC: so you won't be sharing your email address with the other goons on the list, either. Of course you can also remove yourself from the list at any time, just send me a request and I'll take you off.  Disclaimers This is the fine print. Nobody told me to put it here, but I'm anal about these kinds of things. Participation in this event is voluntary. I am not affiliated or associated with Something Awful LLC, Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka, or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, associates, officers, enlisted men, peasants, or holdings. This event is in no way endorsed or supported by any of the above. If you get ripped off by another goon, neither Something Awful, nor I, can promise you relief. Nobody's insurance is covering this. Any supportive or punitive action taken by Something Awful or its moderators or administrators, including stickying threads and punishing bad goons, is purely voluntary and ad-hoc and is not a promise or representation that Something Awful is actually responsible or required to take such action, nor a promise or representation that it will act in a similar manner in the future, present, or past. I promise to take reasonable and prudent steps to keep your personal information confidential. It is secured by the use of a reasonably obscure password on the tgsecretsanta@gmail.com gmail account. I also copy some of your personal information, including your real name and email address, to my Spreadsheet of Cheer which is stored on a reasonably secure computer behind a firewall. However, participation requires that I send your personal information to another goon, and I cannot directly promise that that goon will do the right thing and keep your info private. Obviously anyone who shares your private info is an rear end in a top hat and if I find out he or she did that and can confirm it then he goes right on the poo poo list immediately and forever, and I will also tell on them. But you must not hold me or Something Awful or any of it's affiliates, sponsors, indentured servants, etc. etc. financially, legally, or morally responsible if that happens. It'll be between you and the rear end in a top hat, basically. Participating means you agreed to these rules. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Nov 5, 2016 18:16
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2nd post reserved.
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Nov 5, 2016 18:17
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Dear secret santa, my name is Leperflesh and I have been a good boy. Gift Preferences: Lately I've been playing more shorter board games rather than RPGs. My Boardgamegeek collection is up to date. Currently my brother and I are working through the Lord of the Rings LCG stuff I own: we've been playing each expansion in order, and are on the Heirs of Numenor expansion, but I only have two of the six adventure packs for it (check the BGG link, I put everything I own on there), so I'll be needing the other four soon. Any other game not on my BGG list would be fine, too: I especially like co-op games, games that have smaller boxes (storage has become a serious problem at my house), and games that can be played with a varying number of people (my group is in flux, so 1-6 players is ideal). One thing I'd definitely like is an expansion for Thunderstone Advanced. I have Tower of Ruin, which is the base T-stone Advance game, but I don't have any of the expansions. Although the original Thunderstone (non-advanced) game and expansions are theoretically compatible, I'd prefer one of the specifically-for-Advanced expansions. I've got enough X-Wing stuff for the moment. I'm also set for miniatures: between three big buys of Reaper Bones kickstarters, the Dungeon Saga, Conan, and my existing large collection, I have more than I could paint in my life. Terrain is always useful, though: I've been doing desert-themed stuff, so I have some sand dunes and plenty of trees/rocks/stuff but egyptian-ish buildings would be cool, maybe? I also like books, movies, music, nerdy stuff, anything fun or cool, food, booze, etc. I don't like anime. I have a Kindle Fire HDX and I don't mind e-pub stuff, but I prefer my RPGs and reference material to be in print when possible. If you need some help with my gift ideas, ask Aldantefax, I know him IRL and he is familiar with my tastes. General location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Solemn Vow: I will not gently caress up this thing. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Nov 10, 2016 |
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Nov 5, 2016 19:51
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I'm caught up to this point, and if you sent the email, you should have a response now. I don't have emails yet from TheSoundNinja or JackMann.
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Nov 6, 2016 03:41
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Caught up. Only missing email from TheSoundNinja.
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Nov 7, 2016 07:01
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Hey guys, since we have a shorter window for the main round this year, it would be helpful if the thread was gently cross-promoted where appropriate. I posted links in a handful of major TG threads, but there are undoubtedly a few more where mentioning - once, without too much fanfare - that TGSS is going, would be cool and OK. Don't pile into threads and advertise like a maniac, though, we don't want to be annoying. The goal is just to let folks who would probably want to participate know that the thread is up.
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Nov 7, 2016 19:59
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Caught up to here. No emails yet from LordAba and TheSoundNinja.
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Nov 8, 2016 07:15
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Yup. Let's be completely clear now: absolutely no political talk in this thread. But, if you are feeling the strong need for some holiday cheer, this is a great thing to do to help spread it.
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Nov 9, 2016 19:24
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Caught up to here! still no email from procrastinator TheSoundNinja.
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Nov 10, 2016 06:18
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Got it and responded. Thanks, TSN!
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Nov 10, 2016 18:04
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Kai Tave posted:In light of this, I'm gonna throw something out there and Leperflesh can veto it if it sounds like a terrible idea. I think this is a perfectly fine thing to do! Giving to charity is cool and good. Bruxism posted:General Location Yup! Welcome Bruxism, our very first TG Secret Santa participant from the African continent. I believe we've now got six of the seven continents covered: we just need an Antarctica goon to jump in, and we'll have the full set! If anyone knows of a goon living in Antarctica, please invite them.
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Nov 12, 2016 18:41
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OK I'm caught up with emails! One goon sent details but not their SA address; and I have two goon inbound emails (from Fans and turn it up TURN ME ON), so I don't know which one of you hasn't emailed yet and which one of you emailed but forgot to put your user name in. Fun! We have one week left for signups for the main round! Several goons signed up to send and receive two gifts, so as of right now, we have 50 actual goons participating. Pretty good! But last year, we had 84 in the main round. So hopefully lots more signups to go.
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Nov 12, 2016 18:55
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I'm caught up. Only missing an email from Fans.
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Nov 14, 2016 07:13
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I'm caught up, and so are all of you! No missing emails. We're taking signups for the main round through Friday night (and maybe a few on Saturday morning, depending on what time I get around to this). We're at 59 goons participating so far, around 25 fewer than in the main round last year. Possibly because we're going a little earlier, but still, I hope we can fill up a bit more! (OK, maybe growing every year is unrealistic, I dunno.) Of course we already have enough goons to make a good secret santa, so no worries.
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Nov 16, 2016 20:10
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https://holiday-sale.fantasyflightgames.com/ FFG is having a holiday sale. I realize you guys don't have your Santees yet, so it'd be tough to guess what to buy for someone. But, there still seems to be some ridiculous bargains on here, so maybe getting a thing or two that might work for your Santee, but if not, you could give to someone else (or just keep)?
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Nov 16, 2016 23:54
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EclecticTastes posted:Actually, the USPS offers its lowest shipping rate for books, so shipping should be uniformly lower for any book being shipped domestically in the US (FFG is based in Minnesota, for reference), unless the vendor is forcing the customer to shell out for UPS or FedEx for no reason. I did a quick check, and your average-length hardcover RPG book (FFG's stock and trade) weighs in at about 2.6 pounds. That's in the ballpark of four dollars in shipping using the book rate. For paperbacks of the same size, it's about half that weight, and costs just shy of three bucks in shipping (smaller books cost negligibly less, as there's a price floor below 16 ounces). If shipping is more than that for a book being shipped within the United States, you're being needlessly overcharged. Yeah in addition to not offering book rate (which is actually fairly unusual to see as an offering), they're really only offering two relatively premium shipping options: a ~3 day USPS one, and a more expensive carrier. That's dumb. They'd save their own customers a lot of money - and therefore likely make a lot more sales, total - if they offered the full range of USPS options, plus at the full range of options from a third-party shipper (UPS or FedEx are the most common). This isn't even hard to do, there are plenty of shopping cart software packages that basically build it in and automate label printing for you.
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Nov 18, 2016 06:39
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OK, I got moths' email, but nothing from glitchkrieg. And the deadline for signing up for the main round is TOMORROW! So glitchkrieg, please get your signup email to me ASAP. Also anyone else! If you're waffling, now is the time to make up your mind. ...Or, of course, you could also join one of the lightning bonus rounds, that is cool and good too. I will probably start processing the stuff tomorrow evening (PST, which is GMT -8) so, about 24 hours from this post, roughly.
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Nov 19, 2016 05:29
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You can still sign up, goodness! And anyone that misses today's deadline can also still sign up, but they'll be stuffed into the bonus rounds, which have much smaller pools of participants... and decreasing amounts of time in which to get presents mailed.
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Nov 19, 2016 18:58
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OK this is the cutoff point! I'm gonna start processing things. This will take at least a couple of hours so don't hold your breath.  If you sign up after this post, you'll be in a LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND.
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Nov 20, 2016 03:10
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Alright kids now it's time for LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS! Lightning bonus rounds are how you take part in the Trad Games Secret Santa thing after the deadline for the main round is passed. It's also how you can be greedy and exchange more than one present with your fellow goons! Beginning today (November 19th), and continuing until no later than December 10th, we will have a series of extra bonus rounds and YOU can participate. The LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS work a lot like the main round. All of the rules apply except for the deadline for application. Re-read the rules in the OP just in case you forgot them. OK so to sign up I post in the thread and send you an email? Correct. You must do this even if you participated in the main round. Post in the thread. If you already participated in the main round you can link to your original post or just quote it to show your gift preferences. You must send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com as well; if you already sent one this year I don't need your address again, but I do need another email regardless. My response to that email is your only confirmation that you've successfully signed up. What then? I will end each LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND according to whichever of the following things happens first:
Once each round closes I'll randomize the participants in the round and you all exchange gifts. You immediately fire off a Trad Games Present at your Santee, and they do the same! And of course the instant one LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND ends, the next one begins. What about international shipping?  You can still tell me you prefer not to ship internationally – if it's impossible for you, let me know and I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen. But if you live outside the US it's particularly hard to ensure you don't have to ship internationally. Bear in mind that you can always buy something online from a store that operates in your target country and thereby avoid expensive shipping costs. (You might have to pay a currency exchange fee but that is typically much less money.) If I get a pool that contains nobody else in your country, I will contact you to check if you'd rather sit out to the next round. It's better though if LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND participants can all ship internationally. Remember, you can always just order something online from the destination country: you usually just need a credit card. So then what's the shipping deadline? Of course, as we close in on Christmas day, you will have less and less time in which to accomplish purchase, shipping, and delivery. You'll have to pick an appropriate delivery option and be certain whatever you're buying is either in your hands, or definitely in stock at the retailer of your choice. You are still supposed to ship your item by no later than December 13th, and it should arrive no later than December 19th! This is part of the challenge! But it probably means that you won't have time to make a hand-made gift or wait for something that is out of stock to get restocked. Strongly consider ordering online from a major retailer with a strong reputation for shipping things immediately. ROUND ONE BEGINS NOW GO!
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Nov 20, 2016 06:37
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All emails are sent. If you signed up, you should have your Santee's info in your inbox by now! If you don't have it, check your spam filters and then get in touch with me ASAP. Our main round officially involved 75 gifts being exchanged. Not too shabby!
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Nov 20, 2016 06:44
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LordAba posted:Oh, quick question. Since I have signed up for 2 people this time around will they be coordinating on the gift, or should I specify in my wishlist? I would hate to have people looking for the same things... I informed the santas of multi-gift goons of each other, so they know there's another goon sharing present duties, and that goon's SA name. I leave it to them to choose to coordinate or not (which they can do through me or not, their choice). Drowning Rabbit posted:Are you guys who are sending gifts already just ordering off of Amazon ( Or whereever ) and shipping it to the recipient? I'd guestimate that around 80% or so of TGSS participants order a gift online for direct delivery to their Santees. Probably half of those orders are from Amazon. In addition to being faster and having better return options, this also means not spending money on double shipping, and also not having to go stand in line at a post office or shipping company desk during the christmas shipping season. Choosing to buy locally is fine and good, of course, and I'd encourage folks to support their local gaming stores, if they're good. A good gaming store creates a community, and communities of gamers support and expand the hobby, and that force drives and sustains the industry. But it's awfully hard to ignore the typically steeper discounts to be found online, in addition to the other considerations. You can often afford a more expensive/nicer gift for your Santee that way.
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Nov 21, 2016 07:16
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There have been a flurry of requests and responses via email: I have processed all of them now. Let me know if anyone didn't get a reply!
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Nov 21, 2016 18:45
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I'm caught up with today's batch of email traffic. And it looks like we've had our first delivered gifts! Not too drat bad, that's less than three full days since I sent out assignments. Good jorb, goons. Gorb.
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Nov 23, 2016 06:24
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jassi007 posted:gently caress I missed TGSS Hey jassi007! Naw, you can still jump into a LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND! Also if you like, you can request to be added to the official Something Awful Trad Games Secret Santa Mailing List. Once a year, it gets used to send one email to people on the list, telling them that TGSS is up. But yeah I've never gone back and re-opened the old thread to make an announcement in it.
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Nov 23, 2016 22:56
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I thought you always updated last years thread to kick off the new years.
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I believe I have replied or handled all emails sent to me! I probably won't catch up with this thread till Friday, depending on how severe the turkey coma is. For those of you in the relevant nations, happy thanksgiving! I am thankful for all of you cool goons and your generosity and sense of fun. Warms my cockles, it does.
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Nov 24, 2016 19:47
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Mantic is having a Black Friday sale starting at 10 AM UK time - about three hours from this post, if I did my time zone math right. quote:Throughout the day, we'll be adding a Black Friday deal to the website every hour between 10am and midnight (UK time). quote:These deals will be very limited, so you’ll have to be quick if you want to pick up something special, like a Lower Abyssal Horde for £17.99 (RRP £29.99) or a Grubatek Coliseum Deluxe Dreadball pitch for £9.99 (RRP £19.99). That's only a taste of what we've got lined up! Please go ahead and post any other Black Friday trad games-related deals you see popping up this weekend; a lot of TGSS goons haven't made their purchases yet, so it's a good opportunity to find some deals. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Nov 25, 2016 |
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Nov 25, 2016 08:05
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Miniature Market is having a Thanksgiving weekend sale: http://www.miniaturemarket.com/searchresults?q=thanksgiving+sale
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Nov 25, 2016 08:11
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I got presents! Thanks, LordAba! I do like the gift. I will get good use out of the Lord of the Rings cards, and I'm interested in trying out Pixel Tactics, which I don't know anything about so that's good! I mean, except that it's pixelated, and presumably tactical. Here is the obligatory cat photo: 
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Nov 27, 2016 05:19
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LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 1 IS NOW CLOSED! We have six goons exchanging seven presents in this round (one goon is doubling up), but it's been (over) a full week, so it's time to get this one going. Round 1 goons, I'll be sending out the emails for your assignments over the next half hour or so! LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 2 IS NOW OPEN! given the rate at which we did not fill up round 1, I do not know if this round will fill either. But, it still happens if at least three goons jump in! For the full rules on the lightning bonus round, see the OP, and the post about round 1. Even if you already participated in a previous round, you still need to send an email to sign up. I use these emails to help keep track of santee assignments, communications about specific gift exchanges, delivery issues, etc. e. round 1 emails are all sent. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Nov 28, 2016 |
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Nov 28, 2016 07:36
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I'm caught up with emails. Also I sent a gift to my Santee today! Feels good. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Nov 29, 2016 |
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Nov 29, 2016 01:59
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gourdcaptain posted:On my end, while I bought it literally within hours of my target being sent to me, bit worried because I had to buy my present straight from the company that made it, and while I've successfully ordered off them myself before, they don't have tracking numbers (they only have one shipping speed offered) so I'm being nervous. Any idea how to handle that? Yeah, some companies don't provide tracking. If they don't give you a shipping notification either, it might be worthwhile checking in with them after a week or whatever. Broadly, these outfits need to be told repeatedly that in this day and age, not using an off-the-shelf shopping cart/shipping software package that prints their shipping labels and automatically generates tracking numbers is inexcusable. But narrowly, sometimes you gotta go with who you gotta go with, because they have the perfect gift, so you just keep an eye on it and make backup plans if the worst case occurs and you just can't verify a gift is going to happen in time for Christmas.
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Dec 1, 2016 23:16
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AnAnonymousIdiot posted:Oh, and if there's a round 2, We're in. As a matter of fact... there is, and you're #7! We just need 1 more goon to join for Round 2 to close (or wait till sunday if nobody else joins). Don't forget, if you join a bonus round, you gotta send an official Joining The Bonus Round Email (so I can reply to it, and then use specific search criteria to locate all my bonus round goons for batch emailing of assignments... there is a convoluted process which is the best type of process).
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Dec 2, 2016 23:20
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I got in a three-game match of Pixel Tactics with my brother tonight. Surprisingly fun and deep gameplay! Thanks again, LordAba.
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Dec 3, 2016 08:53
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Yvonmukluk posted:I'm very nervous that my Santee has apparently not received their present yet despite the fact it got sent out on Wednesday. Hmm. This time of year, serious postage delays should be expected... and also goons sometimes are busy and take a day or three to post. But keep an eye out and if your Santee doesn't post by, say, Wednesday, send me an email. Felime posted:I have gotten a box, which has been duely cat-inspected and opened, but camera battery issues are preventing me from getting pictures up at the moment. Do want to reassure my santa that it has arrived and is kickin' rad, though! Gosh! Apparently your Secret Santa forgot an important part of Step 6, which is to post indicating that your present has been mailed. It's understandable, some goons have done TGSS a lot before and maybe don't go back and re-read all the rules, it can get tedious, etc. This isn't a big issue, but I am mentioning it as a reminder to everyone: I track when you send a gift, so that as the time ticks away, I have a list of who hasn't mailed stuff, and I can bother those specific people to make sure nobody has accidentally forgotten. So please make sure you post in the thread when you send your gift! It makes me happy to fill in empty boxes in the Spreadsheet of Cheer. SPEAKING OF WHICH It's only December 4th, so there's still just about NINE WHOLE DAYS before everyone needs to have sent a gift. The deadline for sending gifts is December 13th. Here is a list of goons for whom I do not have any information about having sent a gift. If you are on this list, you either need to A) post that you already sent a gift, or B) within the next nine days, send a gift (and then post that you sent a gift): NO DATA: comrade corcus EscortMission Ettin gourdcaptain JcDent Lichtenstein (two gifts) Loxbourne (two gifts) moths Owlkill Pac-Manioc Root (BONUS ROUND 1) POSTED DOING THINGS BUT NOT SHIPPED YET: Auralsaurus Flex goodness Rhjamiz TheSoundNinja WereJace If I listed your name, it's not a rebuke! Just a friendly reminder. Also I might have missed a post or filled in a wrong box or something so if I made a mistake, just let me know! Thanks!Finally: LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 2 IS NOW CLOSED LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 3 BEGINS NOW! See this post for the bonus round rules. Note that participants in this bonus round still have to ship things by December 13th. This round may not close until next Sunday, December 11th. That means you might only have two days in which to get a present shipped. Not shipped to yourself for re-shipping, but actually shipped to your Santee. If you are up for this challenge, by all means, sign up! Also unless this round fills quickly, it's probably the last bonus round.
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Dec 5, 2016 06:46
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Kai Tave posted:Ahem I evidently applied this to your main round gift, which you did not explicitly state as having shipped (although you did complain about not being able to claim first gift shipped... I did not assume that meant you'd shipped, though.)  It's all good though! People are getting presents, that's what matters.
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Dec 5, 2016 22:22
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They actually use chemical salts in their "saltiest" licorice, because normal sodium chloride just doesn't taste salty enough.
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Dec 6, 2016 02:44
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Lichtenstein posted:What can I say other than thanks a LOT, Santa? Will the one of LIchtenstein's two Santas responsible, please post and/or let me know who sent it? For my spreadsheet purposes, of course. Similarly, Kai Tave posted:Halloween in December! Through my amazing powers of deductive reasoning, I think this was probably from your lightning bonus round 1 santa, but would that person please confirm/deny? Thanks!
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Dec 7, 2016 05:21
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That's why I included Leperfish in my avatar, of course.
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Dec 8, 2016 00:59
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| # ¿ May 20, 2024 00:42 |
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NTRabbit posted:
Woah, hey! I have that Hrisoulas book. It's really good. If you're getting into bladesmithing and metalwork, here are the relevant threads that you should post in, if you're not already: This one Blacksmithing / Metalwork: Anything involving penetration has to be anodized. gets near-daily traffic and has a broader scope, but is inclusive of blademaking and general blacksmithery. This one The loving irritating knife-making thread. is much less frequently posted-in, but still gets updated occasionally, and is specific to blademaking. Also, I can recommend another Hrisoulas book, The Pattern-Welded Blade, and I hear good things about his third, The Master Bladesmith: Advanced Studies in Steel.
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Dec 8, 2016 19:08
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