I know I had tons of fun at this event, even though it was just a one-day. I echo Taki's sentiment that in between the roleplaying scenes, there was
plenty of action, even with only three main NPC's.
The attack on the tavern by the shadow-creatures, especially when bolstered by several PC "volunteers" really got the blood pumping. With the usual numbers of PC's, a scene like that would have nearly always devolved into a confusing, loud mess, but with so few people inside, we were able to pull together wonderfully as a team and use tactics, just like people who have been living quite familiarly with each other for so long.
Even if it had an in-game link, at first I was bummed and quite worried about getting pulled away to NPC, because especially at such a short event, there are limited opportunities to show what and how I really want Marcus to act like in a scene (and at a weekend with so few players, I have a much better chance of not just falling into the background while other familiar players get the main attention), but by the end I was entirely satisfied.
Sure, I may not have been able to help destroy the Rod of Command or put the bodies to rest, but I was able to be there from the beginning to end in saving the children from their captivity- something a true questing knight would be gladly involved in. And wait! "Repel" even played a pivotal role at the end! Damn....guess I can't bitch about that skill being completely worthless against NPC's anymore....
I also found myself surprised at a lot of roleplaying to be had by being sent into the experiences of the four that the Sylvani brought in, even tough we were by and large just observers. Either through dumb luck, (or GM cunning), Marcus found himself connected with something of a kindred spirit in Morel, even making the same decision when in the interrogation chamber- though I find myself confused as to how they actually died in the end. Was that information mentioned at all?
I think by far the best part of the event for me was when Zeira, Marcus, and Cirrus were swept back into a final experience with the four bodies, playing out their final capture while fighting against insurmountable odds- played by the rest of the PC and NPC staff. I don't now about Kiel and Amanda, but the way the GM's portrayed Marcus' blending with Morel in that fight let me play out a scene as
easily the most powerful and effective "PC character" I have played in six years.
And...just writing this, I actually got a weird thought. Did the three of us just experience a moment in the past, or did we actually force it to happen that way? In a strange paradox, did our "possession" of those three people make them powerful enough that they couldn't be killed, only subdued and captured- enabling those particular linked events of the one-day that dealt with them to be possible? Erk, my brain hurts.
My only gripe of the event was actually with that same scene, though. The seeming rush by staff to wrap up the event's final activities ended up finishing it for us three with a hasty bit of narration and a quick change into NPC's for the final PC objective of the event. The three of us really wanted to see a final climactic wave of enemies actually play out the narration of being impossibly overwhelmed, and it was a rare opportunity to have such a huge amount of "NPCs" available for just that- enough that in my LARPing career, I have rarely been in a scene with that many adversaries being physically present, rather than in waves.
All in all, good event, and thanks for Mike Brad and Nick for being the brave, tiny game staff to run it.
Though I am still laughing at the "choice" to have the only Undead Slayer in town get "pulled away" and then play the frigging Blood Golem, especially with what that could have devolved into if I had not gotten Dominated. I got to nod at all the descriptions of what certain skills like Repel and Banish would affect me, and then laugh and tell Nick, "It's ok, the only PC with most of those skills is me, so that's not a worry. From experience, Smitty and Abaddon are who are going to screw this monster, so just tell what Dominate Monster will do to me."
-Evil always prevails when good people do nothing.
-All knight, every night.
