Event Review: Come what May

[Clay]

This was my first full Ralinwood game (I previously attended the Masquerade last year). I had a great game and I am impressed. Let me start with some suggestions.


***Suggestions:***

- I'm not 100% certain, but it looks like the ground all around Emberside is covered in poison ivy (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/s...n-ivy.html). Some small footpaths seem to be starting through it. This should probably be addressed somehow such as roping it off or letting people know at announcements.

- Deodorizer (blue liquid) in the portable toilets. It's not perfect but it does make a big difference.

- There was some confusion in the first tower mod. Several players were sucked into portals but a large number of other players seemed to get left out and we were separated. Moreover, when we heard fighting and tried to help, it seemed like that was OOG noise and we couldn't hear anything. On a plus side, the attacking wave of monsters towards the end helped.

- An unused town fire. I understand that the tavern will be a centre point during the day, but perhaps getting a fire going and having NPC activity centred there in the evenings would be good.


***Things I thought were very well done:***

- NPCs that infiltrated town. i.e. the Dark Elves attacking and stealing from within. The pure surprise of being attacked at the back of the line by 'friendly' characters was amazing. Also, the restraint of those NPCs. I was slept and dragged off into the woods to be robbed. I'm grateful they didn't kill me or Wally (well, just him, I'm not KB active!) or take absolutely everything.

- Good use of flares for the first night's mod.

- Shade. Having a tent in Emberside made for a comfortable tent temperature. Having the pavilion to stay out of the Sun during the day where I can RP and interact with others was great as well.

- Choosing a spell reward was a great idea. I understood later why the elemental blade option was important

- NPC creature type balance

- Actually being pushed back and fleeing NPCs that were too powerful. There did seem to be some confusion as players were told by NPCs that the mod was over after being pushed back. I tried to bring back as many PCs as I could but so few people got to experience the possession section of that mod.


***Some great RP:***

- Melody's dragon mark circle

- My ongoing relationship with Sieur Abatt and his forced washing a dragon mark off my face using soul whip

- Oz's RP with sleeping Gig

- Creeper, all around great job

- Cora's repeated attempts to smith me in my bleed count in the first tower mod while being chased. She didn't give up trying to save me

- The Orc that came by in the morning to collect a PC in camp and gave a 2 minute countdown. I was impressed the orc could actually count so high, but couldn't hold in the laughter when, after doing reaching 100, said "one minute and one." Well done, sir!

- There was a Witch Mark in our camp and some characters came through quite late at night while everyone was asleep. Even though it was a non-aggressive encounter, the character still RP'd the witch mark.

- PCs which were excited to start telling stories (and basic info) to the newbies. Laum (wild elf druid) was great at this and really informative.

[Ostrozne]

Cons:
-didn't go on enough mods.
-SWEET FUCKING HELL WHY IS THERE A DOG IN HERE. I'm sending you guys the bill for my shat-in pants.
-Pretty sure Dan sleeps naked.
-Broken shield rep. The shield is legendary, and it would take the hammer strike of a God to the destroy it. But the handle is total crap.
-Morph suits leave NOTHING to the imagination. Goddamnit Campbell. EYES UP GENTS, DON'T LOOK DOWN.

Pros:
- Shattered Elves are HAAAARRD. And I KNOW you were aiming for me, Hollander. WTB sealed armour plz.
- "You've been taking those 16 body hits to to the back, right?", "Yup!", "You're not dead yet?", "Nope!", "Shouldn't you be enraged?", "I am!", "Why are you only attacking NPC's?", "Do you see any PC's around?", "Good point, carry on."
- Conspicuously intelligent ghouls running from Sunstorm. Makes sense though.
- First UW event I've attended this year with ZERO rain.
- The long awaited Blood Red Rose plot and opening a new Chapter House. Very happy Oz.
- Getting a Stuffed Bunny tag for Saeeda. Seriously, Ralinwood provides the very best in silly tags that serve as gifts.
- Getting lots of loot, keeping none of it. Why aren't the farmers rich yet?
- Tagging along on the new player mod to the farmers to clear out rats to monitor aspirants. Yelling out advice. Dan's rat coming up to bite me then promptly running away. Adam's rat walking up to me, sniffing, then running away, arms flailing.
- Seeing the aspirants get rewarded for selfless acts. Doesn't need to happen all the time, but it can make all the difference in keeping newer players happy and have a sense of satisfaction.
- Rite of Invocacion Demonio, and being 30 seconds late to possibly make a difference. That drama, yo.
- "This is ancient Ogrish medicine. It could wake up a dead cow. SHEEEERRRRMAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!"
- Greggor's Birthday demon and the ensuring hilarity. Pretty sure that was a very tender, very sensual 10 minute looting count.
- Converts to Roland. WOOHOO
-Citadel. I fucking love it.

Favourite Mod:
Newbie-clear-out-the-rats. Standing with Hollander, like Waldorf and Statler.

[Pawp!]

The Good:
-Failing my sneakiness trial and almost dying. Yes this was good. XD
-Trading for purple draconian snot.
-The elf party
-Earning Magnar's respect for five minutes. "If you ever stop doing that, I'll kill you."
-Gigoliath and Oz. "dey say de stench of an ogre's ball sweat can wake de dead." and "SHERRRMANNNNNN."
-Being 'taught' by Orokgrim
-The orc fights and fighting Cora. "you okay?" "yeah." "*stab!*"
-All the funny names I came up with for people. "Called-it, Doso, Sky Elf, Minty, Vile, Ochre, Quora and Lizard."
-Hanging out with the other kobolds!
-Actually doing a good job looting on the new player rat mod. ((yes I shared.)) Got some well aged cheese!
-Creeper interactions. Never stop, Stan.
-The tension between Capri and Callum over my little blunder.
-The 3am ritual that wee pawp! tried so hard to find people to stop it.
-almost looting a magic eater that was still moving around. that was a good way of making sure town didn't get rolled with Flesh to Stone.
-Magnar covered in sparkles. "DON'T YOU SAY ONE THING OR I'LL KILL YOU."



NPC stuff
-"you're spiders, not doctors."
-Getting to play a shattered elf and getting complimented on my creepy rp while i was being looted. >A<!! <3 "Leave him! Let him bleed! He's found peace!"
-My snake. Kudos to Carrion for not panicking at a snake in his bed and to Lamalas for the most interesting way of getting rid of a snake.


The Bad:
-Felt awful for the new players having to deal with medical stuff. No-one's fault but was sad to see my full cabin down to 2 people come sunday morning.
-Horrible dizzy spell on friday night. Worried it might be Labyrinthitis, or my anxiety is getting that bad...
-The first tower mod was great until we got stuck in a room with no way out and only those who fell into traps got to go on. I did like feeling compensated in that it gave my PC some time to scavenge though.
-Second tower mod I couldn't help with so me and the other kobolds ran, only to get to a portal that wasn't being manned by anyone. Waited 20 minutes to learn if it was on or off.
-Town council in the middle of the field when the tavern, treelines and town fire were options.
-An NPC didn't take my Sap. When asked why, I was told he turned away far enough. I could still see both shoulder blades and hit in the middle of the back. Not a huge deal, changed little in the end, but...

The Favourite Mod:
Probably the aforementioned Rats in a barn mod. Lots of new players working together, enough loot to go around, being thanked for my help with looting and getting some cheese which I then tried to sell with the monocle as the "nobility starter pack."

[Rajani the Dark]

I mean... Just... Where do I start?

Ramsey is a superhero. He was working so hard on Saturday it was crazy. Not just with me and the mess I accidentally unleashed on town, but with other backstories too. It was noticed by a few PCs that's he had to run all over site, back and forth between ongoing mods to keep up with everything that was happening, and I want to acknowledge how much work he put in. Good job man.

This was by far the most difficult game I have ever played. There was a lot of information being spread around, some of which I knew IG, most of which I only knew OOG. There were also a lot of OOG effects that I could not see or understand IG, including those cast upon me which could not be articulated. There was also critical piece of knowledge we did have IG that we had have other information on, and we had to figure out which other PCs to trust to get all the puzzle pieces. It didn't help that anyone I trusted with the smallest bit of information and anyone standing nearby had to bear the consequences, making people less likely to help out.

It was also probably the most fun I have had at any game. Out of game. IG, Rajani is a miserable mess.

Everyone's RP was amazing. PC - NPC interactions were great. The mechanics I dealt with were interesting and inventive. Most of all, I really got to explore Rajani's character in a way I haven't before. The only (OOG) frustrating part is that I can't tell anyone the full story of what happened.

My favourite mod? That's a complicated question, as almost my entire event was really the same mod, so much so that it effected me in other mods. My favourite moments are similarly complicated, though when we had to get two shapers to argue how the mixing of two major plot lines would result was kind of a nice feeling.

There are a couple little things we could improve on, but they're the same things we can always looks to improve on. Communication is always a complicated issue, between both NPCs and PCs, and PCs and PCs. This issue is becoming worse with the growing number of PCs, where before NPCs could easily rely on PCs to spread information to everyone, now there is a higher chance of information being lost along the line, making the important bits never reach each other. On the other hand, I also got a first hand experience at how bad PCs are at picking up hints and thinking things through, so there's that. Guys. Think sometimes.

The only other issue, and this might be due to the mechanics of the game, is that myself and some of the other rogue types have found that we are becoming unable to participate in battle situations. NPCs, including things that aren't intelligent like plants, look around and notice us sneaking up on them, meaning we can't use our skills. It makes sense if trained soldiers in an open field can see us, but not if we're 'in a dark cave' or we're fighting brood. There are also less and less mods which allow for us to sneak around the backside, and when you're stuck behind a shield wall it's difficult to stab someone.

Overall, amazing event. If NPCs want to hear the story I can tell you, but I can't tell PCs so don't ask.

[Lilith Caia]

I had a good time. I think the event was very well done given how much NPC camp had to deal with. But I am me, so I am going to complain anyway.

Pros:
- The loom of X, of course
- Shattered elves are creepy as fuck, and they performed a ritual I named. ;.;
- The Bogeyman. I love Bogeymen
- I love fighting the Citadel
- Hanging out with Maxypoo
- Buckley's RP with the only-talking-about-clothes and subsequent torture was amazing. I wish I could give RP awards. You are fantastic. I don't know if I would have been able to react that quickly and well to such complex stimuli
- Mason the Foot Rest
- Newbies in general for being so up for anything/my weird crap. But you said it wasn't close to too much. I'll have to up my game
- NPCing is, as ever, very enjoyable in Ralinwood
- Dustin's Healing elemental snubbing me!
- Wasting 1-2 Lifes and a Suspension because nobody thought to check if I was just unconscious
- Zia's dream mod. Dustin is an excellent villain
- I am so impressed that Erk survived her suicide mission
- Charming Vrael and getting negged immediately
- The elf party! So much tasty food
- Halfway through the elf party, forgetting that elves existed at all
- Pandora visitors! Con: No Malek
- Tormenting kobolds. I feel scary. Sorry for being so mean! Your characters are phenomenal and I love them
- The ghost that thinks my hat is stupid (my hat is great, fuck you)
- Having the head of the local Blood Red Rose get on his knees and apologise to me
- Charming Robyn as the giant grey ogre thing. Immediately getting puked and drooled on by it
- Holy fuck I know what the Fail Sionnach are and what they're up to and it is so incredibly exciting! And what happened when I tried to let one possess me. And the fact that they interacted and learned and stuff!
- Alecto: So, like, did you rob me after we had sex or are you a prostitute?
Lilith (forgetting all elves): Who are you?
Well, that's unfortunate
- Weezy, Ryan, Yoshi and Anthony's NPCs were great. They were fun on their own, and I love that they were sneakysneaky NPCs. Excellent for immersion. Also chasing Weasel around was great fun, as was Ryan mistaking Lilith for a prostitute and Anthony immediately going "OKAY BYE" and running off
- But seriously, Buckley is so funny. Damn
- Hannick's excellent hallucinate/charm RP. I mean, I did neither of those things. Nope.
- Glitter EVERYWHERE
- Ramsay
- "The dead dark elf told me to tell you the singing fish guy got eaten by the spirit eater." EXCUSE ME?
- Magnar taunting Barley and fucking booking it away

Cons:
- I am not a fan of 'it was all a dream' mods. It feels like it trivialises everything that happened, though it was very cool as it happened
- The first tower mod: I had no idea we got some kind of reward for that. The elemental shield/elemental blade thing. I never heard about it. I have no idea why. Also not sure what the statue people were about. They just seemed to wander around being confused. If there was more to them, great, but if not it seems like a bit of a waste of NPCs
- The second tower mod: So, theoretically, we were supposed to make it through this test. I have no idea if we did, at all. I love hard fights, but the elementals/elemental lords were really only capable of being fought by a small handful of PCs (immunity to X Y Z damage just means only a few people are fighting at all). If we did succeed, there seemed to be no reward at all. Was the reward finding the Fail Sionnach ritual? I have no idea. Unless we screwed that up as well, it seemed like an info dump and there was nothing we could do to actually affect it. Which, info dumps are great and I am super excited to have learned stuff, but most PCs had no idea what was happening, nothing they could do about it, and that is rather a let down for a big town mod where supposedly we are passing a big test. Was that part of the test? How was it related at all? Dunno. I don't really understand the tower storyline as a whole. People being possessed and attacking was great, though. But I have no idea what the point was, whether we succeeded, whether we benefited at all, and a lot of people weren't able to do anything on that mod.
- When there are specific interactions like puzzles and ritual circles, these need to have a marshal. Like the mystery Fail Sionnach circle. Ivanna was too busy being an NPC to be the marshal. NPCs don't make good marshals for that reason, unless that's the only thing that NPC is doing. Having to interrupt other PCs fighting/interacting with her to ask what happens when we do X Y Z to the circle is not great

Overall, lovely time. And weather!

[M.M. Salt]

I had a good time. I think the event was very well done given how much NPC camp had to deal with. But I am me, so I am going to complain anyway.

This is the point of review threads, by all means keep going!
Thank you.

[Alfric Smith]

Pros: Monster change was interesting. After lots of similar-ish threats, the arrival of significantly different monsters (mechanically) was a refreshing change.

Neutral: I think Physician and Life overlap a bit too much. Some more specific stuff maybe could differ? It works well for physicians and alchemists and life casters to collectively help keep people healthy, but Physician seems to be slotted for "When all else fails". When I healed, even low-level PCs who didn't have missing limbs and weren't in their death count, it was kinda more of a "Because you're closest" thing.

Cons: There's a serious gap between low- and high-level characters. Half the monsters are unaffected by normal damage, and can wipe weaker players. As a horror game, I actually really like the idea of "you shouldn't fight things you don't understand", and the real threat of death, but perhaps there should be some degree of differentiating things. Yellow armband is only very rarely used, and there are mods like the second tower mod where most of the new players kinda gathered towards the rear with the attitude of "Well, I can't fix death or deal damage to these guys with my sword, and I can't leave, so here we are".

The text block size gives the impression I didn't like the event, but this was actually really good. I mean, if anything, it's more that as things improve more and more, the cons require more detail and explanation.

[Gustav Von Schattenkrieger]

For the record......as a level 22 character I walked away from the second tower mod and returned to town when I was ineffective. It happens and you need to be able to roll with it when it does. Not speaking down to you in any way here. Just letting you know that even high level players can't kill everything and have to retreat as well. So monsters are not meant to be easy pushovers to the PC amoeba

Cons:

Not a fan of either tower mod and walked away from both returning to town. Had no issue with Juggernaut.....good use of it actually. The multi-tunic stripping of the multi-mental is not a good mechanic in my opinion. Having Holds called so that an NPC can strip a tabard off became very annoying very quickly. We get enough holds at times as it is for various reasons without having to stop everything for a costume change. Those two mods were the only complaints of the weekend aside from a very hard two handed spear shot to the crotch Saturday night by a Shattered Elf.

Pros:

RP interactions with Aminata, Dan's Knight of the Sword, and a few other NPC rolls that came out

Slaver mod was enjoyable. Saved the two Thalan prisoners without gutting any of the captors in the second wave of the mod where the prisoners could be seen shows that Abatt can be sneaky at times too and I likes it. Stupid badger hole in the tall grass of the ringette course though.....got lucky to have no injury or attacked by something down in the hole. lol The ensuing battle in town center later that afternoon was fun as well.

Shattered Elves are up there with Mist Marauders as my favourite NPC monsters in all three Ontario Guilds.

Citadel of Light.......love killing these guys and got a good filling of them this event. Kudos,

Various interactions with new PCs, not so new PCs that are used to me playing Drakkon instead of Abatt'age, and vets alike. You guys made my weekend. Had people telling me their characters loved Abatt, hated Abatt, and a couple even said they wanted to kill him but out of game most loved him and the differences between him and Drakkon. Makes me feel good to have an impact on other players weekends like this. Thank you.

Monkey muffins and bananas. :-) There are some humans back in Jericho that will be upset that they missed out. Finally followed through on comments that I have been threatening with since I started playing the character 5 1/2 years ago.

Commenting to Aminata about her human guards performing better if she were to give them a banana from time to time and the resulting smile that she couldn't quite hide.

Drunken antics at the Thalam party

"Abatt'age (pause) are you drunk? You can't stop smiling." "Perhaps just a little (pause) Monkey muffin??!!"

Witty humour with Lilith

Drawing on Callum's face and watching the chaos that ensued as he put the boot to two of his own tent mates who wouldn't dare snitch me out. :-)


Yeah......I had a good time and Abatt will be back in at the end of September

[Lilith Caia]

Oh, yeah! I really liked the sneaking out in tall grass. Felt very escape-y.

[Zia Sashana]

I had a great time for the period I was there! Same as last time (maybe even more so), my biggest con was having to leave early :( I felt like I had more things to say but I really had a great time over all!

Pros:
-NPCing on Friday night was a total blast! I loved everything I got to play.
-Personal plot! Poor Zia is so confused and frustrated, but I thought it was fun.
-The first tower mod, with the dream thing (related to the above). Everyone's RP was great! <3!
-Downtime RP with various folks, also. It was kind of neat being one of the first people up on Saturday and watching the town wake up slowly, and there are always so many new people around to talk to that I've never met, or maybe just do't remember ;p Also, friendly dragon vs god debates.
-As Cat said, Buckley. Buckley is best. I too wish I could give out RP awards because that was amazing and hilarious.
-Anastasia's impromptu reading of 50 Shades of Grey. I think someone's horizons got broadened :V Well worth the silver.

Mediums:
-My first death at Underworld! With awkward timing, people missing my counts by seconds, and watching them fruitlessly try and life/save Lilith meanwhile. Stupid cyclops.
-Being in the rare situation of *having* information and not being sure I was disseminating it successfully.
-there were so many things happening that it was probably impossible to keep track of them all.

Cons:
-Leaving early Saturday evening. I need closure on that anecdote!
-I lost the cord from my bustier when I died and dropped my stuff :( And when I snuck off to see if it had been left at the mod site, I got 50 zillion bugbites -_-
-I also lost my black leather gloves ;_; To the Lost and Found post I go, I guess!