05-20-2019, 09:38 PM
Thank you to the shaper team and NPCs for all the hard work they did leading up to and during this event. First weekends are hard enough without it also being a 4-day, but the effort is appreciated. I had a pretty good time, soreness aside, and I'm looking forward to June. (Also, sorry this got long, it was a solid event but I have a lot of feedback.)
Good:
• The "Citadel" mod was one of my favourite ever town mods to date. I have never gone 0-100 so quickly in stress levels at Ralinwood. The sealing of the building, the use of flares and fireworks, the screaming and panicking as people tried to find their friends and drag others out of the building, the confusion about who was actually attacking and why... all of it was on point. The shield wall was a thing of beauty, even though my Avian is a killjoy who thought everybody banging on their shields was childish. Overall the best mod of the game in my opinion.
• Yoshi's makeup and acting skills for the shadow monster were so on point that people came running across site in no armour because they were so freaked out by her shrieking. Cue whispers of "wait, is there something on your face, doctor?" followed by "Wait are those your TEETH?" while people backed up.
• There seemed to be a bunch of instamods out, and that's always lovely to see. I found my first one this weekend and it happened to be connected to a plot I've been following, so that was extra nice. I smacked a fae in the face with an iron club. That will definitely have no repercussions later.
• Rob and Jen seem very willing to interact with/humor PCs attempts to make their own fun/interact with their plots in strange ways. Sometimes these end horribly but hey, that's part of the fun of the game. You get your best stories from those moments.
• We had so many quality new players and there seemed to be a bunch of yellow armbanded creatures for them to interact with. I'm really glad NPC camp stepped up to make sure they had content they could interact with.
• Content was decently spaced. There were a number of gaps but considering how exhausted a lot of people were, it provided some welcome time to lie around napping or
Less Good:
• The final mod felt rushed and kind of lackluster. There was 0 time between the fight ending and game being called so most of us had no idea what, if anything, we had actually just done or accomplished. I arrived a tad bit late so maybe I missed all the exposition but everybody I talked to was very confused about what we were doing and why, besides "save some farmers and kill the big alligator". Also geez, PCs, massive goes to armour AND body, some people took WAY too much damage from the gator. Either way, I know that the last day of event is always when everybody is dead on their feet but ending on a climactic fight is also nice.
• The difference in loot from mods was massive. The Citadel mod, for the most part, gave out 1 silver per NPC. Better loot dropped in the final wave apparently, but the small payout didn't really balance out the amount of resources we had to burn. Other difficult to fight animals in the battle with the Grey Draconian only dropped a small amount of RM despite the challenge. Contrast this with some mods where multiple people walked out of it with spirit linked magic weapons or other magic items. I think better loot balancing is something this team really needs to work on.
• NPC camp miscommunications were again a big problem. Mod hooks seemed confused at times, and if PCs went to NPC camp for clarification we were sometimes told the wrong thing and ended up heading to the wrong place. Same with shapers walking PCs down a path for 10 minutes and then realizing they're going the wrong way and backtracking. 4 day weekends are exhausting enough without going to the wrong mod site and needing to go back and then down a different path.
• People were way too rough this event, and there were a bunch of injuries caused by either arrows or shield bashes or other dangerous swings. People need to be way more careful but screaming at others also doesn't help anything. Pregame combat demos, especially for archers, should probably become more of a thing. Otherwise, please remember that a medium touch game means you are only swinging hard enough that they can feel you, not wailing on each other.
• When sending out nighttime assassin mods like you did Saturday night, maybe check character level of the people you are murdering, please. Most of the people I saw in the resurrection circle that night were SUPER new and I'm not sure if the NPCs involved could actually see who they were killing or know who was under level 5 or not.
• The lights for my rez circle got completely trashed a day into event. Can't say I'm super surprised but I'm still a bit disappointed. Back to rope, I guess.
Personal Highlights:
• Dark church + Enna curb stomping my Cleric of Pandora after destroying her entire home with a few pillars of fire to the face. I got hauled off and returned to NPC camp just in time to hear "wait, were we the bad guys?"
• I got to be Ursel again for a bit to make Enna cry wish Enna a happy birthday. I'm truly amazed that horrible crown stayed on my head for the duration of the fight.
• Sparky came to see his mom and dad! Waiting around for Miahla to show up while Ori wandered around with a small group showing off her baby to anybody who would listen was worth me being dead tired in the morning.
• I have the best cabin. While I am fully prepared to throw down with anybody who sits on my bed without getting the dirt and leaves off of them first, I had so much fun shouting about lemons and trying to steal Nira's sword only for her to run off with my hat AND club.
Good:
• The "Citadel" mod was one of my favourite ever town mods to date. I have never gone 0-100 so quickly in stress levels at Ralinwood. The sealing of the building, the use of flares and fireworks, the screaming and panicking as people tried to find their friends and drag others out of the building, the confusion about who was actually attacking and why... all of it was on point. The shield wall was a thing of beauty, even though my Avian is a killjoy who thought everybody banging on their shields was childish. Overall the best mod of the game in my opinion.
• Yoshi's makeup and acting skills for the shadow monster were so on point that people came running across site in no armour because they were so freaked out by her shrieking. Cue whispers of "wait, is there something on your face, doctor?" followed by "Wait are those your TEETH?" while people backed up.
• There seemed to be a bunch of instamods out, and that's always lovely to see. I found my first one this weekend and it happened to be connected to a plot I've been following, so that was extra nice. I smacked a fae in the face with an iron club. That will definitely have no repercussions later.
• Rob and Jen seem very willing to interact with/humor PCs attempts to make their own fun/interact with their plots in strange ways. Sometimes these end horribly but hey, that's part of the fun of the game. You get your best stories from those moments.
• We had so many quality new players and there seemed to be a bunch of yellow armbanded creatures for them to interact with. I'm really glad NPC camp stepped up to make sure they had content they could interact with.
• Content was decently spaced. There were a number of gaps but considering how exhausted a lot of people were, it provided some welcome time to lie around napping or
Less Good:
• The final mod felt rushed and kind of lackluster. There was 0 time between the fight ending and game being called so most of us had no idea what, if anything, we had actually just done or accomplished. I arrived a tad bit late so maybe I missed all the exposition but everybody I talked to was very confused about what we were doing and why, besides "save some farmers and kill the big alligator". Also geez, PCs, massive goes to armour AND body, some people took WAY too much damage from the gator. Either way, I know that the last day of event is always when everybody is dead on their feet but ending on a climactic fight is also nice.
• The difference in loot from mods was massive. The Citadel mod, for the most part, gave out 1 silver per NPC. Better loot dropped in the final wave apparently, but the small payout didn't really balance out the amount of resources we had to burn. Other difficult to fight animals in the battle with the Grey Draconian only dropped a small amount of RM despite the challenge. Contrast this with some mods where multiple people walked out of it with spirit linked magic weapons or other magic items. I think better loot balancing is something this team really needs to work on.
• NPC camp miscommunications were again a big problem. Mod hooks seemed confused at times, and if PCs went to NPC camp for clarification we were sometimes told the wrong thing and ended up heading to the wrong place. Same with shapers walking PCs down a path for 10 minutes and then realizing they're going the wrong way and backtracking. 4 day weekends are exhausting enough without going to the wrong mod site and needing to go back and then down a different path.
• People were way too rough this event, and there were a bunch of injuries caused by either arrows or shield bashes or other dangerous swings. People need to be way more careful but screaming at others also doesn't help anything. Pregame combat demos, especially for archers, should probably become more of a thing. Otherwise, please remember that a medium touch game means you are only swinging hard enough that they can feel you, not wailing on each other.
• When sending out nighttime assassin mods like you did Saturday night, maybe check character level of the people you are murdering, please. Most of the people I saw in the resurrection circle that night were SUPER new and I'm not sure if the NPCs involved could actually see who they were killing or know who was under level 5 or not.
• The lights for my rez circle got completely trashed a day into event. Can't say I'm super surprised but I'm still a bit disappointed. Back to rope, I guess.
Personal Highlights:
• Dark church + Enna curb stomping my Cleric of Pandora after destroying her entire home with a few pillars of fire to the face. I got hauled off and returned to NPC camp just in time to hear "wait, were we the bad guys?"
• I got to be Ursel again for a bit to make Enna cry wish Enna a happy birthday. I'm truly amazed that horrible crown stayed on my head for the duration of the fight.
• Sparky came to see his mom and dad! Waiting around for Miahla to show up while Ori wandered around with a small group showing off her baby to anybody who would listen was worth me being dead tired in the morning.
• I have the best cabin. While I am fully prepared to throw down with anybody who sits on my bed without getting the dirt and leaves off of them first, I had so much fun shouting about lemons and trying to steal Nira's sword only for her to run off with my hat AND club.
Ori Moran: A purple feathered Avian with a red hat who carries a black and white shield. She has three Shadow Marks over one eye and a scar through the other.
Nelinha: Some asshole Ice Elf. Has a bright red hooded scarf and a black winged brooch.
OOG: Alex Heintz - NPL - Official Ralinmeme Maker
Nelinha: Some asshole Ice Elf. Has a bright red hooded scarf and a black winged brooch.
OOG: Alex Heintz - NPL - Official Ralinmeme Maker