One Hell of a Party (a masquerade) Event Review

[Aelin]

Let's hear it.  Good, neutral, improvements.

Let's also take a leaf out of Jericho's book--give us your favourite memory from the evening!

Thanks everyone who came out!  We had a blast!

(Aftermath description thread coming tomorrow.)

[Granyte the Ogre]

Yay for Imps!!! 

Just want to say as an NPC for this, I had more fun then I thought possible. You guys are always amazing to rp with and I wouldn't trade you in for all the magic items in hell

Side note: Dustin, you had me laughing so damned hard I could barely breathe!

Best memory of the night?
Little Rock - "What the fuck Leon?!?!?!"

[Promises]

It was a great party.
Since someone's grabbed Little Rock's moment, I'll have to go with my "Remember This Always" with Riven. Some others that're right up there and tied with it too.
It was great seeing a bunch of people I hadn't seen in awhile. Seems like the Masquerade got a bunch of you out. ;P
+1 Dragon Visitor from Jericho.
The plot was simple, worked, and gave us the backdrop to interact.
I loved seeing my helmet lit up like that.
Would Masquerade again. Wouldn't mind a few more dancing songs next time!

[Melody]

It was a great time! i got in a bit late, but was able to jump right in.
Favourite moment would be drawing dragon-shenanigans with the clock, or literally anytime with Sevatar and Lilith.
The angel costume was amazing, not to mention the lights on Justin, those touches were awesome.
Plot was just enough that it keep things moving and enjoyable.
Would masquerade again!

[Viv]

I come out to Ralinwood primarily to roleplay with Wizwik (NO PRESSURE SHANE, but there are so few Gnomes on the overworld), so I tend to be blind to everything else.

Pros:

+ Music was spot on in some parts. Especially the elevator music. Only in Hell. Also thumbs up for the drummers and dancer. That kind of background setting was a lot of fun.
+ Hex the fortune teller. Coincidentally, he came around after a serious Gnomish discussion, and it shed a new perspective on the situation.
+ Vesimir costume omg. Flares, wings, lights, then the final battle - wow. That was incredible. Hats off to the person/people responsible for that. Ditto to the demon lord's red lights.
+ The awards at the end are a great keepsake. <3
+ I enjoyed the auction. Coincidentally, it came after a Gnomish discussion, and it helped Viv get a point across. I admit that at least one item was very tempting. I do with there was more range than magic weapon/item and catalysts - would've been cool to offer a class or race change, for example. (I am highly unfamiliar with Ralinwood economics.)

Mids:

o Imps/demons interrupting personal RP things. I get that we're in Hell and the NPCs have free rein to make PCs miserable. If that's the schtick, flow with it. But Wizwik and Viv were sorting out Gnomish things (they meet on average once a year) and on an OOG level it was very frustrating to get into an involved and very personal moment only for an imp to poke in their nose and demand that we pay attention to them (literally in one case). 

It's a very sticky IG/OOG thing to balance, and in the future I'd advise the NPCs being more aware that they should be entertaining the people who need to be pulled out of their shell instead of stopping PCs from advancing their interpersonal plot to entertain them.

o I am unsure of the actual purpose of the imps, besides serving food and bothering people. I know one wanted to play a game (pity I never got around the entertaining that request). I would've like to see a merchant go around, or someone arrange a scavenger hunt. One Jericho event I played an NPC serving "dessert or poison", where people ate Pocky sticks and had a chance of getting a magical/alchemical effect.

I don't know what the Shaper team had planned for the imps besides "annoy the mundane". Maybe they had one and I didn't stick around to find out.

o I'm divided over describing food as IG demon food (blood, flesh, etc.) or OOG what it actually is (flavoured drink, spinach dip, etc.). I came expecting to be fed and was quite hungry by the time game started. If I was a more morally absolute character, I would not have eaten anything, which would have led to a serious OOG dilemma. Again, this is an IG/OOG balance - demons aren't going out of their way to feed mundane people mundane food - but it's something to keep in mind for the future. (My suggestion is "this is pork tenderloin that was definitely NOT blended with baby flesh wink wink", and leave it to the PCs to decide on the truth.)

o Some slower dancing music would've been nice at some points of the night. I OOG enjoy dancing but the faster songs were daunting. Maybe having imps drag people up?

Cons:

- More NPC games. I found things slow because I'm not a congenial person - I'm not meeting and greeting people. A lot of people are shy or intimidated by the situation. So having an NPC force people to move people around during the non-rainy times, or play a serious game with prizes, or something to draw people around.

- The conclusion was the definition of deus ex machina. (Literal, if you think about it.) I didn't need to do anything to help advance the masquerade's conclusion and found myself just waiting to be let go. To be fair, I play Viv as a stricter "do not screw around with magic" version, so I don't know how much work was put by other PCs getting us out. To me, it felt like you needed a handful of keystone characters to solve the problem, and the rest of us hung around to watch.

I would've felt more satisfied if more PCs were involved in gathering pieces to the puzzle, like a trail of bedcrumbs. It would've made my participation more active than passive.

- The choice of a clock instead of a more recognizable symbol. My first reaction to a clock clearly covered in magic was "go get an Avian". Puzzles are difficult to design because it depends on how fast people pick up on a clue. Too easy, and there's no challenge in solving it; too difficult and plot risks the PCs not solving it by the end of the night. 

Memorable moments:

* Favourite memory: punching Wizwik in the face ten seconds before the demons could lay down the "no assault" rule.

* "This is Viv's device, it does [redacted] - " *player immediately tries to run away with it*

* religious discussions, primarily with Wizwik, Byford and Melody.

* Blank's dancing.

* I got to show off my costume. I honestly don't know how it looks, because the hair sparkles are on the back of my head and the view from the front of my skirt is different from the top down I get wearing it. I'll be taking pictures of it tonight and putting them on Facebook when the light is low - I was hoping a photo ninja would get it, but I understand that it's hard to get good images of how it looks.

[Wizwik]

I enjoyed the Masq for a couple reasons ^^

+ To Viv's "I come out to Ralinwood primarily to roleplay with Wizwik" I am happy that I can make you're games fun ^^ its true there are very few Gnomes in the world, and now only what's out due to the transition of Gnome going into the appendix.

+ "Viv? Are you-" -punch to the face- "Ow~~ Glad to see you're ok"

+ Demetria giving me the best laugh I think I've ever had as Wizwik

+ The fortune teller Hex giving me an amazing reading, thanks again Levi you rock ^^

+ The talk with Viv really made Wizwik feel more then just a Tier 3 character that has no real feelings or ties to the game. I got some real emotions when Viv talked to Wizwik about potentially not being friends anymore. That hit Wizwik hard in the feelz but it's what I love about games that can make you feel the character rather then just wear its skin.

+ The religion talk was great with Viv, Wizwik stood his ground with what he started and was not giving up his idea for the Church of Light and I truly felt like for once I didn't just spoke the faith, I embodied it.

+ Seeing the Angle of Vesmir, that was fucking awesome!~ also hearing Gwen got a blessing from a god she had been worshiping for a year and got nothing to have this be the game she gets one was awesome to see/hear ^^

+ Food was amazing, thanks to everyone who brought food ^^

+ Talking Gnome-techy with Viv was a true challenge since Wizwik never does that in Ralinwood because no one gets what he would ever say. Made me remember what I'm playing and the world in which I came from.

+ Getting the green feather from Hopperpots, it was a small gift but it really brought a great sense of appreciation to Wizwik that not everything has to have a RM/silver value to make something special.

+ Getting a NEW DEVICE!! I know for Gnome we get one ever home guild but I haven't got one in months due to technical problems. (Not pointing fingers or anything I enjoyed the rp as to why I couldn't make new devices, Gnome-world problems X3)

+ Safe to say Viv made the whole event amazing and I'm really grateful she showed up ^^

Now for some things that could be done better for next time

- More game's, the Fortune telling was great and would love to see what interesting games plot can come up with.

- Fighting tournament, fight small stuff and work their way up. Silver for beating small stuff and big rewards for the tougher stuff. Give's players who like fighting, but cant hit heavy like the older players, a chance to fight and earn a small profit. Just an idea~

[Dr. Moran]

I had a pretty great time at the masq, it was nice to roleplay with people more, especially cause I'm still meeting most of these people.

Some pros:
- the costumes were amazing. not just the player ones but the NPC outfits with their horns and the glowing lights were amazing. AND THAT ANGEL THO.
- food was great
- Julia was really great when I messed up my arm and I appreciate that
- music was good though not really the sort of stuff anybody could dance to (the guitar bits by Austin were 10/10 tho holy heck)
- performers were top notch

Some cons:
- a few others have mentioned this but more games would have been fun, just a way for people who weren't super combat oriented to participate (i saw fortune telling and skull throwing but the skull throwing ended abruptly when the auction started)
- the whole bit with the clock seemed to only be for people who could channel or had mad religion knowledge so us murder hobos with no magic just sort of smiled and nodded while everybody else figured it out. didn't feel like there was much for a lot of us to do except wait and hope for the best (tho to be fair we were all in hell what else were we supposed to do)
- really thats about it, again more songs that people could dance to would have been nice

some cherished memories:
- I got to meet Blank in character for the first time and that was solid gold. Him coming up to me while I was praying was a highlight of the evening and I felt real physical pain when I saw him go down after that mass exorcism
- "WHAT THE FUCK LEON"
- Demetria being savage af all game to me without even meaning to. should call her Jagged Rock from now on because she takes no prisoners.
- Zaydesh, Riven and I creating the huddle circle to avoid the demon that kept trying to lure Riven away

In conclusion it was a radical event and I had a lot of fun. Thanks for making the best of the terrible weather and I hope we can do more events like this in the future!

[River_RedClaw]

Viv a sorry my imp upset you, we were told to annoy and be imp- and imp like.

[Viv]

Thanks, but I'm not too distressed over this. IG it was an annoyance, which was your job; OOG it was frustrating because it takes time to warm back up to whatever Wizwik and Viv were talking about (we just about never interact with other Gnomes so getting back into the mindset is a big deal to us). On the flip side, I've heard of people who didn't get hassled by the imps very much, or people who obviously looked very bored/hanging back from the action. 

I found it odd on an OOG level that imps would interrupt our involved conversation to be all "pay attention to ME" instead of interacting with the people who didn't appear to be doing anything.

[Blank]

THIS. EVENT.

I loved this. Even with the rain. The role play was fantastic, people looked great in their outfits, and I got to play Blank again after so long away.

Highlights:

"WHAT THE FUCK LEON?!" - Seriously the best thing I have yet heard yelled at Larp apart from "HORN"
RP'ing with Demons and being genuinely polite to otherworldly party throwers.
THE ANGEL OF VESMIR. You outdid yourselves. Best repped Angel I've ever seen.
Demon auction! I bought nothing out of sanity, but how wonderful an idea.
THE FIRESPINNING/BREATHING. You guys continue to rock out loud.

And finally:
The greatest thing I've ever attained through role play. I jumped up and down like a kid getting his first GameBoy Color. Thank you ; u ;

A fine example of a masquerade done swimmingly!