Event Review - Hellions

[Alastair Waystrider]

Being my first event, I don't have much I can compare this to, but I thought I might add my perspective as well:

+ Everyone was super nice, and those running the show were incredibly helpful. Big shout out to Justin for the quick briefing at the start on what to expect and lending some gear that certainly saved my life. Also thank you for everyone at medical who helped me out.

+ The cavern with the oil pot was certainly my favourite. I started out hiding in the back thinking that as a squishy lvl 1 caster that I had very little to contribute, but Shaman managed to convince me to get right in there to the front line. I then particularly enjoyed the undead slaying action that ensued.

+ The monsters were fantastic, both in looks and acting. I began to fear the sound of imps laughing. I would feel my heart sink with every banshee cry, scream and wail. I would find myself so incredibly still as giant bear monsters roamed by, that I could hear my own heartbeat. I loved every moment of it. An extra kudos to those banshee screams... like, seriously, you all did a fantastic job!

+ The story was pretty cool, and somewhat approachable for new players. Upon hearing of the hearts needing to be collected, it was fun to speculate as to where we would find such a thing with other players.

+ The wedding was actually pretty awesome, and impressively done in such a short time. The RP that went into this as well was unreal, and fascinating for me to see so many character personalities and motivations.

+ Overall, I had an absolute blast, loved the stories, and most importantly, enjoyed meeting so many awesome and welcoming individuals.

- Only thing I can think of to improve is the way the story manifests. I am new, and might have missed a lot, but I felt as though a lot of the main story involved waiting for the next storyline to trigger. On one hand, this was great to catch a breather, but on the other hand, it prevents us from feeling like we can take our destiny into our own hands. This included a lot of the insta mods as well. I would have loved to be able (especially during the day) to venture forth and seek out adventure. Now as I said... there might of been a lot of this out there and I simply didn't find it, or maybe as a new player I didn't know what to look for.


Now as a side note, reading through this thread I have read a lot about the fireside chats on Saturday night. For that, I deeply apologize. I was disappointed to find that early in the evening, I would be unable to move about the camp without severe pain in my knee, and requested to sit out of game, but somewhere where I could still observe everything that was happening. Being new, I wanted to still watch the story and terror happening all around me. I did not fully understand the protocol for sitting out of game for medical, and did not possess a white headband. I sought to RP with the people around me while I could, and avoid the parts of the game that would cause physical pain. As far as infernal speak, I tried to maintain in game appropriate dialogue, but certainly slipped up a few times. Again, I apologize.

In the future, I will certainly bring something white to wear, eliminate infernal speak completely, and do my best to observe proper protocol (although I'm hoping there won't be a "next time I'm on medical").

I look forward to future events, and continuing to getting to know everyone better. Thanks again for an incredible experience! You've managed to get me hooked

[Samvel Edar]

Since I missed last years All Hallows I was very excited to go into this game.

+The mood at night was certainly set felt like I should be out hiding when ever I was out in the open

+Hiding almost in plan sight as the Brimstone Demon roamed around

+Killing Imps with a single whip has to be one of the greatest feelings I have felt in this game especially so coming from playing as support character

+About to walk off with some others right before the mist marauders, "hmm we seem to be walking towards sparks" (turns around) "And that's fog..." (Runs into tree line to hide)

+Right before the final fight with the death knight getting a psi blade and just taking out zombies left right and center

+getting pushed into the little door and finding what else but kolbolds

-A bit too much OOG talk from the PC side of things this game, I know i was guilty of slipping up more the usual this game

[MythicFables]

This was my first All Hallows and a really good time. I played a new character and was surprised how much I enjoyed doing more extensive makeup. Orc's are really entertaining! I also played a non-combat support character for the first time and still had a lot to do and felt useful the whole event.

Pros:
+The mod with the oil bucket was fun. I'm playing a non-combat support character, but I was still able to employ the game mechanics given to both light a second torch and throw my alch light into the bucket so it was easier to find. Having the torch to light other peoples weapons really helped me feel like I was involved, and having to stay a healthy distance from the bucket at all times kept me on my toes. Great fun.

+Later that night, running for my life from terrifying screams for two hours. Ended up hiding in the Tree's with Roland and Van and didn't realize how much fun sitting silently in terror with a group of people could be.

+Banshee wedding! It was so surreal and awesome. I got to be a bridesmaid! ....The constant 'sense lifing' by the undead we were walking with skeeved me out in really awesome ways. Getting to have conversations with the Zombie groom was great fun. He was such a lovable monster.

+Holy crap the mist marauders were scary. I kept hearing 'sense wounded' and felt like peeing every single time. Thumbs up!

+Einish Science! I didn't understand anything that was happening but it was hilarious.

+Got lost in the woods and got led back to town by a talking cat and a flaming fire demon trying to give me whiskey.

+The final mod was also really fun. It had this whole feeling of complete hoplessness. We were constantly out of resources and having to struggle to get it all together. Actually doing the final battle and both succeeding and having everyone live through it was a huge rush. Awesome.

+Mourning our lost ones on sunday morning was really sad but touching. Losing Azura, Doyly, Sage, and Vianne, left a really lasting impression of tragedy. The last fairy door mod with the Kobolds was hilarious and the perfect lighthearted note for such a heavy event to go out on. After feeling like crying in the sad ways I laughed so hard I felt like crying in all the best ways.

Cons:
-There were alot of injuries. I tripped in a ditch with like four other people while running from spiders. I at least wasn't seriously hurt like many others were, but Holy crap it gets dark this time of year. I heard people commenting and saying that players should be using more safety or alch lights, but given the tone of the game holding a light will only draw npc monsters towards you whether it's an in game safety light or not, so almost nobody was using one. Don't know that there's a solution to this other then maybe have more tiki or glowstick torches planted around the property?

-The pacing of the last night was a little hard to deal with because of the attrition rate of the game. Either because of Injuries or leaving game early, so many people dropped out of game so fast saturday night. It was like barely midnight and it felt like there were way less then half of us actually playing. 

-Going from tent to tent to wake people up and after going EVERYWHERE and only getting two or three people to go back into game was stressful and frustrating. I don't like bothing people and banging on a persons tent only to wake them up and they tell me they're out of game due to injury made me feel pretty lousy.

-I'll also say that while the Mist marauders were fun and scary, after a while it felt like the mod had gone on too long. People tried to make an effort to deal with them but they were super hard to kill. We had to wait for them to just give up and leave which took ages. The mod was really fun at first, but having to jump in the bushes for like the twelfth time it started to lean more towards being a boring gruel.

Conclusion:
I really enjoyed most of the mods I was part of. The whole game had a fun atmosphere of terror the first night, and then hopeless creeping doom the second. The pacing of the second night was a little rough, but it led to awesome roleplaying, including the impromptu wedding of Callum and Ash by fireside only moments before the last mod which honestly was the highlight of the whole weekend for me. It was a really emotional event overall and it covered the full spectrum of things I could feel. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.

[A goblin played by Matty]

Actually , ya ya brings up a good point. We had those tiki torches up in September and the mood lighting was excellent.

[Lilith Caia]

Oh! One thing I strongly disliked: the light from the house. Super immersion killing/blinding.

[Ras'Thashynn Quickshadow]

This game was amazing. Well done plot. Well done PC's
Pros
+ Spirit shenanigans!
+ Not leaving town center but feeling like I did alot.
+ Running away from demons as a Psionics caster.
+ The difference between day and night
+ The wedding. *wipes tears from eyes* My boy, getting married. I raised him well.
+ Costuming. NPC & PC.

Cons
- Infernal. Way too damn much of it.
- Getting told to go easy on new PCs over said infernal as they are new.
- Since when did the Mist Marauders talk? I remember when they first came out we were told to only scream and yell.

[Brennus]

mist marauders were not the only thing that was sent out with the marauders. if it talked it was worse.

also of the marauder mod only one marauder survived. a few of the aforementioned worse things slunk back to their dens after slaking their thirst.

[Branya]

The confusion over whether to be IG or OOG at the fire when injured was mostly my doing.

We had a large number of people who were hurt enough that they shouldn't run, but not so bad that they were looking to leave site. I had to decide how to handle them. Traditionally, UW has asked people to remain OOG in their tents when they're injured, but I felt that:
1) it was too cold a weekend to be in a tent when you could be beside a fire and
2) these people had paid just as much as everyone else, hoping to enjoy rp, fear, hanging with their friends, and all the rest that game entails. Having that taken away due to injury didn't seem right.

In the end, I told a number of players that they could go back into game as their characters and continue to engage at the fire, and simply inform NPCs that they were not fit to run. I can see why it frustrated NPCs and PCs alike, but I can also see how sitting alone in a dark tent for 8 hours when you paid for a game would be unfair.

Right now we're talking out potential solutions for letting people be IG and also susceptible to death and injury just like fully active PCs. I'll post on this as soon as we have a viable solution. Meanwhile, anybody with thoughts on it, please shoot them my way!

[Romanof]

The marauders where fine! It took some smarts and Thank fully we had a smith in the cabin. But it didn't seem that bad. I was expecting worse

[MM/NPL Dustin]

I had a good time this event, with but a few complaints. 

On the bright side:
+ I felt very important in every fight having my magic sword. I really IG and OOG loved having all the support and having people call out to me to make sure I was okay and could keep fighting. Shout out to my Psionisist buds who used their knives to great effectiveness this weekend!
+ Having my history plot come to a conclusion was a LARP dream for me. I’m glad that that particular portion of my character’s life has come to an end so that he may move forward.
+ Whoever played the teddy-bear, you scared the ever-loving fuck out of me in the cabin Friday night. I have a particular phobia of animatronics and the resemblance to some sort of Chucky-cheese nightmare creature gave me a hell of an adrenaline rush. My heart hasn’t pounded THAT hard from fear during a LARP event in ages. 10 Points to whoever came up with that monster…
+ Also, throwing the bear out of the cabin eventually was funny too… and Haru and I failing to kill it with an elemental bladed garrotte. 
+ When I originally proposed to Brett (Jaeger) about coming to LARP, I thought he’d just end up being a casual side character that just ran around and shot people and was my right-hand every weekend. I had no idea he’d end up being so important to the town and I’m so proud and happy for his valiant efforts Saturday night. Awesome work, bud!
+ I enjoy the Marauders whenever they show up. Also “sense wounded” is a really cool call I think should be used more often.
+ Everyone had a good costume this game, even the first-time players. Good job everyone!
+ Shout outs to Adam P, Cat M, Dustin H, Sean G, Sean K for some of the best RP I had this weekend.

On the downside:
- The porch light from the house on site is really immersion breaking and blinding. I get that the land owners have the right to do whatever the hell they want, but it just really sucks.
- I had bad luck with loot for Hallows, but perhaps this is my own fault. 
- The pacing of Saturday was really poor in my own opinion. There was a period of a few hours Saturday that I was able to just wander in the woods without any incident. 
- The final fight on Saturday night was fun, but felt slightly underwhelming. Unless I was mistaken, it seemed the undead didn’t even have magic thresholds. I know I could damage them, but I saw others hitting them for normal and it working.
- Whatever Angela’s costume was that I saw in pictures from the con… why wasn’t that at game? That costume was awesome… 

Overall, I had a good time.

I’d like to apologize to the NPC’s and the Shapers once again on the Pumpkin attack encounter. During the fight, I was mistaken in how much body damage I had taken and didn’t drop when I should of. I spoke to one of the shapers and apologised afterwards. I will try not to let this happen in the future as I’m a huge advocate for the honour system and do not want to make a hypocrite of myself. 

Thanks everyone for an amazing season! I look forward to chilling together on High winter.