This event was overall a good one in my books. The best parts of my game easily outweighed the worst, and I don't regret going, so it's a net positive.
The Good
• I think considering how complicated it is that damn near all of Ralinwood's local enemies are uniting and stamping out our potential allies at the same time, the Shapers conveyed the information in a way that was able to be pieced together.
• All the Fae stuff seems to be being handled really well this year. I have a personal bias in favour of Fae plot that makes me really suffer when it's handled like Sparkle Demons or chaos for chaos's sake, so it's nice to see passionate, rules and folklore conscious folks taking the wheel on that.
• I appreciated the soft resist of my sleep spell when Ange was sorting out the timing of the flare and hold portal during the not-Citadel mod, and that she took the time to talk to me afterwards. While I personally didn't think her apologizing for how it went was necessary since I'm all for harmlessly bending things to let a plot be executed as intended, it was very very thoughtful of her to check in, so I'm thankful for that.
• I appreciated the sneak mod I went on. I've wanted to do stealth based things for a while, and it was a lot of fun.
• I think town is working a lot better as a unit with things like the shield wall and dropping low to let the archers do a volley. I've been on both sides of it now, and it's very impressive. I hope it can be maintained even if the Shapers occasionally throw in a wild card to spice things up, and that town continues to strategize and work as a unit.
• While it would have been nice if the mod hadn't OOG killed like three people, the Dragon Knight showing up with his small army was very cool, and that happening during a ritual also gave us a clearly defined point to defend while fighting them.
• While there was a wee bit of rule confusion (maybe? sort of?) the first of the Fae Festival games were a lot of fun.
• While I've had very little interaction with the Sunshine Killer, the idea of it is deeply chilling and made me a little uncomfortable every time it was mentioned, which is a testament to the Shapers involved with its storytelling. When I'm shaken just hearing about mods and plots going on in the background, something's being done right. I was going to complain that the song associated with it being so recognizable is a bit immersion shaky given how finicky people can get with music and infernalism, but the doppelganger mechanic sort of demands a very well known and recognizable song that anyone can hum or sing a few bars of, so I'm happy to handwave that.
• The wizard chess was a wee bit visually confusing but a lot of fun mechanically. It was also funny to see how quickly folks adopted their ideal piece or suggested them for others. Long live Queen Cata.
• There was probably lots of other highlights, I just have trouble keeping track given how much happened during the event.
The Less Good
• I know it's been mentioned already, but the big town mod on Monday really seemed anticlimactic to me. I think the pseudo-Citadel invasion was the emotional climax of the weekend, what with the burning of the Sanctuary, the changes to the laws, and all the RP set up of the town meeting and Ange's trapsmith... in comparison, the attack on the squamatta felt pretty underwhelming and that only so much was accomplished. I'd normally expect that sort of "save the farmers from baddies" type plot point to happen in the middle of event as part of the exposition, not as a resolution.
• On a related note, I'm not a fan of how the Big Boy Alligator was handled. This thing had been hyped for most of the weekend and there was basically no indication we were fighting him vs a normal dire crocodile. I know we can't always bust out four coordinated NPCs playing the same monster like the Jabberwocky from a few seasons ago, but physical descriptions and a little fanfare would have helped make up the difference.
• I think we're quickly approaching the point where archers should have the equivalent of red armband safety training, if not all latex weapons above dagger size period. I heard a lot of complaints about the same few PCs hitting far too hard, and we all know how many headshots and full draw from close range there was this weekend. Arrows and weapons that passed safety can still leave bad bruises and scrapes, especially on NPCs who are trying to give you a good time with only the protection of their sweatshirt and a tabard.
• No more fighting near hazards, please. We've already encouraged people to stay away from the trillium flowers, but seeing someone eat shit backwards over a bench because things were getting too hectic also feels very avoidable.
The Less Good That Shapers Can't Change
• I love you Ralinwood, but you're stone cold bastards about loot. Even visiting players are starting to notice how little is divided up among the people putting in the most resources and hits to take down a monster, and this isn't the first game where arguments have broken out about the dividing of tags or the fact that people with a shorter loot count could slip in and out just collecting things other people hadn't had a chance to loot after dropping. If you're playing a PC who's just kind of a jerk and is comfortable profiting off of other peoples' work that's your choice, but in all the mods I went on that we allowed one person to divide up the loot, there was enough that everyone felt they'd gotten a share. If we want to work more like a town and less like a penal colony, it might take more than a shield wall. It might require us to actually help each other to thrive and spread the wealth around, or at the very least not dick someone over who's too busy preventing town from being curb stomped to loot the thing they just killed. Feel free to disregard this as it's an OOG community suggestion for a problem that's at least partially IG, but I heard a looooot of hurt feelings and bickering after some of the mods, and I felt like I should at least bring it up.
Personal Highlights
• Like I said, the sneak mod I was on was lots of fun.
• Fae games and Fae rules lawyer-ing.
• I'm glad that Jenn finally got to use TMH. That NPC was uncomfortable as hell, complete with sudden shrieking and nails grinding against tabletops, which I assume was the point.
• The Nighthenge Acanthus is best camp.
• The impromptu war council was a lot of fun, and it felt like progress was being made.
• Maybe I'm jut a masochist, but I did like running for my damn life when the Yoshi-shaped witchhunter made it her personal mission to put me in the ground. "THAT'S A DARK CLERIC."
• The Rainbow of Dark Acceptance.
• It was just nice to see Shadowlight hanging out again. We didn't get a whole lot of time to touch base, but it's always nice when we get to talk, and I know they left a very good impression on basically everyone who interacted with them.
• Going on a rampage because town kidnapped my goddaughter. Y'all haven't heard the end of that.
• Tiny Dietremen shenanigans.
The Good
• I think considering how complicated it is that damn near all of Ralinwood's local enemies are uniting and stamping out our potential allies at the same time, the Shapers conveyed the information in a way that was able to be pieced together.
• All the Fae stuff seems to be being handled really well this year. I have a personal bias in favour of Fae plot that makes me really suffer when it's handled like Sparkle Demons or chaos for chaos's sake, so it's nice to see passionate, rules and folklore conscious folks taking the wheel on that.
• I appreciated the soft resist of my sleep spell when Ange was sorting out the timing of the flare and hold portal during the not-Citadel mod, and that she took the time to talk to me afterwards. While I personally didn't think her apologizing for how it went was necessary since I'm all for harmlessly bending things to let a plot be executed as intended, it was very very thoughtful of her to check in, so I'm thankful for that.
• I appreciated the sneak mod I went on. I've wanted to do stealth based things for a while, and it was a lot of fun.
• I think town is working a lot better as a unit with things like the shield wall and dropping low to let the archers do a volley. I've been on both sides of it now, and it's very impressive. I hope it can be maintained even if the Shapers occasionally throw in a wild card to spice things up, and that town continues to strategize and work as a unit.
• While it would have been nice if the mod hadn't OOG killed like three people, the Dragon Knight showing up with his small army was very cool, and that happening during a ritual also gave us a clearly defined point to defend while fighting them.
• While there was a wee bit of rule confusion (maybe? sort of?) the first of the Fae Festival games were a lot of fun.
• While I've had very little interaction with the Sunshine Killer, the idea of it is deeply chilling and made me a little uncomfortable every time it was mentioned, which is a testament to the Shapers involved with its storytelling. When I'm shaken just hearing about mods and plots going on in the background, something's being done right. I was going to complain that the song associated with it being so recognizable is a bit immersion shaky given how finicky people can get with music and infernalism, but the doppelganger mechanic sort of demands a very well known and recognizable song that anyone can hum or sing a few bars of, so I'm happy to handwave that.
• The wizard chess was a wee bit visually confusing but a lot of fun mechanically. It was also funny to see how quickly folks adopted their ideal piece or suggested them for others. Long live Queen Cata.
• There was probably lots of other highlights, I just have trouble keeping track given how much happened during the event.
The Less Good
• I know it's been mentioned already, but the big town mod on Monday really seemed anticlimactic to me. I think the pseudo-Citadel invasion was the emotional climax of the weekend, what with the burning of the Sanctuary, the changes to the laws, and all the RP set up of the town meeting and Ange's trapsmith... in comparison, the attack on the squamatta felt pretty underwhelming and that only so much was accomplished. I'd normally expect that sort of "save the farmers from baddies" type plot point to happen in the middle of event as part of the exposition, not as a resolution.
• On a related note, I'm not a fan of how the Big Boy Alligator was handled. This thing had been hyped for most of the weekend and there was basically no indication we were fighting him vs a normal dire crocodile. I know we can't always bust out four coordinated NPCs playing the same monster like the Jabberwocky from a few seasons ago, but physical descriptions and a little fanfare would have helped make up the difference.
• I think we're quickly approaching the point where archers should have the equivalent of red armband safety training, if not all latex weapons above dagger size period. I heard a lot of complaints about the same few PCs hitting far too hard, and we all know how many headshots and full draw from close range there was this weekend. Arrows and weapons that passed safety can still leave bad bruises and scrapes, especially on NPCs who are trying to give you a good time with only the protection of their sweatshirt and a tabard.
• No more fighting near hazards, please. We've already encouraged people to stay away from the trillium flowers, but seeing someone eat shit backwards over a bench because things were getting too hectic also feels very avoidable.
The Less Good That Shapers Can't Change
• I love you Ralinwood, but you're stone cold bastards about loot. Even visiting players are starting to notice how little is divided up among the people putting in the most resources and hits to take down a monster, and this isn't the first game where arguments have broken out about the dividing of tags or the fact that people with a shorter loot count could slip in and out just collecting things other people hadn't had a chance to loot after dropping. If you're playing a PC who's just kind of a jerk and is comfortable profiting off of other peoples' work that's your choice, but in all the mods I went on that we allowed one person to divide up the loot, there was enough that everyone felt they'd gotten a share. If we want to work more like a town and less like a penal colony, it might take more than a shield wall. It might require us to actually help each other to thrive and spread the wealth around, or at the very least not dick someone over who's too busy preventing town from being curb stomped to loot the thing they just killed. Feel free to disregard this as it's an OOG community suggestion for a problem that's at least partially IG, but I heard a looooot of hurt feelings and bickering after some of the mods, and I felt like I should at least bring it up.
Personal Highlights
• Like I said, the sneak mod I was on was lots of fun.
• Fae games and Fae rules lawyer-ing.
• I'm glad that Jenn finally got to use TMH. That NPC was uncomfortable as hell, complete with sudden shrieking and nails grinding against tabletops, which I assume was the point.
• The Nighthenge Acanthus is best camp.
• The impromptu war council was a lot of fun, and it felt like progress was being made.
• Maybe I'm jut a masochist, but I did like running for my damn life when the Yoshi-shaped witchhunter made it her personal mission to put me in the ground. "THAT'S A DARK CLERIC."
• The Rainbow of Dark Acceptance.
• It was just nice to see Shadowlight hanging out again. We didn't get a whole lot of time to touch base, but it's always nice when we get to talk, and I know they left a very good impression on basically everyone who interacted with them.
• Going on a rampage because town kidnapped my goddaughter. Y'all haven't heard the end of that.
• Tiny Dietremen shenanigans.
IG: A human man in a crow skull mask, grey stole, and black clerical vestments. Occasionally carries an iron or silver dagger, but more often seen without any visible weapons or amour to speak of.
OOG: Danny Heintz, he/him. Transmasc in progress, please disregard mine bræsts.
OOG: Danny Heintz, he/him. Transmasc in progress, please disregard mine bræsts.