June 3-5 event FAVORITES!

Duke Frost said:
I had a really great time this event. I simply played, and it was good. For me, it was a bit of a blast from the past, as I tried to recapture some of the magic of my first year larping. For those that don't know, Drak is my first character I ever played at Nero/alliance (at 15 build 'cause I was hardcore). I came to my first event alone and roomed OOG with people I didn't know. But that first game in 1996, Drak met Derek Dreamweaver and they became best friends. And Scott and Jesse became the best of friends as well. And here we are, 15 years later, playing the same characters up to the same zany antics. Soon after I met and became friends with people like Mike & Heidi, Eric (Baron Ivan), Danny (Sir Daniel), Kathy (Mouse), Mike Strauss (poor, permed Corbin). And there are many more, I'm sure.

And over the years I've met more and more people who have become very important to me. I'm not going to list them for fear of leaving people out.

This past weekend reminded me of the most important reason I play this game. We are a community and a family. We fight sometimes and don't get along, but mostly it's pretty damn good. A lot of us, myself included, didn't always "fit in" because our interests tended to be a little outside the mainstream. But at the game, we are surrounded by people that "get us". Even if we are not all best buddies, we all "get" each other, and that's important.

I also play it to feel like a hero and to take part in epic situations we just don't get to encounter in real life. And to chase elf chicks without getting in (too much) trouble with the wifey. :thumbsup:

The NPCs were great this weekend. They worked hard and played fair. I didn't personally see any issues and I certainly didn't see any attitudes from PCs or NPCs. And I fought a lot this weekend.

Let's make the next event even better. Let's just play the game. Let's be epic. Let's be heroes.

Scott


Well said, Scott.

--- Eric Stehle / Ivan Drake
 
I have to say I was really impressed with the encounter in the woods on Saturday. A group of us went down there for fun and roleplay checking on a rumor one of us had heard about and I personally thought it was going to just be a fun hike in the woods and some role play before heading back to cool off and get a drink in the tavern...

...except it wasn't.. what ensued was one of the most realistic encounters through woods, fields, pouring rain, and caves that I have ever been on at a LARP. A group of 8 of us walked down to the woods, including the Baron and I, a guardsmen or two for protection and we took elves and rangers to help us look for a rumored pit of cariosis (SP?).

The walk and role play was fun. We all talked about what it could mean if it were true, other events happening in Fairdale, good times. We walked all over the bottom of the woods and passed other adventurers who had come down to the stream to chat and hang out. Then we decided to look deeper in the woods so we ventured up the hill and began to search the fields that exist in the woods if you walk far enough. We didn't find a pool of cariosis but we were all looking pretty damned hard.

Eventually we decided to head back, but on the way... we saw that those friendly adventurers we passed near the bridge were being attacked! by creatures made of black misty stuff! This fit very well into our search for this fabled pool, so we came to the defense of our fellow adventurers and we decided to make our group of 8 into 12.

The creatures kept appearing further down the trail, so we all decided we must have missed the pool, and we would track these creatures and see where they were coming from. As we attacked wave after wave of them, we tested them in every way we could think of. Dispelling them, attempting to remove their curse, purifying them, trying to gather as much data as we could. it was very exciting for a guildmaster I assure you.

We used all sorts of tracking methods including craftsman skills (i hate that) and natural ways. One of the best parts of the encounter came from Mike S. who was encounter head. Scotts character Drak had heard us fighting from far away, so he tracked the noise and caught up with us even heroically trudging through the stream in his boots to come to our aid... but we had already left the confines of Fairdale when he found us. Mike asked scott if he had craftsman tracker on his card. Scott said, no, I am an Amani ranger and I tracked you because you are very loud when you fight. Mike said, "good enough" and Scott joined the group. Now, why is that important to me? Because it's realistic. Because Craftsman Tracker is ridiculously abused. Just because someone is foolish enough to pay you 1 gold per day to track for them does not mean you are better than an Amani Ranger. end of story.

So the quest continued.. in time we made ot to a large clearing on a hill and it was raining at that point and we were getting soaked. Still we role played on, discussing what was happening, where we were going, and what our next tactics would be.

We eventually found a tomb.. and with the baron's permission Nathan was allowed to enter it (see season opener as to why this is usually a bad idea). we worked our way through hallway after hallway, finding all kinds of rooms and clues. We made it to a room with a swirling mass of blackness and those creatures kept spilling out of it. We even tried to enter the mass and got our butts handed to us. In time, we got the clues we felt we needed, but we got the hell out of there because we had no more life spells and we were all going to die if we stayed. We took some time to catch our breaths and represent the time it would take us to retrace our steps and head back to the town... and then we headed back

What started out as a walk int he woods with no expectation of combat or interaction turned into a 2-3 hour long adventure.. for 12 of us!! i love that. i love that at no point did Mike S. say, you know,t here are just too many of you.. only 6 of you can proceed. This was just a really well done, realistic chain of encounters and I probably the most fun I had all weekend. (though the puzzle fight mod was a close second.. and also done by mike S.)

So my hats off to Mike S. he made the weekend awesome for me.
 
Also, Justin Coggin is the MAN. His impromptu songs are the funniest stuff I have heard in a while. The Guildhall was rolling in good times that night.
 
Robb Graves said:
We used all sorts of tracking methods including craftsman skills (i hate that) and natural ways. One of the best parts of the encounter came from Mike S. who was encounter head. Scotts character Drak had heard us fighting from far away, so he tracked the noise and caught up with us even heroically trudging through the stream in his boots to come to our aid... but we had already left the confines of Fairdale when he found us. Mike asked scott if he had craftsman tracker on his card. Scott said, no, I am an Amani ranger and I tracked you because you are very loud when you fight. Mike said, "good enough" and Scott joined the group. Now, why is that important to me? Because it's realistic. Because Craftsman Tracker is ridiculously abused. Just because someone is foolish enough to pay you 1 gold per day to track for them does not mean you are better than an Amani Ranger. end of story.

I give big props to Mike S for this. I was actually up at the tavern deck and heard the fighting. Others were like, "What fighting?" So I took off and found the group out in the woods.

I could see for a second Mike S was conflicted. Do I let Scott join, as we are supposedly far outside town. Mike used his discretion as a marshall to let me join. He made the fun decision for me and it seems for Robb too, and hopefully others. Thank you Mike S for making the game "funner" for others. That's a worthy goal.

Scott
 
What was even better was that it was all done on the fly (pretty much).

I was in the tavern and I heard people saying they were going out into the woods to look for the rumored pool. I went back to NPC camp and told Mike, who, with his fellow NPCs, was just about to take off the makeup. Instead, he gathered them back up again and they headed out to the woods, responding to PC action.

Excellent job everyone! I'm so happy it all worked out so well!
 
You left out the part where I used up all my life spells on you ding dongs. :P

Good thing he let me join you.
 
I also loved the extended adventure in the woods on Saturday afternoon, but I feel conflicted on how it occurred after reading Robb's summation of it all. I fear I am both in part to blame for it succeeding, but also for elements of it upsetting Robb (if not others), and would like to take this opportunity to voice said conflict. You see, Khorwyn has 10 ranks in Craftsman: Tracker, which I'll be the first to admit I often use as an RP opportunity, but also as an applicable in-game skill when the situation calls for it. I've been told that Craftsman Skills are not to be used as in-game abilities, but the fact of the matter is that if I had not engaged the Marshal (Mike S.) several times throughout the Mod, I don't think it would have ended the way that it did, with us finding the tomb, etc. There was no official mod. There was no tomb set up under the barn. I'd wager that at least the latter half of this outing, if not the whole thing, was improvised. Time and time again, Marshals grant players with Craftsman: Tracking the ability to discern more information than apparently should be available, based upon the fact that nothing actually physically happened upon the ground we are searching when we go looking for things on mods, quests, etc. If we are not to use said skill, that is perfectly fine. Deny us said option! I'll be glad to collect the coin on which my build was spent, and nothing more. But the game will need to change if such specific information is to be found which is not readily available outside use of in-game skills, craftsman or not. I am not trying to point fingers, and I'm not denying my own use of this loophole, and I would readily not ask Marshals for further otherwise unavailable information if they did not apparently readily give it. But this adventure was, at the time, hinged upon me (and Raven) using our Craftsman: Tracker skills, because there was physically nothing else leading us to said cave. If I am wrong, please, enlighten me. Also, despite my enjoying of Scott joining our group halfway through the adventure, I think it is another bending of rules which made it so. I have lost count of how many times I've been told to ignore the sounds of battle or walk past a group of people because "they are on a mod," or "you don't see them." This wasn't technically a mod (that I know of), and kudos to Scott for having sought us out, but I doubt there was a Marshal next to him to indicate that he could or could not actually hear whatever we were doing (especially since when we physically doubled back in the woods we were actually going deeper into the woods in-game). If we were in earshot and he heard us, awesome. If Elves are just that great that they have an in-game skill that lets them hear things that other players cannot when they are deeper in the woods than they physically are, awesome. It made for a great afternoon for all, I think. My complaint is that there is too much bending, breaking, or misunderstanding of rules, on the sides of both PC's and NPC's alike. I loved this afternoon adventure, and I'm sorry if I contributed to its completion by breaking rules, but until the system does not forbid me from doing so, what system do we have?
 
the system is SET. craftsman by the rulebook grants you only 1 silver per skill. if plot wants to grant extra stuff, that is thier perogtive. what i would like to see, is more of what Mike S. did. grant both raven and Dave bonuses... and Drak, for IG reasons. it only makes sense.
 
I am truly humbled by the kind words of Robb, Dave, and Scott.

Just as a note, it was less Dave's ten awesome ranks of tracker that made my decision how to proceed and more the zeal of which the group decided the pursue the situation. I verbally gave my approval of the use of the "skill", but that was primarily to because I was trying to follow the "Rule of Cool." In other words, I was trying to make a player feel cool about his character.

When Scott showed up, I immediately wanted him to join the group because I knew being included is more fun than not being included. I latched onto the Craftsman: Tracker as a crutch and asked him if he had it. I actually regretted the question as soon as it left my lips, because it meant I had set a specific requirement rather than trying to improvise the scene. I was thankful when Scott provided a graceful way for me to escape the trap I had set for myself.

I am glad that people enjoyed the situation and rolled so well with it.

-MS


P.S. - Personally, I hate the Craftsman: Tracker is overused (yes, I perpetuated this...bad me), but I do enjoy making plot that interacts with players' Craftsman skills. I just would like to see all Craftsman skills get equal love, rather than Tracker doing everything and Fetish Toy Maker (not making this up) getting nothing.
 
It depends on the situation everybody. The site is somewhat limited on module space, so sometimes yes, you will be told that the sounds you hear are not really there. Other times they are absolutely within earshot. Somebody asked me this on Saturday, and I pulled somebody else from monster camp to verify which it was. In that particular case the PCs had been rifted, so no you weren't actually hearing anything.

Feel free to poke your heads into monster camp if you hear combat down the hill and ask which it is, instead of assuming it's a far-away module.
 
mikestrauss said:
P.S. - Personally, I hate the Craftsman: Tracker is overused (yes, I perpetuated this...bad me), but I do enjoy making plot that interacts with players' Craftsman skills. I just would like to see all Craftsman skills get equal love, rather than Tracker doing everything and Fetish Toy Maker (not making this up) getting nothing.


We "Craftsman: Extreme Masochist"s need some love, too!
 
I tend agree with Dave and robb here. For example i have no cool appropriate marketable fantasy skills. so to me it makes sense to get craftsman skills to flush out my character and represent knowledge they may have gained. this allows both coin and basically spending build on character background. grim is a miner. he needs to in order to support his emitting habit it makes sense. khirwyn is a ranger he should have tracking cause it makes sense. my concern is if people are claiming to have out rages skills based on backgrounds not always approved. the craftsman system is a way to govern it. for example if someone was torturing maggie and she claimed to enjoy it. they are what do you mean? Its on her sheet

or some random folk need helping cracking a vampire tomb and they recruit a miner and a golem . i think its not an exploit but an opportunity and one plots allowed us to use for a ton of fun.

totally wrote this on my droid . wonder how many autocorrects i have
 
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