Tides of War - June Event Review

[Demetria]

Due to it being sooo hot and having a trying to heal sunburnt face, I didn't get to PC as much of the event as I would of liked but the parts I did were great. I had lots of fun and would like to thank the shapers, npcs, and medical marshals. You guys are awesome!

Pros:
● Julia! Saturday afternoon I was at the point where I couldn't cool down anymore even when I was in the shade. Having a hold so people could go cool off by the water was fantastic and I'm very grateful. I appreciate you guys looking out for us and our well being ♡
● Log heroes. Poor Brent and Adam had so much work to do with the new forms and census but they still also go above and beyond, you guys rock!
● Mist Marauders were very scary Saturday night
● Plot was interesting the parts I got to be involved in
●PC rp and interactions were amazing as always. I always have so much fun role playing with you all
● And last but not least, jokingly starting a Squire only club with Riven then making it a Squire guild out of spite when Sevatar said we couldn't have a club. I'm totally going to see how long I can keep this going for

Cons:
● As an NPC I found that the Jericho PCs were swinging too hard. I have alot of bruises on various places of my body and when I told someone to watch their swings I got told by mutiple PCs that I was overeacting. When my concern is just brushed off as whining it's really disheartening and makes me just want to opt out of NPCing.


All in all I don't have alot of complaints. The weather sucked but that's no one's fault. I had a pretty great time and I can't wait to see you guys back in Ralinwood in August!

[Bart Schmied]

Oh yeah I forgot, The squires guild yesterday morning was hilarious!

ps I think you mean overreacting not over eating lol

[Demetria]

I hate autocorrect sometimes.. thanks for pointing that out!

[Zaydesh Hakaar]

I'm back! And what an event to return to!

Pros:
+ Lilith struggling trying to introduce me with my full name. Then following it up with "He doesn't speak."
+ The look of confusion of ALL PC while I'm trying to communicate with them.
+ The poker tournament Saturday morning.
+++ Watching the new PCs go on the lowbie mod, fight the other oozes that exploded with swampwalks, then fight me. So concerned were they, that when I exploded with cure wounds they almost didn't believe it. Priceless moments like that for new players makes me happy I come to this game.
+ HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAXIMUS. Attending that party was very fun and enjoyable.
+ The elf meeting.
+ Getting an official job that pays.
+ (Personal Pro) LARPer 6th sense. Laying on my back w/ my eyes closed. Bout to fall asleep when I suddenly decided to get up and armour up. As I started to grab my sword......
+++ MIST MAURAUDERS! God, these guys are always terrifying. Having to stay perfectly still at moments while hiding in the trees while the slight thought of moving could potentially moving means life or death. I give huge props to Dustin Hitchcock for venturing out into the trees to find us. 5 ft from death we were. Its always nice to break up the with something we all know about, and to scare those who know nothing about it.
+ Getting hit in the back by Dan and actually be able to use my resist fire.
+++ The Medical team. Though we are all adults and should be able to take care of you own selves, you babysit us when we don't. You are the heroes that don't get mentioned enough. Thank you for allowing many of us to survive to LARP another day.

Cons:
- Bow training needs to be looked at and restructured. Too many NPCs took bad shots which were avoidable. If i wasn't Matrixing arrows flying at my head, I had people asking me if i needed a hold for throat and groin shots. I took a particularly nasty shot to the groin that put me out of commission for 5 min.
- Overly aggressive PCs and their swings. When a player complains about bad swings, it doesn't mean they are sensitive, it means that they believe their safety is in concern. Don't dismiss concern, just control your swing a little more for that player.



Over all, a very good weekend. I await August.

[A goblin played by Matty]

Life lesson if you come across a wedding dress;don't donate it. Your friends and family will die.

I enjoyed the beach, I was part of the original group who was going to just walk down before Julia grabbed the whole damn settlement. It was a great treat to meet some of you in that setting. Ill agree with Brad that it took a lot of time for people to get back into character though.

Thank you to everyone who helped me beat my birthday demon . Evil works out way more than I do,it was a lot of fun. A great screw you to the person who decided I needed to be chased by another arrow. Hahahahahahaha.

I felt a lot like our first weekend when we were holding tightly onto the few spells or that one cool tag ability you had. That's both a pro and a con I love fighting and I died in what I think is the perfect way. But I felt washed out by all our super awesome guests from the north.

The fire Lord mod was literally the most breathtakingly beautiful mod I've been to in three years.
The fireflies with the flares beind him ,surrounded by the fire elementals in their really cool masks. Wow.

Levi has been a delightful surprise, I wasn't sure how he would be as a shaper because he seemed a little unsure at first. But some of the little side stories he's come up with have been really compelling. Keep up the good work.

Had a lot of fun. Looking forward to next time.

[Lilith Caia]

I had a marvellous game. Thank you all very much! It was very clear that the NPC team took a lot of time to think out interesting things to occur.

Pros:
- All the PC interactions I had were really great. I had a ton of fun just sitting around with you guys and chatting IG. Thanks! I particularly enjoyed the incredibly weird events of Saturday evening with the three (and, it turns out, four) of us who skipped the fire plane. I do regret that nobody saw our cinematic moment with the fainting and the carrying.
- Arcane Advisor Nex's magical lecture. It was really well thought out and actually had me wanting to debate magical theory
- The bounty hunter's guild - it keeps a really fun backdrop to the game
- The mist marauders are always (well, I've seen them twice) awesome and terrifying. I love it when town scatters in fear
- Chess and poker were great. Thanks to Brad and... who brought the chess? Sorry I don't remember! But please bring them again, as it was a ton of fun
- Maximus's birthday. Thanks for inviting me! It was very entertaining
- The cultist plot was great, and, particularly, the intercepted pigeon communication and gate message. I love it when there are actually puzzles to sort out, and it gave new players something to do. Good job, Simon! My patience would have worn out waaayyyy too quickly
- Answering questions about Zaydesh. "He doesn't talk." "Why?" "HE JUST DOESN'T LEAVE ME ALONE."
- The tavern seemed quite well organised. And I got purple pancakes
- Another ghost wedding
- It makes me extremely happy that people are hiring me as a mediator. I didn't actually expect this character concept to work. Yay!
- Mr. Stabhappy
- New sketchyfriends!
- Admiral Earth: "PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT OR I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU." Magnar: "Sure thing." *thumbs up*

Cons:
- I dunno what people who don't carry their own hand sanitiser did, but there wasn't any after Saturday night in the communal thingies
- There were a ton of cars around and OOG people just hanging out by the tavern area. It'd be nice if there were not
- It was really quiet this weekend. Besides animals and fire things, there wasn't much happening. I totally get that it was really hot, but why not send out some more RP roles instead while people recover?
- My main con is the medical hold during the heat of Saturday. People, the medical staff is not here to babysit you. It gets hot. You are in charge of your wellbeing, and it is really easy to avoid heat stroke. Several of my cabinmates went and had a midday lie-down because they were feeling too hot, and drank lots of fluids - it's that easy. There were people in more costume and more armour than you, and they were fine, because they took care of themselves. If this was your first time, I get it, but this is an 18+ game. Don't take yourself and the medical marshals out of game for easily avoidable injuries
- Sorry, the medical hold: this clearly came from a very good place on the Shaper/medical team's part, but I quite disliked it. It wasn't 45 degrees out. People could continue combat or roleplay quite safely if they just paced themselves. Now, the NPCs could totally take a break from combat roles, and that is 100% justified, but why not send out RP roles instead of just... nothing?
- Wait, I take it back. My main main con is that there isn't another game until August

All in all, I still had a great time, and the mods I -did- see were well done, but the game was fairly quiet.

[Aeval]

First off, I want to thank everyone that was able to help me get to game. Once I posted that I needed a ride a lot of you went out of your way to find me one. Ultimately, thanks to Alexandra Kerr – you are my favorite. <3
Next off, thank you to Dan and Ivanna for such an amazing time, as well as all the NPC’s/Shapers. It was freakishly hot, and the fact that you were able to play your roles in masks and tabbards, etc was awesome. A lot of people forget how much work NPCing and shaping takes, so I would again like to say thank you for the amazing game. Your work is greatly appreciated.

Finally, Julia Perge. You are fucking God-sent. I’m sure it was a group decision but that 1 hour medical hold really saved our butts. You were on top of everything this game, every time I saw you it was “Have you been drinking water? Have you eaten? Etc. Thank you so much for making sure that the players were all fine. If I could give you all the frags and awards I would, you are a fucking champ.

Now! Finally on to the actual review:

Friday Night:
•Adam and Brent, I bow down to your superior Logistics powers. Right from the get go I didn’t have any complications, logistics was so efficient. Although I hate Brent and his evil permanent marker. Hehe.
•Coming into game being level 11 is terrifying. It was a bit hard to remember that I didn’t have a lot of the stuff I usually do, but it really helped with the atmosphere of the game.
•Meeting the Jericho pcs at the skein gate with Sven, I didn’t realize how many of us came out to Ralinwood but I immediately felt myself facepalming. The feeling of “Oh crap, one of us will fuck up” was eminent.
•I always love Lady Aminata, Ivanna your npc is just great. Upon vouching for everyone the looks you gave me were hilarious.
•ANGLER FISH, HOMG – I LOVE THEM. I want more of them, all the time! … but not really though stahp.
•Svenheim fires. Thank you guys for letting me stay there, I love you all and you are hilarious. “Fight me Sven.”

Saturday Night:
•For once, it is nice to wake up and not be bombarded by npcs. The rp roles that npc camp sent out helped to set the mood for most of what was happening throughout the day.
•The roleplay between pcs was impeccable. I didn’t hear a single thing that was infernal, I always felt in character and I loved it.
•The tavern was awesome, the food was great and it was situated in a very local area which made me not miss any game time just being secluded somewhere.
•Life advice with Callum, just this once we didn’t hate each other haha.
•Every interaction with Sevatar and Gwen. You guys are hilarious – oh man serious mage business though and standing beside Theo the Risen….ew. <3
•Getting to use my Haunt to speak to a wolf pup, only for it to tell me. “Sven give me treats, me love Sven, Sven gives pets.” – Needless to say Aeval was like “Goddammit.”
•The Mages Collective, much controversy over what the hell was going on. It was strange to see Mages taking such initiative in town, I’m so used to seeing the fighters rise above but damn. I’ve never felt so cool to be a scholar class.
•The rock candy that made people have affinity to fire. SO COOL, I loved this idea so much.
•The fire plain with Matt Halpin. GEEZ, Gwen and I stood there like. “I fucking wish we had entrances like that.”
• Romantic walks with the Aqua Draconian (Denby), fireflies and the moonlight. Lol we held hands and everything! Only to look at Denby and say “I wish Sven would do this with me.”
•Barging into Muitnir (sorry I know I spelled that wrong lol) and asking about Callum and calling him names. Hearing everyone’s laughter at my freak out.
•MIST MARAUDERS. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. – After 6 years of playing I don’t think I have ever been so fucking scared outta my goddamn mind. In game I had no idea what they were until I was an idiot and attacked them alone. While I quickly learned it was the greatest mistake of my life as they beat me to a pulp, I also fell in love with them. From my experience in NPC camp things go out statted as groups. Like, “Hey you three, go out as hell hounds. You have this and you all swing fire.” The fact that they were all statted differently, had a multitude of abilities, was crazy to me. I never knew what to expect from any of them, and in all honesty I didn’t want to know. I just knew that running was a good idea and ended up hiding in a bush for an hour and a half. I was a mixture of confused, terrified, excited, and jealous that they were out there. Not to mention the fucking vampire captain that circled Adam and I – NO THANKS. This mod was the highlight of my weekend. The fear I experienced was very real, and when you get to being a high level it can seem boring at times. These things made me appreciate Ralinwood and the hardships you guys face not having as much resources as other places do. Good fucking job, next time I pick a backup team they are coming from Ralinwood. Also fuck you Dustin H, you are fucking terrifying as a Mist Marauder. I’m sorry if I missed anything, just all of this was the best thing ever.
•Roland and Miriam fucking tooling the vampire with their healing. The most unlikely couple to wreck his shit but awesome all the same.
•Hexil, you are a real bro. I got you next time.
•Roland’s emotional explosion at Callum. Wally Persaud is his name and wrecking Callum is his game. Seriously though, this is one of the greatest emotional displays I’ve seen in game in a long time. Funniest part was when I took him to the side to speak with my squire he looked at me between his tears and was like “Out of game, I hope he isn’t mad at me for real. I’m okay, but that was also cool, I’ve never done that.” The feeling of emotion that larp brings is very real and it sure made Aeval feel cared about. Thanks Lil’Hoots <3
•Brian and Mr. Stab happy, people apparently think I’m crazy for fighting a doll, and I say. Yes I am.
•Fra – I don’t know who you are but I know that we both are now friends lol
•Seeing Adam Pypstra in all his roles lol. He is the prettiest cat. Lol Windhelm Population: 0, sticking it on your shirt cause you were too lazy to hold it.
•Dealings with Lilith. Cat, I love you so much haha.

Sunday Night:
•The wake up crows and Admiral Earth. Hahaha wtf.
•SQUIRE’S GUILD. – The looks on Sevatar and Gwen’s faces. “We must separate them before they get too advanced! …10 seconds later we hear “We have seven members now!” ahahaha. First rule of the Guild “Don’t listen to Sevatar”
•The fire mod was thoroughly terrifying for someone with a barkskin. OUCH.
•Hitting Dan with a Polymorph other: Platypus only to have this interaction.
Aeval: “I invoke Nature to Inflict Polymorph Other: Platypus.”
Dan: “Magic Armor”
Aeval: “Uh…”
Dan: “Sorry, Advanced Magic Armor.”
Aeval: “Uh…Dan…it is a spell do you mean Shield Magic?”
Dan: “THAT”
•Clean up was nice, everyone is so helpful and game seemed to wrap up without a hitch.

Thank you to everyone who was at game. I’m sorry if I didn’t include you here but there was just so much that happened this game that I’m still on a high. Currently trying to book more days off to come to more events! I love Ralinwood and I can’t wait to see you all again soon.

Oh, my cons.
-NPCS talking during the Mist Marauder mod. While I was hiding I legit could not tell if you guys were oog, pcs or whatever. That alone was a bit frustrating. Especially cause I kept hearing "haha I caught this person hiding in Emberside" or something. Can the gloating wait till it gets back to npc camp?
-NPC's walking by oog. There was so many times where you'd walk by and I'd ask "Who goes?" Only to get no reply. When I got up to fight the npc's and ask again "Who goes" They would answer angrily "Out of game!" -- Please, I as well as some other people could not see your white headbands. I don't think it is that hard or bad to answer "out of game" when someone asks who you are.

[Roland Taylor]

Wooah! Hey, I had a great visit to Ralinwood!

Some really fun RP with people I both knew already and hadn't met before (plus just chilling with people was nice).

I personally looooved the Mist Marauders. A good mix of fight-able, yet suuuper threatening!
>First starting out with how they were introduced to me (via the horrifying screams for help from a hobling followed by and entire town fleeing, shout out to Prim/Sam. Pun intended)
>The following yelling and laughter of the marauders
> Austin pointed this out, they all had different stats which was pretty cool. Some guys swung body, some magic, some normal. It's a nice variety that makes the strategy to fighting them more complex and it's harder to prioritize who's the bigger threat. It's not just "That's the big guy and he's surrounded by generic minions"

I was kinda of confused by the fire elemental mod, but I think we did it right anyway? To be fair I wasn't anywhere near the action (on purpose) so perhaps I just missed plot.

The various people offering water was wonderful (especially ice water)

There's lots of things my memory is failing me on at the mo- OH YEAH

BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER, SQUIRE'S GUILD UNITE!!!!

This concludes my review, I hope to come back some day!

[Eidolon]

Review time!

So firstly I want to thank Daniel, Morgaine and whoever else logged Katie and I in on Saturday. I know we where a pain in the but and had some special snowflake shit going on due to world plot stuff, but you guys accommodated and got us into game no problems.

So this was my first time visiting Ralinwood and I did not know what to expect. So I am going to start with the bad.

- I didnt see alot of adventure going on during the day, seemed that most PC's kind of sat around the cement pad and waited for plot to come to them. However I can totally understand this due to how hot it was out.

- The medical/heat hold. I think it was a great idea on the shaper/medical marshals end. However it shouldnt have been necessary. Like Cat said people should take care of themselves.

- Bathrooms where less then pleasant and by early morning sunday seemed to make the common area smell like shit.

So now that the negatives are out of the way let me get to the positives and the shit ton of fun I had.

- PC interactions where fantastic. I know my character didnt talk much but it was still really fun interacting and even just seeing people interact with each other. Especially Dustin, was so hard to stay serious and not laugh.

- This is more personal but it was nice playing and interacting with PC's I normally do not get the chance to as my main Jericho character.

- I really appreciate the fact that your tavern has free water and think its something most guilds should implement.

- Those blacksmiths blew my mind and really added to the immersion.

- Those elves who where at Mirriams elf meeting, although I was not part of it I was hiding in the woods near by and heard most of it. There was some really great RP going on there and a somber atmosphere that even as a none elf with no real stake in what was going on, I could feel.

- Mist Mauraders...let me just say, holy fuck that was so godam amazing! Seriously, the rest of my review is pretty much going to be ranting about how well done that was.
So never having been to Ralinwood I began to hear whispers and rumors of these mist marauders early in the day. Looking to protect my charge I found out as much as I could (well for a guy who doesnt really speak). Then they hit the town. Even that alone was extremely well done in terms of pacing and atmosphere, we knew they where coming, we had a few brief moments to begin to try to plan our course of action and then they where upon us and from there it was reactionary. I ended up cut off from the elf I was ment to protect and tried to lead them away from the main group. Wow, what a decision that was. I loved that I was able to actually fight and potentially kill them however it was still a terrible idea to try and engage alone. I ended up hiding under what was essentially a table while these things walked a few meters past me. I have not been that scared or amped up on adrenaline in quite some time. I could hear the leather of my armor creaking as I breathed and did not want to move a single muscle even though my foot and leg began to fall asleep and hurt, because I knew I would not be able to survive if caught. It was exhilarating. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciated all of this cause they where not scary due to stats, they where not just out there sensing life and being unaffected by anything. They where scary because of how they where played and the clear mechanic that if you where caught out by them the screaming would draw more and soon you would be overwhelmed.

So fast forward some time later, it seemed as though they had all gone for the most part. I went to find my charge and crossed the whole site without seeing a single one. I ran into a large group of PCs and began to cross the open field with them. Then suddenly marauders everywhere, I have no idea where you guys came from but we stood and fought and just as it seemed like we may be able to win the fight a vampire (who also seemed to appear out of no where). Daniel, you where amazing. You could have run around swinging that brutal magic sword and killing everyone if you chose to, but you played it perfectly. The vampire was an indomitable force, cutting us down, throwing his minions at us but not just going out to get a bunch of PC kills. Then when the healers started getting in and blowing their pyramids we didnt even win, but we burnt all of our resources simply to push the vampire back for a moment of respite. It was so good, that Saturday night will go down as one of my favorite times in UW and is the kind of thing I will happily tell people and use to sell the game while working cons and doing PR.

- Katie and I spent the 2 hour ride home telling each other over and over how much fun we had and ranting and raving about the game. Thank you so much for having us and working with us, I really look forward to coming back.

[Miriam Badeaux]

Coming into Ralinwood was an amazing first experience for me, you guys were so welcoming and accommodating which alone makes me want to come back. NPC camp seemed so lively and friendly and you all seem to be so committed to the game, there was a real beating heart to the whole thing. I don't have many cons to say, other than the day time was a little lulled and lacked the spice I'm used to in Jericho. That being said though, I had a lot of fun simply interacting with PC's and seeing how things worked. The hour hold you did was well chosen and commendable, I have nothing negative to say about that.

The spice I mentioned lacking did show itself pretty obviously once the sun went down and the bulk of my review is going to be spent breaking down my experience with it. Getting to give my "sermon" in front of everyone was super fun, I felt like I finally had confidence and hit my stride and it felt like those who participated enjoyed it too. It meant a lot to me we got to do that and that shapers did get to see most of it. The fire elemental mod was visually stunning, I regret it not turning into something more but I'll hold my tongue considering how crazy things got almost immediately after. I doubt I would have lived through the night without my pyramid being as full as it was.

The mist marauders were, hands down, one of the best mods I've ever partaken in. I spent the rest of the night after we "skien gated" out going on and on about how much I loved it, I honestly couldn't shut up about it. They were terrifying but not crushingly so, I felt like they had a mechanic that was known to the people of the town and we could hide from them for a while. It felt like a video game having them walk back and forth hitting the trees but not going in. When we finally fought them the whole thing was rewarding to partake in, it felt scary but it didn't feel like they were NPC's out mindlessly thirsting for PC kills and machine gunning their swings, which I hate seeing so much. The town rallied and we took them on, I was scared but grinning the whole time. I loved that it wasn't about crushing PC's but about creating an atmosphere and a story. It was satisfying to take the vampire on and terrifying to know he'd come back. It did everything a monster should in LARP. It presented foreboding lore to be told to newcomers and lived up to it, and left me wanting more. I love the idea that something actively haunts the town and can be defeated, but not so easily. Reoccurring plot is great to see especially when it's this unique with builds and mechanics. I feel like you're going to get a very similar review from Kieran haha.

All in all I feel I didn't get the whole picture of Ralinwood, but I got a decent enough look to hook me. I'll definitely be coming back... And hopefully with lives to spare lol.