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Wow is all I have to say right now...

Will type more later when I'm not on my iPad but damn was this a fun event for my first one day I've been able to make...

Great role playing, even better food and a whole new race we encountered...nice!

Now that I have had more time to let my feedback simmer I will add more

The Good

The Setting was nice, I liked us traveling to Brandybrook Academy, and learning from the Professor, even though Serith couldn't handle his "techniques" He definitely made for an interesting encounter, Kudos to Brad for portraying him in such a unique way.

The Gavin Tribe was an interesting encounter, and I am interested in seeing where this develops from here. Do I believe that they are only trying to prove Havens existance, and not gather intel for an Attack... It will be a nice chance to maybe spread our diplomatic allies to a whole new Gavin Tribe, so we will see.

The Princess and her Betrothed battle and story arc was AWESOME! I think it made some npc's go, umm ok when I stepped forward with the offer of Amnesty if they dropped their weapons and came over through the portal, and the counter offer of what about saving their families, was a no brainer, so there we were still licking our wounds from a pitched battle jumping headlong into a new battle into a land we have no idea about, yeah, its what we do... (c:

The first major arc of the day with the whole House of Tovas Library was fun, and it was nice being able to help retrieve the bodies of the fallen knights, even if it did upset others with the pledge I gave, I would make it time and time again.

The Roleplaying all day was awesome, the Scene with the Standoff at Havens borders with Paer'an was EPIC! Great ROLEPLAYING by all involved, made something VERY tense, and very epic, my hand didnt leave my sword or my packets until the last moment when I shook hands with Troy....awesome stuff!

Major Shout outs

Cirrus (Amanda) It was awesome to finally get to roleplay with you as a pc to pc...cant wait to explore your characters history more, and convince you that your heroic actions are just the beginning lol....
Sohei and Toritaka, love the new characters guys, and it was alot of fun roleplaying with your new backstory. Even though Travis couldnt help but channel Abaddon a couple times with his interactions with me...lol

The Guthrie Archer Twins power ACTIVATE! Great Job Guys, awesome skills with the bows, and it was great seeing the battlefield after we were finished with that Flame Elemental littered with Arrows and Packets...

The Bad
Well the only real problem I had was more just a side note that was given to me immediately before Game on where Oriens body dissapeared. This would have changed my mentality of leaving GREATLY, and If I werent already in Lansing to play, I would have not left Haven with out more knowledge about the situation.

The Ugly

Nothing at the moment, it was a FUN time had, and am VERY excited to see where the season is heading!

Major kudos to the npcs, and gm's that was awesome! Thanks as per usual for all your hard work.

And the food, ZOMG Diabetic Coma woulda been worth it for that spread! Thanks to all who made that amazing food!

Now the unfortunate wait for the first even all the way until May...

Now that I'm home and have had a chance to pass out and drool in my chair for a couple hours, I can happily declare that this was my favorite one-day thus far. I had a great time from the first game on Friday night to our last goodbyes on Sunday afternoon. A few of the highlights:

-Art and his car of holding: Go ahead and ask him for the kitchen sink, folks. Not only is it in there, he'll ask you what fixtures you want with it. (On a side note, we really do need to keep working on those songs. It could be a thing, and potentially a good one.)

-Roleplaying: PC's and NPC's alike set a high bar this event, but a couple of performances merit specific attention. The scene between Hamr (Jim) and Big Daddy (Brad) was intense - and made all the more so by Vaal's death and resurrection. Christen's portrayals of Time and Enya were very engaging, as was the exchange between Time and Nick's Lightning Rider. Jared's Ga'Vin raised some interesting questions about what and who is the "Haven". Also, the roleplaying surrounding the final battle through the portal was amazing, which leads me to...

-GM's/NPC's: ...who showed the kind of flexibility and creative dynamism that make me love this game. From oddball solutions in the Library to a second raid into the Portal, we got the chance to shape - not just be shaped - by our surroundings. This felt like a very well balanced event. I didn't have a lot of downtime, and the few times I wasn't involved somehow I knew I could have been. Korrigan needs a certain amount of time to just drink on the porch, but I could tell that puzzles and intrigue were available.

-New friends: A big welcome to the elf in military dress (whose name escapes me) and a welcome back to Doug's Crow-esque Valkyn'Vi. Having seen the awesomeness of the Indiana contingent at Winter Haven, I was thrilled to see the first of their number at FH. The Guthrie archers Bailey and Gideon were awesome, gentlemen, well done.

-Old friends: I really, really wish we weren't scattered over at least three states. I don't see nearly enough of you people, and I mean that. Several times over the weekend I found myself looking around the room, catching bits of several comfortable conversations and being profoundly content with the world.

-Conversation: Whether it was Brian's reaction to "Hol", the banter at Kyle's auction or the late night stories of days gone by, I was never at a loss for great conversation. In-game, Out of game... it was all a great deal of fun.

-Games: Space Alert + Betrayal at House on the Hill + Shadows Over Camelot + Scotland Yard + all of us = hilarity and hi-jinks.

-Food: Many thanks to all of you who brought us the delicious food. Travis, I enjoyed your Sukiyaki and will have to try the egg with it next time. Kudos and gratitute to all who contributed to the feast.

Lastly, I'd like to issue a challenge to all of my fellow PC's. The GM's need feedback, so even if it's just a line or two, please take the time to tell them what you liked and disliked about the event. I don't think we've ever come close to 100% of the PC's leaving feedback for an event, but let's see how close we can get!

I had a lot of fun for such a short time. Probably the best plot I went on was to rescue the fallen knight's bodies from the Library. When saw the girls come in as their knights, and especially after what they were asking, I knew I had to jump in completely as Marcus, and I had great fun with it.

It was great having one of the absolute first things I could do IG at the event be something that so easily defines my character and how he's been changed in the time he's been gone since that first Caledonian event. It took way too damn long to mobilize (what's new, so whatever), but I got to see everything through right beside Brett, and even got to wrap everything up in a cool quickie roleplaying scene at the end when the knights came to pick up their brothers-in-arms and I was there to see them off.

Brad, great work as Lawton. It was great being able to talk to him and get absolutely flush with information before going out looking for the Orb/Vial of holding.

In general, the roleplaying was very healthy throughout the event.

The only downside to the event is some of the absolutely ruthless fighting in some of the scenes. I love good fights and getting stuck in on the front lines(otherwise I would play a wizard), but I'm so glad I have the soak as a battlefield healer, because I was regularly seeing enemy fighters completely break off fights with PC's they were engaged with to make a dead run thirty yards across the front yard just to try to kill me as I carried wounded off the battlefield.

Once I almost dropped because for a thankfully brief time there was a three to one odds fight against me, with a battle line of friends only ten feet to the left that the NPC's ran completely past. Thank god that while my hammer isn't as easy to whip around as the latex swords, a full arms reach and then three a half feet of handle with a 4x6 head gives a hell of an arc of area control 'till you can back through a doorway.

But all in all, a fun time.

I had a great time at FH. Paula come to the one day, and this was her first one.

I loved seeing Nelky even if it was only for a few hours. I actually thin the puzzle plot was one Mikes best and most diabolical plot.

I heard some birching about the skills being swapped. You know what you got into, and it was the result of PC actions, and no one died. It increased the dramatic tension when you could not rely on old skills. (and the potential death of immortal vol was a great moment.) Brandy brook provided empaths for us since they gimped serith.

I REALLY wish I could have played with Time. It was really hard for me to walk away fro that plot. I refused to even go near because It would hook me.

The two best combats were the Nelky archery one(a archers firing at each other was epic.) and the one outside the building with the princess. Well done, not over drawn and well acted.

The fact that we could talk down the guards chasing the princess and go save their families was a single point of heroic brilliance. That is the kind of thing I'd like to see. Us being good, and stepping up.


Nic, mad props for Nicodemus. Sohei could not figure out why everyone was being a dick to you.

The food was UNFAIR. to much to eat, and not enough stomach

my only gripe was the loss of the poem, and that was not an NPC issue.

I had a ton of fun this weekend, and not just because of my 512 days of PCing withdrawal. It was so impossibly wonderful to play a persistent character with persistent interactions, and not getting ganked right off because I was sneaking around.

Cirrus had some great interactions with Toritaka, Sohei, Hamr, Serith, Korrigan (and Stumpy), Nicodemus, Bailey, Gideon, Iggy (your character's name is escaping me, apologies), Marcus, Ziera, and that damn Chaos Elemental (both from Shelly and Jared), and I was so pleased with how they helped to shape my experience.

I really enjoyed the plots, though looking back after the fade of the adrenaline tells me that there may have been a bit much crammed in for the space of 10 hours. I may be out of practice with the PC side of timing. The library plot was a really cool idea, but the real life setting wasn't exactly appropriate for such a claustrophobic description, and it was nigh impossible for anyone who wasn't in the first few ranks (even after they expanded to more than two abreast contrary to the plot, but fully in line with amped up PCs) to hear the description or contribute in any way, at least until the shades started showing up from behind. From what I could hear, the concept was excellent, but it could have used a few more tweaks, IMO.

The puzzle portal also gave me a tiny bit of a downer feeling. Extraneous and incorrect information just to make us bash our heads against the wall and take longer, especially if the orb plot was supposed to happen around the same time? Ehhhh. I would have rather seen something similar to the map we got off of Professor Lawton (which made Cirrus so happy, btw), where information is slowly fed in through the day. After Iggy's character got the portal open (which was unequivocally booping amazing), the rescuing was awesome. It felt like a natural extension of the plot, and I was so happy to see the GMs and NPCs (you guys are the best and I wish I could clone myself and keep rolling with you!) just roll with it and make it work along the way.

I just hate those damn bushes right by the door.

Travis, if you're talking about the poem about the Orb of Holding, that totally was an NPC problem (JARED!! ).

Games, food, and conversations were amazing as usual. I participated much more in the latter, and was glad for the opportunity (extra with Friday night even) to catch up with everyone. The people and the interactions make these weekends, and I thank everyone who showed up for doing that.

Here's to May coming sooner!

Hey guys. This is Jake, player of Baily.

I had an absolute blast this weekend! I still havent completely come of of the post game high so if Im a little disjointed, try to look past it. so much to say...


First off, thank you NPC staff. You guys did an amazing job! I know you guys had to be pretty short handed as far as NOCs went, but man at times it seemed like there were dozens of dudes trying to kill me rather than just a handful, so well done! Also, that fire elemental (The one that shot 5 vorpal from a bow) yeah! super fun! and thanks for basically rolling that out just for us. It was appriciated and it was great getting to do some arrow exchanging (and yes, looking at the field after it was done and seeing all of those arrows and packets was amazing!). A special mention to the one doing her best damsel in distress impression (how have I not caught your name yet?) and luring me away from the group "are you tied?" "no" then I see the sword swinging...right as a time freeze was called and I got to spend the next eternity wondering what was about to hit me. egg. on. face.

To the guy running it(man I really am bad at names): thank you so much for working with us on starting levels, you really did make the game much more enjoyable for us. also...so glad we said no to plot..... O_0

The players: It was great hanging out with you all and the people I already had met and the warm greatings made me feel right at home!

To Justin player of Gideon: That was sooo cool!

really though, I had a great time this weekend. I thik there was a lot of actual story that I didnt quite pick up on just becouse I havent integrated yet, but what I did get made me feel like I was involved in something and Im glad it wasnt just random goons rushing us.

Justin and I had been working on these concepts for awhile now and it was great to actually get them to a game and try them out. I myself had never really done archery, at least not like this and Im glad that people considered me an asset to the game. I do really think it is a testement to the elegantly simple finalhaven ruleset that a couple of guys can come on to the field and really contribute something their first game.

You've got some great players up there and I look forward to coming back and getting to know you and your alternate personalities better. So worth the drive!

The only downside for me was that I still havent been able to really dig into the core of my character, so you may see some changes when I return, which I will and I look forward to.

Thank you all for a great game!

PS. sorry for any inevitable spelling and/or gramatical errors.


-Jake

i had a wonderful event however short it was)

i would like to thank all the characters that i had a chance to interact with. it was refreshing to have a friendly character and be treated in kind. a special shout out to hammer, serith, and zeira. you guys made my event, i thank you.

the few plots i went into were wonderful, the library plot had so many different challenges, that the pc's needed a diverse skill set as well as a quick wit to deal with the problem at hand was a refreshing change to "ah monster, kill it."

what little i had of the feast was amazing, i honestly think it gets better every year. i am sad that i missed out on the remainder of the event and am curious as to how the rest of the event went, i hope someone will recap at some point....on that note i am also curious as to if the skills got fixed or not.

thank all of you who came out and reminded me why i started playing this game.

I did have a good time at this event, though there were a few times of inaction. That was all on the PC’s though (the mobilizing comment above). I also *despise* dealing with gods, and this event had two of them. Fortunately I never knew Time was there, but interacting with Chaos is worse than five other gods combined. We need to know the purpose of her presence, but there’s no use asking her ‘why’, and no point to trying to deduce any reason for appearing. Catch 22.

While the Knight plot started off with only the front 2-4 PCs being able to do anything, the NPCs did eventually notice the other dozen PCs withering away with boredom and sent some shade crunchies to give us something to do. Then the plot became entertaining and fun for the rest of the time I was on it.

But before long Zerra arrived saying Gavin attacked Brandybrook and took everyone there hostage. I was among those who went back to deal with the situation, which initially was entertaining, too. However, it concluded with the NPCs requiring PC’s to play ‘guard’ all day long. That left me sitting inactive in Brandybrook afterward – idly seething. Fortunately that only lasted about a half hour before others from the Knight quest returned and were all to happy to stay and rest for awhile, enabling me to jump up and head back out into the game. From that point on it was fun, fun, fun.

The NPCS did do a marvelous job of acting and reacting to the ideas PCs came up with – as explained well in the posts above. This does make us feel like we can make a difference and adds such an awesome level of immersion in the game. Well done!

Just to address your concern, Doug:

Time isn't a 'thing'... it's a title. ^_~ She's the head of the Valkin'vi Circle, and NO more powerful than any other character of her level. (Yes, she has a character sheet and uses all the same rules and mechanics as any other character). She's squishy... thus the bodyguard.

Hope this sets your mind at ease a bit.

First let me say that I had a great time at this event. Like Matt says, I have a strange perspective on how fun the event was.

In no particular order I liked:

The Tovass library plot. I got to interact with a romance book, and got pulled into a sad story. Then after getting out, I got to see some coooooool Dwarven shit in the library, and got some great knowledge about the Dwarves. Thanks Christen for throwing us a huge bone.

Eric, I never thought I'd make a friend of an Elf. He was fun to play with. Here's hoping we never cross paths as enemies.

Big Daddy showing up right f**king after the king dies and gets ressurected! What amazing timing. I really did not know what to do. Big Daddy in front of me pleading for Big Mama's hand back, Nichodemus behind me spouting off stupid inane shit. I wanted to kill everyone in the scene at that point. Great job Brad and Nick.

Serith and I facing Paer'an. Dallid and the Dwarves and Gavin creeping up with weapons and arrows drawn. Cheers to all of us! Hella good RPing.

Lastly, in the final fight when Vaal fell. While this was crappy for Matt, it really made me explore Ham'r and his honor, or lack thereof. This scene changed him, and I'm not sure how just yet. Maybe good, maybe bad. Either way, it's gonna be fun to play and be costly to him.

Thanks to all of the NPC's that provided a great game. I told several people that it felt like the event was written for me. It felt like the first time that Ham'r was ever really messed with on a personal level. Bring it on boys and girls! Hee!

To those that brought the food, many thanks!

To the Dwarves and their friends: We will prevail!

Cheers,
Jim

i had a great time at this event, there was so much going on!! i believe kiel said this and i agree, it felt like a full events worth of plots were squished together to fit into a one day event and it worked out for the most part beautifully!

highlights in no particular order:

The book of beasts!!! this was so amazingly fun, i loved how i got to roleplay rotheks "alpha-male" status by befriending a tiger and watching nick mike and karen roleplay penguins was priceless!

the library plot and fighting the shadows while trying to figure out how to open the doors, i enjoyed this because it gave a sense of urgency to the plot. nice touch.

chasing rabbits! i loved everyones reaction and then cirrus running after it with me. just for the record, when i ran into the wall, that wasnt roleplaying, that was me actually running at full sprint into a wall!

every plot that involved the dwarves!! i loved watching the interaction between hamr and brad as big daddy. between nichodeemus hurling half drunken nonsense and big daddy begging hamr for big mama back and vaal being dead( and thankfully ressurected!) rothek was ready to start tearing heads off.


now for the other side of the coin. so we can stay positive, lets call them "minor concerns"

while the book of beasts plot was a lot of fun, i felt like i had to wait a very long time for it to start and when it finally happened it felt rushed and half hearted, granted this plot started close to the end of the event, npc staff and gms had thousands of plots all running at once and you had all been going since 9am. i would like to revisit this plot at a later event.

i had trouble understanding the chaos plot and the replacing of skills. i understand the reasoning of it now, however it was after the event that it was explained to me. granted yes, this is an interesting way to help familiarize players with other skills and we were dealing with a very powerful entity. i was able to adapt to my new skills relatively well but i forgot that i had them many times which is no ones fault but my own.

Personsally i would like to see less plots that involve manipulating skills. mainly because everyone is drawn to different things, not everybody that plays is going to want to be combat oriented and the same can be said for those that choose to play sages and healers and craftsman.

overall it was a great event and i cant wait for the first full event!

The only thing I didn't like about this event is the fact that me and Scott couldn't be there!!!

On another note, I am so glad everyone had fun and I am really enjoying hearing about all the epicness! Keep it coming guys. More feedback the better. ^_^

The Good
•Seeing all of the familiar faces from Winterhaven

•Really Good Food!!!!

•Elemental fight designed for us Ranged Fighters

•The library was neat. Watching Hammer hit on the ink spirit things was impressively done, and the comedy section was written in Guthrie.

•GM- “Everyone you see is now a skeleton” My brain- “…Well where is the nearest target … Hi there the real Dallid’s back.”

•On that note, I do not remember hitting anyone on accident.

•Being chased relentlessly by a skeleton, tumbling losing my bow mid tumble, and then continuing to run with nothing but a short sword. Quite exhilarating

•Saving the princess, and being able to say when someone asked me “What did you do this weekend?”, and replying “You know found a lost ancient library, destroyed some fire elementals, and saved a damsel in distress. All in a day’s work and all.”

The Sad
•Marcus is also known as Sir Gideon …

Also, just a general thank you to the players and game staff who made this game fun.

First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who was patient with me as I got my NPC legs back under me. It's been a while, and it takes some adjusting to get back into the non-pc mindset. I heard some wonderful stuff going on and kept thinking, 'Damn! I SO wish I could be Orien right now!"

I really loved that everyone seemed to enjoy the different approaches to the library. Jim wooing the romance novels was hilarious. You stole the scene, hon. *lol* It was fun to see the PC's reason their way through the plot, rather than just default to weapons. Everyone who RP'd with the Honor guardian, it was AWESOME!

I had a ton of fun as Time... and found much to my surprise, she is NOT a hard ass. It's always exhilarating when you have an idea of an NPC, and it turns out they take on a life of their own. I had a great time with Troy, Matt, and Taki, the later of whom really stretched my thinking on my feet to see if I actually remembered all the details about the plot!

Enya was a blast! Ah sage porn... how I love you. Kiel, you made my night, and it was fun to see how people reacted to a totally single minded loremistress. ^_~

My biggest thanks goes out to Nick, who dove into everything I gave him and brought the NPCs to life. It was SO amazing to have you. Same with Chelle. She helped me plan and was my wingwoman on every plot, and so huge props to her as well.

PLEASE keep the feedback coming. Even if it's just one line, if you were there, we REALLY need to know your thoughts. ESPECIALLY the bad!

Dallid *did* take an arrow in the knee that whizzed past the shoulder of the intended target, but I don't recall from which archer (who appologized afterward). The pair of 8 magic vorpals he took to the back while appearing as a skeleton (plus a 5 magic boom so the combat reflexes and armor didn't feel left out) caused his only drop that event. Likely would have killed him had Marcus not noticed the 'skeleton' on the ground struggling to take healing potions. Glad he came back to Haven!