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*falls over sideways*

-squee!- I loved Panic! ^_^ So cute and so awesomely helpful!

Oh, and one other mention: I think that having everyone in one location really seemed to help create more unity among the population. We'll see if this continues, or if I didn't see rifts that were there and obvious to others, but I'm hoping it wasn't just coincidence or naivety.
We still have our physical, political, and social separations, but I think it worked out well from what I saw.

Holy Balls.

I loved the event. Though I was a little bored Friday that was because of a conscious choice to stay out of plots and hang out in the Inn. I greatly enjoyed the Valkynvi plots that I over heard. OOG I WANT TO DO THOSE, but in game I had to avoid them.

I think my favorite was the kidnapping of Fiona's brother. Awsome hook, done very well. PCS, if the you turn over plot important items to specific people you need to understand you will delay those plots if they are not involved. Did anyone go to a GM and ask about the Haven? might have gotten an fix too.

PANIC you are my new favorite wizard.
I loved my mortality showdown with Noble over the snake man, and the I told you so I gave him.

New people, you all did awesome and I always enjoy just sitting back and watching events unfold.

I echo Cory in that there may have been too much for everyone to get attached to each plot. That being said it was a a lot of fun beating the crap out of you.

I'm not even sure how to begin.

This event was incredibly refreshing for me, all things considered. The only downtime I had was when I wanted to sit and do nothing. Every plot I went on I felt I had something to contribute. The cave to retrieve the bracers had a few interesting puzzle and enemies that were challenging without being overpowering.

The story within the story was fun. I enjoyed the silliness of the script while putting us in harms way.

The compass plot with Scarlight was interesting and very descriptive, but I felt somewhat out of place.

As for Fergesons rescue, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The roleplay leading up to it, with Noble telling War that she could either help us or deal with the tablets on her own, would've made the event for me alone. The combat itself was really tough, almost to the point where I thought we would need help. Kudos to Leo for giving us a reason to charge in and finish the first cavern.

My favorite plot was just the little one a small group of us did on Saturday night, featuring Mike and Jared as the 'dancing guardians'. I can honestly say that was the only time I've taken damage to the tune of the imperial march.

As for gripes, there were only a few things I noticed. Fast charging and blatant ignoring of damage on the PC side of things. I tend to agree about peoples magic items, but as it didn't effect my event it didn't bother me.

All in all, it was a good event, and the staff pulled it off with much less manpower then they had planned on.

Now that I’ve had a day to recover and take care of a few other things, I can offer my feedback on the May event. I’ll start with the areas I think could have been improved upon and move to the overwhelming awesomeness afterward.

The first thing I have to say is this: poor, poor Jared. Being the one responsible for check-in and having a few characters with massive lists of crap waiting in the wings can’t be fun. Thanks for wading through the mess, but I’ve got some ideas that might help reduce the mess in the future. I’ll PM you, because as much as I appreciate you slogging it out, neither of us want me to make a habit of being at NPC camp from 7:30pm till 11:30pm just to check in.

Next, it was a little frustrating when we decided to be pro-active on several fronts on Saturday morning and ran straight into a wall. There’s an unseen social capital that is spent when you organize a group to go do something, only to be told that you can’t do it because person X is currently unavailable. While I understand that situations like that are sometimes unavoidable, please try to address them sooner than later. I waited 9 hours for a response to those missions, and when the response finally came it arrived in the middle of several major plotlines.

Lastly, I know there was an issue with the GM Staff losing all of my tags until literally the day before the event (Thanks to Christen for finally finding them!), but not having either items or answers about items for an entire event was a bit much. I very much appreciated the response when, just before leaving for the great plot in the North on Saturday night, I asked for some of my gear back and received the essentials.

I suppose that’s a point of balance I should address. While there were delays and things missing this event, I always felt that the GM’s did a good job of making up for it when the time came. For that reason I’m not at all upset by the issues I’ve addressed here, but it will be easier on everyone if we can avoid them in the future.

I had a great time this weekend, and the two plots that are most memorable to me are perhaps the two plots in which Korrigan was least likely to take an interest. If you had asked me going into the event what I was going to accomplish in-game, the answer “be the producer of a play” never would have left my lips. Many of the Havenites required a little convincing to take on their various roles, but once we got them together it was magic. Zeira and Vaal were easy to cast as the Narrator and King, but some of the roles were just serendipitous magic. Gabrial as the King’s snarky brother, Dallid as the maimed Champion… everybody did a fantastic job. Kudos!

After we got back from the play I felt good, but a bit tired, and figured on staying close to the Inn for the rest of the night. We organized the mission to rescue Fionna’s brother and I settled in, but a while later my energy seemed to pick up and I decided to wander out to lend a hand. Just as I was getting close to the sounds of combat I was met by the group going off to deal with Nell’s bracers, and that chance encounter made me a part of a plot that several of us will always know as “The North”.

Neither Korrigan or I knew quite how to react to what happened on that magical journey, but like Cirrus I can say that it shifted some important and foundational elements of Korrigan’s character. The impact of such improbable experiences is incalculable, and Korrigan stayed quiet for much of the journey as he soaked it all in. On hearing the Troll’s story in the final scene, something within Korrigan changed and I’m not precisely sure how it will affect him in the days ahead. Calling the Dragon was a powerful moment, and I’m not going to do it the injustice of trying to relate it here. Those who were there know, and for anyone who knows anything of Korrigan’s background, I hope it was clear how much of what was said is resonant in his very core. Congrats to Karen and Brad for a superb story.

As for the PC’s, the good moments were beyond measure. I had a great time roleplaying with Quen, Noble, Legion, Fionna, Serith, Gabrial, Dallid, Malachi, Zeira, Theon, Leo, Vaal, Lemmy, Hamr, Kaylen, “Panda”, Rothek, Cirrus, Nell, Marcus, Outcast and a whole bunch of other folks (Old and new) whose names I can’t remember. Well, I can remember one – Panic. Fainting goats are hard to forget.

That’s all I’ve got for the moment, so I’ll leave it there. I can’t wait for next time, and I hope to see you all in Port Huron!

Overall i was very pleased with the event. A special bravo goes out to Jared for handling all of the sign in BS and everything that goes with that.
Also Panic you where amazing!! Definitly the funniest wizard ive ever played with.

I enjoyed playing with everyone meeting/making new and old friends.
This has been stated previously but i have to agree that there was almost to much going on. I had trouble keeping track of what plot i was actually on at times.
I also have to state that some people need to watch there counts. If you need to talk in a low wisper to yourself in order to count correctly then do it.


Overall everything went great the GMs and NPCs did an amazing job for being so short handed. I loved the little rp event with the two children. Almost felt like that was put in there just to see what Morik would do
Ty everyone I look forward to the next time i see everyone. Sadly me and Courtney wont be at the next event but we plan on making as many others as possible. Ty all again.

Hey guys, Bailey the other eyebrow here; I had a great time this game. You guys did an amazing job! You have a great rules system and I absolutely LOVE playing in it. I have only been to two games so far, but both times the endorphin rush has lasted days.
It was great really getting to know some of the characters. The Dwarves that I have been in contact with online, Rothek, Legion, marcus, Panak, and really dozens of others, that I have only glipsed or heard of before. good times.
Oddly enough I pretty much had NO idea what was going on as far as plot. I would walk into town, there would be a group gathering, someone would say "hey want to find some invisible bracers?" or some such and away we would go. I had a blast playing as an NPC and a PC both (I really dont know which I had more fun with) and I love that the system is set-up so a new character such as mine can still contribute so much. I am soo sick of games that newbs walk in and cant do a damn thing; so thank you for that.
The one thing I thought I would absolutely hate was the play. I thought it would end up being one of those things that just kept the PCs busy and filled up some time, but I really enjoyed it. suddenly I found myself really wanting to learn my lines and do a good job with it. When we actually went to a stage it made it even better. Know that before the actual play we had prepared ourselves for the possibility that shit would hit the fan and not go according to plan, however when it actually did somehow it was still completely unexpected. The woman (sorry I dont recall your name) running the thing also made it with her excellent roleplaying and enthusiasm. Well played guys! I never want to do it again, but well played!
The dwarf stronghold was also a huge favorite of mine. I love that while a bunch of us went out on it, a few were building this crazy complicated contraption, a few were guarding the steam vent and a comparetively small number of us were left to guard against the attacking elves. I will also make a not here about how badass the NPCs were; normally four NPCs Vs. twice as many PCs wouldnt be much of a challenge, but they kept up an amazing energy level and made us really work for it. Again, way to go!
The NPCs in general really worked their tails off this game. While NPCs in every game go above and beyond you guys really left it all on the field and completely floor me with the energy they put into their roles, including continuing to come after us even after taking several crotch shots (Im soooo sorry about that to all I nailed, but especially Troy who took around 4 shots to the boys and still kept coming out to monster.) Hardest NPCs I may have ever seen, and I have seen some hard ones.
bad points?
Slow start on saturday. I think this is due to people doing plot until 6am the night before. Im a big fan of mandatory game off time (3am?) so the NPC staff can be rested and give the rest of us story earlier than noon the next day.
Also didnt really like the ghost ga'vin encounter which was basically a no-win thing. Maybe it had to happen, but I usually take the Kirk point of view on the Kobyoshi maru test.
also the check-in proccess was kind of a bear. would love to be able to do character updates online, pay my money and go when I check-in.
Thats it. Minor things that were minor and a hell of a good time. was great to be able to do so much LARP arching.

It was a great event for me. I had an absolute blast. A couple of highlights...

- I enjoyed every puzzle that I did this event. The statue puzzle in the Invisibility Bracer cave was very good. Difficult and frustrating but not impossible by any means. Exactly what a good puzzle should be.

- Great roleplay from PC and NPC alike. Everybody brought their best this event and it showed. Had some great interactions I was not expecting.

- The Play. I loved this from the bottom of my heart. From rehearsal to our actual performance it was great to see how certain characters reacted to being cast. All those dwarves having to be in a play. Priceless!

- Tons to do! I was going nonstop the entire time. There was not a single thing that I felt was roadblocked. I felt bad because I had to sleep or I would have done more stuff.

- Special shout outs to my guild people and any of those who signed on for some temporary work. It was fun to have a dedicated team of folks who were down to go get stuff done and play through the pain.

Some other things I will comment on...

- I don't quite understand why Doug came looking for Zeira specifically. It was weird that he would come looking for me even though he was a NPC who interacted with my previous character Francesco. I don't know if it was hook for something but it felt completely out of place so I kinda had to disregard it.

- Multiple game stops during the possession thing. I don't like a lot of game stops if they can be avoided. I tried to leave the area the scene was happening in to avoid it but it was at PC camp making it difficult. Same thing goes for narrations. It was just a touch too heavy in certain scenes. One at the beginning of a scene and maybe one in the middle is cool. Kind of nit picky I know. It's not too bad I would just prefer a touch less.

- My research request results were very disappointing. I basically felt as though I got nothing. I appreciate the short narrative explaining that I have no idea how I came back but I would have appreciated a bread crumb in there to point to what I may want to research next or if it is truly futile. I mention this because it has been a trend at FH. I don't expect the answer to all my problems but a smidge of info would have been cool.

- You guys need one or two more people at NPC camp who can handle some of the more political/paperwork/rules things. I know that it is boring but by doing this you will really be doing the PC base a great service. I know there are worries about mix ups and miscommunications by having multiple people but a little extra help at check in would be great.

Great event folks. Can't wait to see everyone at Port Huron!

You DO know that Jared is basically the ONLY person on staff who deals with anything to do with paperwork, right? ALL of the military, economy, tags, upkeep, money... EVERYTHING. Do you remember what things were like a few years ago before he kept track of everything?

Yeah... it wasn't pretty.

I understand the points folks are trying to make... but being his wife, I SEE how much of his time he dedicates to this. ALL of it. No one else wants to do it, including me... because you all want to play. If you have suggestions for HOW to make it better, by all means, let us have 'em... but just saying it should have been isn't fair.

It's a thankless job... balancing items, making sure everything gets printed, making sure you have all of your military numbers, keeping track of what is in the economy and what isn't. He spends just about all of his time dealing with the stuff NO ONE else wants to do, and gets almost no positive feedback for it because it's all behind the scenes. It is very hard for me to see him get discouraged because he feels he's letting everyone down... because -I- know how hard he works.

It takes a mountain of work to get an event off of the ground, and more money than you can imagine. GMs do it for love of the game... because they love crafting story and seeing their friends have fun. However, they also have an impossible job: everyone wants to be happy and have things their way. It's never going to happen. They try... but this guy is mad his item got nerfed while that guy is still pissed it's too powerful. It's a fine line they try really hard to walk, and with SO few staff members, believe me, it's a huge job.

Thank you for your feedback, we asked for it and continue to need it... but SUGGESTIONS will also go a long way to addressing issues that have come up as well.

NPC Christen wrote:You DO know that Jared is basically the ONLY person on staff who deals with anything to do with paperwork, right? ALL of the military, economy, tags, upkeep, money... EVERYTHING. Do you remember what things were like a few years ago before he kept track of everything?
...

None of this (or the rest of the post) encourages feedback. Your excuses (as reasonable as they may be) and defense of Jared don't change the fact that it was obviously a problem for folks, so let people give their feedback that it was a problem.
Don't make players fear what beratement they might expect if they say "the wrong thing". If they want to give suggestions they can. Otherwise, accept that it's an issue players had and we'll expect the GMs either fix, change, or do nothing about it as they will.

So, my thoughts on the evnt...
Sarah and I had a wonderful time. Its a shame the next event is on the other side of the state and the next winter haven event isn't till sept.
I don't really have any negvatives so ill just head on to the positives.

Rp- was great the whole weekend. I only heard potato once and that was late sturday night. But as a reminder oog stuff should be talked about away from where people are in rp. The npcs were awesome and pulled off their different roles wonderfully.

Staff- I think the staff did an excellennt job. There was always something to do when we wanted it and it was kinda awesome to have some plot that my character cared about fall into my lap basically from game on.

Food- was excellent. I really feel I got my monys worth. I know that's not "part" of the game but it was appreciated anyways.

I thinkk that's about it. I can't wait till the next event on this side of the state.

Honestly, I thought of deleting Christen's remarks and Art's rebuttal but I decided to keep it up and just comment instead. The negative feedback (which is spot on) is in no way an indictment of Jared. Indeed, I heard just the opposite--how awesome he was. The negative feedback was directed at the rest of the staff for not helping him, which again I agree with. We need to pitch in to make it at least a quicker process, if not a smoother one. Even if he handles all the political stuff, most of the players don't need that and could be checked in by another while he does what he does best. So yeah, kudos to Jared for all he does--the game could not run without him and I for one appreciate all the work he puts into it. Shame on the rest of us for not helping more.

Exactly as Mike stated above. If there are aspects of the game that no one at NPC Camp wants to deal with (save Jared's awesome step-up), these aspects need to change or go away entirely. If they can't be done right they just drag down the game and become more a negative than a positive.

I am going to make this short and sweet (please excuse my never ending optimism)!

Firstly, I've been told by Scott that I should have said publicly how I feel about the new healer rules for months now. I am now actually doing this. Here we go...TWO THUMBS UP. I think they make everyone not only be more effective, but feel so as well, and that is worth all the coin in Phanterra.

I echo previous statements in saying how incredibly busy this event was. At first it was, "Hooray 85 pages!", but by the end of the event, I had two sore feet, and a case of whip lash. I was happy that I was busy, but I ended up in a state of perplexity concerning more then one or two plot lines. Despite this, I am rightfully pleased that we have so many creative minds at work! I am digging getting back on track with high fantasy. I will be much more prepared next time! Bring it on!

Overall the best thing about this event for me was really just soaking it all in. It was constant. The banter, the laughs, the fighting, the role playing. Laylah doesn't say much, but she hears everything, and I appreciate things that most people don't even see, so thanks to all the players for making possibly one of my characters last events, a great experience.

Lastly, thanks to Jared for being a (super)trooper with check in, NPCs, for doing incredibly well with such a low body count, any PC who took a moment to step out of your character and hop into an NPC role, and too all the brave new folks who came out to beat up on us! It is always marvelous to see new faces.

This game is a community effort. Everyone plays their part to make it extraordinary. Cheers to this event, and the many more that follow.