September Festival Highlights

Intro of a young friend to KR and him telling me. These are my people!
Melody being dog extraordinaire with the kids walking point because there was a real bear around. Yes my collie is fearless and bears really don't like being around dogs... She took this as a tracking excessive so was very on alert all through. I think she thought all the kids ehind her looking for stuff were SAR flankers.
Melody singing for the Baroness. There was no second competition so Mel learned to bark when asked to sing... In about 2 min of working on it.
Grilled food!
Fishing for real in character. Must do that more!
Listening to my young friend gush over being NPC and the kids and the food and the people until he hit exhausted oh stupid 30 on the way home and passed out.
Oh the silent dog version of the above happened too.

The ride home was rough but all are home safe and sound

Oh and when I took Mel to the Armory for a rest time out...the moment she heard the kids or a battle she was up at the door begging to go back out into it. I think she's hooked too.

As above for the friend who NPC'd; right now he's trying to figure out what character class to play. He's torn on two or three of them...

This event.... lots of walking around watching, which is what Duncan does. Getting a better lay of the land always a good thing IC and OOC.

The kids... were for the most part very good. I don't deal well with children due to PTSD (screaming children of any kind are usually nails on a chalkboard x50 for me...) but these kids were all excellent.

No one got hurt while I was there. As much as I don't mind the practice... no one hurt means no day ruined on a physical level for anyone and that is a GOOD thing.

Chatting with the Baroness ooc about all the missed IC meetings. Explained its ok- it can become a running joke between us about Fate saying no... It will happen eventually of course but apparently not yet.

Getting in some good training for Duncan and meeting yet another Excellent Source for teaching only to have something pull me away from said person. Starting to be something of a theme... :whistle:

Participation in a Druid Totem Circle. interesting, even though I could not hear 75% of the speakers words...

Some solid chatting about fighting styles and more direction developed on where I want to take Duncan.

All in all... a nice one-day event and a needed distraction from the day before's events. See y'all in two weeks!

I just wanted to thank the NPCs for really putting in the effort and taking the hits from the kids, the adults, and the constant need for them to be out and about, since we had so few. Especially the new players/2nd event players who NPCd for Christine and I all day - Mike, Pauline, John, and someone whose name I feel terrible for having forgotten. You guys worked your butts off - and got some experience in RP and combat, I hope.

I also need to thank Christine for taking the mantle thrust upon her of pretty much running logistics with the help of Kevin and I and the occasional other person, and being (not surprisingly) up to the task. You kick butt!

Also, thanks to James and staff for putting together such a fun little festival (an added thank you to the cooks - bbq was VERY tasty) and for being sounding boards and awesome storytellers.

I had a great time playing my silly sylph with everyone - thank you to the people who took time to put up with her, entertain her, try to teach her, and compliment her - some honorable mentions:
-The children and how they all followed their silly sylph friend around, asked me questions, beat up the scary 'gobbins', and generally were well-behaved, funny, sweet, and mostly careful. Plus they took down Jonas Kane and looted him - priceless.
-Cyper and Goggins letting her move their goggles around and declare Goggins a 'princess' - this became a running theme.
-Wu shu (?), the newer player, who took the time out to try to explain, in detail, the concept of human markings of time. Nala spent the rest of the day snapping whenever there was a pause, to see how long it was.
-Cory's illusory crown on my head and NOT getting offended that I was then 'princess', despite delicate Quinarian sensibilities
-Mixolydia putting up with being 'princess mixolydia' and then 'not-princess mixolydia' all day long, while dealing with being a parent at game. Seriously, Jen, you're doing it right - your kids were phenomenal and your daughter is one of my highlights
-Teresa's new character, Fira ("F-I-R-A is how it's spelled" "But I don't cast spells") and her continued disgust with the sylph's lack of personal space bubbles. Thank you for not just loving me and being my buddy off the bat - an added element came from your hesitation.

I could go on for literally hours. Thank you all so much, I hope you had fun!

A lot of people deserve thanks for how much fun the festival was yesterday. I know I am going to forget a lot of people, but I am going to give it a shot:

-James - for being wiling to give the family format a try and being so flexible. And Maya says thanks for seeding so many gems and coins in the woods. She now believes she is fabulously wealthy.
-Diane - for leading the children on so many treasure hunts and adventures. You were brilliant with them and they loved every minute of it.
-NPCs and logistics - for your gift of time, patience and good humor with the kids - given how much the kids wanted to fight, the day would not have been a success without you.
-Cory - for your lovely Elf Mage and most important, the fancy portal moves - don't you think we should try it with the entire town before the next main mod :whistle:
-Jason and Ree - for the moral support
-The Grill Team - spicy chicken - yum!
- The Bear - perfect timing.
- The kids - it was incredibly fun playing with this crew all day. Watching them during the kids' mod as they worked together to negotiate the cave was terrific. It was truly a pleasure getting to know Chop-chop, AJ, Silvermist, Thomas, Miranda, Xod, and . . . (I am blanking, but another handful of young men and women, I am sorry I can't remember everyone's name). I think "Travance - the Next Generation" will be a success.
-Everyone who took time to welcome Maya and Tim to KR.

My highlights were watching my daughter shift from reserved in the morning to running wildly about attacking various NPCs by mid-afternoon and the moment she offered me 10 gold to help pay for the overpriced commodities Faila was charmed into buying by some fancy merchant. And watching Alex as he was able to bring his sword and actually fight for the few hours he was able to attend - it made his year.

The Children - Oh, the children of the Corn.
There were no bad children - shy, that was 10 minutes back.
"You better watch out. I'm a Dragoon. And a Black Dragon."

BBQ, Watermelon, perfect weather.
Crystal and Alexander running a mod like they were pros.
The NPCs rolling with whatever the kids came up with.

Mini Angus who is also mini Antrim. Cannot speak about other kids, but when AJ hit the pillow, he was gone.

Tons of RP, when not being amused by the Children, bloodthirsty savages all.

Cigars in Pendarvin.

4 Goblins running over Pendarvin's finest.

I must say that the amount of coordination and children wrangling was impeccable. Thanks to all the PCs and NPCs that put in the effort to really make it a kid event. Those that went out of their way to play and interact with the kids is what separates the good role players from the GREAT ones. So kudos to everyone!

Watching all the children start off shy and then evolve into little warriors of doom was just so much fun. I had a blast (poorly) taking 200+ pictures of them and I was disheartened when my camera's battery decided it hated life and had to die. Watching the kids do combat was epic. I was VERY proud that my son actually decided to take damage and fell down. Though I will admit hearing a kid call 72,000 damage with a hit and watching a little one search the fallen by hitting them with an axe and screaming search was just too classic for words.

The little mod that was put together was really cool. I liked the problem solving the kids had to do. The planks puzzle was really cute.

Thanks so much for having this wonderful event. It was so great meeting so many children and watching parenting in action. I look forward to when we can do this again next year.