I've tried to make my browser quote Jay's post like three times and it won't load properly so bear with me, this is a reply to his mentioning the lack of NPCs on shift Monday morning.
While this is a very good point, to me it wasn't an issue of numbers. Perhaps it's my fault for listing the two mods that had the most waves and extra NPCs as climactic highs, but in both cases it was because of the way they were presented, not the manpower. The not-Citadel tried to burn half of town alive during what started as a bit of RP heavy downtime and then tried to stomp folks with explosives and witchhunters. The Dragon Knight showed up stacked with rituals, great costuming, and with a bellowing Shaman behind him. In comparison, some Shak'tar and a really big alligator with a lacking physical description (after days of being told it was so big it could be mistaken for an elemental beast and sent tremors through the ground) and a handful of kidnapped farmers felt like a let down from a plot and stakes standpoint.
I absolutely agree that people should commit to the NPC shifts whenever possible, especially if they know it falls on one of the big evening or final day mods, since I suspect Shapers try to estimate the numbers they'll have for them. However, I still feel like more could have been done even with the NPCs and descriptions we had. I know I prepared a lot of Silences in case another Shaman showed up to do Rite of War, and with a dire beast that big you could totally slam out some area of affect body slam massive or have it do some kind of directed charge (since alligators can absolutely motor when they need to), or calling a descriptive hold to have the thing stomp onto the scene might have conveyed more of a threat (especially if immediately coupled with any big show of force) instead of just making it seem like the third dire alligator to show up. People were cracking jokes about this thing death rolling our literal cabin building with us in it when we found out how big it was supposed to be, and to me at least that wasn't very well conveyed.
While this is a very good point, to me it wasn't an issue of numbers. Perhaps it's my fault for listing the two mods that had the most waves and extra NPCs as climactic highs, but in both cases it was because of the way they were presented, not the manpower. The not-Citadel tried to burn half of town alive during what started as a bit of RP heavy downtime and then tried to stomp folks with explosives and witchhunters. The Dragon Knight showed up stacked with rituals, great costuming, and with a bellowing Shaman behind him. In comparison, some Shak'tar and a really big alligator with a lacking physical description (after days of being told it was so big it could be mistaken for an elemental beast and sent tremors through the ground) and a handful of kidnapped farmers felt like a let down from a plot and stakes standpoint.
I absolutely agree that people should commit to the NPC shifts whenever possible, especially if they know it falls on one of the big evening or final day mods, since I suspect Shapers try to estimate the numbers they'll have for them. However, I still feel like more could have been done even with the NPCs and descriptions we had. I know I prepared a lot of Silences in case another Shaman showed up to do Rite of War, and with a dire beast that big you could totally slam out some area of affect body slam massive or have it do some kind of directed charge (since alligators can absolutely motor when they need to), or calling a descriptive hold to have the thing stomp onto the scene might have conveyed more of a threat (especially if immediately coupled with any big show of force) instead of just making it seem like the third dire alligator to show up. People were cracking jokes about this thing death rolling our literal cabin building with us in it when we found out how big it was supposed to be, and to me at least that wasn't very well conveyed.
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.