DunDraCon 45 Santa Clara Mariott

[Scott Ruggels]

From the DunDraCon Facebook page:
 

DunDraCon 45 COVID Policy:

We want you to feel secure attending DunDraCon 45. We need to have precautions in place to provide as much safety as possible for our staff and attendees.

The Santa Clara Marriott is much larger than our previous home in San Ramon, and there will be many people in the hotel for reasons other than DunDraCon who do not have to follow our protocols.

We will require proof of completed vaccinations for everyone attending DunDraCon 45.

As DunDraCon is a social event, there will be no exceptions due to medical, religious, or personal preference.

We will not accept test results as an alternative. A test result only tells your status as of the time you took the test – you might be sick three days later.

Please be aware that unvaccinated children will be unable to participate in Kids Room or other DunDraCon activities. We regret this, as we value our young gamers and don’t like to have to exclude them from playing.

Masks will be required of everyone over the age of 2 years while in convention venues, which consist of any rooms in which we are holding events or conducting business, or adjacent corridors.

We've thought it over. This is what we need to do. We really will miss anyone who cannot attend DunDraCon 45 because of this policy, and look forward to seeing everyone again at future DunDraCons.

 Official Con Home Page:
http://www.dundracon.com/

 

[Ninja-Bear]

Interesting because having a vaccination does not mean that your aren’t sick and carrying it either. A negative test result would actually be a more reliable indicator of your health.

[Scott Ruggels]

21 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Interesting because having a vaccination does not mean that your aren’t sick and carrying it either. A negative test result would actually be a more reliable indicator of your health.

They are following the same methodology that the City of San Francisco, and most of the large metropolises in California are doing for  COVID at this time. It's not about logic IMO< but  COVID theater.

[Tjack]

   It is being held in Santa Clara....Will they also be testing for all the damn vampires?

        Sorry.  That was Santa Carla that had that problem.

[Asperion]

The CDC and most medical experts agree that a test positively determines not just at the time of the test but also for a fairly accurate time after that one is safe from what is being tested for. Also once the person receives an approved vaccine according to those same people at the CDC they are immune for the vaccine life.  If the life is supposed to be five years,  then they have a 97% immunity against whatever the vaccine is designed to fight. I have heard (am not certain) that the COVID vaccine has a life of 20 years,  so once one gets all shots,  that is the time period to expect them to be immune.  Despite all this,  we should still use proper safety procedures,  but they are going beyond what is proper. 

[dsatow]

Being vaccinated drops the chance of death due to catching COVID from about 1% to about .01%.  Of the .01% of deaths, almost all of them were due to comprised immunity situations.  COVID vaccine life is not 20 years. at least not the two shot or one shot dosage so far.  This is why the companies are recommending booster shots as the effectiveness rates are dropping over time.

 

 

[Asperion]

I was only going with the official statement from CDC. As always when dealing with nature,  the ultimate trump card goes to nature not what humans say or do. Nature can and will always be the stronger force. 

[Duke Bushido]

23 hours ago, dsatow said:

Being vaccinated drops the chance of death due to catching COVID from about 1% to about .01%. 

 

 

You are absolutely correct, but I have found it is easier to make naysayers comprehend that in whole numbers:

 

"Your odds of catching it go from one in one hundred to one in one thousand.'

 

Only a couple of the people that get actually die.

 

"The odds of a vaccinated person dying drop down into the one in hundreds of thousands.  Between ten and fifteen percent of the people that catch it (one to two people out of ten that have it) will suffer lifelong debilitations, respiratory and or neurological.  None of the vaccinated people who have contracted it have been reported to have such problems affect them."

 

Things like that.  Throw a decimal into a conversation anymore and people just automatically assyne you are talking about a hypothetical population of numbers living on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy....

 

 

 

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

22 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

You are absolutely correct, but I have found it is easier to make naysayers comprehend that in whole numbers:

 

"Your odds of catching it go from one in one hundred to one in one thousand.'

 

Only a couple of the people that get actually die.

 

"The odds of a vaccinated person dying drop down into the one in hundreds of thousands.  Between ten and fifteen percent of the people that catch it (one to two people out of ten that have it) will suffer lifelong debilitations, respiratory and or neurological.  None of the vaccinated people who have contracted it have been reported to have such problems affect them."

 

Things like that.  Throw a decimal into a conversation anymore and people just automatically assyne you are talking about a hypothetical population of numbers living on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy....

 

 

 

 

 

Notice how this statistic is by itself? Seems a lot scarier than when it compared to other causes of death.  As my dad always said “ figures don’t lie but liars figure.” 

[Duke Bushido]

44 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Notice how this statistic is by itself? Seems a lot scarier than when it compared to other causes of death.  As my dad always said “ figures don’t lie but liars figure.” 

It could be That because it is Friday I am buried under a mountain of receiving and projections, but I think I have missed what you mean here, N-B.

 

A little help?

 

Thanks!    

[Ninja-Bear]

In short Duke the Pandemic has been misrepresented to be scarier than it is. 

[Duke Bushido]

I wont go into lots of details, as I have considerable respecr for you.

 

You may recall me posting a few months back when my wife had it.  She damned near died; that is scary enough for me.  As it is, it is a medical bill that is going to keep my kids and grand kids from any hope of college.

 

The question of "not a lot of people died compared to X" is invalid unless we traded those people for Covid victims.  Even if only half as many people died of Covid as died of X, it is still dead people.

 

It might be harder for me to turn them into simple numbers, since my wife was nearly one of them, and we have lost four coworkers so far.  (Georgia, while not Florida or Texas) was hit pretty hard, to the point that everyone I know locally has lost someone.  We have, as a company, been to two funerals for kids, one of them a four-year-old boy, who was "statistically immune," so there is that to consider as well.

 

I am replacing Santa Clause locally this weekend because Covid got him, too.

 

While I agree that there has been motivation to inflate numbers here and there, particulalry in hospitals, cmchecking the various sources of those downplaying it demonstrates there is a massive financial motivation for that, too.

 

At the end of the day, it is real, and kills more people than an incel in a public school.  Whatever you choose to accept about the numbers, please be safe.  You are one of the people I would miss terribly. 

 

 

[Asperion]

That's the strange thing about the mind.  It takes the pieces that it wants and twists it around usually without you knowing what is going on. This latest pandemic has only highlighted those inconsistencies in the mind,  both individual and group. At times this works in our favor,  other times against us.

[BNakagawa]

I'm glad they are playing it as safe as possible. I don't want DDC to be known as a superspreader event like that NYC Anime Con.

[Khymeria]

I am considering running a Champions game at DunDraCon but haven’t ran at a con in awhile and covid and masks are a consideration.  Anybody planning on attending?  Anyone interested in playing?  Anybody been to a con since Covid? 

[dsatow]

I plan on going.  I get my booster on Wednesday.  My wife is scheduled for it in early January.

I figure masks at a masked superhero game?  Makes sense to me.  Figure I'd bring some markers and allow decorating the masks some.

 

[Khymeria]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:48 PM, dsatow said:

I plan on going. 

I might run something just for fun, I thought it would be easy enough to sit down and let players just pull a build from one of my books, Hero System Book of Templates I and II and maybe attract some new blood that is curious.  I thought about a scheduled game but honestly many of the responses I saw about mask usage and vaccinations just kind of made me leery about it and I didn't sign up for it.  

[Spence]

I went to a scaled-down Dragonflight across last Halloween.  They had much the same policy about proof of vaccine.  The policy is not about the prevention of any possibility, it is about the Con being able to establish that they took reasonable precautions.

 

The con had a much smaller turnout than most years, but I had a fantastic time.  I ran two games that went fantastically and was able to play in one that was a blast.  The rest of the time I got to reconnect with a lot of the old gamer crowd and do a fair amount of old fashioned chewing the fat. 

 

I actually think that the event was better than usual because everyone that showed up was there to game without any side agendas.  For me the quality and fun of a game con decreases the bigger the number of attendees. 

 

If you can I would definitely attend your local cons right now. 

[Scott Ruggels]

I’ll probably be there for a day.  Maybe more, but we’ll see. I am up to date. I would be up for Hero, Mongoose Traveller, maybe some D&D. Depends on the game. Hope to see my usual crowd there. 

[dsatow]

I hope to see friends there too.  Dundracon has become as much of a meet up as a gaming convention.  A lot of friends have moved so are no longer within gaming/socializing distance.  We are all vaxxed and boosted but some have more reason for concern than others.  For them, it will depend on the infection rates as to whether they will go or not.

[dsatow]

I know a couple of HERO GMs have dropped because of the omicron variant and infection rates.  Here are the games I know are scheduled that are still so far going on.  If there is no game number, it hasn't been formally scheduled yet (reasons unknown probably due to website lack of update).  I hope I'll not be the only one running.

 

Opening Day

GM: Walter Manbeck
Type: RPG
System: Hero 6th Ed. (Champions)
Players: 6
Provided: Characters may be provided by GM
Power Level: 8 SPD, CV 14, power ? 80 pts, 25-35 def
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

The Society of the Seven and BASTION have invited you to the grand opening of their new orbital space station. Please RSVP with your coordinates for spatial displacement, orbital shuttle pickup, or expected arrival time at the docking bay.

 

P01 Atlantis Rising

Only available via On-line Pre-registration
Friday noon in 133 for 8 hours
GM: Jim Puder
Type: RPG
System: Hero pre-5th (Champions)
Edition: Some 4th
Players: 6
Provided: Players provide their own characters
Power Level: 12-14 DC, 5-7 Speed, 9-13 CV on sliding scale
Variations: Only 2 find weakness per target, no speed-affecting powers
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

As the tides rise inexorably, and the storms continue unabated, a dark omen is revealed. Atlantis is rising, and with it will come a flood of proportions not seen since the Old Testament. Will you answer the call to oppose this massive cataclysm? Can you resist the power of the Mad King of Atlantis and his minions?

 

4 Legacies

Saturday 6 PM in 133 for 6 hours
GM: Jim Puder
Type: RPG
System: Hero 5th Ed. (Champions)
Edition: 4th/5th blend
Players: 6
Provided: Players provide their own characters
Power Level: 12-14 DC, 5-7 speed, 9-13 CV sliding scale
Variations: Max 2 lvls find weakness; no speed affecting powers
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

Ursus, a long-time Superhero, has reached a point where he feels too old to stay in the game. But as he looks around, he realizes he has left no legacy for his children. Now, a rash of robberies in which the lead perpetrator appears to have his exact powers is plaguing San Francisco. Can you stop him before he destroys what's left of his good name?

 

Sentinels, Evil Mutants & X-Men!!

GM: Matthew Laycock
Type: RPG
System: Hero 5th Ed. (Champions)
Players: 5
Provided: All characters provided by GM
Power Level: 75 active 300-350
Variations: pre-generated characters
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Family

In true 1970?s Chris Claremont style I present to you the Uncanny X-Men!! Have you ever wanted to play your childhood favorite characters? Now is the time! Ever dream of tanging with Juggernaught? Or seeing if you really had a better idea of how to challenge Magneto?!!!

 

The Black Glove Gambit

GM: David Rakonitz
Type: RPG
System: Hero pre-5th Ed. (Champions)
Edition: 4th w/some 5th
Players: 6
Provided: Characters may be provided by GM
Power Level: Max 60 point attacks, Max PD 33/ ED 33
Variations: minor
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

Storm the Knight of Freedom's secret base before the forces of villainy seize the prize. Meanwhile, the mysterious Black Glove makes her move in a deadly game.

 

210 Space Nazis Strike Back

Saturday 8 AM in 143 for 8 hours

GM: Don Satow
Type: RPG
System: Hero 6th Ed. (Champions)
Edition: some 5th
Players: 6
Provided: Characters may be provided by GM
Power Level: 12DC, 8CVs 5 Spd
Variations: No find weakness/lack of weakness
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

With their defeat in 2020 by a rag tag team of superheroes, one lone Space Nazi carrier ship carries on its mission to return to the motherland (Earth).

 

Trenchcoat Brigade: When memories outnumber dreams

Sunday 10 AM in for 8 hours
GM: Joe Di Lellio
Type: RPG
System: Hero 5th Ed. (Champions)
Players: 6
Provided: All characters provided by GM
Power Level: 8-12DC; Appropriate CVs & defenses
Variations: some 4th Ed mods
Rules Knowledge: Expected
Game Content: Mature Themes

You awaken and remember your success in hell. The memory has an odd, dreamlike quality... and now that you ponder, which was it?

 

 

[Spence]

That is outstanding.  More Hero games at a single con than I have seen in years....

[dsatow]

More sad news: Trenchcoat Brigade: When memories outnumber dreams is out.  Rumor has it that Opening Day is also out. 

[Tjack]

That X-Men game sounds great, I’d love to play in something like that.

[grandmastergm]

Yeah, I'm bummed that I can't make this con.