Event Review - In Times Of War

[squazzy]

i had a great weekend over-all!!!

this was my first event as a support character, so that made everything a lot different then i am used to. i also was glad to see so many new faces, and so many great costumes! ^^

pros;
the ork catapult mod was AMAZING. great atmosphere, loved the fire, and the waves all were timed super well. great job!
the ork wave battle was great, too, talk about super-pitched. i also witnessed the epic battle moon had with the ork caster! it seems to me that would have gone a whole lot different without the wizard lock thing... the hospital got lucky, and saved lots of pcs.
the final battle really seemed more like a final battle. (i was a murker, for reference) i didn't really know what the big crabs could do, but i had some good fights and thanks to all the pcs that casted magic on me so i couldn't do much then die, haha. 
jeremy creeping the heck out of me and bell, and creeping our cabin. CREEPER. and the spiders, three of our cabin-mates getting webbed and then figuring out how to get them back in there / kill the spiders without also getting webbed...
the creepy merchant (and props go out to constantine. you have the best creepy creature rp EVER. please do it more often)
being a little glowing light and all the rp that came with that!
the free ale, not that i had any!
watching the mod where bell and a few other pcs almost got stolen away - then ash, prim and a few others showed up to save the day! some good rping there.
being one of the wake-up kolbolds that is now a citizen of ralinwood! thanks, theo!


both;
i didn't mind that much that saturday morning was slow, i just wish we had warning so i could have slept-in, haha (since friday ran sooo late.... )
i really liked the housekeeping kolbold, but it came way too late in the night. sheesh.


cons;
- i think we need a dedicated photo ninja!

[Branya]

I've sent out a few PMs to get more details about some of these cons. If you didn't get one, don't think I'm ignoring you! I might just have asked someone else about the same mod/problem/etc already. And you're still welcome to PM me with personal input if you'd like to.

Here are a few things I can explain openly.

Cabins. There actually aren't any unused cabins right now. Two are used by PCs, one by NPCs and the last one locks up so that I can safely store the things that should be locked up such as smoke bombs and player files. I promise that if we had unused cabins, we'd be putting them to work for you!

The OOG tent. This wasn't described to all the NPCs because it would be a breach of privacy for me to explain one person's medical concerns to another.  That said, anyone who chooses to announce their medical situations is welcome to, because I know it reduces confusion. Sorry to anyone who was thrown for a loop by this.

Timing. From the PC side, I think the actions of NPC camp can seem very arbitrary. I'll explain how our timings happen.
Weeks before game, the shapers plot out what stories and situations we plan to provide, and we slot those into a rough schedule so that we avoid stepping on one another's toes more than we have to, or forcing players to choose between mods too often. We adjust that schedule right up until a few days before game. After that, we list other stories as "flexible" at the bottom of the page. Those ones, we send out when we have more hands on deck than usual or more bored PCs than usual, or something else that makes the time feel right. The last thing we add is the "at event" stuff. That's merchants, crunchy monsters, NPCs related to overplot, personal plot things, etc. Those we send out strictly according to how many people are awake and waiting to be engaged. So when players are surprised at how late into the night we were sending things to bother them, it's just the other way around for us. To us, the fact that you're awake is an instruction to us saying that you'd like to be interacted with. We don't always know what interaction you want, but that's why we keep sending them. Likewise, when you're shocked at how early the plot stuff started on Saturday, considering the late night on Friday, that's because the early morning was already written down and planned, and the NPCs for it went to bed early, but when the PCs stayed up late, so did NPC camp. We find those mornings exhausting too, but we do them because we're trying to entertain the night owls and still keep on schedule. Matty might be onto something here - if camps were to tell us what types of interaction they prefer and whether or not they need interactions in the night, that might help us to let everyone get their jollies or their beauty sleep as they need. Apart from that, we'll just do our best to learn from experience with you all.

Pros
+ the costuming. Holy smokes you people and your costuming. I can really see the work that some people have been doing over the winter, and even many of the new players really impressed me. Looking good people!
+ the role play. I was really impressed by the good, the bad and the ugly out there. I don't want to out anybody by using names, so you'll have to pat yourselves on the back and know that you did good (or bad, if you're a bad guy).
+ creative solutions. To personal problems, acquiring goods, gaining the combat advantage against orcs, levering political situations. You guys impress me every game, but this game seemed especially on point.
+ mystics. More of them this season, and doing good role play. Good on you.

Cons
- as mentioned by a few others, we discovered some things to be understocked in the bathrooms when we got to site. That should be looking better next game.
- the death of Ange's camera lens. I'll post more on that later.

[Gustav Von Schattenkrieger]

For the record....I was pleasantly asleep when Dustin's Kobold woke my ass up at 4 in the morning. I didn't want him at all lol

[Branya]

For the record....I was pleasantly asleep when Dustin's Kobold woke my ass up at 4 in the morning. I didn't want him at all lol

Haha. I stand corrected. We usually follow your lead about whether you want our attention. Usually.

[River_forestwolven]

[quote='Drakkon' pid='15163' dateline='1431397214']
For the record....I was pleasantly asleep when Dustin's Kobold woke my ass up at 4 in the morning. I didn't want him at all lol

Dustin has balls. I could not do this.

[Gustav Von Schattenkrieger]

Bad things happen when I don't get my sleep apparently lol

[Retired]

Had a blast


Goods:

+The amount of passion AND planning that went into this event was evident.

+Friday Orc Catapult Mod was dope as hell 10/10

+Saturday night from 8pm-12am was great.  Didn't even go any mods.  Just RP'd with people in town and some of the NPC merchants. 10/10

+NPCing the orc wave battle was a ton of fun.

+Cassan Stuff and plot

+Just RPing with people 10/10

Bads:
-Lack of loot during the final wave battle.  I didn't have a problem with the massive and the breaking armour ability, but lat least have treasure to give us a chance of recouping some of our losses.

-Why can't we render shields anymore?  It seems SO stupid that we can't.  I thought we could?  It's actually cheaper and more effective to just burn magic shield scrolls than to use an actual shield.  Please stop being stupid and let us render shields whoever stopped letting us render shields :-(

Overall:  It's like everyone I enjoy being around and RPing with is at Ralinwood and everyone I fucking hate with a fiery passion is at Jericho......it's perfect!!!  I don't know how you guys keep all the turds out of the swimming pool but keep it up and I'll keep coming!

Thanks everyone!!!

Kazmuk NoBlood

(Only retired from online RP)

[Neomi Yves]

Hey everyone,

I'm just going to keep it short and sweet. I liked friday, although I wasn't able to enjoy sat or sunday the way I wanted too. Some of it due to my own personal reasoning, (My firbog wasn't feeling too well and Luna too so I was worried so much about them) and some of it due to lack of rp and overall town plot I felt wasn't like the past weekends I've gone to. Those weekends were so memorable, but I know you guys will do it. You guys are awesome that way.

I wish there was more on the Salamander Event. It started while Van and I were at Tavern and ended when we got to the site. I wish we got a chance to find out a bit more on the subject. Also the Sktar was awesomely done, but I regret not showing him my book. No worries. I'm sure we will be seeing more physignathus followers come around.

What I want everyone to know:
Guys, It's okay to rp with me that you don't like my character. That's why I choose Styphon to follow. Conflicts of interest if you will. (Wait until the shadow or the white followers start showing up though ;D) I want to encourage everyone to make their point and rp. I want to talk to your characters and get to know them as my own character. I know a lot of you guys are probably shy, but I encourage you guys to try and go out of your comfort zones. That's how your characters learn not only the game, but new faces and whom to trust. I've met some awesome people while rping that I now chat with on fb and hang with OOG. The people who come to game and the people who plot our pc deaths are all amazing both IG and OOG and they are why I choose to LARP every weekend. So talk to us.

Glad to have:
I'm glad to have the opportunity to show a new pc about the Dragons and show some other people my book. It was awesome. I loved sitting in Emerald Camp and the Ice Elf of doom (Nick) scream at the Einher. That was so hard not to laugh, but so funny I didn't want it to stop. A true laugh out loud. I do want to thank Dustin and Jeff B for not only the Dragon info, but explaining things to me. I've learnt a lot more than I would have about dragons. Dustin's quote being "Think Broadway". Let me tell you all a secret, Broadway is coming to Ralinwood. Dragon Style!

This was more than short and sweet. I'm sorry.

[Sathis Aren]

I had a lot of fun this game in and out of combat.

Pros:

+ Hectic field repairs during battle made things intense when the enemy was closing in on me and a fighter in need of repairs. I lost count of how many times I looked back and forth between the armor I was fixing and the approaching enemy while whispering, "Just a few more seconds!"

+ The last mod was fantastic in the number of enemies. the fight was chaotic and hectic. It really was a ood lesson to the people of Ralinwood that we REALLY need to come up with battle formations and plans.

+ The constant RM being handed out. This is obviously a selfish pro. I understand that loot should be varied, but I'm just overjoyed that I managed to get some more RM for future projects.

+ The late night mod was actually pretty nice. I liked that we were woken in the dead of night to fix a problem. That's something I expect in a lot of LARPs. It really helps immerse me in the game, since I'd expect there to be a constant amount of danger and problems that need solving, and that shouldn't change at night.

+ The duel between Grimnir and Callum.

+ Grimnir having several knife fights with members of Muintir

+ NPCing as a skeleton and having the Risen use Necromancy on me to make me kill my fellow undead and danc next to him.

Cons:

- I agree with Brad about the NPC's using massive too much. Were it used sparingly, massive damage might be intimidating, but it's more annoying than scary now.

- Kobolds banging pots and pans outside my tent