Close a Window, Open a Door - August 2016 Event Review

[Lilith Caia]

I am very ambivalent about this game. This review is going to be really self-absorbed and focused.

It is very clear that the plot team is trying to put out things for non-combat characters to do. They put a lot of effort into this, and it is very much appreciated. Unfortunately, a lot of it fell very short. I was personally extremely excited to have a demon-heavy game, as that is my speciality and it doesn't always come up. That... kinda fell short of the subsequent experience. I expect a lot of these complaints are probably my fault for being dumb, but here's what I experienced.

Negative:

- I tried to negotiate with the Friday night demons. They did not want to negotiate. Okay, that's fine. But then when they did give me an opportunity, I learned that they didn't actually want to negotiate
- I made a contract with a demon for safe passage and the demon broke that contract. Demons don't break contracts
- When I tried using demonic arts, the demon NPCs would occasionally be irritated with me for doing so more than once, or respond with 'fully repped' or other various sassy things. This skill cost a fuck ton of CP and is almost entirely useless. Just gimme this one thing, guys
- Spent like 2-3 hours deciphering messages, which was kinda fun in and of itself, but it turned out those messages were not particularly useful. My deciphering the map to the Sunday mod mission turned out to be entirely useless, as PCs who knew where the final mod was being held just... went there. At best, it helped save us a travel time hour - which is not a benefit at all, since travel was instantaneous regardless
- Spent another few hours playing chess to get information about the overplot. And, again, while chess itself was fun, the information never came in handy. At all.
- Almost killed a Balrog! But then a cutscene. Maybe not a cutscene. Maybe we could have stayed and gotten it. This might be inaccurate. But it felt like a cutscene when the NPC in charge told us to book it

Positive:

- As I said, it was very clear that the plot team was putting a lot of work into giving non-combatants stuff to do. And interesting stuff!
- Demons and fae are fun
- Nex's props are always fantastic
- As was the mage's tower mod, although I don't really know how I feel about ritual scrolls as loot, given that there are... what, like 2 PCs that can cast rituals? Still, the entire mod was so well done it was a joy just to be on, regardless of loot
- Every mod I saw seemed pretty swell, minus the comments above
- The shaper team is -very- open and responsive to criticism, which I also appreciate
- NPCing was super fun, and the roles I was given were great. Thanks for letting me be those things!

[Aeval]

Wow, what a weekend am I right? 

This has been my second weekend event at Ralinwood and I loved every minute of it, 'cept for my damp sweater. On to the real review though:

Pros:
- The first night, helping Theo perform (What I believe) to be his first ritual. It was really fun to be able to participate in it, although right after fucking demon portals.
- XBOOM and Damon, I love you both so much, you made my weekend.
- Demetria, Riven, Golbahg, Sven. You are the reason why I am transferring Aeval to Ralinwood. Seriously, the rp between us all made Aeval come back to life for me and I couldn't have asked for anything better.
- Lilith and Sevatar, so cuuuuute~
- All the puzzles, while I didn't follow through with the letters and stuff the ciphers were super fun.
- Demi's High Elven lesson. Oh my god my heart.
- Combat, while I tried to stay back from more of the bigger things it was nice to buff others and see how they fared against things.
- Orion and Fraa, my new friends! 
- So many goddamn feels this game. Shoutout to Demi / Breanna for your amazing fucking roleplay. That's some top notch shit. (Same goes for Riven and Sven. ) - Best family.
Aeval: "Well when I move here, I can bake you cake."
Demi: "Can I have twooo slices of cake?"
Aeval: "No Demi, your dad would get angry, you can only have one."
Demi: "Aww....can I have two cupcakes"
Aeval: "No Demi, you can have one with sprinkes, or a muffin."
Demi: "Ohh I love muffins! Can I have two."
Aeval: *heart breaks* "Demetria, you can only have one."
-Den mother Aeval. RIVEN YOU ARE MY SON.
-Forest Fire babies with Zaydesh, trying to pick an elven race for Sven. lol Hottest fire elf!


NPC's:
-THANK YOU NPCS. For clarifying things and being so patient with me, especially when I asked questions for hated race purposes.
- WHO THE FUCK was that guy dressed in black that scared the shit outta me on Saturday night..? I was deciphering a message and BOOM some random guy. I almost screamed.
- The pacing I found was great, I got the right amount of downtime and the right amount of plot. There was always something going on I found, and the npcs were fantastic. 
- Also shoutout to everyone who npc'd out in the rain. You guys were non stop trekking it this weekend and I commend you all for doing such a bang up job.
-Seriously, there are so much things I can break up and talk about but you guys are awsome. 'Nuff said.

Cons:
-Okay, I'm sorry (and not sorry) if this upsets some people but if YOU hurt someone you don't get to decide if that person is hurt. APOLOGIZE. I am not the best fighter in the world and I am guilty of giving people head shots and nut shots (Sorry Austin) before. If I or anyone else hurts someone you apologize, if you have been told to watch your swings twice then maybe stand back from the fight and regain yourself. 
-The Blood River Mod. While I did thoroughly enjoy the mod itself, the last bit was terrible. The downhill slope was terrifying, muddy and slippery. Someone could have seriously got injured, I know I scraped my arm on a few of the thorn bushes around the area and cut my leg open. I'm sure it would have been fine on any other day but with the amount of rain it kinda sucked.

[Ostrozne]

Pros:
-I didn't get sick again. Likely due to being in bed by an air conditioner.

Cons:
-Not ONE single mod showed up at my apartment. NOT ONE. SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED.

I may need to start bringing my gear home so I can come to Ralinwood games as Oz. Despite weather, I've heard good things about the event. Hurray!

[Zaydesh Hakaar]

Pros:
PC RP Moments -
- Sevatar and Zaydesh RP. Dragon vs God. Friends pitted against each other. The emotional RP I had with you and resulting from our interactions is some of the best I've ever had. Thank you Brent.
- Listening to Aeval. Trying really hard to give advice. BESTFRAAAAND!
- The Forest Fire comment nearly killed me.
- The math equation of "Little Rock and Sweet Little Baby Fish in a tent equals an aquarium"

Plot moments -
- Mages Tower mod. Discovering the puzzle mechanics and working on figuring out the answers. i felt very happy with myself on this. (Also, thank you Cat for assisting midway through to quicken the process)
- Casual Zombies. I felt super powerful blowing my spell load into 7 zombies to end Saturday night.
- Also discovering the Shadow Demon's weakness and having the "A-ha!" Moment to lead into touching it with said lights.
- Pacing was proper. Job well done.
- Monster Marshal Hollander. He deserves alot of credit for the thought into the stats of the things we fight. Fair but fear inducing, I really appreciate his part in the plot.

CONS!
- NPCs. Not every creature you happen to be is so intelligent that you know what spell I am casting. If you are a non-sentient/semi-sentient creature, you wouldn't know I've casted a healing spell into someone. That also goes for NPCs who cannot cast Healing, you don't know what spell I've just casted, so you cant tell the difference between a recover and a death ward, or even if ive casted from the Healing Sphere at all. please be mindful of what you are playing and remember that when you do something that your creature would not do, that breaks my immersion and lessens the quality of the game.
- I feel like this is being repeated to much. Injuries. Please be careful of your fellow players. You character means less than their safety. never hold your characters "life" above anyone. I know how it feels to have a character die. Take it from me. It may be bad, but a reputation as a dangerous player is worse.
- Speaking of safety. BOWS! Night fighting with bows is dangerous. Please use caution/logic. Please note my comment above.

[Aeval]

- Casual Zombies. I felt super powerful blowing my spell load into 7 zombies to end Saturday night.

LOL Sven and I having a serious heart to heart talk and a prancing Zaydesh runs by and fucking wrecks a zombie. ahahahaha

[Lilith Caia]

That also goes for NPCs who cannot cast Healing, you don't know what spell I've just casted, so you cant tell the difference between a recover and a death ward, or even if ive casted from the Healing Sphere at all.

That's not actually true any more. Spells can now be recognised if the individual has seen the spell cast before (at the player's discretion), regardless of sphere.

[Zaydesh Hakaar]

That also goes for NPCs who cannot cast Healing, you don't know what spell I've just casted, so you cant tell the difference between a recover and a death ward, or even if ive casted from the Healing Sphere at all.

That's not actually true any more. Spells can now be recognised if the individual has seen the spell cast before (at the player's discretion), regardless of sphere.

Fair. So I will retract my statement about sentient creatures. But I still have a beef with semi to non-intellegent creatures.

[Rajani the Dark]

This was a big turning point event for my character, due to some of the RP that happened. While I (typically) missed a lot of the action (due to being almost useless in battle still, also rain) the RP was excellent. Hats off to Em for staying in character so well. This may have been my favourite event as Rajani, even though I only played her on Saturday.

NPCing was great. Although, my favourite role of the weekend was very underappreciated: Angry Protesting Monk.

The biggest drawbacks were all out of Shaper control: the weather and the low numbers. Still, great weekend.

[Branya]

Better a late review than a never review...

I only managed to make it out for a couple of hours, but those hours were amazing! The PCs I got to interact with were fun and interesting. There were NPCs out and doing what they do. I left with more plans and more questions than I arrived with. It was exactly the sort of beginning I hoped for. Thanks all!