A Honest Review of the Master of Opulence's Potato Bar - May 2015 Feedback

lukeskywkr

lukeskywkr

Apprentice
Just wanted to thank all of the SoMi staff and players for a fun event. Logistics went smoothly and quickly, and food was delicious. Everything was well executed considering the major roles Ian and Alison balance as PCs in-game and staff members out-of-game. I think GJ might do something too, but it probably isn't important.

The player's guide was a fantastic, and much appreciated, effort. It helped returning players after the winter break and new players get up to speed on the many forces at work in the game world.

I enjoyed all of my interactions with plot and NPCs throughout the event, combat was exciting, role playing was entertaining, and the sense of community GJ has been fostering since he took over was very apparent in all of the Out-of Game interactions between Pcs and NPCs. It really felt that we were all part of the same game, playing together, as opposed to playing against each other or across from each other. The door to NPC Camp was always, at least figuratively, open to anyone, for anything.

I wish I had been able to spend more time at the event, and I wish I had had more time that I could have spent interacting with all of the other PCs. I really tried to talk to everyone who came out as much as I could and it wasn't close to enough. All of the RP was great, and it was great to see people coming to play from all different chapters/locations. In addition to the local players we had people travel in from Traverse, Chicago, Ohio, and even from north of the w̶a̶l̶l̶ border. I hope to see you all again at future events.

My favorite and least favorite part of the event were actually the same; Dinner with the Geki. The whole ordeal was nerve-wracking. It was different from anything I had ever done at an event. I'm glad we did it but I hope never to have to do it again. My only critique of the mod, or the event, was that after the amazing job that all of the PCs put into the other attendees of the party, developing them through the meal into full, unique, fleshed out characters the combat seemed plain. I know I created the problem for my self, to an extent, by wearing a PA. But, I would have liked to have seen the Geki's personalities show through in their fighting. Lord DuPont could have been a fencer, Lord Bertrand (? GJ) who was loud and boisterous could have had more body or a resist of some kind, the Guild master could have used some type of expendable resource, and so on. Just an idea, not really a complaint.

A final thank you to everyone who came together to make this event possible.
 
Good event, thanks PCs and NPCs for the fun. It is in the end team work between all that makes it happen.

Really enjoyed the rp/creative solutions to some of the combat mods. Loved the forced polite of the Lord of Opulence dinner. Also thought it was cool that the Gecki mod right after was relatively easy because we did not brake hospitality at all. Also I thought having the Friday town mod hooked via the boards was a nice way to jump right into the season.

Thanks one and all,
Looking forward to more events
 
To start I want to say I had a great time at the event. Thanks to the Plot team and the NPCs who worked so hard to put this together and make it a good time. There were a lot of things about the event the stick out in my mind, including a couple rough spots, but this was one of the most satisfying weekends I've had in a long time. Lots of things got accomplished (or at least finally got on the road to accomplishment), I got to interact with a bunch of great people, and we got a totally different challenge to deal with then we normally see.

The Good
Season Plot: I think that the Tower story arc that appears designed to act as a through-line for the season is a great idea and was introduced well. The multiple efforts to engage the whole town at once while making everyone important was great. The idea that there is a thing that needs to be done, between now and the end of the year, gives real focus to the PCs and hopefully will provide an opportunity for everyone to have an impact on a major event.
Scale: Taking it down a notch on the strength of monsters, was visible noticeable. The decrease in defenses on the average monster made a huge difference. It appeared that the players of all levels had a much better time dealing with a countless stream of the (very interesting) Bleak Dead rather than a lesser amount of stronger monsters. The low end of things feels good but I think that the average could scale up a little bit. Over all a great improvement that magnified the other great things about an event. It was fun to see newer players getting the opportunity to lead the charge through the fortress of undead while the more experienced players held the back from becoming overwhelmed.
Getting things done: Timing of "required" events provided a lot of time get things done and the above mentioned challenge tweaking created a situation where the players had the time and resources to get things done. It felt like we handled many more challenging things during this weekend, rather than conserving resources (or spending copious amounts of resources) to get a few things done. The sense of accomplishment I felt at the end of the weekend made me excited for what's to come. I've got a whole IG post to put together to encourage people for the next event.
The RP: Both with other players and NPCs I had a great time. Seeing genuine emotions from people is great and having to deal with complex social situations that you can't just solve with a sword is something that I think we should strive to see more in our game. I know this isn't everyone's bag, but I like RP in my combat game.
Cross Chapter Engagement: I cannot give the Plot team enough credit for their outreach efforts. Having stories that span the region is great for everyone. It gives us different players and play-styles to experience and its good for the game in general. I cannot wait to travel up to Traverse City and help out other people who are dealing with Bleak's influence.

The Bad
Miscommunication causing people to get left out (Take this with a grain of salt, because perhaps this is just my perception): There seems to be a theme of people missing out on an experience because of miscommunication. This was most evident when most of HoG didn't participate in the dinner on Saturday. I was bummed because I wanted to see how some of the loudest among us handled "being polite." But because of a miscommunication about whether the Gecki were undead, a bunch people opted not to participate, because they didn't want to create a bigger problem for the town (at least that's what I was told). I'm all for people having downsides to the character and having personality to creates interesting conflict, but when it rises to the point that a large group of people skip a "town mod" because they feel their presence would be a bigger negative than their participation that rubs me the wrong way.
Timing: The plot team did a great job of running mods and giving us an enjoyable weekend, but the timing of things seemed weak, especially late Friday night and Saturday morning. The players worked late on Friday, getting things done and eventually just talking to NPCs but then come Saturday morning, when we were mostly up early because we were told that the nobles were coming, we sat around waiting for many hours. This was a great opportunity to RP, but it felt like a missed opportunity. I appreciate that Plot wants to keep us entertained, but sometimes I think that calling it a night and pushing something to the next morning should be a consideration. The Lightning guys would have been a great breakfast RP that could have happened if Plot had gone to sleep instead of coming out as them on Friday. It would have let Plot be in town and have that great RP experience, but be able to switch gears when people were up and ready for the nobles. It also would have let them get a little more sleep, which they totally deserve.
Getting Help from our Friends: There are times when it feels like the world is full of two types of people, spineless weaklings and things that want to kill adventurers; and as soon as someone stops being one, they become the other. Case in point the Drevik. Clearly some of the toughest things we've fought over the past couple of years, now that we are making peace they can't seems to find the ability to help out in any significant manner. I understand that part of that is a factor of RP/negotiation/IG motivation, but to have the toughest golem armies around and flat out refuse to handle situations that pose almost no tactical risk, in exchange for the adventurers literally coming to save the Drevik homeworld, is a hard pill to swallow. I'm all for someone telling us that there are things that out match anyone but a group of adventurers, but how many times do you expect PCs to want to fight a Placker Bug mod like the one from Friday? Please, tell me there are 4 big hives that need the PCs attention, but now that a plan has been shown to work the rest can get mopped up. Tell me that if the PCs do X task that is hard for the golems then the Drevik will handle a a situation where golems thrive.

As I said when I started, this was a great event. I felt like I was challenged and that we accomplished things as a group in a way we haven't been able to in a while. Kudos to all of the hard work that the whole plot team put into the event. Thanks to Ian and Allison for taking time out of their game to keep things running smoothly and feeding us. Can't wait to see you all soon.

Matt
 
No one mentioned the puppy pirate mod? It was awesome.

Couple of favorite moments:
--The Banradi/Taios bear impersonation-off. Winner to Taios, for having me die in the woods, with an assist from Lukas for just walking by the body. Hilarious.
--Lots of great mods. Really enjoyed the drake mod for Mathis in the "cave of lost things that need to be found"/ Cave of Wonder. Having a non-combat solution was cool. It wasn't so much as a puzzle, but it was still really well repped, and a cool 'test' I liked it.
--The Anchors side of the Friday night mod went pretty well. My only complaint is Zach has a better vocabulary than me, so I didn't understand what exactly was happening sometimes. I forget the word he was using, but I remember not understanding if it was good or bad.
--Blitzing Menotti every pop. Never not fun.
--Chatting with the Inger-Thirster about war-polearm. Not understanding why Naomi hasn't back surgeon-ed him. Then figuring it out, and feeling really, really, bad.
--Completing the Placker bug thing went well. It felt really good to have a plan come together <lights cigar>
--Pre-reg time. Rebuilding Robert's card. I think he was a good sport about it. He seemed like it. If you're mad at me, I understand, but it was from a place of trying to help. Please come back.
--Seeing Clous down in Dragonreach gave me a mixed reaction. Well see how it plays out, but it was certainly a great conversation. Although, getting woken up from my nap by the king, was pretty funny. The discussions of solving problems was pretty nice. It was great to hear that our ideas might actually work. Crossing Arden resources and Dargonreach ones.
--Kit circle ressing Lydia outside the tavern. "Hey Kit...... How ya doing?" "Hey Syver. She probably has a rebirth right?" "/shrug" "Go casually ask Foss"

It was a really solid event. Loved to see all the new faces. Not sure just how new, but new to me so..... YAY. Hope to see you guys around next event.

Pacing was really great, when you guys were up an running it was really awesome. Lots to do, low wait time. Top marks.
I have to echo Matt's statements about Friday night and Saturday morning. Scheduled stuff is really hard. We had a bunch of PCs just chilling because we had to wait on nobles. That said, once the day got rolling, you guys rocked it out.

Sad I'm going to miss the next event, but I'll see you all in August! or Traverse, or Chicago.

<rant> I still hate return. </rant>

-Joe
 
It was awesome!!!! I was nervous about being left on my own a lot after being gone from the chapter for so long, but everyone was extremely welcoming and information was shared openly making it easy to get involved.

Loved the books we got at game on by the way!

Loved the anchor mod, it had a great feel to it.

The puppy pirate was differently up the there, just what I needed after being terrified by bumblebees. Pebbles was thinking of stealing it!

The drakes were pretty cool!

And finally my ultimate favorite, which had me nervous if and oog was the polite dinner. I was so nervous I let a big pebbles background clue slip talking with friends about titles lol whoops, cats out of that bag! I was so worried that Pebbles would be rude and die, or see would hulk out and die or a good friend would die and then pebbles would DIE! Lol, I loved the to aspect, the stories, trying to dodge eye contact by shoving two extremely filling potatoes down my throat. Having shiny and Foss think I was gonna freak at any second lol

Overall, everything was great, got a lot done, and had an amazing weekend the while time!

Oh and the coffee and food was AMAZING! And totally worth an 8 gold tip for Mary!


Carrie, pebbles
 
Some of my highlights:
-Research with Rodi. Putting our heads together to pound out answers. Hopefully.
-The Dinner Mod. Like mice in a viper den. Nailed the gothic theme makeup wise. The faked laughes and interest.
-Tribesman research involving Sloan and Pebbles
-Somi handbook. Very helpful. Very cool.
-Love the cross chapter plot. From King Clous visiting Duke L to Taios being put to trial for things that happened in Wayside.
-Biatas make friends with celestial casters right? Starting to like this Fredrick guy.
-Speaking of celestial caster friends, Foss, Raynn's protector.
-Encountering some Biata from Wayside, Shinobi and Sebastion.
-Going to check to see if Tadron was dead in his ward only to find Zeus and getting a hug

Had a great time. Unfortunately won't be able to make the June event either :( See some of you in June or August.
 
Loved the event!! There's a lot I could say in the way of favorites, but I'll it narrow down to three:
- Having a sophisticated [potato] dinner with Gekki, and adding Cyrus to the growing list of things that want to kill me/turn me/Nom on my spirit. Four and counting!
- not an in-game thing, but hearing when I got there that they had to explain Void magic in PC talk JUST BECAUSE I was there. Made my day.
- And finally... Tadron's dragon poker orgasm: hands down favorite part!!!
 
I had an awesome time!

Here were some of my favorites:
- Pre-Reg Time w/ Joe and Robert "Here no, let me show you how to start off as a /proper/ gypsy..."
- The 1st Annual Irani Family "Bear-Off". Congrats to Taios for thinking of dying in the woods, and Syver for becoming an honorary member of the Irani family for nailing his impersonation!
- Scouring the library with Raynne and the intense brain racking in regards to what information we should be searching for.
- STONES ON PLANES! Can't believe it's been 3 years and that I'm getting so close to finishing it up. Thanks to plot for running them even with Travis gone, and thanks to everyone who helped and came with me!
- Trying to be so awkwardly polite at the potato bar dinner. That was THE WORST, but also pretty frickin great.

Less Favorites:
- The potato bar! The dinner was perfectly awkward, but the walk back afterwards seemed longer than it needed to be. I liked TSMs idea of giving them different fighting styles!
- Timing. Like Matt mentioned earlier, there definitely was a noticeable lull Friday night and Saturday morning, but other than that things seemed to flow really nicely!

Thanks to everyone who came out! Definitely a shout out to those of you who were new or came from other chapters (or both). You guys add an awesome element of roleplay to the game, and it wouldn't be the same without you!

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. :)

-Ian
 
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