Favored moments and other links!

HalveElven

HalveElven

Novice
Will be giving some more thought to details of the event and scenes to toss onto a list, but I wanted to jump right in and offer a HUGE thank you to two specific groups for making my event amazing.
  • Fae party. I know these are driven and written by PCs and I want to give a big shout-out to them for all their hard work to create a bigger than life party within a game. It's a lot of work and probably not as well-thanked as it should be. Major kudos to all involved!
  • Masquerade. Much like the fae party, there are PCs putting huge effort into this and I don't know that they get enough thanks. This was an awesome affair as always!

Misc event stuff that stood out (will try to remember to update this when my brain catches up):
  • Walk of the dead. So many broken PCs...in a good way. My makeup totally wasn't running from tears. That was something in my eye.
  • Visitors. So much good RP/socialization. And ow...ow...ow...should not have learned Parry. ;)
  • [more to come once I can think]
 
I had a wonderful time at the October 2016 event.

*Disclaimer* - I rarely know what anyone’s name is, in or out of game. I’d be *delighted* to correct this post, so please let me know if you recognize yourself.

Thanks/Favorite Moments in no particular order:

1. Thank you travelers for A: coming to Colorado and B: holding yourselves back to blend in. Your unfamiliar faces and costumes were a delight to see, adding richness to the world of New Acarthia by hinting at realms outside it. I hope to see you again.

2. Thank you vendors for setting up your wares. You made New Acarthia feel like a place that non-adventuring types lived and worked.

3. Thank you Tiatar for setting up/coordinating the masquerade.

4. Thank you Miguel for co-calling the dances. They wouldn’t have happened without you.

5. Thank you everyone who came to dance class these last months. Again, without you, the dances would not have happened.

6. Thank you *all* for letting me commandeer a large swath of the tavern for dancing and thank you even more for participating. I don't know who enjoys ordering everyone about more, my character Aneira or me. :)

7. Getting asked by P̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶X̶ ̶(̶T̶r̶a̶v̶e̶l̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶f̶f̶,̶ ̶d̶a̶r̶k̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶ ̶&̶ ̶g̶l̶a̶s̶s̶e̶s̶)̶ Skycaller on the back porch during a break how I got the gig of ordering everyone around.

8. Thorgrim following Anders’ advice re “opening” the deceased Owlbear.

9. The challenge of preventing anyone from touching the chess piece tabard on the Walk of the Dead. I enjoyed the tension between Sir Bram and Squire Noah. Thank you Person Y (Traveler, high orc) for sharing your not-having-a-spirit-in-your-body abilities to avoid any spirit-link shenanigans.

10. Thank you John Fawkes for acting as my oh so shiny protector on Sunday.

11. Jack O’ Lantern coming over during the fight to ask about said shiny protector. I was totally nonplussed.

12. The fae party was beautiful, fun, and so-soft. Bravo to all those who came up with, set up, or NPC’d that event.

Edit: One name acquired. :)
 
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The golem should be our new artifact collector....
 
I don't normally post in these, as there isn't often much that happens to Banks at an event that I consider to be noteworthy. However, this month was so different than the norm that I feel some commentary is warranted.

Friday:

-Running around brokering last-minute deals, buying and trading things, attempting to acquire all of the random things that were needed for Saturday. Thank you to the Scions, Warchester, and several other individuals for helping pull everything together.

-Going to the Tea House (finally). I have wandered past that path a dozen or more times, but always was in the middle of something or on my way to somewhere else, but late on Friday I managed to get over there to relax, and it was a great use of time.
-Somebody started a rumor that the Tea House had cinnamon rolls, I certainly have absolutely no idea who started this rumor but I was quite delighted to find out that mini cinnamon rolls had appeared when I went back to the Tea House on Saturday for more cider.

Saturday:

-Masquerade ball was quite enjoyable as it always is, even if Banks didn't come away with a victory in the annual donut eating contest. Additionally there was a delightful and unexpected long conversation with Puck about formals and several other topics, which was only interrupted once due to an unfortunate need for a life spell on the back porch of the tavern.

Sunday:

-Early Morning Formalization: This was the culmination of 3 solid years of work gathering random things, starting from literally the first event, up to minutes before everything was cast. Normally there isn't much in the way of stress for Banks at an event, but this by far and away was the most nerve wracking weekend I've experienced in at a LARP, and it was immensely relieving when everything came together.

Sunday 2:

Being a golem in the last fight of the event - I always have fun NPCing, and playing as Aneira's guardian is a major, refreshing change of pace to what I normally do in fights.

Lastly, thanks to all of the travelers who came out and made a showing, it was great to interact with a bunch of people that I had gotten to meet in passing at nationals, and it's always nice to get more context for what the world outside of ours is like.
 
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I'll start of by saying that for some unknown reason I felt very disconnected this month. No idea why, after all, the immersion was as fantastic as ever. But, it does make me a little sad given that I was out of it for some of the AMAZING events that happened this game.

#1 Ivanya's trial and execution for necromancy. Oh, and yeah. By the way. For those that don't know, that happened. ^_~

#2? The incredibly touching resurrection with the Scions and Ivan who stayed by her side. Truely, she was deeply touched and the bond she has with all of them has grown so much deeper. Holding Nyte while she clung to Ivanya and cried a long while was beautiful. And Izzy's story to call her back so heart felt and personal. …. And he promised her roasted pineapple. And it was delicious.

#3 The AMAZING role play with Baron Egil and Darius friday night and Ivanya being as iron willed as ever. Everything from standing down a furious baron to refusing to swear a contradictory oath to stay out of jail.. I just wish I had been more 'on point', but it was late.

#4 The Duchess's and her retinue’s reaction to the news that Ivanya had been executed. Consider they heard when Ivanya came up at dinner with a big smile and said “Well, it finally happened. I got executed.” And watching their jaws hit the floor and the simultaneous “WHAT!?” was so fantastic.

#5 Quite honestly, I had so many great RP moments talking about what had happened with so many people. Just to name a very select few: Noah, Dane Catherine, Petemoss, Knox, Jasper, Aliece, Puck, Lucian, and, of course, The Scions and Ivan. Because, of course.

#6 The Masquerade is always amazing. I had such a great time watching people and characters experimenting sticking their fingers in alchemy and running off to grab other players to come see Ivanya extinguish a candle.

#7 Ivanya's incredibly important realization when she found out that the second sentencing for an offense of necromancy is obliteration. Because it was sunday, I was tired, and Ivanya and I had never heard the term as a game mechanic for 3 deaths, permanent death came to mind. For the first time, Ivanya feared death. Not death itself, but being unable to complete her mission. But that wasn't the shocking revelation. What she did find shocking, though, it may have seemed obvious, was she did not want to be separated from he chosen family. Not the Selunari, but her chosen family. It hit her like a ton of bricks and was an incredibly powerful moment for the character. Thank you, Trace, for triggering that.

#8 And, of course, all the new people! So many fun characters and new friends and new opportunities. I just hope you all had a good enough time to come back because Ivanya and I would love to see you all again! Sorry we didn't have working showers. ^_~
 
Oh my gosh this game...so epic! I must, MUST put getting to LARP with frikken JIM BUTCHER at the top of my favorite things because holy ****, ya'all. Huge kudos to you, Jim, for you are an excellent sort and a fantastic RPer. Thanks for coming to play with us!

Personal favorite things no one else might appreciate: My new tent and new heater; I was so wonderfully warm. Also the WEATHER, holy crap, so awesome. Also Amy and her cupcakes.

Okay, here goes:
*The fae party: While I didn't get to let loose due to a certain stoic Valdyr (:P) I still had a great deal of fun watching the RP around me and enjoying the decor. Kudos to Paxton and all those who helped make that possible because it was just as lovely as last year.
*The visitors! I didn't get to interact at length with too many, but it was so cool to have so many visitors and new faces. It made New Acarthia seem threatening and dangerous, which was so exactly what my character needed. XD
*Being invited to the lunch potluck on Saturday; thank you guys, how nice! It was fantastic. I ate way too much bread; mistakes were made, but damn if it wasn't delicious.
*Getting to see Valdyr again, even if he is the MOST INFURIATING BODYGUARD EVER.
*The moment Alis realized that she's actually a terrible bodyguard, herself.
*The shitshow that went down at the Walk of The Dead which subsequently lead to Alis being nearly murdered flat by Nytillit while trying to calm her down when a ******* stone elf ghost sauntered up and started trouble. Having to then knock Nyt unconscious and feeling really bad about it.
*The reactions to my dress (seriously, you guys made my whole three weeks of ***-busting work worth it, THANK YOU!).
*The deep and meaningful conversations had with unexpected people (among them Baron Darius, whose conversation was brief but spoke volumes to Alis and changed a whole mess of ****, Ivanya, Skycaller, Shaman Stonefeather (Thank you Dani!), and definitely Nytillit.
*The random mummy-ghost-shenanigans and the ensuing "big bag of **** to get done".
*The RITUAL; oh my gods! So fantastic! It turned out to be so much bigger and SO MUCH more epic than I had ever dreamed! After putting a year of work into hunting down ingredients and RPing a character slowly unraveling with fear at the idea of being taken by Urick'd'slen, this was so much more than I had ever dared to hope for. What an amazing pleasure to see the vast armies form and try to disrupt the ritual to take Alis away and so many friends rush out to defend it. Such a deeply powerful IC moment for me, and I enjoyed every second of it. THANK YOU!

I might have more later. For now...wow. What a game! <3
 
So happy I got to make it out. Some of you guys seem to go over the top to welcome me back and it makes me feel special and missed :) It's probably my favorite part of this community.
Here are a couple of my favorites-

-Barbarian mini camp, compete with matching tiger fur blankets.

-My first interaction in the game was Nytillit pulling Valdyr out of a hug with Alis to drag him outside and get him in line. I was so hoping for something like and it was a great start to their friendship.

-The most meaningful thing that has happened for my character in the 3 years I've played was getting to be there for Alis in a meaningful way, especially with all the other Freemen gone. It was super impactful and it means a lot that Alis let him even though he ruined some of her fun.

-The panthergast fight was epic. The epitome of what matters to Valdyr is standing between the ones he cares about and the evil that threatens them, and it couldn't have turned out better.

-The ritual was more awesome than I could have imagined. It was scaled perfectly and run flawlessly. I really thought we would get overrun a couple times, but our friends are badass. The unicorn performance was so good, and I never imagined I would take a unicorn so seriously or feel such respect.

-I almost wish Valdyr didn't hate the Fay so much because the atmosphere and environment of the party was such a great experience. Huge props to the NPCs for looking and acting great and for doing such an awesome setup. Not gonna lie, even Valdyr was a little enchanted.

-Speaking of the Fay, the fact that Valdyr was not only able to avoid becoming indebted, but was able to secure a favor by playing by their rules made him feel like a boss.

-Elder Stonefeather. I vote Dani be designated only for Barbarian roles from here on out :p

-Valdyr had gone from naively trying to singlehandedly track down Urick'd'slen to trying to rebuild his order to stopping the new undead incursion to trying to oppose a dragon. Just when he decides that these things are just too big for a simple person like him and he accepts that the most important task he has is just supporting his friends, he gets involuntarily dragged into a plot line to save all of Acarthia. Oy vei...

You guys are the best and this game always holds so much enjoyment for me. Thanks Jessie and Dani and Taylor and the whole team.

Edit: I tried to keep this short because who likes to read another person's ramble? Then I realized I only get to do this a couple times a year, so deal with it :p

I wanted to say that in spite of the unfavorable reaction, the fruit game had what will probably be a long term effect on Valdyr as he realized that in his uptightness and seriousness that he nearly rejected a gesture of friendship from one of the people that means the most to him (Arikaya).

Odo was really cool to roleplay with, and I really love his role as a chronicler. I hope he continues to be around, and I loved the FB journal excerpt.

Bayenna potluck was amazing. Thanks a ton to you guys for letting me participate.

That's not everything, but I think I'm good now :)
 
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This game was interesting for me. I have been on plot for a little while now, but this is the first time I have done anything like it. So seeing one of the things I have been working with start to get opened up and seeing the OMG moment, that was pretty epic. Thanks to those that were there and helped get the journal decifered and confirmed its findings.

The masquerade was a blast as always! Glad I was able to stay in and help with the dancing. That is a fun part of every year. And everyones costumes were amazing! I will have to figure out something for next year!

Being is as a character on sunday to push some plot around and then just hanging out as that character. Getting the unexpected compliment from Peatmoss that she was pleasantly surprised that her backstory was contacting her just to have a quite moment after other tasks were complete.

There were other bits that I am not really remembering right now, but those were a couple of the highlights.

Look forward to many more games to come
 
I've been playing RPGs for the majority of my life at this point. I am always excited when I have an exchange in a game that generates an emotional connects, a "goose bumps" moment. That's the goal I reach for the games I run and the PCs I play. But until this event, I've never had a connection so strong it left me anywhere close to crying.

Whoever in plot had the idea to send my mother as a ghost on the walk of the dead, you are incredible. Whoever the NPC playing my mother was, you have the patience of a saint for enduring how slow on the uptake William (and Noland for that matter) can be. Between it being totally unexpected and how long I spent getting the obvious, it made the reaction when I finally got it all the stronger. I was truly near tears. If I ever do one of those "top ten" lists on my best gaming memories, I'm probably going to put this one at number one.

Other great events included the knight trial, the ball, and plotting how to insure Guild-master Anira doesn't go mad and kill us all (still working on that last one.)

Noland
a.k.a. William of Shadyside
 
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