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Our first outdoor game of the year has come and gone! We hope you enjoyed it despite the cold! Thank-you to everyone who worked hard to make this event happen!
And without further ado.. Tell us your thoughts! What did you like, what needs improvements, what are your favourite memories? Let us know!
Any concerns or major complaints, please feel free to email contact@underworldralinwood.ca to speak to the Owners (myself and Dan) directly. I'll get my email issue resolved soon.
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So, as usual I'd like to start off by thanking the Shapers and NPCs for all the work they put into this event. It's not easy to get these off the ground and we appreciate the time you all take to do it. I apologize in advance for the length of this but I feel it's more helpful to explain my criticisms then just go "I didn't like this."
One of my complaints is going to go up at the top in the hopes that people read it, if nothing else from this. Players. Do not shout at, harass, whine at, or otherwise be dicks to the NPCs who are trying to put on a mod. They didn't write the thing. They don't always know your oddly specific rule question. Go talk to a shaper if you have a question and be polite about it. We're adults. Some of you were absolutely awful to the volunteers this event and it was unacceptable.
Pros/Highlights/Good RP Moments: - The scammers were hilarious. We were wondering what was going to happen with the information that we gave to the people wanting to "document" our PCs, but I can honestly say that pity scams for gold was completely unexpected. I just started laughing my ass off the moment I read mine because nobody told the scammers that Mizrah Atara doesn't use currency, so Ori's family asking her for gold is absurd to her.
- Nira and Frye playing keep-away with my anchor was the UW equivalent of my nerd getting shoved in a locker. 10/10, would rather have Nira harassing me about my anchor than Rhademia.
- There was some really great RP this event, particularly from Kraye (racist with a heart of gold), Nira (troll supreme), Blank (philosophy bro), Alfric (champion of the people) and the three newer players we had.
- Ange's puppy is wonderful and I love him. "Oh look, a dog." "He's white, does that mean he's OOG?"
- Campbell landed a stalactite packet squarely on the top of my head. Took 5 massive. I remained conscious, but screamed "guys I think I have a concussion!" while I hobbled over to a healer.
Cons: - The looting skill exists for a reason. Just grabbing a handful of tags and yeeting them in the air to get blown away and or descended upon by a pack of PCs instead of just letting people loot the monster is frustrating. If you want to make it something multiple people can loot at the same time, go ahead. Or give one person the stack of tags and go from there. Don't just make it rain when we're in a soaked field and it's windy.
- Random draw loot (aka the chest at the end of event) frustrates me. I got very lucky this time around. Other people got a 3 silver gem tag. Putting rituals, 1/day magic items (some of which were very powerful) and high value tags in with junk tags just means a few people get lucky and others are disappointed. If you want a method of paying PCs for services rendered just print a stack of RM/item tags of similar amounts/values and dole those out.
- Swamp walk is a frustrating thing. Permanent swamp walk is just boring. Permanent swamp walk on the way to a mod on the other side of the site when the path is flooded and we have to only take one step every 3 seconds while our shoes flood in the mud is just pointlessly infuriating.
- The water mechanic was a needless punishment for anybody who invested money in armour, used two handed weapons, or had a shield. If one or two mods had used it then that would have been one thing, but it showed up for a large portion of nearly every mod in the event. It got to the point where we'd ask if we'd have to swim to get there and when the answer was inevitably "yes" a bunch of us would just walk away. The amount of miscommunication about how the mechanic worked was also staggering. Nobody knew if we could incant or speak half the time, and the barriers of deep/shallow water were borderline nonexistent.
- Shapers should not shout OOG stuff across the field in the middle of game. Trying to talk and all of a sudden having a guy in a white headband shout for people using OOG names instead of just walking to them is ridiculous.
- If a shaper miscommunication/rule mess up causes an issue, please sort it out in camp and get all the information before making PCs feel attacked over what they were told they could do on the mod. I got pulled out of game mid conversation, with no explanation, and then got to NPC camp to be told I messed up and shouldn't have been able to do something. If Dan hadn't come out to apologize afterwards I might not have been coming back.
- It has been 0 events since somebody has randomly started talking to me about Ursel in a way that did not fit the conversation.
- I had no idea there was a set path for the first mod as it wasn't really outlined anywhere so I just sort of wandered after the pack and tried to figure out what was above water/the deck of the ship and what wasn't.
See you guys in April!
Ori Moran: A purple feathered Avian with a red hat who carries a black and white shield. She has three Shadow Marks over one eye and a scar through the other.
Nelinha: Some asshole Ice Elf. Has a bright red hooded scarf and a black winged brooch.
OOG: Alex Heintz - NPL - Official Ralinmeme Maker
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03-24-2019, 12:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2019, 12:30 PM by Blank.)
Shapers and NPCs, my thanks for all the hard work. As far as Cons go, Alex's post above encapsulates my thoughts fairly well.
In the case of Pros:
- Jen's giant beached leech mod. Very fun and inventive mechanics, props, and, at a base glance, monster statting. Really enjoyed the entire experience.
- The tiny tidal pools that one could loot in the underwater geyser mod. I enjoyed having there be tiny places to explore during the fight. Really helped immersion.
- The messenger scam letters. I might have cried laughing. Well done!
- The treasure chest reps. All of them. Perfect. Absolutely wonderful at conveying the "buried treasure" aesthetic.
Take care, and see you all in April
Blank
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Ahhhh, what a come back. After 6 months off from adventuring as Ebon, I got too come back and remember how much I love coming too Ralinwood/Larp. Had a blast running around and interacting with old friends, and seeing how much some of them have changed over those 6 months. This event had its ups and downs for me, but overall still a blast too participate in.
Some highlights of the event for me;
The opening mod going right into the plot for the weekend, was expecting the ship thing too be at the end but wham bam right at the start, started it off with a bang, and i really enjoyed that.
Pulling the giant enemy crab out of the water with the ropes! The npc getting stuck on the wood beams had me fucking loling. Then secretly seeing Ang untieing the rope at the midway point ahhhahahahaha.
I super liked repping swimming in the water. Was doing the doggie paddle at one point and made some peeps laugh.
Liked the idea of the water crashing wave things during the swampwalk section where it was icy, thought it was a neat way too make an environmental hazard seem scary. And it kept people safe on the winter ice that was everywhere!
I liked seeing the loot some people were getting, saw some neat hints at some plots that might come up over the year.
Loved the email scammers npcs.
And all my interactions with other players. Cat gets a 11/10 on her stash of different glasses and hats she was trolling me with haha Had me legit thinking i was seeing shit at one point haha.
The final chest getting all the people involved in the plot a piece of loot is amazing. That was the only tag i got all event, even if it was a 2 silver gemstone it felt very nice too just get something at all. And seeing them call back some of the harder working non looters to get a second grab at an item was amazing. Ahh!
Some lowlights;
All the weapon breaks. Holy moly i went threw more silver swords this one day event then i have in my year of larping at Ralinwood+my year at Jericho combined. Was completely out of gold/resources by the 4th sword gone. Ended up borrowing from other players and oweing some favours all over the place too cover the 5th and 6th silver swords that also ended up broken. Thanks too whoever the npc was that came out too sell me another sword near the end of the game. I was getting legitimately salty at this point and just sitting out mods in fustration. That one last sword cost me the most powerful item i had in my bag to get another player too buy it from the npc for me. Im not sure if this was just bad luck on my end because i didnt see many other players having this problem, and maybe it was just me unluckily running into the fucking weapon breaks like winnie the pooh too a beehive of hunny. It just felt targeted even though i know it wasnt. Felt fustrating and punishing, i dont loot/have the resources too deal with this kind of thing in game due too how I play my character and thats on me i guess. Not a good way too raise difficulty on a mod or go threw characters resources, its literally jjst punishing a player who isnt one of the hoarders of gold or tags.
Really disliked the looooooong swampwalk on the last mod. I like too roleplay these things and my poor arms and legs were getting sore from fake swimming while swampwalked for what felt like half a km of thick oozy wet mud. I felt maybe jumping from rock too rock or having some sort of mechanic too break that walk up a little would of been nice. There was 1 npc too keep us busy and the poor fellah ended up charmed at the start or something along those lines.
Am kind of dissappointed in the greed i see from some players. I saw multiple fights over loot. I dont loot at all for this very reason. I dont see a point in hoarding coins or tags like i see some people do.
Also the people argueing rules/calls with npcs--come on guys its like argueing with the DM in dnd you just dont. During the game you just roll with the calls being made, aftergame you approach npc or send an email too discuss it all.
Was still an amazing game, and it was fun too be Ebon again after all this time and seeing and interacting with all you fun peeps again. Thanks for all the hardwork NPC camp does too entertain us. Yall dking gods work.
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Pros:
-The overall narrative made sense. We had a clearly defined goal.
-Those mail scammers were fun. Even better that they were Chuggsy's people.
-I am interested that some bloodbringer reps came out. I am not involved with that stuff. But fighting an ogre was fun. Bring out more reps from other factions.
-Keep sending out merchants, I like those, and they had some interesting stuff.
-The leech mod felt like a slog, but a manageable one.
-Holy shit landsharks are brutal.
Cons:
-The water mechanic felt kind of hacked together. I get the line of thinking that came from the ruleset, but for a lot of people it was basically "Don't participate on this mod." I am aware of the choice one can make of shedding armour and going for a dip. But anyone with 2 handed weapons, or shields, was essentially neutered.
-The cave mod with the landsharks kinda did not make sense from a narrative standpoint to me. I was likely uninformed, and if I was, then disregard this. But all I remember is people going in, faffing about for like 20 seconds, then having to retreat from landsharks.
-Throwing tags up in the air instead of allowing loot counts or multiple loot counts somewhat invalidates a skill.
-That slog to the final mod was not fun. Having to swampwalk the entire way felt like a waste of time.
-The chest at the end, greatly favoured people who were huddling close to the chest when it got opened. Good we got some PCs to regulate people getting paid, thank you to you lot. If that did not happen it would have been chaos. If that was intentional, why was it?
Overall, I had a good time. A lot of it was playing my dwarf, which I really enjoy. It was a fun game, just some mechanics stuff. Nothing supremely bad. I give the event 7/10
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03-24-2019, 09:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2019, 09:21 PM by Shaper Jenn.)
I would like to personally apologize about the loot explosion on my part. Thought it would be thematic about the leech exploding at the end but in hindsight it was a poor choice. Got some good advice at what I should do in the future. Will not happen again! <3
Jenn Wood.
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Please do NOT contact me here, or on facebook.
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03-25-2019, 09:15 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-25-2019, 09:15 AM by Brondulf Elricson.)
Can't do a big review since I'm in the middle of university work, but I still want to throw my two cents in. That being said...
Pros/highlights:
-Loved the small team ups that organically happened with other NPC's and PC's, shout out to Sam's first mate and the female Dwarf I never got the name of.
-From what I can tell the combat NPC's did a great job at being challenging without going too overboard for the most part. There were some boffer hits I managed to barely block and defend against and I'm glad they didn't argue past a brief confirmation that I was sure.
-All the mods I went on felt unique and really inspired! The environmental storytelling was on point this event and I hope there's going to be more.
Cons:
-There was a big lull in activity during the afternoon where nothing came out of NPC camp. I figure it came down to the split newbie/veteran mod needing to be set out and manned effectively twice so I don't put any blame on anyone, but I still feels real dull to wait around between the cold and the cabin.
Now for the reason I wanted to post this. While I completely understand that new mechanics that inhibit movement are overall really frowned upon by a lot of us (myself included at times), I cannot state enough how much I felt the water mechanic and swamp walk effects added to the experience. While the water mods limited the interactions of highly armored, large weapon PC's, I feel that the pre-game announcement of the mechanic allowed us to prepare ahead of time. Additionally, while I'm 101% against swamp walk being in place for the entirety of a mod's layout, I think the environmental effect is effective at making people really work together and add to the story being told. The split mod midway through game had us swamp walked while being battered by waves, and whoever came up with that idea needs a raise right now. Don't get rid of swamp walk, or the water mechanic, but keep the playing field open for people to choose whether or not they want to jump into that part of the game (for example, have jutted rocks in the water players can shoot down from/support those in the water, or keep the swamp walk effect to a certain section of the mod players need to pass by, rather than the entire mod at which point it just becomes boring to walk). Also, if there are going to be effects that pop up in multiple mods like the water mechanic or swamp walk, please continue to post these on the event invite/forums (even if its a level 1 effect like swamp walk), having all our questions answered ahead of game allows us to plan ahead and dive right in without as much a headache.
Overall, I had a ton of fun this event! I know behind the scenes can get a bit messy, but your guys have a plethora of wonderful ideas and engaging thing you have thrown our way so far. Shaper team and the NPC's get a round of applause from me as far as I'm concerned, and I can't wait to jump back in as always.
In conclusion, 11.5/10 would pet Fenrir again.
*Edit: Hmm, guess I did do a big review xD
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03-25-2019, 04:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-25-2019, 04:03 PM by Carrion.)
So first of all I want to thank people for the warm welcome I got back. I've had to go to Ralinwood a little less in recent months due to some time and budget constraints, so I'm glad I went and saw everyone.
I also want to say that I'm bothering to write this long winded review because I personally trust and respect this shaper team, and I think that giving some critique to people who are good writers who might take it to heart is better than just grimacing and ignoring it because hopefully they figure it out on their own or they're your friends or whatever. You're lovely creative people, and I see the start of some really fun things, but there were some hiccups and I want to try and address them in as constructive a way as I can manage.
The Good
- The mage tower was lots of fun. I love answering medieval style "who am I" riddles asked by a mysterious true fae. I also appreciated the various chants of "The Mage Tower is not Duvain" when the other casters saw me joining them. What happens in the tower stays in the tower.
- The stalactite mechanic was fun. I found it pretty intuitive that they were responding to large amounts of sound and movement and that's why they fell into crowds.
- The letters seemed like a really funny brick joke and it was nice to see my friends react to that, even if I had no idea what was going on as someone who's unfortunately been absent for much of the off season.
The Neutral
- I have no issue with the grab box. Did it favour the people that saw it opened? Yes. Did it favour the people that got to pick from it first? Also yes. Was it still more than most support PCs get on any given game and was it more than we're usually paid for helping town? Also yes. Were it not for how easy it was for people to guess which items were worth grabbing by touch, it would have been more nicely random and I'd have put it in my pros side of things. Instead of obvious magic items or ritual pages, just have a similarly sized default looking tag that says "Name of Ritual, See Plot" or "Magic Item Description, See Plot". It allows for some lucky draws while not really favouring people that had the advantage of proximity.
- I know there's something Going On with Emilio and the stress he was under was very well broadcasted and played excellently by Jeff, and thus his decision to render a townsfolk person mute for two months with no trial and potentially not even a broken law can be seen as a logical extension of that characterization. But also a PC is now mute for two months while we sort that out. So ehhhhhhh. I feel like his various angry demands and just storming off might have been enough but if he wants to go full tyrant we can go full tyrant.
The Not So Good
- When I heard that there was going to be various water mechanics and a pushback effect, I kind assumed it was going to be like the bridge mod we had last season where there there was a risky water area of a normal combat zone. Some land for fighting, and some submerged area for the lightly armoured folks to be helpful at. Instead, very very very few people were useful all event and, like some people have pointed out, knowing we'd have to swim somewhere or be submerged during it sent most people away from the mods. While you'd think this would be time for the scholars and support to shine, the fact that we had very mixed answers on if we could even incant made it hard to know if we could even contribute at all.
- Not a huge fan of how ridiculous the loss of weaponry this game was. If something has a chance to destroy your weapons it's usually pretty well broadcasted. Having crabs burn through like six swords on the same PC is excessive, and having what appears to be a shallow sandbar area riptide weapons away from people the moment they're disarmed (or trying to snatch them off someone's body) with zero warning just feels like an unexpected punishment for trying to engage. Weapons expire now, so I'm not sure what the visceral need to decimate town's weaponry going into the new season was about. We can't really hoard them anymore.
- If you have a big mod at the end of a very long walk, and that long walk is also entirely swamp walked and has an elemental constantly slowing down the stragglers, please have someone who can immediately explain what the hell we're looking at when we get to that mod like ten minutes later. We were some of the last to arrive and completely at a loss at what we were looking at until I asked a shaper, and Emerson admitted to me that he was in the middle group and also hadn't the foggiest clue what was going on.
- I know that Peacekeeper has really limited what spaces we can use over this past year, and that the terrain was kind of garbage and that could only be so predicted ahead of time, but for a lot of mods I went on the journey there, actual space, and path we were meant to follow was pretty confusing. Special mention goes to the landshark thing where maybe eight people out of the entire town that went there got to interact in the small space before we retreated again.
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Y'all I had so much fun! Thank you all for putting on a lovely game. In particular -
Compliments
- The 'send 5 gold home' scam was hilarious and great. Also multigame set ups are dope
- The newbie mod was really excellent (though I felt a little weird being on it)
- Really enjoyed interacting with Alba
- I think the combat crunchy NPCs did a generally very solid job
- Not letting non-mages into the Mage Tower mods! Excellent choice
- Jenn's pictures
- The leech mod was really good, though a little confusing at times. I really liked the hold-on-to-the-rope mechanic
- Messing with Ebon was great, thank you to my many accomplices
- Bullying Ori like we're in middle school
- Generally making many lovely friends
Mixed
- I have mixed feelings about the 'toss tags into the air' thing. I suuuuper don't think we need to be feeling bad for people with Looting - that skill is already ridiculous. But it did just benefit only those who were a) close to the thing and b) fast/greedy. Depends on if that's desirable, I suppose
- Swampwalk as a mechanic is cool, just not for extremely long walks/periods of time
Criticism
- Spaces with different mechanics/representations needed clearer dilineation. For example, during the first mod I had no idea what was water and what was not, nor where I was allowed to go
- The water mechanics are cool, but I think they could benefit from having fewer buckets to remember
- The whole land shark mod was very confusing. Not sure what was up there
- Generally communication seemed to be a problem. On most mods I was very confused about what I was supposed to be seeing/doing
- A more minor complaint, but we really do not need to keep giving Strength added benefits ad hoc. It's already enormously powerful, and it should not be a panacea. Why not use number of people, instead? Then it's not just a "who has Strength?" exercise but one everybody can help with
Anyway, super sad I'm missing next game. I look forward to the next next.
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