September 2016 Event Highlights!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*deep breath*
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I really had no idea what to expect this event - but even if I'd been forced to take a guess, it wouldn't have come close to what actually happened.

Massive props the Matt Magnus for rolling with every single weird thing the PCs tried to do! It is so, so hard to do improve/reactive GM'ing for 150+ people, and I think a lot of people forget or don't realize that. You may have some idea that would "solve the plot" if it worked - but that would leave the other 149 people un-entertained for the rest of the weekend. To be able to roll with whatever bizarre crap we all come up with and *still* have enough content to keep everyone else entertained is a rare skill, and as someone at the diner afterwards pointed out, "Matt never says no, he just says 'give me 5 minutes'". I am in awe and so, so grateful

Speaking of bizarre crap we come up with... My big highlight for the weekend was the whole HomuncuLois thing. I super enjoyed every spot of RP around that, from Pluvious's reluctant acceptance of the plan, to Cain/Abel's creepiness, to watching Seth interacting with the Father, to the way the other homunculi started subtly treating Lois differently the next day. My favorite bit, though, was the actual dying: I never thought Lois would ever have to narrate her own death. Thank you to Aaron for some of those prompting questions - you definitely made it a lot easier to RP that! Let your characters be vulnerable to possible bad consequences (and there are definite MAJOR downsides to being what Lois is) - the value of the RP you gain far outweighs any of the bad.

There was a lot of leadup conversations with several PCs before this event, and watching the results of all those plans unfold was beautiful.

Matt: How are you going to do this [brain surgery on a sleeper] fast enough?
Pile of Heroic Nerds, in unison: MEANDER'S SECRET RECIPE!

Archcasting lesson with Aleister. Everything he said made such perfect sense to Lois - I don't know if that was Aleister intentionally mathing it up so the Londwyn could understand, or they actually have a very similar way of viewing magic, but either way it was really cool to find some common ground between these two characters who have never interacted in this way before.

And speaking of finding common ground... STOP THE PRESSES LOIS & BRIGITTA AGREED ON SOMETHING. Gods help anyone who gets in their way now!

Jack Dimms "Lois, do you believe in me?" Dane really sold the heartache, and sorry for the pause in the answer because she wanted to say yes immediately, but this is what was going through her head: Wait he's a homunculus so this is Jack's personality but not Jack's soul but if he's not really Jack then am I still really me? I feel real but I know I'm not entirely human so can I believe in both of us? *looks at Dane's face* "Yes, Jack, I believe in you." Jack Dimms saved Lois from an existential crisis of identity!

Annora, Jun, Winged Victory, I love you all!

Nick as Zelretch was amazing this whole event. I can't single anything he did out because everything he did was top-notch RP.

Angler fish Belegchand Really, I think the biggest lesson to take away from this weekend is that Lois should never be allowed on vacation again, because when she has free time she just goes full mad scientist

Casual Bob!

Kardin's book hit me in the feels. It's such a small touch, but it's so powerful.

Also, praise Andorra for the lovely Sunday weather, and Boo Aguara for Saturday's muggy torment

Probably forgot a bunch of stuff, as usual. Just know that I loved each and every interaction I had all weekend, and I can't wait for the next one!

Getting my tongue cut out by Able by order of Father.

Then flipping him off as Able teleported me away.

Good times.

LoisMaxwell wrote:
And speaking of finding common ground... STOP THE PRESSES LOIS & BRIGITTA AGREED ON SOMETHING. Gods help anyone who gets in their way now!

By Brazen's Forge.... I'm not so certain everyone understands how momentous an event this is.

I look forward to where *this* goes....

*goes looking for popcorn*

Dear lord now I'm scared

All in all, it was an incredible weekend. I am rather sad that it is over for now. The plot, the Roleplaying, and the combat were fantastic! It was also incredible to have the story be so amorphous at the hands of players. It truly became our own story; this to me is the true spirit of the game. A huge thank you to Matt, Forest, and Ben for making this all possible. I look forward to what is in store!

So this weekend was interesting to say the least for Gras. With the absence of the Baron, he and Pluvious tasked themselves to a number of different tasks amongst the proper.
Thankfully, there was plenty to do and man y things to fight.
Things however took an interesting turn when Seth and Lois proposed a plan to possibly find Father and see if we can do anything to prevent what he was planning. Pluvious and I were of course dubious of such actions as it carried a great amount of risk, but we eventually agreed. It was eerie following Lois and Seth while invisible and having to listen to Lois describes the throes of her own death. It was very difficult to hold back while the one we were sworn to protect was dying.
The utter moment terror when the three of them were recalled and disappeared from our watchful eyes.

Thankfully, we were able to Scry and get a view of the conversation between Father, Lois, and Seth.

Holy Crap Matt, you were great as the father. The character itself has so much depth. It was great to see such a pivotal moment play out and see the first hand effects of the actions taken by players.

We eventually reunited with Lois, however, we were not happy to discover what became of her. Gras and Pluvious knew what happened to Dominick earlier in the night and we were horrified to discover that Lois shared a similar fate. It was interesting to see how we reacted and how we proceeded knowing that one of the most influential people in the Barony and the one we were sworn to protect may have been compromised or corrupted. Definitely a interesting situation to play out.

Finally going to bed and having to wake up for an NPC shift three hours later. That was interesting, but I quickly adapted and had a blast on the many combat mods that we were sent out on. I had so much fun that I volunteered for another shift after that one. I have to say, I loved playing a psycho hunter. The were so many moments where a player was just like NOPE and went in a different direction. A huge thank you to Matt and Forest for running with the MODs and making them all the more enjoyable. You are part of the reason why I had such a blast!

Come the end of my shift, I was exhausted. However, there was still much to be done.
Cleaning up and arriving at feast only to have things pick up again after I start eating haha. No rest for the weary!

Main mod was a very enjoyable experience. It was fascinating to see the conflict of interest in some of the players as they chose between following orders and doing what they felt was right. These choices really add an extra level of depth to not only the characters but the story as a whole. The consequences of these actions also generated a very complex situation in which Gras was able to see the reactions of those involved and those in power. It was time like this that Gras was grateful he did not have to directly involve himself in the politics of Travance.

Fast forward to the early hours of Sunday Morning and I am only agent of the barony in or around the Inn. I basically did all the things and made all the arrests. It’s actually funny because every time I would leave to go to bed, something else would pop up. However, I stumbled upon something rather disturbing and terrible while making one of my arrests. It consisted of demented and blood covered 14 year old girl who possessed the strength of 4 men and crackled like a hyena. To say she was still human would have been a compliment. It took all my strength (plus a few abilities) to get her to jail. It was my hope to get her a healer and physician come the morning so that they may try to help her, but it was of no use. The girl bashed her own skull in against the inside of her cell. She was dead. This moment will probably haunt Gras for the rest of his life.

…Inside the girl’s throat, we found a note that said, “ Pretty bird coming soon”
Upon further investigation we discovered another far more sinister name. “ The Dark One”
The Dark One is coming soon. This was an amazing piece of Role play that not only scared the shit out of me but also allowed Gras to really experience emotions of despair and failure. Also he’s scared shitless about may soon make its way into the proper.


Also, learned more about Moon Elves Perhaps I will meet one soon :woohoo:


Wow that was a lot, but there was so much that happened. Thank you again for the great event, I had a blast!

,Taylor

Fenri had an AMAZING time this event, wielding Maelstrom made me change the direction of Fenri a little bit, FOIG.

Had the best lesson out of any I have ever gotten with one of my new skills, loved the RP on that.

Feast was so amazing, I ate until I was full and then ate some more...although, having a hook like that near the end of feast kinda made everyone leave and cleanup was a very long process.

I didn't get to interact with any of the Homuncli during the event, because High Elf arrogance reasons.

The difficulty of every mod I went on was fantastic.

Main mod put more of a sense of "oh shit" in me (and damn near everyone else I talk to about it) than most of the ones I have attended, there was an actual sense of fear and dread as I started to realize "I am probably going to die" and, being Travance, I don't get that feeling very often....maybe it's because I can heal myself during combat (assuming I can get somewhere safe and uninterrupted).