Blood Ties - Sept 2 Event Review

[Ivanna]

Thank you everyone for all your hard work this weekend. We couldn't run this game without everyone's support, ideas, energy and enthusiasm.

And without further ado... Let's have it!

What did you like, what needs improvement, and what were your most exciting stories / moments / interactions.


As a reminder: we always take RP awards recommendations! Please email ralinwoodshapers@gmail.com if you wish to recommend someone for excellent / outstanding RP / role playing contributions!

[Dr. Moran]

Overall good event guys, I'm sad I missed most of Saturday but it was nice seeing you all!

Pros/Memories/Yay:

• Hiding from mist marauders by lying face down in thick trees for over half an hour while I waited for them to blow over. Then watching a vampire walk past and realizing that I was one sense life away from being screwed sure was nerve wracking. Running from the undead later was also terrifying but exciting, I like putting the run and hide back in the "run fight hide".
  
• Seeing Eris the cat again. Best cat. Better than any of the humans in town.
  
• Hunting for an invisible knife, getting held up by gnolls and being used as a meat shield in a very tactical decision which I will most certainly continue to bring up to all involved parties. The look on the one gnolls face when it realized I had lied to him was pretty spectacular.
  "Hey look I had to kill your friend but I'll give you his stuff if you come stop attacking me."
  "You mean it?"
  "Yeah come here, take it, we can leave in peace."
  "Oh wow alright th-"
  "Flurry of blows."
  
• So many undead I could smack. It feels nice to be useful.
  
• VOOOOOONN! I rarely get to play with you but I had so much fun. One minute you're trying to poke the obliterate scar and I'm trying to escape the next we're half asleep on a bench because town takes too long to rally.
  
• Seeing so many friends from Jericho was lovely. I missed you nerds.
  
• Reflecting magic on a certain sleep spell and then carrying Azurine back to camp. No regrets.
  
• Sooooo much amazing RP. Lucy's fabulous Traduceri wax reader, getting warm hugs from Ivanna, seeing Setth again, realizing I lost both my Rains with Kiyo and Lonely, star gazing... all of you are great.
  
• NEW PLAYERS! There were so many! There was a wild elf! You all did great and it's lovely to see so many new faces. Hope you had as much fun as I did.
  
• Accidentally getting the attention of Sverin. Also the subsequent shouting at the sky that followed because damn it this isn't fair and why is it always me. Why.
  
• "Ursel those farmers are super shifty."
  "No they're not they're just scared."
  *five minutes later.*
  "Surprise sap."
  "No effect, helmet. You bitch. Now I have to kill you and tell him he was right."
  

Suggestions/Downsides/Less Yay:

• I am still having an exceedingly difficult time getting answers to necromantic arts calls. This is mostly happening during mods with a lot of NPCs which means I'm looking for a marshal to avoid being useless or misusing my skills.
  
• If the tiki torches are to remain please secure them better and maybe be careful with spacing as a lot of fighting can happen in town centre and people aren't used to checking for fire before they back up. I like the idea of having more light around the paths and real fire is neato but I personally have zero spatial awareness when fighting.
  
• There was a lot of meta this time around, please avoid talking stuff like deaths you don't remember and information you shouldn't know.
  
• There seems to be an issue in that if you need to talk to a shaper and there isn't time at game because of them being busy, you email. But then if you email it tends to go unanswered because people get busy and you end up going into the next game with a half done RP and no idea what you're supposed to do.
  
• Please make an effort to correct yourself in the future if you misgender somebody. Seriously.
  

[Carrion]

The Good
- I usually use this section for the things that were good about the game as run by the shapers and NPC team, but I actually didn't interact that much with the mods or plot this weekend. That was a me decision though, and not anything against what was being sent out.

The Less Good
- I usually try to restrict this critique to the game and not the community, but my sister mentioned the misgendering and yeah, it was really frustrating this game. Especially on the heels of all my recent forum posts. I know that for visitors that haven't met my character mistakes are almost a given, and that slip ups happen for the people that already know, but when I'm correcting people multiple times in the same conversation and other players are noticing it's a little much. When I have to loudly interrupt with "I'm a man" and then "I'm still a man" seconds later, it's pretty disheartening. I know the shapers and owners are keen on addressing this issue one on one, and that means a lot to me, but I'd really rather not have to run around with a tattle list. If you slip up, please make a conscious effort not to a second time.
- That's it really. As mentioned about, I didn't interact with all the mods since Carrion was pretty skittish this weekend, so I can't really critique them. My only other real complaint is that the latrines were the stuff of nightmares, but that's out of Ralinwood's control. I know folks in NPC camp were scrambling to find some way to fix it.

Personal Highlights
- Had a lot of real good personal RP with folks. Anything discussed in the grove tended to be hilarious despite the looming threat of death, and watching the wolves take care of their new pup was great. Special mention goes to James/Bast and Bre/Demetria, both for the hilarity of Bast's hypothetical morning routine and the deep talks that were Saturday night. Discussing the afterlife and "you already know my answer" particularly tugged at the heartstrings.
- Lucy's aja. Just when I'd decided to stop worrying about personal plot...
- Mmmmceleste followers.
- SWAMP WALK CITY and the general atmosphere of people having fun with their spells before rememorizing.
- The look of confusion that turned to horror on everyone's face as Carrion flailed around while being strangled by a Drowned Woman.
- The MVP jabbing at me with his body spear through the cabin window while I was on my NPC shift.
- Jannika's reassuring domino reading.
- "You still have gold?" "Yes... in my sock drawer..."

[Ancel Belmont]

Great game everyone!

Pros/Highlights:
NPC shift was fantastic second time in a row. Ralinwood does it right, super fun to be sent out on roles for you.

The mist Marauder ship, 3rd deck. Seeing Oz take heavy damage, I begin smithing. He doesn't initially notice.
Oz: breach!
Me: Oz you're up 10.
Oz: oh, pocket smith. Woo!
And continuing to do that as he was continually targeted by missles, covering just about enough each time. Most enjoyable repairs I've ever done.

My interactions with the Citadel NPCs.

A well placed dirt in the eye shot that interrupted my repairs momentarily on the back line of the last mod.

Interacting with PC friends, and meeting new players.


Cons/Lowlights:
Not your fault, but THE HEAT. Super draining to do anything.

[Viv]

I was hanging around NPC camp Saturday. It seemed to tone down the pace appropriately for the heat, and NPC camp was working to care for everyone's hydration.

[Cicely Fenn]

pros
- seeing old friends was amazing, coming back to ralinwood for the first time since like... april? arriving in town was much more chill than anticipated phew
- finally rping a thing that meant a lot to cicely and her future
- meeting new friends!!
- getting people to chest bump!!!!! <3
- stargazing, pretty much perfect weather and sky for that
- fighting in formation is super fun, loved the mods i went on and felt they were statted really well (an appropriate amount of terror)
- learning about ghosts (also being touched by one jeepers)
- witnessing the cat in the box with the smoke bomb and the following escape into the darkness
- actually burning through most of my stuff in one fight was thrilling, never had the opportunity to do that before
- amazing npc shift, meeting the ralinwood crew was super fun and it was SO refreshing how organized you guys were with the white board, loot and such
- being a crow and pooping on people was the surprising highlight of my weekend <3 (my packet aim is getting better dammit!!!)

ehh
- for some reason i was cranky as fuck this game (especially saturday), i assume due to the heat and BURRS OH MY GOSH my nightmares
- a couple of npcs ignored my hits during one of the mods... not sure if i need to speak louder or enunciate better or something but it got frustrating
- no one's fault but smelling those porta-potties oh lord... couldn't stay in town centre much because of it

[KRONG DA STRONG]

Pros:
~Boat mod was super fun!
~Oz yelling something along the lines of "Let me at those bloodsucking leg chopping assholes" as he waddled on his cut off legs
~My first time NPC was a total blast!
~The patient NPCs explaining things to me that i did not understand when most possibly would (not knowing merc abilities when NPCing a merc enemy)
~Being a kobold and having Gnar loot me for a cursed kobold tooth and hearing him talk like a kobold XD
~The very thoughtful and concerned wind bringing water and making sure people remained hydrated
~The fluidity and openness of RP possibilities such as watching someone operate on a willing faceless to see what faceless are made of!
~The kind and patient npc people helping me and treating my badly scraped elbow, making sure I was ok.
~Receiving a Phoenix Sigil form an action I made the previous game. Im glad to see that even small actions from minor mods can benefit for later events.
~PIG ROAST

Cons:
~I just want to say that dying twice the first night of my third game pissed me off a bit. I know that its mostly due to my own foolishness, however, I did seem like there were way too many threats almost all together vampires and then drowned back to back felt overwhelming. Kinda salty about it.
~THE UNCONTROLLABLE HEAT OF THE GREAT KABOOM

Other:
~I would like to apologize if I committed any infernal acts or said anything of the sort at all this event. Its my third game and I'm obsessed with puns and jokes and forget or get caught up in the moment.
~My sympathy goes to those who wear tons of armor in such hot weather. Thank you for committing to the RP and making things immersive. You the real MVPs

[Bastus]

Pros:
-the hanging friday! that was legitimately spooky.
-great time npc'ing as always, cheers to you shaper team.
-getting rekd saturday morning by 3 separate types of danger (explosive, bear, elemental water)
-being sneaky w/ the crew, always a great time.
-THE GENIE MOD OMFG!!!!
-^really though it was a clever set of puzzles that felt great completing. id love to see more of that.
- Fae walking a bunch was phenomenal
- lots of fun deep RP
- new friends and accomplices, new players getting better and better!
- authentic fear saturday night, love it
- the always helpful and impossibly capable larpers
Cons:
-missing out on all insta-mods, feels bad man.

[Carrion]

HOW DID I FORGET YOUR GENIE WISH.

Carrion is still somewhere between deep concern and trying not to laugh really, really hard every time he sees an increasingly flustered Bast fall out of the fae realm.

[Ostrozne]

After a night in the freezer, I believe my brain has solidified again. Damn.

Pros:
- PIG NOM PIG
- Mist Maurauders. At Night.
- The Captain on the Cardio-Ship-Don't-Fucking-Fall-in-the-water-Mod. I think the mod is under appreciated due to the heat, which made is grueling. But would definitely do it again.
- Yay new laws! WOO
- Sermons and Masses getting much larger.
- New initiates to the BRR.
- The post-announcements hanging effect. Pretty cool. Would have liked to have stared at it longer, were it not for the fighting retreat and subsequent empty-ass town afterwards.
- Tiki torches! Always like them. Good atmosphere.
- Robert Rundle is a fucking CHAMP.
- Sun and heat endurance to save a peasant.
- Loved the drowned women/not-quite-banshees. Needs a sound though to finish the overall effect.
- Tom getting dominated through the window. Hysterical!
- The lovely IG/OOG moment when people are asking, "Where is everyone in town?", "Oh, they're all on civic duty." .... "Shit."
- The drama that comes with a small number of Life effects in game.
- Campbell's RIDICULOUS mod of death and horror. Those were the most obscene weavers and knights of Malagant I have ever seen. Just on the edge of too much.
- Being put in a body cast and going the hell to sleep.

Neutral
- Mod collision. Given the heat of the day, it's fully understandable.
- Head shotting Sam twice within as many minutes. This is a neutral because headshots are a bad, bad thing, but he's bigger than me so it might be a Freudian boffer slip.

Cons:
- Those goddamn outhouses. That remains my single biggest complaint. There was one that smelled like you could extract pure ammonia from it by Friday night. Anyone with lung issues probably could have got a nasty internal chemical burn. And the maggots.