I had a great time this event. That might come off as bias but it isn't. My review is based on people and the great time I had. I really wanted to share.
I never do this so here is my yearly gush:
First of all I want to address the other staff.
--Ian makes himself available even when playing as our logistics guru. Far beyond his duties before and after events that means a lot to me and our players.
--V and Mike - the Tavern was amazing. I loved all the meals. We simply are not eating camp food any more and that is damn amazing to me. Providing togo boxes for our NPCs so they could eat totally out of game so not to spoil the immersion was amazing...
amazing.
--Lewis, Dave, Ian, Joe, Joe, Kim pulling hours and hours of NPC time in HOT atmospheric soup. More than that we even had random volunteers knocking out an hour or mod with us. You can't imagine how much pressure you take off us when you do that; and how much more additional staff like that improves the game for everyone in leaps and bounds.
--Just like everyone on this list Matt does too much for me to actually list out. At this event his organization of our newly donated footlocker organized got packed in RECORD time. Thank you thank you for the donations Annette and Jeff. Cannot
begin to describe how much they have improved things for us.
--V and Annette who have redoubled our online presence and have gotten word out just so that we can increase our membership and expand our game. Thanks to you we have new blood trying things out and I directly credit you both with providing me with the opportunity to play with some friends this weekend from way back. Amazing. Period...
that's right extra period = fact.
--Anyone my scrambled and so often sleepless mind forgot to mention, I am so sorry. I can be a terrible monster and I'm sorry for it. I assure you its the memory that is missing,
not the gratitude.
-- Chad and Chris - my unending love and undying hatred, always.
-- Also thanks to Joe M. for mitigating my chemical face explosion and to several players for nagging me about my oldman trashed thigh muscle.
As to the event here are my favorite points:
--I spent a lot of time crunching/modding and not talking. That doesn't happen often. It made me really focus more on card math and game function. Not my best wheel house and I feel I learned a few things.
--Getting to take players into the staff side and challenging them with tough fights, cards, mods... etc.
--Having so many mods moving on the conveyer belt that I didn't even see Chris or Chad for hours, then fast update between us, adjusting, moving on... Heck there were a few players I only got to see on the big town mods.
--I am proud of our players when it came to the elementals this weekend. The problem presented itself, the whole town contributed in some way to the puzzle of it all, the players rallied when the crunchies made the big push on Saturday morning, and the role play for candles with alternate planes was exceptional... it was great to watch. The final fight made me seriously puff up like a proud parent when the players adjusted to the four big elementals and just started
trouncing them. The crunchie scaling was observed, the dominant weaknesses were cataloged, and when the big guys came said weaknesses were exploited. I missed Air going down but Fire was properly controlled so that a true circle beating could take it out; and Water might have come out swinging in the 70s but it never got that chance again as the players controlled it's rampage. When I saw Stone's last of very few spell defences go and suddenly get subjecated to start pounding the other elementals... awesome. Just awesome. Chris crafted this concept and while we all contribute he made something something old new again for me to play with. I'm old... new can be crazy great.
--Chad should get a great deal of credit for laying the blueprint that was the intuitive "the whole camp is the mod" big struggle mod. I didn't get to see his fantastic puzzles in real action but every time I do get to play with the toys he makes us I desperately want to play these mods. While Chris and I might have contributed that little perception-bend of a town mod was a Schaffer special.
--That said I want to thank all the players that played on my Dust mod, including the ones that joined up after we started. Dust mods and their mechanics pretty much have to be rewritten at least a little every time we run one just to keep people guessing on an OOG level as well as their characters. Because of the OOG element that can sometimes feel awkward and frustrating and not only did you roll with it you solved it all without breaking my or the other NPCs noses while fighting on a nearly pitch black trail. That was a huge highlight of my weekend (
both the challenge and the nose thing).
--Getting to play with some favorite players from way back when was a huge thing for me. I'm glad I was able to get a few mods in for you guys. Again rolling with goofy things like floating weapons and angry glass people is why I love LARPers. Kudos to using the recorder to shatter a few with high notes. Too cool to ignore. I love stuff like that.
--Negative - the only thing that sucked for me was attempting to keep our SoMi set pace with the higher player count. I would have loved to do more personal plot... but that is always kinda the case. There will be more blending of such things in the future to make sure everyone is having fun. We are growing and many adjustments need to be made. All good things in the end.
Last but not least I'll say it here just to say it:
NO. Ko is not the "go to bed monster".
If he was is there anyone that thinks I couldn't beat you into unconsciousness with endless stories long before I have to resort to a foam cane? When that day comes there will be cots set up in the tavern. One is already being made for Taios who slept through the Oni Tavern catching fire.
Thank you all for coming to play in SoMi. I can't wait to see you for the one day (
PLUG)
and to join your ranks for the guest event in August.
Travis
Plot guy
