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I had a fun event. I did not pay attention to any plots enough to know what they were about, but the PC driven stuff was immersing and exciting to role-play. Here are a few of my favorite things

The imagery of a grotesquely disfigured and obviously evil monster providing comfort to a grieving 10-year-old child... Parts of this storyline are frighteningly similar to "Little Red Riding Hood" a tale designed to warn both parents and children of the dangers of sexual predators. It was the most blatantly evil thing I have ever witnessed in LARP. Suddenly LARP begins to feel like real literature, it has symbolism, subtlety, imagery...What I love most about this is that if look closer it gets worse. Like Shrek, this junk has layers!


Big Moma's art Exhibit entitled "What Goes Around Comes Around" I mean I wrote some words on a peice of paper, tagged it, displayed and sold it for three gold...how is this done? Forget traditional role-playing. Just be creative.

Singing rounds around the fire was fun....

I love the NPC make-up...

Jared, in one scene managed to communicate (through narration) the brutality of nature as well as the only comfort it has to give, which are its impartiality and cyclical (and therefore somewhat predictable) characteristics.

In short, there was theme for this event (as I experienced it) Infinity, infinite layers, infinite rounds, cycles of life... etc.

This was my first event to FH but it will definately not be my last. I enjoyed meeting all the new characters and sitting around the campfire singing songs. The only downside was that it was way too cold and I actually got sick from running around in the dark, but it was worth it!

And thanks to everyone who made me feel welcome!

Ok, I will start with the bad things first and get them out of my system before I add my happy little two cents in...

The Ugly: Certain peoples' OOC comments about other players' role-playing or in-game methods of carrying out an action/scene. Seriously!? Do I even need to ask you why you feel the need to openly and loudly criticize other peoples' acting/role-playing skills!? If you have a problem, don't be cruel, and please keep your loud-mouthed comments to yourself when we're all in the middle of a scene! Proclaiming your displeasure only ruins the scene and makes the people involved feel like shit (especially if they KNOW they can't act all that well but still try)! In summary, I would thank you to NOT BE A PRICK while the rest of us are trying to enjoy the game we paid to play!

The Bad: The cold and dealing with some minor OOG drama. Luckily, I'm so used to that OOG PVP crap now, I can ignore it and carry on having a great time.

Finally, the Good! ^_^
* Melissa/Dani - thank you ladies SO MUCH for the awesome meals! I will be sure to do your meal plans in the future!
* I would especially like to thank Serena and Braidenvayl and Aaron for the AMAZING and totally HEART-RENDING trial/execution. It had deceit, romance, and powerful emotion! Especially when Braidenvayl hugged Aaron and said "goodbye old friend", and then put the knife through his heart. That scene shook me to my core. Thanks also to everyone else involved with the trial/banishment. I will never forget it!
* Big Moma - You made me laugh so hard this weekend, I couldn't believe some the things coming out of your mouth!
* Raven - Thank you for opening Alice's eyes to a whole new world of "entertaining men". lol
* Thank you to everyone who escorted Alice back and forth from the Keep and Inn. There's no question why she doesn't charge for her services.
* Gillian - I wanted to just cuddle Tiksok (sp?) and play with her ears all weekend! **^-^** You were just too cute!

Plot wise - I really liked the "Page Master" theme. I would have like to have seen more actual role-playing in the library plot, but to be honest, it kinda just felt more like a meat-grinder/hopeless case. Not matter, though! All in all, I would LOVE to do something like that again, just to see what other kinds of books we can get into trouble inside. Going to the library also gave me the wonderful opportunity to really role-play Alice's determination to find the coordinates to her home and wherever her Betrothed may have disappeared too. I will be submitting my character background soon with even greater detail thanks to this event! So thank you!

In closing, I had a really awesome time! Thank you to everyone who made my first Final Haven event in two years the most memorable! HUGS!! *^_^* See you all in the Spring!

Yay for thoughts!

I enjoyed this event immensely. The only times I wasn't busy was when I chose to not be busy. The new idea for Visions was exceptionally awesome. I was standing next to Dallid when he got one of his, the urgency of the scene was intense.

The storybook plot was fantastic, through and through. I loved trying to figure out how to affect the storyline through roleplay, and the jaunt into the journal with the Queen was awesome. I feel honored both as a character and a player to have witnessed the events of the past several years, even though it was shown to me in minutes.

NPC staff did a fantastic job all around, but especially costuming and makeup. There was one scene where I didn't think Jared was Jared until he spoke.

I want to thank both the players and the staff for putting up with my 'outside of out of the box' way of thinking. It's a blast on this side, and I can only hope you folks enjoy it as well.

Can't wait until next season!

Had a lot of fun at this event. Stayed constantly busy, though not always on main plots! There was always something to do, and often Dallid was out helping villagers rather then helping in town-level issues. When needed for a trial, he was elsewhere stuck in a pit saving the life of a girl who hated him. This really helped bring my characters nature to life – town wants Dallid to do something, but he can’t because he’s off being Dallid.

Forging peace and cooperation between Haven and the Spirit of the Wood felt like a tremendous accomplishment. Dallid always tries to seek harmony with antagonistic forces, but normally the hostile force refuses to compromise. It was awesome to succeed this time. And warnings from the Spirit of the Wood that other ‘things’ where awakening out there in Tree Man’s absence provided ominous foreshadowing for next year.

The timed Seer Envelopes were awesome, but I’m a little worried that a vision could be ‘missed’ for OOG reasons if a player forgets to open one on time. I, myself, was 5 minutes late with my second envelope, fortunately to no detrimental effect. So long as NPC camp is flexible enough to work with a late vision – even sending an NPC to remind folks if a vision is late – then this mechanic will remain cool.

Conversations with Asher and Francesco allowed for entertaining philosophical discussions – thanks, guys! Developments with the Monroe family turned seemingly simple farmers terrifically complex! I’m sure we’re not done with them yet.

Twice the OOG talk among the players reached maddening levels, but, when I think of it, two times over a weekend isn’t too shabby! There were some cheesy combat tactics used by the newer NPCs on Friday night, but that disappeared by Saturday. So kudos to both players and NPCs for making a fun and memorable weekend!

Just to touch on the visions: we had a 15 minute discrepancy between the vision time on the envelope and the plot time in our agenda. We also had a half an hour between plot start times at one location. Do you think that's enough time to account for lateness and travel time? We did have one vision not gone on. I don't know who had that or why that was the case.

A missed Vision is concerning. The PC may have decided not to act on it, or may have been distracted and forgotten about the envelope. May want to keep a list of who has what and inquire after any Visions that have gone significantly passed their time.

There's also the commitment of NPCs to Vision plots. The way they were run - with the Vision detailing a location so the PC(s) can just go directly there was mega-cool, but meant that one or more NPCs had to be waiting out there. If the PCs are late, those NPCs are tied up doing nothing for an extended amount of time. Probably more efficient to just have PCs going out on Vision plots to report to NPC camp, where NPCs can be assigned on the spot and everyone can head out for the plot.

What you guys did was ideal and awesome if you've got the NPCs to spare and the weather is decent.

I think the only one that didn't go in was Gillian's, though another was late since the PC didn't show up. I'd personally like to see the visions be more spread out over the course of the weekend, but it worked out really well.

Hope everyone enjoyed beating me up

Actually I am pretty sure Gillian's went in.. She was in the Inn when she opened hers, and what was in it made it to the players.

I did like the concept of how the visions were used.. and am also curious about any problems this event with it, to iron out any bugs or potential problems.

My Scout went in, my Visions did not. This was because I was doing makeup. I was ok with missing it, and we could have rescheduled it later if need be. Both me and the STs were pretty flexible about it. Thats why there was 1 Vision that didn't get in. The piece went in at a later time instead. It's all good.

And thanks for the makeup compliments guys!

I always have an opinion, but rarely leave event feedback. Odd… but true. Mostly because I see a lot of the GM’s. In this case, I really feel I have a lot of people to thank for a great many things. As I like the good/bad/ugly format… we’ll go with that.

THE UGLY:

- people crossing boundaries. It is NOT alright to involve your character in the background/history/life of another PC’s character WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION! EVER. I am telling you this right now, ANYONE that EVER does so without my permission will find their character dead at my feet. Seriously. Claiming to be a long lost relative, lover, person seeking revenge, or taking a name you know exists in someone’s background is a defilement of RP etiquette. ASK… you may get permission from the player you wish to interact with.

- DO NOT blame things on people (OOG) if you do not have IREFUTABLE proof they did something. It’s bullshit and I’m calling it out.

- There is a line between in-game, and out… character and player. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. I promise, if Sunny does something, it’s SUNNY. NOT Christen. I don’t care if you are my friend OOG, Sunny will kill you if she has to. On the same note, don’t ever assume I care enough about you OOG to find a covenant reason for Sunny (or any other character for that matter) to do something to you. I try very hard to leave OOG out of game. I’ll avoid you if I feel there’s a conflict of interest.

THE BAD:

- Slowdown’s during plots. I thought the Library plot looked like it was brilliantly written, but I think there was some logistical confusion and that slowed things down. We got fragmented, which may very well have been our faults, and so there was a lot of pause and confusion. However… this plot still led to some of the best RPing I saw all game. People remained deeply in character and it was wonderful. I think, in fact, that we were role playing so much the NPC’s didn’t want to move the plot along and interrupt!

- Check your swings in the cold! ALL of our weapons harden up in the cold, and we need to remember that.

- Emotion. I am a HUGE culprit in this, so know that I include myself. Sometimes things get a little… intense. When the line between character and player gets fuzzy, or a scene is too much for you, please walk away. Please. It makes everyone uncomfortable when you lose it on the field. If there’s no reason to believe that someone’s tears aren’t OOG – ASSUME THE ARE IN CHARACTER. Sometimes the BEST scenes are intensely emotional, so everyone needs to roll with it rather than assume OOG.

- Ninja trees. It’s true… they exist! I promise!

- KNOW YOUR RACE/Culture. We’re working on fully flushing out the race/culture books. I know that it sucks that the game is, and almost always has been, a very verbal tradition when it comes to setting info. That can be very difficult when you wish to play your race/culture correctly. HOWEVER – there are people you can go to. Please DO. NOTHING is more irritating than seeing someone slaughter the RPing of your beloved race or culture.

- Valkin’vi are the new Elves. *super sad face*

THE AMAZING:

- OMGBBQWTFLMFAO Role playing! There was SO much wonderful role playing I can’t even put it into words. Some of you absolutely MADE this event for me… and reminded me WHY we do this.

Legion: you seriously made my event. NO JOKE. Your role palying was so intense, immersive, and growth inspiring that I don’t have words for it. THANK YOU.

Chance: you bastard… I love you. *giggle* Awesome as always, you nut. I seriously thought you and Legion were going to drop my corpse and fight right there!

Atreus: for being a good sport when Sunny just has NO social grace… and taking it when she flipped her shit, literally.

Big Momma: You always make Sunny feel better, which is saying something! I LOVE our role playing and my events aren’t the same when Momma isn’t there!

Exmerelda: smarties as payment… priceless! And effective.

Vaal: Thank goodness you understood! That was a fun scene, and led to even more amazing RP consequences you don’t even know about!

Ark/ Gin/ Xaviar: I missed the old days… and you know which ones I mean. This event, and the last few, have felt like them. THANK YOU. It’s fun again, and god did I miss that.

- The make-up and costuming this event on the part of the NPC’s was AMAZING! I know I bitched at Jared for spending all that money on make-up and fake facial hair… as well as the new costuming, but damn was it immersive. Gigi, you are a goddess, and your talents made scenes more immersive. THANK YOU.

All in all, for me, I had a wonderful event. One of the best in memory, really. Though, little because of plot, and more because of people. There were SO MANY little moments of exquisite role playing. I always felt in character, and everyone was so much more seemingly into character than I have often seen. It really made the event for me. Thank you to EVERYONE I had the joy of interacting with.

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Something I WOULD like to see – I was watching Castle last night with J… and it occurred to me why I love that, Burn Notice, and House: Every episode is kinda’ monster of the week. There’s a solvable problem. However, there are also always bits and pieces of the larger story line integrated. An over all arc and vision that extends beyond the weekly episode.

I’d really like to see more of THAT in plot writing. This season felt, please forgive me, a little Arc light. There didn’t seem to be a clear vision for the over-all story… nothing bigger for us to continue to focus on. Maybe that was the plan, but it left me a little wanting for a larger story goal. Though we don’t always want things to be the End of the World – we DO need and crave a long term goal and focus beyond ourselves. Good long term stories require an external force against which the protagonists (us in theory) can struggle. This can be corruption within, a distant influence causing us food troubles, or an evil mage. It doesn’t matter what, so long as it’s there.

I would also like to encourage people to WRITE THEIR CHARACTER HISTORIES DOWN AND SUBMIT THEM! Some of the BEST plots are intimate character growth. The GM’s can’t write them if you don’t submit them. Events are always better when they feel personal.

Okay… my novel is done. I loved this season. Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

You callin' me an Elf?!

Hold on... everyone hates Valkyn'Vi now?

No, no, no,. You take the ears from Valkin'vi now and noses from the elves.

I would just like to say that a story arc is in place that has permeated throughout the year but was intentionally disjointed and slow played to kind of give players a break from anything too obviously huge while creating an almost peace time atmosphere. So it feels light and you're not seeing the connections at this time (as planned), but I hope it makes you feel better that at least there is one there and at least a bit of a plan behind all this madness.

And the arc has nothing to do with Valkyn'Vi nor are they the new elves. That's just us messing with Troy...