Event Review - In Times Of War

[Doyly]

I had so much fun at this event.. I love doing the Day Mods,, but it''s the Weekend Events that I REALLY enjoy and have missed doing a tone!!

Pros::

++ First and foremost has to be the Wizard Lock Ritual Backlash.. That was just the best!! Doyly wanting to be helpful and being in the ""Circle"" just for the fucking cup to fall down.. I thought for sure ""This is it.. This is how I final.."" But for it to go THAT good was unbelievable!! And watching Kevin get out of his tent that was so close he got effected too made my sides hurt I was laughing so hard!! All and all that tent probably saved a lot of people..

++ Catapult Mod for sure.. That was so hectic I though we were going to loss people either to the Orcs or our own Navy!! Loved it even if I lost My Rock for a night..

++ Being the first Ralinwood PC to complete their High Winter Wish.. At least I think I am the first??

++ Having PCs yell at Doyly to ""Make a baby"" for an hour..

++ Watching Moon take on that Orc Mage in the Greatest Magic fight I have ever seen in my life!! That was the coolest thing!! I had no idea Matt could do Matrix shit like that..

++ Red Robin Camp.. They are a Pro for me because of everything they did for me and the town!! I had won that Quiz thing and they did so much for Doyly because of it.. Helped him on a Quest,, did a Regical ((I think that''s how you spell it)) and gave Doyly the biggest Hospital Donation I think to date!! It was really cool of all you peoples and I am still really touched..

++ Getting to pull of a joke 6 or 7 months in the making thanks to the prostitutes.. Thanks guys!!

++ Everyone in the Hospital!! I wouldn''t work so hard to Protect you all if I didn''t love being with you peoples!!

++ Slower''s reaction to my Fudge was my favourite of all of them.. For a second I thought he was going to cry tears of joy!!

++ RP with the PCs.. I always love that.. And there were so many new people to meet and talk with!!

++ Having enough spells now and the knowledge of when and who to give them out to made the game really fun for me because almost every type I casted I had someone come up to me saying my Spell saved their life or someone else''s or a piece of super expensive gear!! That was cool..

++ I think I have said it in every one of my reviews,, but I love hearing people complement me on my Shield Work!! I know that sounds self centered,, but as someone who took Shield because he was bad at fighting at the start and as someone who for a very long time in their life wasn''t really told they were good at things,, hearing that always makes my day!!

First time ever this has happened but....

Pro//Con:: The other person who was meant to be on the Sunday Morning Tavern Shift with me didn''t come and//or forgot.. While it kinda sucked that I had to be in the back and not RP serving people which I have always loved,, I did instead get to cook for most of you which I really enjoyed!! I love cooking and had fun making Pancakes for PCs and NPCs alike!!

And now..

Cons::

-- Armour Breaking Crabs.. Don''t get me wrong,, I actually liked that crabs!! Sometimes we should barely be able to win fights and sometimes we shouldn''t be able to win at all!! But attacks that could just straight up break a persons Armour is a bit much.. Weapon Shatters I understand,, you can easily grab another weapon and most Protection Casters have Render Weapon.. But breaking a persons Armour with an effect like that for the most part takes a PC out of the combat..

-- There was a lack of RP mods that weren''t meant for Combat.. What I mean by that is if and when there were NPCs to RP with they were either merchants and were lying to you to kill you.. One of my favourite mods ever was the Mod about the killer doll and the dead little girl who father was blamed.. I wasn''t even too sure about all of it because they didn''t let Doyly in the Cabin,, but how we handled it with out killing people made me think ""This was really different but really really fun!!"" walking away from it.. I think there should be more Mods were boffers and Magic aren''t even needed to complete.. That way we aren''t just a Nerd Fight Club with a side of RP..

-- Unused Cabins.. With the Heat as bad as it was,, a few mods could have been done in the unused Cabins just to get people out of the heat for a bit.. And if people are about to say ""Combat isn''t safe in Cabins"" please read the Con above this one..

-- Getting TOO many people for my Quest!! I know this isn''t anyone fault really but still.. What was supposed to be a 9 PC Mod turned into like a 20 PC Mod because people just kept coming a long and inviting other to come too.. I really tried to have it be a small thing but so many people decided to help Doyly of all people couldn''t really send them away.. The Shapers had to keep changing the NPC Stats and uping the Amount of NPCs going which not only made the whole Mod kinda messy,, I feel it might have taken away from others Mods they wanted to send people out on.. I do feel sorry I brought so many people to that Mod.. People didn''t seem to have a lot of fun with it.. Thank you however to everyone who did!!

With all that said,, I feel like while this Event had some big down sides,, it still has to be one of my favourite ones!! I always love coming out and seeing everyone and this was no different!!

[Skqishzeeire]

My first event in Ralinwood with new character. I am not really sure how I feel about this event, but but here is my 2 cents. (realize that personal challenges may have affected some of my outcomes)
Pros
- defiantly on the top of the list being woken up out of a deed sleep by a house keeping kolbold cleaning my back.
- the catapult mod was really well done - good props and the fighting was not too over powered
- cooking the Cassan breakfast with my camp mates was awesome and knowing that everybody was enjoying it.
-Enjoyed the RP I got to do with Doyly and his mod
- all the positive costuming comments I got
- Having some down time in the afternoon was nice.

Neither here nor there
- dyeing the first time at the hands of Orc's but that is oK I got caught with my pants down so to speak.

Con's
- Friday night went way too late causing everyone to burn out early on Saturday
- Game for me went down hill Saturday afternoon.
- Feeling a little like an outsider with my camp mates
- The Murker/Crab mod was unbalanced. There were to many waves and they were too powerful
- Dyeing a second time really sucked - 2 times in one game. My first game in ralinwood. I have put a lot of time and money into my costuming and my character and it is almost done. What a way to make some not want to play at your guild again.
- I felt pushed into the fighting and there was no way of avoiding it.
- The outhouses are awful
- Having personal issues with my knee and ankle making it really hard in combat and walking/standing in general. (but that's not your fault)
- Not being acclimatized to the heat yet (but that's not your fault)

[River_forestwolven]

Skqishzeeire/Sam
since its your first game, your deaths should not count! ((You may need to double check on this))

[Sierra Katrian]

In response to the lack of RP roles going out, we did send a fair bit out, but some NPCs found it difficult to engage the PCs as they didn't seem interested in RPing.

I do not want it to sound like we are discrediting your concerns, we appreciate them and we will do our best to send more RP roles out next time.


Another way to get more RP going within the PCs is to stir things up. Are you bored? Go cause some ruckus with your fellow townsfolk.

[Grollog]

So this was my first weekend event for LARP period, let alone at Ralinwood!

Pros:

++ I did a double NPC shift which I thoroughly enjoyed even though it was during the hottest day, Saturday, and I went through like 6 water bottles myself

++ I felt there was lots to do even without a mod going on.

++ The catapult mod was amazing! It was the right amount of challenge without being too powerful. Especially as we had a lot of newbies and I am technically still rather new myself.

++ There were more Gargylens! There are 4 of us now I believe? There was only Doyly and now there are more and it is awesome!

++ Kevin and I attempted to make a Gargylen baby! We got no results, but I blame the free alcohol we received Originally we wanted Doyly but he refused. I wonder if three Gargylens try we will have better luck?

++ I like that those in NPC camp realized how hot of a day it was and went out and provided some "alcohol" through RP.

Cons:

-- At no fault to you, I slept on a deflated air mattress two nights in a row and it was terrible.

-- Same as above, having to put on make up on the hot day was unfortunate.

-- This one is a mix fault, I did not have time to put on makeup for the last fight of the day so I stayed in camp during the fighting and so no complaint about the monster difficulties in that regard.

-- My biggest let down was I was unable to find my giant frog people! I need to convince them to repopulate so there are more to worship me! All worship moss beard!


Overall:
I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to next month!

[A goblin played by Matty]

So I was reading the comments about more roleplaying NPCs. Maybe a formal list of PCs that are looking for that kind of stuff might help. I know a lot of people come primarily for the combat and may seem indifferent to roleplaying.Which may seem off putting as an NPC. I am very down for both.

[Sierra Katrian]

A list would be interesting. I think we send out more combat than RP because there are nearly 80 of you now, and we assume that people can make their own RP fun. This is just my personal take on things as I play Jericho and it is common practice to create your own fun when things aren't going on.

Again, we will do our best to send out a lot more RP roles next time.

[Zhliepir]

Overall it was a good game.

But for me this game was a let down considering it was the first weekend of game and was supposed to ramp me up for season and instead just left me feeling uninspired.

Starting with the good:
+Everything on Friday night was perfect.
+The catapult mod brought the "we're at war" mentality right in.
+Accidentally wrecking the wake-up Kobold because of Jericho PC PTSD from Dustin.
+Not actually understanding what was happening with Jon(Brian) when he was in my tent. "OOG Is that slightly terrifying npc actually inside of my tent?" "Yes." "Oh. Okay. *sleepier voice* Hi!"
+Cassan camp being Cassan camp, when the majority of town writes off or goes against your character it's nice to have that support from like characters to keep the energy up.
+"Sleeping"/Sleeping friggin everywhere. Friday night I layed in the grove alone with no weapons and Rp'd being a sleep with only a teddybear and feared for my life the whole time. But damn it felt pretty awesome with those blue lights. Super magical. Also actually being asleep next to the skien gate while Regital was giving a tour. Felt so perfect for the character RP.
+The two insta mods. Combat really is something Cassan Orcs try to avoid, but being able to just wreck a spider and murkers was super empowering for someone who regularly plays a support character.
+Cassanwiches. When shaman said he was going to do it my wallet cried out in sympathy, but for him to go with it, was awesome.

The cons:
-OUTHOUSES were severly understocked (No TP or sanitizer)
- Power swings. A lot of people needing to readjust their swinging. When game goes on that 12th hour and starts to wear on the body a lot of mistakes get made on all sides of the battle.
- Not knowing about the OOG Medical tent for the person with Epilepsy. I'm completely supportive of the idea however not knowing it was there and going on an NPC role, I felt we should have been warned.
- NPC's going off book and speaking heavily unscripted. While it's fun and silly to do, if IG a PC is trying to actually roleplay and make an attempt at communication with your NPC role, don't prattle off for the joke of it because you're tired of playing a crunchie. It throws people heavily and makes it more difficult than it has to be.
- The final murker/crab mod. It was the same mod as last year and didn't hold a very large feeling of importance. Having a crunchie wave battle as a way to end game after a whole weekend of Orc wave battles was a little dull. I'd like to see some hints about what's upcoming to be eluded too. Something to get excited about for next game

The Upsets.
>Wizard Lock/Saturday Night NPC shift, putting aside the pc to npc ratio, going out as a spider and watching everyone run into a wizard lock and hiding out in it for over an hour was really frustrating. I understand there were complications with the Wizard Lock, but those should have had some kind of IG balance (Perhaps a time limit of how long people can stay in) to even it out. And let me state that as a PC I never went into it once because I felt it was being overused.
> Being told that we're to be going back IG after the 8PM-12AM NPC shift and then having nothing happen at all. It was disappointing that on a Saturday night at midnight everyone just went to bed, I'm not saying there be a mod or anything grand, but the fact that there were a few PC's awake and wanting to have some kind of interaction rp or otherwise with the Game and not getting anything was a big upset to me. I have more to say about this but it's something I will email about.

Like I said, overall it was a good game. It got the spiderwebs off the tent and it was a good wake up call to how exhausting a weekend event can really get, but it wasn't the big Bang I was looking forward to.

[Andrei Katrares]

I had a lot of fun this event. I think having been on the other side for so long, I understand now that its important to allow for ways to involve yourself in what is happening to the best of your RP without asking shapers to compromise their stories. Its hard to explain, but I guess what I'm saying is that success, fun, and happiness aren't always the emotions the plot that comes out is intended to evoke. Some events will be very combat heavy, others RP heavy. Life isn't balanced, fair, or scheduled - I always find it strange when LARP is.

I was exhausted physically and emotionally, I was serious, silly, angry, funny, smiling, shouting, and most everything in between at some point this weekend. In the face of fairly constant danger and many large scale fights, the worry, fatigue and adrenaline really brought a stark contrast to all the other stuff we get to do each weekend - do I want to piss off that person, or will they let me down when I need them to watch my back? Jokes were funnier, smiles were brighter if fewer and farther between.

Anyways, onto ye listing of things.

+ The opening mod at the beach. I've always wanted to storm the beaches IG, and this was the closest I've ever gotten. Superb mod, very well executed, fantastic balance and NPCing.
+ Emerald Company is the best group I've ever had the pleasure to camp with. Bonus props to our new recruits who were great despite having a pretty overwhelming event facing them.
+ The orc fight was great. A few glitches on NPCs who are newer to the mechanics they were asked to NPC here and there, but with practice comes perfection. Challenging, difficult, teetering on the precipice of overwhelming while never feeling unbalanced. Wave battle 11/10.
+ Meeting so many interesting new characters. New leaderships, new dynamics, new schemes.
+ NPC camp / NPC was great even though things didn't go my way at the time. I still see and appreciate the tremendous effort you all put into game.
+ Great NPCing from shifties. As the community matures and gets more experience, the quality of NPCing is always getting better and I'm super impressed by how well our PCs have improved as NPCs on their shifts. 11/10.
+ Iris / Ludvic / Daphne / Deago group talks with Drakkon, Arcadeus, and everyone else we had coming and going around us throughout the weekend.

- I wish I could solve my real life problems by shouting at people or hitting orcs with plumbing supplies.

[Shaper Raccoon]

This event was interesting in a couple different ways. I'm still not fully sure what I think of it yet but these are my pros and cons.

Pros:
+ Fighting Grimnir, I think this was something that has been a long time coming and the following roleplay after was great.
+ The tavern people giving out free "ale" was great, everyone was exhausted and they hit my camp at a perfect time.
+ The Orc attack on town. It felt dire, like we actually needed to watch our flanks, move groups up and pull back groups.
+ Having to actually cull the murkers again, Its great to see those kind of plot lines pop up and even include things based on our victories or defeats.

Cons:
- What I feel to be dangerous npcs. I saw what looked to be an npc running into and jumping into shields (I also did not notice a red arm band, and I may be wrong but I do not remember tackles being allowed anyways.)
- I took more head shots and throat thrusts this event then I did all of last season. I am over 6 feet tall, you don't need to use vertical swings that hit me in the head.
- So much massive, I get why the final mod was so brutal. But fast moving enemies that two stick massive, break weapons, and have a high enough threshold that you need archers with specific arrows or people with great weapons are not the greatest.