April 2013 Event Feedback

What did you think of the last event? Post your opinions and disucss the comments of others here!

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April 2013 Event Feedback

Post by GM_Chris »

I thought I would start an event post since we had one started specifically for the camp. I had a great time, it was fantastic to see everyone. I don't think I have ever been so busy at an event, but it was a good busy.

I want to thank everyone for their quick response Sunday cleaning up, we couldn't have done it with out you. A special shout out to the bath house crew and Dani for cooking, mixing, and doing a lot of dishes. CJ thanks for all the moping and anything else I didn't see as you were in another room.

Anyways I really hope to see all of you at the next event. It takes everyone to be successful. Each of you adds so much to this game. Thanks for making our game a success.
Chris
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Post by ollie »

This was my first final haven event and i was greatly pleased at the experience. You guys with the crystal diease instilled in me something i haven't felt with Ta'ruk ever and that was fear. Knowing when ones death is going to happen really drove me to push and continue on.

I have some more stuff but i will do it via pm.

Edit: My original post was a quick shout out of my enjoyment, but here's my usual format for feed back.

The bad:
Downtime: I understand that there were only so many of you guys. Honestly, I was expecting to go to stage 4 and have to npc which I would have been fine with if I would have been brought back at the resolution of the crystal plot.

There was some OoC and possible metagame chatter occuring that I heard. I PMed the specifics to Chris. But stuff like that should just not occur.


The Neutral:
Camp clean up was fairly smooth. Kudos to everyone!

The road block when we wanted to forward the crystal disease plot and had to wait for the dwarf. This probably can tie in with not enough npc's and stretching you gm's too thin.


The Good:
It was great to see a couple of faces I haven't seen in a long while.

To the kitchen staff, really enjoyed having the GM/NPC presence there. Food was great!

The RP that I had was fantastic. Taki, Eric, Wayward, and Rose. You all were porbably those that I spoke with the most and I enjoyed every second of it.

Like I said before, I loved having that countdown in the third stage of the disease. It was a gamble for those that went beyond stage two and I felt it paid off for me.
Last edited by ollie on Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Rothek »

okay now that i am coherent enough to string two words together, time for some feedback.

first of all i had a great time this event. it is good to see new pc's almost as much as returning players

plots were very engaging and enjoyable.

some highlights were.

the umphbig hunt!: nick your archer scout was great, this was the first plot that i went on and i think was the best plot of the event, i had a lot of fun fighting all of the different creatures and nick played them very well.

huge shout out to blythe for holding off nicks shadow monster and saving our collective asses!! i owe you one.

gathering pieces to do the ritual.

again a plot with naben free! shooting arrows to act as hidden jays was a great idea and all though i didnt catch one after diving after one, it was fun to role play.

the crystal cave plots

i'm not sure what time it was probably getting close to 10- 11-pm

mike: you see a living house
Ta'ruk: is there a backdoor?
mike:.......sure!

and the rest of the conversation divebombed the gutter from there.

alright now for some things that could go better

pacing: this event had the most downtime i think i have ever experienced. i think i spent about a third of the event waiting on npc's or GMs to get ready for a plot. it is very aggravating to do this when playing a character whose build is prodominantly focused on combat and physical skill.

the red x plot: this also touches on pacing a bit, but i found out later from jared that it was meant to be this way so i guess its alright, once things were starting to move the flood gates were opened and we were swamped with things to do, so much that i did not get to go on said red x plot , but from what i heard , it was treacherous as all hell but a really good time.


sad we didnt have time to do chris' playtest but that i will be for later.

over all good time. cant wait for the next event.
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Post by cole45 »

The event was great. For me it is watching the completion of a two year plan. The setting here was engaging and interesting. All in all I had a really good time.

I did have an issue with the crystal plot. I didn't like that we had horrific effects, a death clock AND plot wall. We ran up against a wall that said we simply could not advance until X. We had every skill in game. (seriously) but we had to wait for the dwarf even though our loved ones were slowly dying. I would have been okay if we had known rather han waste alot of time. Any two of the above would have been fine.

The red X plot was anoying. Every PC we needed was on it and Jared was busy doing it at times that we needed him. (5 hours is a long time)

LOVED the mechanical crystal animal fight with mike. "Yah they are in a line." - Mike.

"I got a spell off." Chris.
"only because it didn't hit me." - Me.

I wish I had been on the meal plan. Paula and Myself did not particapte, and I missed it. Will not make that mistake twice.
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Post by Jamie »

All sorts of entertaining weirdness. DRESSER BEAR.

I liked the gardener knight plot; nice to be able to help some people and get a plant growing out of my head in return.

Oh, and Viktor. Hehehehehe.

Pacing was kind of a problem, as has been mentioned. There was a lot of downtime during the day, and then moments of everything happening at once later. Would've been nice if the red x plot had gone down earlier during the day, so that we'd've had people back in time for the lynx ritual.
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Post by taymoonlight »

Good: I felt very challenged this weekend. The plots and monsters put out I felt were well put together very well.
As a newish player to the system I feel that we (sarah and I) were able to contribute to the efforts of the town.
The red x plot was very fun and entertaining.
We both had a very entertaining time.
Food was very good.
Love this group of pc's. Out of the 6 or 8 years that Ive been larping I think this was the best group. No one had any qualms about helping Sarah and I out with rules or calls or anything.
The gm's- Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for putting up with us. The amount of effort you guys put into the game definatly shows.

The bad:
The new system- its still very new to us- I cant point out specific times but I know I miss counted lp's. I wont make excuses but I apologize and I will do my best to get better.
The red x plot- It was very long. But I also realize that it was my choice to go and I couldhave left at anytime.
Potato- Im bad at this to but a lot of people go in and out of game A LOT.

Overall this was an amazing event and I cant wait for the next one.
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Post by GM-Amanda »

Extremely satisfying event all around. It was exactly what I needed to get me out of a bit of a work/school induced funk, and I want to thank everyone who was there and helped me have such a good time.

Pros:
- Roleplay, as always. From screeching at the enemies in the crystal cave and Korrigan over her fury at turning into some kind of hero, to trying not to run for her life when everyone was convinced the cube shenanigans caused the first wave of sickness, to Veektor, Mr. L, and Navin Free, to early morning chats over breakfast during our "vacation", all the way back to the mountain pass to Gateway, entering the new camp was entering a different world. You all make it so easy to slip into character, and every little scene is something to enjoy.

- Special shoutout to the Hunt as a way to seed multiple plots, and get the players into small enough groups the GMs could lead them individually and challenge them. I loved the slow accumulation of 50% as we added to our merry band, and the look on Marcus' face as he brought us into the realm of the dead baby joke. I wish I could have been around for the resolution to that plot.

- The visual cues really added to the game. I really enjoyed being able to position myself next to the dresser bear or the bird stick and completely ignore them one moment, then "see" them the next. Really adds to the moment when there's something visual that adds to the roleplay, instead of relying completely on vocal description. And of course, we still can't find Lemmy :P

- Having simple logistics in the inn/tavern/middle of PC camp really helped. I didn't have to use it much (most of the time I went to NPC camp I was looking for Robin :P) but having tags and coin on hand made it much easier. Big props to Chris and Bill for cleaning up after our lazy butts and making awesome LARP chow.

- The weather finally cooperated. I wish it had been a bit warmer, especially at night. I really wanted to use my hammock for more than 90 minutes.

- The camp was amazing. Feedback in the other thread, but I'm still kind of sad that we may not be back because of the pricing. Sigh.

- Super duper ultimate special shoutout to Blythe, Laylah, Nikolai, Elvis, Huli, Theseus, Zorin, and Arianna (and Jared, Nick, and Keaton). We kicked some serious ass, and those 5 hours we spent tracing the same 50 feet repeatedly were priceless. I will be PMing my specific feedback on the Red X plot to Jared, mostly because I don't want to spoil the surprises of the monster playtest and the specifics for those who still want to go. I will say I thought the balance was perfect except for the ghost room and the unclarified hordes, and I still might go jump in the lake. Damn your red herrings Jared. Also so much happy at the unintentional exploit of one of Cirrus' weakness and it FREAKING EVERYONE THE BOOP OUT.

Cons:
- I didn't sleep Saturday. Once I had consumed an unwise amount of coffee and conducted my daily cannibalism, I was pumped and ready to go PLOT. Instead I took a nap on the warmest park bench I can remember... and the rest of the town joined me outside for most of an hour. I know we kept you guys up late, but srsly. Plots need to go before noon. I was then stuck waiting for another half hour so we could go after the cowardly mountain hyena. This downtime was further accented by the absolute GLUT of plot shoved in after game break. I would recommend putting the Red X plot in during Saturday afternoon if they continue.

- This is a fairly minor gripe, and I may have missed the appropriate hooks, but wasn't there a festival in town? Aside from the Hunt, I didn't see any kind of feasting, games, revelry, or anything that would signify it. Even a greeting by town NPCs "Happy Snorganfugle Day!" would have been enough. Maybe instead of a festival, we could have arrived in a town that was too hoitytoity or paranoid to leave their walls, and hired outsiders to do their dirty work for them. Or the town was expanding, and was in a gold rush of sorts to claim the new land and resources that came with it. It definitely added to the unease Cirrus felt about Gateway, and I'm not sure if that was intentional.

- MOAR NPCs. Still trying to clone myself guys, but I needs my PCing.
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Post by GM-Taki »

Even though Korrigan spent most of the moon diseased as hell, I had a fine time this event.

With the limited number of players we had it was useful to have someone playing "command and control" in the Inn, and while I was hoping to be a bit more active this event, it all worked out in the end. Sometime on Saturday I tweaked my left ankle and was on a bum wheel for the rest of the event, so Korrigan's disease and my gimp leg lined up nicely.

Perhaps it was because I was generally stationary, but I did notice a good amount of out-of-game chatter. Something to keep in mind for everyone.

Thanks to Jared for spending the time with me on Friday night to get the economic elements hammered out. We'll get out routine down sooner or later, but it's getting better every event, and that's a good thing.

As for the disease plot itself, I personally didn't have a problem being taken out of the action with an incurable affliction, but I can see how it might have been a real downer for someone else. I'd be careful using any plot mechanic that potentially and arbitrarily sidelines a character for most of an event.

I can see the points above about pacing, and the solution is simple: you need more staff. None of us are getting any younger, and the four of you can't expect to run an event for 25 generally younger players. We need to scare up some good NPC's for you guys, so let's (and I do mean everyone) see what we can do about that.
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Post by Marcus »

I'll leave a more in-depth feedback later (though it's overwhelmingly positive) but I want to make sure I echo Taki on the disease plot.

Now, I was on the outside of it all, but I think it was handled well. Especially as it was mitigated by whether or not (and how many of) any player picked up the crystals. Marcus for one, thought something was very suspicious about them, and thus escaped the danger.

It's a good thing to temper those plots, though. I have personally been on the other side of a backstory-related situation that was very similar, and believe me, being considered starving for all of Friday and Saturday until game break really sucked, especially when I was forced to rely on the player base to help me (I actually ended up having to force their hand, and then still "sit out" on the dungeon-crawl that was supposed to be to save me.)

But this particular one....good job GM's. It played a pretty integral part of the story.
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Post by Kayla »

Loved it.

There was a good group (and number) of people to adventure with as well as an in-game variety of skills and abilities.

I actually felt scared on the hunt plot, when I was with 3 other people and we saw the Lynx (or whatever it was called) as a dragon/wyvern. Also I started kicking myself when I thought I could have avoided being poisoned. (Even though I checked later and I actually couldn't have)

As usual, I did my NPCing for the event (which I will continue to do every event) starting after game break. So the Red X plot was done from an NPC standpoint. First, I have to congratulate the GMs for their work on the monsters I played. Very cool new system! Second, I didn't have the heart to kill the whole party. Interpret that as you wish. Third, I hope the Red X plot was challenging enough to make some of you want to turn back, but fun enough that the promise of reward kept you going. (Even if the group didn't pick up any special magic items *cough*)

I think I spent more time repairing armor than I would have normally liked, but that's not really a big deal (and also my own fault :P )
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Post by Lemmy Litgher »

I had a great time, I'll leave more when I can get to a computer.
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Post by Wyrmwrath »

Good
loved the plots running ath the same time, noce to be able to split the players AND keep em busy.

red tear fight was good, would have been better had the GMs has more bodies for undead as fodder as the necros would have likely had.

Nick did a great job with the russian nesting doll hunt, as I call it, where we had to get critter A, but needed critter B to get it, and critter C to get B and so on. Different and well run by Nick.

The staff must have been drinking vampire blood or something with as much superhuman effort they showed in making sure everything got tended to and on likely almost no sleep. Thier effort made any wait times a moot point, because I knew they had only 4 or 5 bodies and the clones arent ready yet...

Love the idea of the red X plot, but that is because I am used to, and mostly preffer such difficulty levels. Its just what I am used to. Sad I missed it.

Loved the phys rep play tests!!!!!!! Then again I think EVERY in game item should be phys reped.

Indifferent
Did I miss all of the herbs placed or did they not get placed?!?!?!

NPC shortage, not your fault obviously, but also not a bad things because of your god like efforts to make it moot.

Im getting a muzzel for Ben, cause the mutt snores... :p

event wasnt as combat heavy as the one day, id say a good thing and bad. Made it seem less full by comparison, but also didnt wreck both the PCs and staff like the one day did.


Bad
Lynx plot, while possesed of interesting portions, seemed forced/conrtived and un connected to our purpose there. It overshadowed the red tear stuff for me.

After chats with Taki, I realized whats I have felt that has been missing in FH ..... the typical ability to earn I am used to seeing for LARP adventuring types. With the economy SOOOO set on land owning and team work, small groups or solo PCs have ZERO chance for anything more than basic survival AT BEST. I hope things like the red X plots will change that. I know not every PC is built like a mercenary/treasure hunter, and the system seems to fit for those that arent. I kow that more oa a game thing than event thing, but this event just seemed to clarify that for me somehow.

I also expected more festival related stuff, the hook that got us there didnt seem to connect the plots into a common thread. Seemed disjointed a bit. This too would have been muted with more bodies, but bill and chris did an awesome job adding local flavor to the inn.





overall 8.5 outta 10
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Post by ollie »

I made bank and only walked in with 23 cp, and except for a few big plots, i was in groups no larger than three or four if not entirely solo without owning any land.
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Post by Wyrmwrath »

so you made a bank with only 23 character points and were either solo, with a small group or on big plots....got it
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Post by ollie »

Yes sir. Made about 14 gold between plots and players and i am not a treasure seeker nor monster hunter.

And i did not go on the red x plot either.
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