As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
It's the All-New Vanilla-Flavoured CF Secret Santa 2011!
CF SANTA
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
After a summer of Not Happening, it's back! Europe is broke, the US is hitting the primary trail and Canada is either melting or being fracked apart, but we abide to present:
CF's Secret Santa Holiday 2011!
>Who Is This For?
While Critical Failures (nee Of Dice and Men) originated as a domain mainly to give a home to the miniature game posters outside of G&T, it has expanded to encompass all of our gaming brethren and sistren, and all are welcomed here.
Don't be discouraged if you've never set foot in the mini gaming threads. Be you an aficionado of D&D, WoD, Dresden Files, or even F.A.T.A.L. (wait, no, scratch that last one. Those people will be dragged into the street and shot) we'll find a Santa to give you your own special gift of Awesome.
>Awesome! What are the rules?
Just read on below!
Names will be taken until 2359GMT ON SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER, at which point no further names will be accepted. In the day or two following that date names will be picked at random and assigned to individuals, one name per entrant. The name you receive will be the person you will be gifting - and the point of this event is that you are a Secret Santa, so please don't go spouting off to all and sundry. Based on the preferences that your recipient will post when they register to be a part of the event, you will then be prompted buy/convert/paint/whatever you deem suitable for a gift.
You will then be able to collect or work on whatever is being sent. The deadline for your recipient to get his gift is going to be 20th January 2012 - that leaves you with plenty of time to put together whatever it is and get it sent out.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN TO START THINKING ABOUT MAYBE BUYING A GIFT A WEEK BEFORE THE FINISH, YOU DOZY MONGBATS. If anyone fails to provide a gift within a reasonable time (or at all), they will be summarily barred from the next event - or possibly worse (if you've ever perused the Who was Banned thread, the forum's collective Santa events generally produce one or two deadbeats a year - don't be THAT guy!). The Holiday 2009 event went without a single hitch, 2010 was nearly as good and I'd like it to stay that way. Order sooner rather than later so you don't get screwed by some store/shipping/natural disasters.
As before, I will be offering an incentive:
When your recipient posts that they have received their gift, you may PM me and I will disclose the identity of your Santa. This means that if you get your stuff sent out and done early, you get to know who is sending you a gift. Some of you may not want to take advantage of this option and ruin the surprise, which is completely understandable, but it may help motivate a little bit.
>What would constitute a suitable gift?
This is where we unfortunately get subjective. I'd like to think we all have the good common sense to pick good gifts in this regard. For guidelines, I'd suggest something like $10/£6 (or $15/£9-ish with shipping) as a minimum. The minimum price on the gift is there to mostly prevent someone from sending like a single arm, half a body or the random pages that fell out of someone's crappily produced D20 OGL book. If you wish to do so then by all means go as far above this minimum limit as you want, it'd be awesome to see that sort of thing on the whole. Our current record, I think, is Gabriel_Pitt who sent someone an entire fucking tyranid army. You will basically be held to the honour system (and the threat of being pointed at and beaten with internet-sticks) to ensure that the person who you are gifting does not feel cheated. By all means, send a titan to your Santee if you wish!
Gift recommendation are a combination of what you're capable of, and what your Santee wants. A PnP gamer who's never touched bare pewter is probably not the right person to give a complete Cryx strike force too. On the other hand, they might greatly appreciate receiving a nicely painted rendition of their PC from their long-running forum game, or the latest expansion sourcebook in their setting of choice.
Even if you aren't that good with models, you can definitely still participate - nobody's ever said no to a boxed set, and it's a nice and simple gift. Books, modules, and other nifty aids to table top gaming will certainly go over well with the right people.
Single miniatures, books, or accessories are more than welcome and might actually be preferred in some senses, so long as they meet the $10/£6 minimum requirement. There's no need to feel obligated to get someone the Compleat Box set of D&D 4.0 core books just because they express an interest in the system (The PHB should suffice, but if you really are feeling generous...). Be careful though - it's no use having an amazing plan if your Santee never actually gets the gift. Don't go crazy and end up never getting anything sent.
>I live in [insert country no-one has ever heard of]. Can I participate?
ABSOLUTELY! Ideally, we would get a few people from all over to participate. To make sending the gifts easier, I will organize people into categories based on location while drawing the names to try and keep international mailing to a minimum.
>How do I sign up?
Entries are not considered official until I (CF SANTA) receive a PM from you containing the following:
1. Your name;
2. Your address - PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE COUNTRY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GUESS;
3. What games you collect/play/would like a gift from.
4: Suggestions - 'I play Exalted' doesn't help your Santa much in narrowing down what would be a good gift. Saying something like, 'I play Exalted and have been looking at getting Dreams of the First Age, Graceful Wicked Masques, or Scroll of Heroes' gives your Santa an idea of what you wants, and helps Santa if he's not familiar with your chosen system.
If you do not send this PM, you will not be entered in the event!
I require this information to make sure that you won't all have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping to make sure these minis arrive safely and intact. Still, some of you may have to make the sacrifice and spend a little extra on international shipping. I will try to avoid this, but it may become necessary if I can't organize people close enough to each other.
DO NOT SEND ME A PM JUST SAYING "I'M IN"
Even if you participated in the last event,your personal information has not been kept. I also need to explain something - when your santa gets your information, they receive it in the form of THE SAME MESSAGE YOU SEND ME. I literally forward your contact information and model preferences to the person giving you your gift, so the reason to make you all jump through the hoops of filling the information out is so that I have something to supply to your Santa. I also want to make sure I have up-to-date information.
When you sign up, please put some money aside for the gift right then. If you do not have said funds, do not sign up. The overwhelming majority of excuses that we always get are from people not having enough money to actually purchase a gift for their Santee, so I want to nip this in the bud. I realize most of you won't know at the time of sign-up who you're getting or what you're going to be gifting, but it's not unreasonable to put twenty-ish dollars or fifteen-ish pounds aside for the event right at the off.
After you've sent the PM, I'd recommend you post the games you collect or are interested in in this thread, as well. Too specific makes the gifting process a bit silly. List the games you wouldn't mind receiving items from, as well as what you might already collect, so your gifter might have some starting point.
>How do you assign Santas?
Utilizing super-secret scientific method and a crack team of genetically modified English muffins, we assemble the Santa Master List™ at a classified military installation fourteen fathoms down in the general vicinity of the Marianas Trench.
As I don't have a swanky enough hat, Operation 'WHERE'D ALL THE MONEY GO 2011' will probably be run using the old staple of bunging your name on the back of one of my business cards and fishing them randomly out of a cardboard box.
It's all done in one completely random shot. I don't tamper with it in any way (UNLESS I REALLY NEED TO, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), though I do take some requests into consideration in setting the names in the box up (location, for example - I NO LONGER DO A SEPARATE DRAW for the regions of the world but if you have a real problem with postage, I can tweak this a bit).
>What do I do when I send/receive my gift?
A few suggestions for sending the gift:
* Include your name (forum name) so people have some idea of who is sending them this wondrous bounty! It really shouldn't be all that hard to just write your handle on a piece of paper and throw it in.
* Consider using Delivery Confirmation/Tracking so you can track your package and make sure it gets there.
* Check in with your recipient via PM a few days after sending to confirm receipt if you don't hear anything.
Also, some guidelines for receiving the gift:
* Let your Santa know it arrived! One less thing they have to worry about.
* VERY VERY IMPORTANT: Post in the thread that the package arrived, and show off what you got!
* Take some damn pictures! Your Santa probably worked very hard on the gift, and we're all dying to see what's being exchanged.
One last final point: While lurkers are welcome to participate, I reserve the right to use absolute discretion in ruling people out of participation. If you have absolutely zero posts or a bare minimum number and you register on the boards to try and take part in this, I probably won't let you participate. Past events have shown that these users have been the most likely to vanish off the board never to be seen again, or otherwise welsh on their end of participation.
And if you DO try to mess around with the system, Santa will have your address. And a crew of trained hunting reindeer. WITH SHARES IN LEHMAN BROTHERS.
CF's Secret Santa Holiday 2011!
>Who Is This For?
While Critical Failures (nee Of Dice and Men) originated as a domain mainly to give a home to the miniature game posters outside of G&T, it has expanded to encompass all of our gaming brethren and sistren, and all are welcomed here.
Don't be discouraged if you've never set foot in the mini gaming threads. Be you an aficionado of D&D, WoD, Dresden Files, or even F.A.T.A.L. (wait, no, scratch that last one. Those people will be dragged into the street and shot) we'll find a Santa to give you your own special gift of Awesome.
>Awesome! What are the rules?
Just read on below!
Names will be taken until 2359GMT ON SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER, at which point no further names will be accepted. In the day or two following that date names will be picked at random and assigned to individuals, one name per entrant. The name you receive will be the person you will be gifting - and the point of this event is that you are a Secret Santa, so please don't go spouting off to all and sundry. Based on the preferences that your recipient will post when they register to be a part of the event, you will then be prompted buy/convert/paint/whatever you deem suitable for a gift.
You will then be able to collect or work on whatever is being sent. The deadline for your recipient to get his gift is going to be 20th January 2012 - that leaves you with plenty of time to put together whatever it is and get it sent out.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN TO START THINKING ABOUT MAYBE BUYING A GIFT A WEEK BEFORE THE FINISH, YOU DOZY MONGBATS. If anyone fails to provide a gift within a reasonable time (or at all), they will be summarily barred from the next event - or possibly worse (if you've ever perused the Who was Banned thread, the forum's collective Santa events generally produce one or two deadbeats a year - don't be THAT guy!). The Holiday 2009 event went without a single hitch, 2010 was nearly as good and I'd like it to stay that way. Order sooner rather than later so you don't get screwed by some store/shipping/natural disasters.
As before, I will be offering an incentive:
When your recipient posts that they have received their gift, you may PM me and I will disclose the identity of your Santa. This means that if you get your stuff sent out and done early, you get to know who is sending you a gift. Some of you may not want to take advantage of this option and ruin the surprise, which is completely understandable, but it may help motivate a little bit.
>What would constitute a suitable gift?
This is where we unfortunately get subjective. I'd like to think we all have the good common sense to pick good gifts in this regard. For guidelines, I'd suggest something like $10/£6 (or $15/£9-ish with shipping) as a minimum. The minimum price on the gift is there to mostly prevent someone from sending like a single arm, half a body or the random pages that fell out of someone's crappily produced D20 OGL book. If you wish to do so then by all means go as far above this minimum limit as you want, it'd be awesome to see that sort of thing on the whole. Our current record, I think, is Gabriel_Pitt who sent someone an entire fucking tyranid army. You will basically be held to the honour system (and the threat of being pointed at and beaten with internet-sticks) to ensure that the person who you are gifting does not feel cheated. By all means, send a titan to your Santee if you wish!
Gift recommendation are a combination of what you're capable of, and what your Santee wants. A PnP gamer who's never touched bare pewter is probably not the right person to give a complete Cryx strike force too. On the other hand, they might greatly appreciate receiving a nicely painted rendition of their PC from their long-running forum game, or the latest expansion sourcebook in their setting of choice.
Even if you aren't that good with models, you can definitely still participate - nobody's ever said no to a boxed set, and it's a nice and simple gift. Books, modules, and other nifty aids to table top gaming will certainly go over well with the right people.
Single miniatures, books, or accessories are more than welcome and might actually be preferred in some senses, so long as they meet the $10/£6 minimum requirement. There's no need to feel obligated to get someone the Compleat Box set of D&D 4.0 core books just because they express an interest in the system (The PHB should suffice, but if you really are feeling generous...). Be careful though - it's no use having an amazing plan if your Santee never actually gets the gift. Don't go crazy and end up never getting anything sent.
>I live in [insert country no-one has ever heard of]. Can I participate?
ABSOLUTELY! Ideally, we would get a few people from all over to participate. To make sending the gifts easier, I will organize people into categories based on location while drawing the names to try and keep international mailing to a minimum.
>How do I sign up?
Entries are not considered official until I (CF SANTA) receive a PM from you containing the following:
1. Your name;
2. Your address - PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE COUNTRY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GUESS;
3. What games you collect/play/would like a gift from.
4: Suggestions - 'I play Exalted' doesn't help your Santa much in narrowing down what would be a good gift. Saying something like, 'I play Exalted and have been looking at getting Dreams of the First Age, Graceful Wicked Masques, or Scroll of Heroes' gives your Santa an idea of what you wants, and helps Santa if he's not familiar with your chosen system.
If you do not send this PM, you will not be entered in the event!
I require this information to make sure that you won't all have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping to make sure these minis arrive safely and intact. Still, some of you may have to make the sacrifice and spend a little extra on international shipping. I will try to avoid this, but it may become necessary if I can't organize people close enough to each other.
DO NOT SEND ME A PM JUST SAYING "I'M IN"
Even if you participated in the last event,your personal information has not been kept. I also need to explain something - when your santa gets your information, they receive it in the form of THE SAME MESSAGE YOU SEND ME. I literally forward your contact information and model preferences to the person giving you your gift, so the reason to make you all jump through the hoops of filling the information out is so that I have something to supply to your Santa. I also want to make sure I have up-to-date information.
When you sign up, please put some money aside for the gift right then. If you do not have said funds, do not sign up. The overwhelming majority of excuses that we always get are from people not having enough money to actually purchase a gift for their Santee, so I want to nip this in the bud. I realize most of you won't know at the time of sign-up who you're getting or what you're going to be gifting, but it's not unreasonable to put twenty-ish dollars or fifteen-ish pounds aside for the event right at the off.
After you've sent the PM, I'd recommend you post the games you collect or are interested in in this thread, as well. Too specific makes the gifting process a bit silly. List the games you wouldn't mind receiving items from, as well as what you might already collect, so your gifter might have some starting point.
>How do you assign Santas?
Utilizing super-secret scientific method and a crack team of genetically modified English muffins, we assemble the Santa Master List™ at a classified military installation fourteen fathoms down in the general vicinity of the Marianas Trench.
As I don't have a swanky enough hat, Operation 'WHERE'D ALL THE MONEY GO 2011' will probably be run using the old staple of bunging your name on the back of one of my business cards and fishing them randomly out of a cardboard box.
It's all done in one completely random shot. I don't tamper with it in any way (UNLESS I REALLY NEED TO, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), though I do take some requests into consideration in setting the names in the box up (location, for example - I NO LONGER DO A SEPARATE DRAW for the regions of the world but if you have a real problem with postage, I can tweak this a bit).
>What do I do when I send/receive my gift?
A few suggestions for sending the gift:
* Include your name (forum name) so people have some idea of who is sending them this wondrous bounty! It really shouldn't be all that hard to just write your handle on a piece of paper and throw it in.
* Consider using Delivery Confirmation/Tracking so you can track your package and make sure it gets there.
* Check in with your recipient via PM a few days after sending to confirm receipt if you don't hear anything.
Also, some guidelines for receiving the gift:
* Let your Santa know it arrived! One less thing they have to worry about.
* VERY VERY IMPORTANT: Post in the thread that the package arrived, and show off what you got!
* Take some damn pictures! Your Santa probably worked very hard on the gift, and we're all dying to see what's being exchanged.
One last final point: While lurkers are welcome to participate, I reserve the right to use absolute discretion in ruling people out of participation. If you have absolutely zero posts or a bare minimum number and you register on the boards to try and take part in this, I probably won't let you participate. Past events have shown that these users have been the most likely to vanish off the board never to be seen again, or otherwise welsh on their end of participation.
And if you DO try to mess around with the system, Santa will have your address. And a crew of trained hunting reindeer. WITH SHARES IN LEHMAN BROTHERS.
CF SANTA on
0
Posts
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
(I still totally owe Nax some bonus present from lasttime)
Posting in this thread so I remember to actually send the PM later.
I know this isn't a sign-up but still.
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
I've been in G&TSS the last few years, but I'm mostly into board games I can play with friends and family than miniatures any more.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
I sent the WHO Warboss.
That's better (I kid, I kid :P ). Had an awesome Secret Santa last year, wonder who I'll get this year...
2011 PAX Warmachine/Hordes Champion
SAME HERE! I actually have the miniatures here, but didn't paint them. I am in.
On the other hand, CF is probably my favorite community on PA, and I definitely feel at home here, even if I don't post as much as some others...
Ah blah. I'll think on it.
I'm so in, and hoping I get a chance to do something like that Fire Prism/ Night Spinner again! That was fun!
Selling Board Games for Medical Bills
In my capacity as Santa's Little Helper I would advise that he is a bit busy at the moment but hopes to post the names of participants this weekend. So far there are around 16 happy campers.
You're a pony
Something fishy is going on here
But the name implies a cat...
WHO ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH SANTA?
EDIT: Updated PM sent.
Well you see the answer is quite simple:
Nax
altmann
[GHSC]Ryctor
susan
Denada
see317
JaysonFour
Matev
Sharp101
TheLawinator
Gabriel_Pitt
valhalla130
Anialos
TimFiji
Vanguard
ALSO! If anyone who gets me wants to add "Necrons" to the PM Santa sends you, thats fine :P
I'll update this when I send the PM.
Nax
altmann
[GHSC]Ryctor
susan
Denada
see317
JaysonFour
Matev
Sharp101
TheLawinator
Gabriel_Pitt
valhalla130
Anialos
TimFiji
Vanguard
stever777
Wildcat
Captain Scurvy
Sevorak
Nax
altmann
[GHSC]Ryctor
susan
Denada
see317
JaysonFour
Matev
Sharp101
TheLawinator
Gabriel_Pitt
valhalla130
Anialos
TimFiji
Vanguard
stever777
Wildcat
Captain Scurvy
Sevorak