Event Review - Get Wrecked (March 2019 Day Mod)

[Dr. Moran]

So, as usual I'd like to start off by thanking the Shapers and NPCs for all the work they put into this event. It's not easy to get these off the ground and we appreciate the time you all take to do it. I apologize in advance for the length of this but I feel it's more helpful to explain my criticisms then just go "I didn't like this."

One of my complaints is going to go up at the top in the hopes that people read it, if nothing else from this. Players. Do not shout at, harass, whine at, or otherwise be dicks to the NPCs who are trying to put on a mod. They didn't write the thing. They don't always know your oddly specific rule question. Go talk to a shaper if you have a question and be polite about it. We're adults. Some of you were absolutely awful to the volunteers this event and it was unacceptable. 

Pros/Highlights/Good RP Moments:

• The scammers were hilarious. We were wondering what was going to happen with the information that we gave to the people wanting to "document" our PCs, but I can honestly say that pity scams for gold was completely unexpected. I just started laughing my ass off the moment I read mine because nobody told the scammers that Mizrah Atara doesn't use currency, so Ori's family asking her for gold is absurd to her.
  
• Nira and Frye playing keep-away with my anchor was the UW equivalent of my nerd getting shoved in a locker. 10/10, would rather have Nira harassing me about my anchor than Rhademia.
  
• There was some really great RP this event, particularly from Kraye (racist with a heart of gold), Nira (troll supreme), Blank (philosophy bro), Alfric (champion of the people) and the three newer players we had.
  
• Ange's puppy is wonderful and I love him. "Oh look, a dog." "He's white, does that mean he's OOG?" 
  
• Campbell landed a stalactite packet squarely on the top of my head. Took 5 massive. I remained conscious, but screamed "guys I think I have a concussion!" while I hobbled over to a healer.
  

Cons:

• The looting skill exists for a reason. Just grabbing a handful of tags and yeeting them in the air to get blown away and or descended upon by a pack of PCs instead of just letting people loot the monster is frustrating. If you want to make it something multiple people can loot at the same time, go ahead. Or give one person the stack of tags and go from there. Don't just make it rain when we're in a soaked field and it's windy.
  
• Random draw loot (aka the chest at the end of event) frustrates me. I got very lucky this time around. Other people got a 3 silver gem tag. Putting rituals, 1/day magic items (some of which were very powerful) and high value tags in with junk tags just means a few people get lucky and others are disappointed. If you want a method of paying PCs for services rendered just print a stack of RM/item tags of similar amounts/values and dole those out. 
  
• Swamp walk is a frustrating thing. Permanent swamp walk is just boring. Permanent swamp walk on the way to a mod on the other side of the site when the path is flooded and we have to only take one step every 3 seconds while our shoes flood in the mud is just pointlessly infuriating.
  
• The water mechanic was a needless punishment for anybody who invested money in armour, used two handed weapons, or had a shield. If one or two mods had used it then that would have been one thing, but it showed up for a large portion of nearly every mod in the event. It got to the point where we'd ask if we'd have to swim to get there and when the answer was inevitably "yes" a bunch of us would just walk away. The amount of miscommunication about how the mechanic worked was also staggering. Nobody knew if we could incant or speak half the time, and the barriers of deep/shallow water were borderline nonexistent.
  
• Shapers should not shout OOG stuff across the field in the middle of game. Trying to talk and all of a sudden having a guy in a white headband shout for people using OOG names instead of just walking to them is ridiculous.
  
• If a shaper miscommunication/rule mess up causes an issue, please sort it out in camp and get all the information before making PCs feel attacked over what they were told they could do on the mod. I got pulled out of game mid conversation, with no explanation, and then got to NPC camp to be told I messed up and shouldn't have been able to do something. If Dan hadn't come out to apologize afterwards I might not have been coming back.
  
• It has been 0 events since somebody has randomly started talking to me about Ursel in a way that did not fit the conversation.
  
• I had no idea there was a set path for the first mod as it wasn't really outlined anywhere so I just sort of wandered after the pack and tried to figure out what was above water/the deck of the ship and what wasn't.
  

See you guys in April!