Hey all! Great work on another fun Alliance SoMI Event!! I had a lot of fun, but wanted to weigh in on a few things specifically.
Rit Marshaling. Thanks, GJ, for spending a big chunk of your Friday time doing ritual stuff. I know it can't be that awesome for you, but as a player, it was really great to be able to have you allocate your time to that and be in good spirits about it.
Travis RP. Travis, it was amazing how you walked in to the cabin at just the right moment on Friday night, and set off hours of interesting RP with Brigit and me. I thought it was awesome how you were so emotive as that character, even without speaking. And man, did you set forth a hard decision, and not give me any sense of the "right" answer! Needless to say, Saturday's follow up roleplay was awesome. I am super, super excited about where things are going. Thanks to the whole plot team for coming up with such interesting stuff, and thanks to Travis for being this weekend's face of the plotline.
Ellabreeze fight. The whole Ellabreeze fight on Saturday was so cool. Mathis, talking smack to get her mad, and Ellabreeze, responding in due course, was neat to watch. Then when it came time for the mirror, when all of those NPCs with headbands ran in and jumped out--GAME ON! That fight was nuts. The NPCs did such an awesome job.
Nodes mods. I liked the nodes mods because there was strategy involved to winning. Having to fight through to the portal, go through, run all the way to the obelisk, destroy it, then sprint back as the portal started closing, was crazy. I think in that last one you must have moved the obelisk back even farther just to make us work that much harder for it ;-) I wasn't on the first one of these, but the second and third were definitely heavy hitter mods. It was fun to be able to go nuts.
Placker mod. The placker mod had some good and some bad in it. The good was that it was intense fighting, and things got hairy more than once. It took a lot of guts and a lot of prisons to eek our way out a few times, but we made it. I liked that intensity. On the downside, big town cave mods are a real challenge as a fun delivery device. From my perspective on the battlefield, I saw a handful of fighters going nuts on the front line, rotating out to refit. Another handful was in the back covering the rear assault, doing the same thing. Then there was a group in the middle that weren't really involved. It's just tough, when there is no side flanks, to engage with everyone at once.
I was disappointed to waste so many resources and get to the last room and not see a queen. Now, in game, I have an idea for why the queen wasn't there (we took forever getting there and the queen could have easily fled; also, there appeared to be an advance attack by undead that also could have caused the queen to flee long before we set foot into the caves). Although it may make perfect sense in game to have the queen not be there, it's a drag for PCs to fight so far, one step of advance at a time, against an ever-refreshing line of enemies, many with prepare-to-die skills (admittedly not brutal ones), then get to the end and not have the payoff of winning or losing to the boss monster. At the same time, on an out of game level, I think there is a very good chance the town would have wiped if the queen was there, so maybe it isn't the end of the world after all ;-)
Monster camp wait time. It seemed as if there were longer waits outside of monster camp at this event than in the past. You had a lot of NPCs, it seemed, which could be part of the cause. It could also be that we were throwing curve balls. When it is so cold outside, it might make sense to try to figure out a way to have people wait in the tavern. This would serve two purposes--one, staying warm; and two, keeping people in game. It isn't 2 minutes out in front of NPC camp before people (myself included) start talking out of game. That doesn't happen nearly as often in the tavern.
There has to be ways to cut down on the amount of time the PCs are standing around. The answer isn't necessarily rushing around in NPC camp to get ready, because you have a lot to do to get everyone in costume, makeup, with stat cards, etc. The answer, I think, is figuring out how to tell the PCs to go do something else and then come back when you are ready to roll. Doug's contract magic is one way to do it, with an in-game explanation. I wonder if there is some other way to do it, where you don't want to utilize that for in-game reasons. What comes to mind is something like those restaurant buzzers for when your table is ready, or maybe giving the PC who is leading the group onto the mod a walkie talkie so you can call to them to come to NPC camp when you are ready. These are just wild ideas here, but I think that some thought should be put into improving this area, and I am more than happy to help however I can.
The Kernel. I was surprised on Saturday to find The Kernel in the tavern. Having an in-game newspaper is awesome. Thanks for taking the time to do that! I hope to see it again at the next event.
Out of towners. For the regular out of towners, it was great to see you all again. You bring a lot to the game. For the out of towners I haven't met before, it was great meeting all of you! Please come again!!
New players. To the two new players--the girl with the green around her eyes and the stone elf guy who didn't have a long sleeve shirt--you guys were awesome!! It was so cool to see you in the thick of it as first timers. Seriously, you both need to come again. You're going to do awesome in this game. Next time, bring your friends too!!
Food. The food was great again!! I missed Friday's food and Saturday's dinner, but the egg casserole and the soup in a bread bowl were delicious!
I am really looking forward to the next event, guys!
Joe
aka Stremthi Wayfound