Hi,
I am wondering if there is someplace choice to live.
I do not like the big cities, butI li9ke to have access to a decent role playing group.
Can you think of anywhere one could live that is not a vast metropolis, but also not bf egypt?
I'm thinking mostly in the west or nw.
Someplace a person can have some land and animals, but still be close enough to a decent gaming community.
ANY IDEAS???
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Someplace rural but with gamers???
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Breakdaddy
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Jyrdan Fairblade
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I'm probably not the best person to ask, but I'd suggest looking for a place near one of those college towns in the middle of nowhere.
When I lived near Cornell and Syracuse in upstate New York, there was a pretty strong gaming scene. But when I went back to visit over a decade later, it seemed like all the FLGSs had dried up entirely.
When I lived near Cornell and Syracuse in upstate New York, there was a pretty strong gaming scene. But when I went back to visit over a decade later, it seemed like all the FLGSs had dried up entirely.
Of course I'm biased, but check out Oregon. I live in Portland, which definitely has a lot of gamers. The city is 600,000 persons, and with surrounding towns, the metro area is about a million. Have two good flgs in Portland, and one over the columbia river in Vancouver, WA. Oh and Oregon has NO sales tax!! very nice when hitting the flgs.
The city has an urban growth boundary, which limits the sub-divisions surrounding the city. It is quite possible to drive 20 minutes from downtown and end up in farm country. Within city limits you can keep one goat and up to three chickens if you want eggs and milk and want to live in the city. We have great public transport, both bus and light rail, and are one of the top five most biker friendly cities in the US. The city is also an hour and a half to two hours from the Pacific ocean, and an hour and a half from Mt. Hood, if you like winter sports.
On a nice clear day, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt St. Helens (we could see the steam when it had a minor eruption last year - and in 1983's eruption the ash was 5-6" deep in Portland), Mt Adams and Mt. Jefferson. Yet the city itself rarely gets any snow, being down in the Willamette river valley. Of course, if you've got issues with 6 months of rain, you might think twice, but we do get 6 months of sun over the summer. (42 inches of rain, 37 inches oct-april, and only 5 inches between may-Sept.) anyway, just my two cents. Two other guys on these forums live in Oregon too.
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The city has an urban growth boundary, which limits the sub-divisions surrounding the city. It is quite possible to drive 20 minutes from downtown and end up in farm country. Within city limits you can keep one goat and up to three chickens if you want eggs and milk and want to live in the city. We have great public transport, both bus and light rail, and are one of the top five most biker friendly cities in the US. The city is also an hour and a half to two hours from the Pacific ocean, and an hour and a half from Mt. Hood, if you like winter sports.
On a nice clear day, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt St. Helens (we could see the steam when it had a minor eruption last year - and in 1983's eruption the ash was 5-6" deep in Portland), Mt Adams and Mt. Jefferson. Yet the city itself rarely gets any snow, being down in the Willamette river valley. Of course, if you've got issues with 6 months of rain, you might think twice, but we do get 6 months of sun over the summer. (42 inches of rain, 37 inches oct-april, and only 5 inches between may-Sept.) anyway, just my two cents. Two other guys on these forums live in Oregon too.
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Go0gleplex
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[quote="dachda"]Of course I'm biased, but check out Oregon. I live in Portland, which definitely has a lot of gamers. The city is 600,000 persons, and with surrounding towns, the metro area is about a million. Have two good flgs in Portland, and one over the columbia river in Vancouver, WA. Oh and Oregon has NO sales tax!! very nice when hitting the flgs.
The city has an urban growth boundary, which limits the sub-divisions surrounding the city. It is quite possible to drive 20 minutes from downtown and end up in farm country. Within city limits you can keep one goat and up to three chickens if you want eggs and milk and want to live in the city. We have great public transport, both bus and light rail, and are one of the top five most biker friendly cities in the US. The city is also an hour and a half to two hours from the Pacific ocean, and an hour and a half from Mt. Hood, if you like winter sports.
On a nice clear day, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt St. Helens (we could see the steam when it had a minor eruption last year - and in 1983's eruption the ash was 5-6" deep in Portland), Mt Adams and Mt. Jefferson. Yet the city itself rarely gets any snow, being down in the Willamette river valley. Of course, if you've got issues with 6 months of rain, you might think twice, but we do get 6 months of sun over the summer. (42 inches of rain, 37 inches oct-april, and only 5 inches between may-Sept.) anyway, just my two cents. Two other guys on these forums live in Oregon too.[/quote]
Or if you don't like cooking in 90+ degree days in the summer, the coast area I live in isn't bad, though it IS pretty close to bf egypt...and I thought I saw Milliways advertising in town too...
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The city has an urban growth boundary, which limits the sub-divisions surrounding the city. It is quite possible to drive 20 minutes from downtown and end up in farm country. Within city limits you can keep one goat and up to three chickens if you want eggs and milk and want to live in the city. We have great public transport, both bus and light rail, and are one of the top five most biker friendly cities in the US. The city is also an hour and a half to two hours from the Pacific ocean, and an hour and a half from Mt. Hood, if you like winter sports.
On a nice clear day, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt St. Helens (we could see the steam when it had a minor eruption last year - and in 1983's eruption the ash was 5-6" deep in Portland), Mt Adams and Mt. Jefferson. Yet the city itself rarely gets any snow, being down in the Willamette river valley. Of course, if you've got issues with 6 months of rain, you might think twice, but we do get 6 months of sun over the summer. (42 inches of rain, 37 inches oct-april, and only 5 inches between may-Sept.) anyway, just my two cents. Two other guys on these forums live in Oregon too.[/quote]
Or if you don't like cooking in 90+ degree days in the summer, the coast area I live in isn't bad, though it IS pretty close to bf egypt...and I thought I saw Milliways advertising in town too...
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The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.
Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-
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"Rolling dice and killing characters since September 1976."
"Author of Wardogs! and Contributor to Iron Stars and Starmada-Admiralty ed."
"Certified crazy since 2009."
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"Certified crazy since 2009."
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gideon_thorne
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Re: Someplace rural but with gamers???
St Louis MO.
Kansas City.
Fayetteville AR (college town right in the middle of a vast area of countryside)
I wouldn't go to Little Rock, its full of weirdos.
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Kansas City.
Fayetteville AR (college town right in the middle of a vast area of countryside)
I wouldn't go to Little Rock, its full of weirdos.
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Breakdaddy
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Re: Someplace rural but with gamers???
gideon_thorne wrote:
...I wouldn't go to Little Rock, its full of weirdos.
Oh NO you di'int!!!!!!!!
"If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
-Genghis Khan
-Genghis Khan
Sierra Vista, AZ.
No hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, and the nearest volcano, that I know of, is about 150 miles away. Move out towards Tombstone or Bisbee and I'll be close enough to game with you. As it is SV is an hour drive away from me.
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No hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, and the nearest volcano, that I know of, is about 150 miles away. Move out towards Tombstone or Bisbee and I'll be close enough to game with you. As it is SV is an hour drive away from me.
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Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
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cinderblock
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Lord Dynel
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I guess it depends on what your definition of "big cities" are. I live in a town of ~40,000 that's about 15 minutes away from a ~75,000 city. Both of those towns are situated between Orlando and Tampa. There's not shortage of gamers in the big cities, but it's not so great in my town and in the smaller town - there's about 2-3 gaming groups that I know of between them (including mine). Now there's more in Tampa and Orlando, both of which are about 30-35 minutes away from my house. One thing I have to say about Florida, or at least Central Florida and my experiences, and that is tabletop gaming is pretty low on the hobby scale. I don't really know why, but I speculate that it's because there's a lot of tourists here (meaning a lot of fluctuation in population) and Florida seems to me like a state of short attention spans - there's too much other stuff to do down here rather than gaming (unfortunately). So I would suggest the breadbasket of gaming, the Midwest states...or the northeast.
I'd look into either a) decent sized towns (maybe 20-40k) that are within 30-45 minutes of a larger town (say 50-100k or more), or b) college towns of varying size.
A good example of a small town "kind of near" a larger city would be Danville, IL, a nice little town (or so I hear) with a population of a little over 30,000. However, Champaign, IL is about 45 minutes west (a city with a population of about 75k) and if you need bigger you can head east for about 90 minutes and go into Indianapolis - home of GenCon. There are a ton of little towns like that where you can have to small town feel but be close enough to the big city if you need it.
As for college towns, I'm partial to State College, PA, home campus of Penn State University. State College has a population of about 38,000, but if that's too big for you there are tons of outlying towns that have the small town feel to them (Phillipsburg - 3800, Bellefonte - 7000, or Lewistown - 9000 to name a few). I'm especially partial to Altoona, which at ~49,000 seems to be about the right size town for me. My wife's family is from this area and I've been looking at houses in this area for the last 2-3 years. I'm dying to get out of Florida.
Of course I don't know what the gaming scene is like in either of these areas. I can assume "a" type towns are good because you can join or form a group in your small town, but if that falls through you can head to a nearby larger town and try to get into a game. I would guess the "b" type towns would work because of the college crowd coupled with the decent size of the town would result in good opportunities.
Good luck finding a new town to live in, Joe! Sorry I didn't give specific examples of towns in the area you're looking for but I know towns like that exist out west.
I'd look into either a) decent sized towns (maybe 20-40k) that are within 30-45 minutes of a larger town (say 50-100k or more), or b) college towns of varying size.
A good example of a small town "kind of near" a larger city would be Danville, IL, a nice little town (or so I hear) with a population of a little over 30,000. However, Champaign, IL is about 45 minutes west (a city with a population of about 75k) and if you need bigger you can head east for about 90 minutes and go into Indianapolis - home of GenCon. There are a ton of little towns like that where you can have to small town feel but be close enough to the big city if you need it.
As for college towns, I'm partial to State College, PA, home campus of Penn State University. State College has a population of about 38,000, but if that's too big for you there are tons of outlying towns that have the small town feel to them (Phillipsburg - 3800, Bellefonte - 7000, or Lewistown - 9000 to name a few). I'm especially partial to Altoona, which at ~49,000 seems to be about the right size town for me. My wife's family is from this area and I've been looking at houses in this area for the last 2-3 years. I'm dying to get out of Florida.
Of course I don't know what the gaming scene is like in either of these areas. I can assume "a" type towns are good because you can join or form a group in your small town, but if that falls through you can head to a nearby larger town and try to get into a game. I would guess the "b" type towns would work because of the college crowd coupled with the decent size of the town would result in good opportunities.
Good luck finding a new town to live in, Joe! Sorry I didn't give specific examples of towns in the area you're looking for but I know towns like that exist out west.
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Oh, and what are your job skills? I can look to see if there are jobs for you around here.
Another good thing, we tend to be about 15 degrees cooler than Prescott/Phoenix. About 10 degrees cooler than Tucson. Plus you will want to move to an area of AZ that is "free range".
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Another good thing, we tend to be about 15 degrees cooler than Prescott/Phoenix. About 10 degrees cooler than Tucson. Plus you will want to move to an area of AZ that is "free range".
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The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society
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Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
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Fat Dragon Games
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Breakdaddy wrote:
LITTLE ROCK!
That's only an option if you're into dating your sister.
Discuss.
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DangerDwarf
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Fat Dragon Games
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DangerDwarf wrote:
Why folks choose to live in the inferior lands of Not-Texas is beyond me.
I lived in Texas, it sucked (too close to Arkansas).
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Breakdaddy
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Breakdaddy
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Go0gleplex
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[quote="DangerDwarf"]Why folks choose to live in the inferior lands of Not-Texas is beyond me.[/quote]
and here we are in Oregon which seems to be a favorite destination of Texan refugees judging by the number of Texan license plates (and being married to a Texan)...
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Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-
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and here we are in Oregon which seems to be a favorite destination of Texan refugees judging by the number of Texan license plates (and being married to a Texan)...
_________________
The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.
Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-
High Warden of the Castles & Crusades Society
"Rolling dice and killing characters since September 1976."
"Author of Wardogs! and Contributor to Iron Stars and Starmada-Admiralty ed."
"Certified crazy since 2009."
"Author of Wardogs! and Contributor to Iron Stars and Starmada-Admiralty ed."
"Certified crazy since 2009."
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Fat Dragon Games
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Breakdaddy wrote:
As a Texan I must say: WORD.
Yeah, but you voluntarily moved to Arkansas. That's like dumping Denise Richards to date Rosie O'Donnel.
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Fat Dragon Games
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Breakdaddy wrote:
I *AM* dating your sister, what a coincidence!
Gee, won't your boyfriend McBain be jealous?
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Thomas A. Tullis
Fat Dragon Games
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Castles & Crusades...more D&D than D&D.
Go0gleplex wrote:
and here we are in Oregon which seems to be a favorite destination of Texan refugees judging by the number of Texan license plates (and being married to a Texan)...
Ha, I moved here to Oregon from Texas too!!! Came up on vacation at end of August and suddenly found nighttime temperatures dropped below 85 degrees, ahhh, 65 degrees at night in the summer! Oh, and no fire ants, or mesquite thorns. Never went back to Texas, my friends there mailed all my stuff up to me. Of course at the time, I was working organic farms, so didn't exactly own much anyway. But I must admit the best AD&D group I ever played with, hailed from Austin. In the name of full disclosure I should probably say i grew up in NJ, and was only in TX for a year, of and I'd love to visit Austin again, in the cool wintertime.
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DangerDwarf
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DangerDwarf
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Ok, so far I have a few places suggested.
I live in the best place in arizona to live, but it's still a bit dry for me.
texas is...well Texas and thus out of the question by default.
Any other places you think has a rural country, but significant amount of gamers?
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'Nosce te Ipsum' -Delphic Maxim
'Follow your bliss.' -Joseph Campbell
I live in the best place in arizona to live, but it's still a bit dry for me.
texas is...well Texas and thus out of the question by default.
Any other places you think has a rural country, but significant amount of gamers?
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'Follow your bliss.' -Joseph Campbell
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Breakdaddy
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Breakdaddy
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Joe wrote:
texas is...well Texas and thus out of the question by default.
This is misanthropic bile and almost intolerable. I have deployed a re education team but they don't know where to find you so yer lucky. They won't give up until you pay for this however.
EDIT: Sadly due to budgetary constraints the re education team currently consists of Tom Tullis of Fat Dragon Games and two Gerbils of questionable odor.
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jaybird216
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Joe wrote:
Ok, so far I have a few places suggested.
I live in the best place in arizona to live, but it's still a bit dry for me.
texas is...well Texas and thus out of the question by default.
Any other places you think has a rural country, but significant amount of gamers?
There are a bunch of places I could suggest in Canada.
M
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Omote
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Joe wrote:
Any other places you think has a rural country, but significant amount of gamers?
I would suggest Ohio. Ohio has dense population centers in the north (Cleveland), the south (Cincinnatti) in the central plains (Columbus) and even in the west and east to a lesser degree (Dayton, Akron). Inbetween these population centers, there is mostly rural areas. Because of this, being rural doesn't mean you need to be far from a big city (usually about an hour at the longest from any big city).
Rural living is alive in well in Ohio, and some of the larger cities are seeing a population decline (the job economy pretty much sucks in Ohio at the moment, particularly manufacturing as NAFTA has killed many of these types of jobs in Ohio).
Luckily for Ohio, there is a very large population of gamers and is exceedingly close to GenCon, Origins, and the like.
Ohio has plentiful (and protected) water resources, and the climate extremes are not that significant (winters are cold, but not Minnesota cold, and the summers are hot (but not Texas hot). Living near lake Erie does call for lots and lots of snow in the windertimes.
Gamers... Ohio has lots of gamers and in the north and central cities, there are a fair amount of game stores. In the CLeveland area where I live, there are 4 dedicated gaming store within a 15 minute drive from me. Columbus has it's fair share of game stores as well as Dayton.
I may be a bit biased, but I love Ohio despite the economic problems. The rural communities are plentiful, but you never feel like you are removed from the cosmopolitan aspects of city life. The weather is fair, and there are few weather disasters ever. Ohio may not be the most sceanic of all the 50 great states (generally flat farmland), but there are lots of great reasons to live here.
(Ohio has not paid me in any way for this commerical )
-O
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