FinalHavenLarp.com

Its been a while, but this has to have been one of if not my favorite event in a very long time.

-the only bad- the weird Michigan weather and the bugs, but that was out of the control of the game so whatev. didn't ruin the event for me at all.

-the fantastic-
every plot and scene I took part of role playing was awesome, everyone I interacted with was awesome. the NPCs were interesting and varied and the number of NPCs was fantastic. if we fought one thing it was tough, not because there was only one NPC that was representing 20 monsters, but because this was a singular boos fight, likewise when we fought 5-6-7 NPC's there was an appropriate amount of "fodder" so overall soak could go down and 1v1 was more accessible. along those lines explanation of the monsters we were fighting, there stats, and there fighting style was varied, but very consistent and easy to follow (except for that F'n bunny, jared is so paying for that one)

the Cave of the Ancients. I had grown up since I was ten years old on stories of that place, and it made the event for me for a number of reasons. Going down further levels alone to check it out after everyone left was a blast and fun to RP out, even if I was to chicken to go very far alone.

shout outs to players/characters/and awesome scenes

-Jim and Matt, it was awesome RP and adventuring with you guys. we enjoyed it a lot and I hope you did as well. always a pleasure!

-Travis and Angie, you guys were awesome everywhere, and rock stars in the cave. massive props to Abaddon working himself so hard to try and keep monsters down in the cave.

-Gin, when Aurora came looking for burly warriors with weapons and shields for help and he threw his on the ground and looked around nonchalantly

-Figuring out the light and mirror in the cave. NPC: "game stop" Nick: "awwwww" Ark: "haha that's right bitch!"

-Our fight with the pirates, lots of PC's, NPC's, an open field. . .how can this not be fun! + the pirate traitor getting beat down and the other pirates going "that's what you get!" then rowing off wishing us a good day XD

-the various boss battles and NPC's: all the fighting and RP was just spot on and a blast, even when it was terrihard it was just fun. and the NPC's and GMs seemed to be having a lot of fun with it all too.

-<3 to those I didn't mention

TL:DR

Great event all around, I hope everyone has a blast too.

EDIT: just want to reiterate that the PC's seemed to be having so much fun, and the fact that the NPC's also seemed to be having a lot of fun with whatever they were doing, that the entire thing gave off a very enjoyable and positive vibe when everyone is just having a fun time.

much love, Ark of the Seraphim Fleet.

Favorite line: “We need to get understand the mind of a serial killer. Abaddon what do you think?” – Sir Marcus. (New drink available called the Paladin’s regret.)

This event was packed to the gills which was both the highlight of the event and its downfall. It felt like to many hooks were being sent out at once and we had no way to manage them. This also meant that we had four groups sitting around in NPC camp for hours on end. In one case (3). I would like to ability to bank time like that so I can identify or recall later since we wasted all that time. It felt like they needed very npc for every plot. Suggestion, use PC npcs so we don’t have to sit in the wet, muggy grass being eaten alive as fight fodder.
I was a little annoyed my by uncounter-able spell being countered. I it’s not even that good and I keep it for that reason alone. It’s the only thing in my tool box like that and it makes me want to dump it.
I got pulled into the fountain of revelation plot by accident. I went down for the memory spiders only. It should have been made clear for the people who wanted to bail. I had a lot of cooking and cleaning to for and retuned to an angry angie and paula.
We need NPCs hitting up the Inn in the mornings. Paula and Angie feel trapped by the food plan. If it is a problem we will stop doing it.
Last and biggest grump.
Sunday we had to game off by 9am. At 8, NO ONE was awake. Also Merrick told me it was game off at 12. He was still IN game as an npc after game was off at 4am? What the hell?
If we have to have our stuff by 9 you better ready to get woken up.  I had to bully merrick into getting everyone up and I am okay with it, but I worry others might have been afraid to.
PCS
Holy out of game. When things happen in game to render you removed you need to take it on the chin not blab about it out of game.
PCs were split up into a bunch out outside groups. It made the game feel desolate. At least I got to sleep well out of the deal.
Good.
I greatly enjoyed the variety of the cave of the Ancients. I also like the introduction of a new bad guy in the form of the one guys that steal elves.
My punishment at the fountain of revelation was amusing as well.
Abaddon has never felt like a pauper before and he had to beg borrow and steal magic components. I got mine in under the water by spending all my personal money. It was a nice change of pace and Abaddon hates money (he only like the things it buys) so he will be asking for more money up front.

I want to start out by saying I had a great time. There were some very pretty awesome scenes that I got to be part of, one of which was even set up for me.

I tell you what, walking into an ambush that you know is an ambush is one thing but seeing a man hanging from a tree with your named carved into his chest is still pretty unnerving. When the man exploded and took down one of the people I had asked to come with me, I felt horrible for not thinking it out first before having him cut down.

Also, though I didn't expect it when we had left the inn, I found I really enjoyed the Fountain of Revelation. I especially liked when I asked my question and was thanked for asking about plot information.



Now for the few things I felt could be better.

Going out to solve one issue and running into 2 more. This happened a couple of times. I get that adding hooks with in hooks saves time but it also makes it much harder to relate later on when informing the people that were not there. Also since town is so factioned it makes sharing information hard. I know that other groups had information that could have been useful for me and I had information that would have been useful for them but since we were all in our own little corners we only shared information in passing. Part of this may also be my fault as I want to help every one I can. In the future I may have to just pick one issue and focus on that and hope some other group gets around to solving the other issues.

Charging was still happening at times. If I feel bad for hitting someone too hard when I didn't move, that's an issue. I know we all get excited but let's stay safe.

Along the same note, I love the energy the FH NPC staff has. Way more than me for sure. I just don't want to see them get injured. There were a couple nasty spills this event on the NPC side.(No comments on me calling the kettle black here. ) As I learned, looking where your going is important to not breaking yourself. This can be hard to do at night, when running backwards, or when carrying a large load. Just try and be aware of possibly dangerous areas and act accordingly. I promise I will try and do the same from now on!

I have one more thing that I felt strongly about but I will send a PM as I don't think it needs to be here.


I also want to say I'm very sorry to everyone for not helping clean up at the end. On top of that I left a couple things unfinished before I hurt myself and I want to give HUGE thanks to those that ended up cleaning up the things I had forgotten as well as every one that helped clean the inn and tavern.

Another GIANT thank you to those helped me out in my moment of clumsy dumb angry pain. Shout outs for Dani, Amanda and Phil! Sorry about that.

And last but most assuredly not not least. I want to thank the entire Final Haven staff. I know how much time and energy it takes to do what you do. Not just during the game but between events as well. Good job!!!

I had a very mixed event, and some personal issues, so I will try to stay on topic.

Good: I enjoyed seeing people (as always) and the interactions that I had in character were a big plus to this event.

Bad: While I understand that we volunteered to spend a great deal of time in the kitchen, I felt that we were specifically being excluded Saturday when everyone left the tavern for a plot that took about 2 hours. It made me feel unappreciated and stuck. (Thank you to Robin, who stayed behind at least for a little while.)
I believe the GM staff was attempting to keep everyone busy by sending in as many plots as they did, however, I think there needs to be some consideration about having enough staff to run the plots that players pursue.

That's all I can think of for now.

Overall, it was a fun event. I do want to express my gratitude for some character recognition from the game staff, however, we can now add mail couriers to the list of things that Kami fears.

I usually feel it comes with the character I play that I don't know what's going on plot wise, but the portal opening to reveal a bunch of guys minding their own business and nowhere in relation to us - for someone to make the call that we should run over there and murder them all, just seems against what we say the people of Haven are about. Honestly, its probably an issue with PCs relaying info to other PCs.

The battle with the "birdie" caterpillar was, by far, the hardest battle for me. Probably there wasn't anywhere safe to stand for long. I did get chased down a few times and I think the billowing of my robe saved my butt as NPCs were hitting that and not me. Because I was running for my life, I did manage to collide with Gillian. My apologies to her.

The cave of the ancients - the cave set up you had this time around just felt odd probably due to the entrance in the middle of the pavilion with a huge mouth. This set up made me feel a lack of rooms/content available for the cave. I did have a moment of PC dumb in the cave which lead to me going into the negatives. My apologies for tripping over Christen's foot. Luckily I fell onto a support beam of the pavilion behind the tarp, otherwise I fear I would of fell through a tarp I will admit some disappointment with hearsay about the cave VS what actually happened. The way PCs spoke about the cave gave me the feeling that it was going to be much harder going up and getting out than going down - like we would need to get the cave to vomit us out or something. I was expecting something like the cave of the dead in the dreaming we had during a Port Huron event where we had to make sacrifices to go up each level. I understand it was late when we finished, but the "escape hatch" was a bit lame. Furthermore, it would not of been so late had we been not been made to sit and wait around NPC camp since before sunset for NPCs to prepare. I did hear there was a whole other level/puzzle that was cut

I did miss some screams - I missed what was said due to trying to listen to the person next to me or by making calls myself. I only realized there was a scream call because of the reaction of everyone around me. I asked what happened and took the damage as I feel it wouldn't of made sense for me to not be hit when everyone else around was. Mike standing there at one point thought maybe they shouldn't have told me since technically I didn't hear the call.

More on wait times... I have an issue with remembering to drink at both FH and WH. This event when I realized I was thirsty, I didn't dash over to the mess hall to fix it. I continued to wait outside of NPC camp out of fear that if I left, something might happen and everyone would leave on a plot without me. Please be honest with us when you can and let us know its going to be an hour or so. Another idea would be to say to let us go off to "prepare" and tell us to come back at 10 pm ( as an example) to give you time to collect and/or brief your NPCs on the upcoming battle.

Oh, mosquitoes.

I do not blame game staff for running plots on Saturday morning. Its a matter of doing what we want and doing what we ought to do by stopping ourselves OOG and staying behind to be responsible and cleaning up the mess in the kitchen created by cooking breakfast. (Thank you Paula for staying behind and helping chop veggies for soups I failed to prepare ahead of time). I will admit I was concerned that we were the only ones in the building for quite some time and would easily be dead if something came in.

Danni, thank you so much for all that you did this event. From lending me water jugs and crock pots to giving up your sleeping bag for me. I hope you didn't have to clean out the crocks or jugs - I intended to do that for you but found it had already been done when I got over there.

Nick, glancing into the side room of NPC camp to see you dressed as a caterpillar was one of the highlights of the event.

I have to say... this was one of the most fun larp events I've had in a long, long time. Perhaps it was the attitude with which I approached things. I haven't been able to make a FH event as a player in almost two and a half years. I was excited, and came with a new character unburdened by history or past. There is something to be said for just letting go and starting afresh. With the time jump, I was a little surprised more people didn't take advantage of the chance to do something new. I also got to just hang out with my family and have fun... which we certainly did.

A huge thank you to the staff who was cool with us having our camp so far from PC and NPC camp. We were super grateful to be able to just come into town and do a little adventuring, meet some folks, and when we were done, vanish into the woods to go chill by our campfire. We didn't feel pressured, and not being entwined in the core of the long term story arc meant we could just go at our own pace. It was glorious.

There were a few downers. This event felt like a meat grinder. Pretty much... we did almost NO role playing with ANY NPC. We came in, had a fight with some baddies... and were done. There was virtually no other encounter. They were good and varied fights, to be sure, and tough as hell without being soul crushing... but still. In the heat, it would have been really nice to have some more puzzles, or even some story based encounters.

The Cave of the Ancients: I have very mixed feelings about this. That cave was not the CotA. Not even close. First, I know it got rewritten because of time. This is annoying. We tried to push it only to have arbitrary spawn times for key pieces holding us back. We would have HAPPILY tackled it right after game break, but we were forced to wait for the key pieces to spawn. As a result, the cave started pretty late... and got neutered. Some of the dynamic and pazazz that has always been awesome about the CotA was missing. It was a great fight, and I had fun... but it could have been great and it wasn't.

Friday was slow. I'm not sure what happened... but it felt disorganized and like there really wasn't anything going on. That may have been completely because we were new characters and we didn't -know- what was going on. It may have been because we just happened to miss what -was- going on. I completely accept that.

Super thank you to the PC's who were so welcoming to us. It was fun to step out of the pages of the Haven Chronicle and into game.

Jim, Matt, and Ben... you guys were such fun and super champs. You guys were awesome about engaging with us in role playing when others were a bit shy. I loved the bonding we had on Friday night and Saturday morning. It was awesome.

Travis – your letter made my day. (post event) Thanks for the credit.

Brand – thanks for being patient with my role playing. You're always a champ.

My brothers and sisters – you guys make it all worth it to me. Just getting to hang out with you in character and take it easy, no stress, no demands... was wonderful. We got to just have fun without any drama or past character crap to weigh us down. I couldn't have had more fun with you!

All in all... it was a wonderful event. Yes it was hot and buggy and the weather was skitzo... but it felt like a fun adventure again, and I needed that.