Event Review - In Your Hands (May 18-21)

[Ivanna]

Thank you immensely to everyone for all their work. What an amazing game! And thanks to everyone... We're coming back! New site wants us back in July and into the foreseeable future. We did it everyone.

And now... To the part about the event!

What did you like, what needs improvement, and what were your most exciting stories / moments / interactions? Tell us your thoughts!

[Alfric Smith]

This is gonna be an unusual one, but for everyone who came to PC: Everyone was really willing to engage with things that were sent out - plot hook NPCs, merchants, mods, everything. Whenever people are able to get engaged and enthusiastic like that, it makes shapers and NPCs have a far easier job of making the event fun and engaging. Ultimately, you guys do have an active hand in making the game more fun by working with plot - see someone you know is an NPC and not a player? Cool, talk! NPCs are a scarce resource, and while the reasons might sometimes be minor, an NPC is never walking around for no reason.


That being said... please pick up your garbage. You guys were all still pretty clean, but there was still a small amount of wayward refuse, and my inner wilder will not rest until the entire concept of litter is a footnote in history.

All in all, I had a ton of fun this event, from big things (ORCS! MARCH! DEMONS, FLANK!) to smaller ones (That's a lot of Einher.) to even miniscule things (THIS IS PERMANENT!).

[Ostrozne]

I forgot the joys of armour back. Yeeeeesh.

There's a damn good chance this will be my only game of UW this season, and I am not disappointed. Given the new rulebook, and the many, many changes that have come with it, I was both impressed and pleased with the quality of the game.

Pros:
- Dan and Ivanna, and they know why.
- Very high quality levels of RP from both staff and PC's. I think the PC's were outstanding.
- The buckets of not humble humblebrags.
- I love the new site with a throbbing passion. There was also no dickhead maneuvers of people hiding in lockable toilets, or people camping said toilets.
- For a first game, and a four day none the less, with dozens upon dozens of rule changes, I thought the players and the NPC's/Shapers handled themselves very well. Minimal mod confusion.
- First death in years, and it couldn't have been better. THE FUCKING DRAMA ohhh so good. The IG feels.
- "I told you I had a plan, my lady."
- All the Rolandy stuff. Lil' Aldos' first sermon. SO PROUD
- When I visit Ralinwood, I generally don't go on mods. Haven't in years, unless it's needed and the local players specifically ask, and drag me along. The mods I did go on seem well executed - a good balance of "Ahh, this is just the right level of hard" and "Sweet fuck we all gonna die"
- The power decrease in those that are too powerful (myself very included), and the resulting sensation of danger.
- Better weather than expected.
- All the people in cabins created an interesting community atmosphere. When trouble comes up, people pour out, and it's neat.
- Oz for cleric, 2260.
- PLOT CONTINUITY.
- Was scared to go to bathroom.
- Players seemed to do a damn good job cleaning up after themselves. I was expecting waaaay more trash in the church. Didn't hurt that all the light aspirants were sweeping up and being all stoic. I've wanted that atmosphere for years.
- Someone put time in love into that sexy orc-on-orc action picture.
- I keep on thinking of pros, but I'm tired. It was just that good of a game for me.

Neutral:
- Dramatically, and by character concept, it was a good death, and I don't regret it. For the light and all that rubbish. But fuck, I got railroaded HARD. Huge learning curve on how to survive as a favoured. FACK.
- I liked all the nesting birds until they pooped on me.

Cons:
- Fairly sure that the water supply is Lilith's bath water.
- More toilet paper please.

[KRONG DA STRONG]

KRONG HAVE FUN TIME SMASHING THINGS AND MAKING FRIENDS!!!!!!

KRONG FELT USEFUL

GIMME YOUR BELT BEST NPC

BLOODBRINGER SHAMAN SECOND BEST NPC

BARD DOCTOR IS BEST DOCTOR

BREWLORDS BEST CLAN

CROSSROADS BEST CAMP

NEW LOCATION IS BEST LOCATION

15 SAUSAGES

FISHING MOD WAS NICE

PLAYING GUITAR WITH AX WHEN FEEBLE MINDED WAS GREAT

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

KRONG SMELL LIKE OLD CHEESE

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

KRONG HOPE HE ENTERTAIN PEOPLE

THAT ALL

[Java Aquari]

High holy hell where do I even start! XD

Pro's:
- ORC ORC ORC ORC ORC ORC!!!! So many PC Orcs, fucking amazing!! <3
- Wigzozz! You fucking hero! Everyone who used the Crossroads Camp fire-pit owes him thanks, he brought it and so much food <3 Also just an amazing Orc PC, Cant wait for next time! <3
- KRONG THE STRONG!! Ya big lug you were amazing! 11/10, cant wait to ORK with you again! XD <3
- Lowbo the Oricar (Orc/Einher) Love ya brotha! <3
- FRUG THE CHAMP!!!! OMFG!!! <3 You showing up made anything this weekend was going to throw at me get a +1 regardless, love ya <3
- Hopperpots. Best Camp Mom. Gives no shits and no filter to match. Happy to have you look after our dumb selves XP <3
- Sathis. WIZARD! Life-blood of our battle hungry crazy selves XD <3
- Abzoog! ABS! You were fucking amazing dude <3 hope to get you fully into the Brewlords soon! Next time!! <3
- BLOODBRINGER WARCALLER!! <3 That heart pumping adrenaline rush that was the first lesson, SO MUCH HYPE!!!
- ALL THE WOLVEN!! <3 You guys were ALL awesome! Looking forward to camping with you all!
- Shout out to all the NPC's that I got to have some moments with, all of them seemed fun and organic
- Sorry if I miss any shout outs to people, if you had good interactions with me, you were great <3

- The Site, a fucking god-send. Amazing place <3 12/10 would love to play again. We double checked cleaning were our camp was to hope we get to go back

- Papa Decaf Headbutting everyone from beyond the Grave <3 Loved the Haunt process, real feelz during that <3
- Frug Headbutting each head of a Two-Headed Bear and it working! XD <3
- This game was INTENSE!! Things road that thin line of 'Good fight' to 'oh fuck we gonna die'

- This game drained me at so many points because of overload in good ways. Cant think of much Con's for OOG stuff, more just stuff for IG but thats Character stuff.

Love you who know I love you <3

IS IT NEXT GAME YET!?

[Dr. Moran]

Pros:
• Screaming a Final Rest call at the top of my lungs is my new favourite thing in the world.
• G L I T T E R
• The walk-about mod with the Fisherman was a great way to see the site, I was worried about trying to discover paths and such but being guided to where key locations on site were was great. Remembering said routes, on the other hand, is unlikely.
• LONELYYYYYY. I'm gonna go cry now.
• We have so many recurring NPCs and I love it. Being able to recognize figures in town (even if they're just pencil pushers or cooks or ominously well dressed not-liches) really makes game feel more real. I hope we see more in the future.
• Crab costume was hilarious and amazing.
• RAAAAAIN. Oh my god the feels. Nothing says LARP like having a post-torture mental breakdown in your fabulous pirate lover's tent while holding a stuffed duck. Shoutout to Kraye for phasing just his torso through the wall to see if I was ok. That totally wasn't horrifying as hell.
• BLAAAAANK. We had an argument. You know the one. It was one of the most real and raw moments I have had at Ralinwood. Thank you for that.
• Tea with Tobias was delightful. It was a surprisingly nice talk and that tea was to die for.
• Oz and Aldos' sermon. 10/10. Would have moral dilemma again.

Cons:
• I am never a fan of giving creatures the ability to blink/shadow walk/fae walk otherwise vanish without some sort of count. It makes sorting out if you hit them before or after it was said a nightmare.
• I had OOG people who were either marshaling or just hanging around come up and randomly talk to me when I was sitting around town or having conversations. Interrupting a talk between two PCs to randomly chat about out of game stuff is really not ok and shouldn't be done unless there's a good reason for it in my opinion. It was super jarring.
• I like silly things. I like stupid o'clock things. But when it's 4:30am on the last day of a 4 day weekend please keep in mind that some people have to drive or just maybe want to actually sleep. Having screaming nonsense multiple nights in a row until nearly 5am is kind of annoying. I love you, basketball goblins, but I wanted to go the fuck to sleep.
• If rabies, which does not have super set rules, is being used for a mod then please try to be consistent about effects/duration/etc. I heard so many things from so many people all on the same mod.
• Trying to remove the glitter I mentioned earlier.

Neutral Stuff:
• The Shattered Elves were oddly quiet. Maybe that was on purpose but I found it a tad odd.
• Please for the love of all that is good, never have a mod that involves running anywhere near that river, crossing it is a nightmare. Stepping from slippery rock to slippery rock ended in flooded boots more than once for me.

All in all one of my favourite events ever. Thanks to the NPCs and Shapers for your hard work and planning! Big shout-out to the log team for their sacrifices, to Cat and Dan for dealing with the insanity that is my PC's life, and to Ange for her top notch makeup skills.

[Seth Dredlock]

I was there long but that being said. I had  great time.
A big shout out to the Shapers and all the other Npcs'  for their patience with the Noobiest of Noobs 
It was wonderful first experience. The Mods were varied it gave a chance for a balance of players skill levels.
Everyone did a great job cleaning the site.

Personal highlights :
playing a wild elf and and all varied monsters

Personsal lows: messing up some of the call. I do know I get better.

[Granyte the Ogre]

This event was filled with emotional highs and lows for me both IG and OOG, and while there were times I just wanted to go home due to my anxiety, I am really glad I stuck it out.

First things first, NPCs you all did an amazing job, but Jade, man you slayed as the Inspector. I had a blast trying not to bribe you to look the other way lol

Fishing! Yes, I am so glad this mod came back and I will forever attend the fishing mods as this was a great laid back time to have some fun. 

Pun-Flirting is my new favorite hobby! The moans and groans...and then I started making puns ;

And Java, Shaman shenanigans are going to be a blast this year, I cannot wait for the Crossroads!

[Carrion]

This was honestly a phenomenal event. I hope that my good and highlight section make that clear; there's so much more I could have listed but the post was getting too long. The gripes just needed some very specific phrasing and seem a little long because of it, but the good vastly outweighed them.


The Good
- To be honest I liked the majority of the mods. Most of them felt either challenging in a good way or were real funny.
- I do like how Tobias and the inspector were RPed. Despite Carrion's constant bristling around them, on an OOG level I think they're really well done.
- It was really nice seeing Aminata out and about. It's always interesting to interact with her, even if we don't always see eye to eye.
- I felt a little bad that nothing in the mid-level intro mod had a magic weapon or acid to occasionally huck at me (and hope that none of the folks NPCing it thought that Carrion's attempts at intimidation were me OOG being a cocky fucker) but thought that the threat they posed to others was a good way to keep me cautious. Those of us who have no strong personal risk during a mod can be just as terrified for the more squishy folks we're protecting.
- While I did not see the first mage tower mod, the second was handled beautifully, and it was fun to watch it unfold and be puzzled out by the players from an NPC perspective.  
- The various mods that showed off the site as we adjusted to it, both during the day and at night, were very well done.
- Like Alex said, the consistent NPCs are really great to have around. It's nice to see a friendly (or mysterious) face pop up unexpected, since all of them are played by excellent RPers.
- Town community feels extra strong lately. I saw a lot of folks just generally willing to help each other out without expecting much in compensation, which is always heartwarming.

The Less Good
- A few of the random monster mods just felt kinda harsh? Like less intense/challenging/rewarding and more frustrating to the point where people just got mad and were relieved when it was over with.
- I would humbly request that folks who don't play someone's template don't try to police our calls. We're privy to all the nitty gritty of our rules and have to understand them better than most, so we'll typically remember what they entail better than folks who don't need to deal with them every game. If you think we're forgetting a mechanic or purposefully overstepping, please check in with a marshal instead of interrupting us mid-mod or arguing it with us. I know this won't really be an issue much longer, but it's come up for me enough times that it feels worth mentioning.  
- The trilliums gave me wicked bad anxiety that I'll be so glad when they're dead for the season. They're so hard to see in the dark or mid-fight and sometimes grow in odd, easy to tread on places.

Personal Highlights
- The appreciation of my vaguely homoerotic orc art rep. I was honoured to have the chance to provide it.
- Hanging out with orc camp.
- Spending time with Kraye and Sheala in the Sybil church.
- Talking with Oz in general.
- Bonding with Zia.
- Hanging out in Alec's tent. And Alec's tent itself. Honestly, what the heck.
- Literally anything Orokgrim did in my presence.
- How ride or die everyone is becoming for Carrion. Makes me tear up.
- To be honest all of the RP I got to do with people, I should stop listing it or it'll be too long. If I didn't mention our interaction or late night talk know that I treasure it but realized the list was getting way to heckin long.
- "Oh shit your friend just fell asleep! Is she narcoleptic? Come gimme a hand."
- Jacob "Poop Knife" Kraye.
- Dietremen Things™
- Will's belt stealing dwarf.
- People gave me some really sweet IG compliments that stroked my ego.
- People trying to talk down my stone elemental on the mage tower mod.
- How validated I felt, after having people wonder why I took so many scroll harvests, when I used them all up, re-memorized, and used them all again.
- The food (holy shit).

[A goblin played by Matty]

Pros
Will Apostolos: Everything about this guy.
The absurd amount of einher.
I'd never met Lonely before, but playing Rambo in the woods for 2 days shows me why people spoke so highly of him.
All the newbies made it feel like old Ralinwood you're all great. I will absolutely heal you after 8 of you team up to gank the bees.
Homo erotic orc porn
Michael's silver coin !!!
The new site
4a.m basketball goblins
The problems we faced felt relatable. I always hear stories about other where town is facing obfuscated problems. I love that Ralinwoods problems feel appropriate to the setting.( not every villain needs to be a complicated monster with a convoluted backstory)
I tried really hard to interact with every pc, you all have such cool character traits.
The difficulty level was spot on too.
Those burgers were fan fucking tastic.
The einish cheering squad.
Watching the northern einish guys knife fight while hanging from the monkey bars(holy shit)

Cons
Having to return to the old site in June.
Rabies;I'm actually super ok with mechanics like this. Could I actually suggest a printed book in the tavern that lists all of them. This seems to come up a lot with different effects because they're straight up just not in a player accessible book so we get a million different answer.
You could even add f.a.q to this book like a little envelope that says "if you cast cleanse read enclosed then return instructions to envelope"