A big thank you

[tempest]

I wanted to thank all those who PCed and NPCed. It was a blast from the past. Alot of good memories of old and it was great to meet all the players who played.

Here are some Kudos

Wood Elf Crew - You gals where a ton of fun! It was a blast hanging out with you gals!

New Elf and his sister - you guys where fun and you both did great! It was great roleplaying with you!

All those involved in the confrontation of between Azayer and Grizzly old mage. That was a blast from Cullodeen having to contain his fury to Devlin making sure his foot was always on the circle to make sure if it was raised he could force his way inside. To Grogga who helped in the trial by combat to Neville and his logical decisions. And to both Jay and Bills great roleplay it was a very fun time. Thanks alot to all those involved.

It was a ton of fun and I look forward to gaming with you next game.

Seth

[Borak Logan]

Im in total agreement, It was great meeting all the new peeps and seeing the old ones from way back. Bill and Jay thanks to you guys for a great weekend, sore as hell and loving it! Hopefully see you guys at the next event and hoping its a tad bit cooler.


Pat

[devling]

Larping Family,

Thank you for another great weekend! It was very hot this weekend but we all made the best of it. It was very cool to hang out with all of the new people who came with Tempest and Randolf. You all were great roleplayers and I'm glad we are going to get some new blood into the game.

To all of the repeat players thank you for another fun filled even with ups and downs and PC conflict all around.

To the PC's who had issues with the scale of the event. Please remember that nothing in Nero Detroit is Scaled but everything that comes out is pre approved by Bill and Jay before the event. You and your PC's need to learn from what happened this weekend and play smarter learn how to survive. Also remember Bill, Jay, and all of the NPC's work harder than any PC to provide fun and entertainment for all of the PC's as a non profit team. So be careful what you say because in 90-100 degree heat because he tempers are already hot...

NPC team thank you for a great event and thank you for fighting the heat and providing a great game for us! Bill it was fun trying to make a Golem angry : ) Jay sorry for not putting you in a chair during the Gryless encounter. Ben you were a MONSTER this weekend way to go buddy!!! Garrett another solid event and congrats bro.


Everybody Love Everybody!!!

Asa

[Sticks]

Just to clarify as one of those individuals who made some comments. My comments were in no way with regards to the scaling of the monsters or with the deaths of characters or players.

I was disappointed with the lack of GM presence at the event.
I was disappointed with the lack of GM direction before the event. We went to the Academy with a purpose and from the player side it appeared that we got stonewalled in that purpose. Perhaps it was a disconnect between plot & the PC's but with no direction/goal for the event things fell apart quickly.

I was highly disappointed with the level of help cleaning up. Myself, Miles, Dale and Ben all got stuck on site till 2pm (after everyone else had left by noon, except James who stayed till 1 when he absolutely had to leave) doing clean-up. I cant even seem to find the words to express how I feel regarding this one.

-Evan

[Madison Rizzo]

Seth,
We had the best time hanging out with you guys! Even when we were bored out of our minds... talking to you as Tempest or as Seth was so much fun! Even though you did eat Ashlee (Kitz) and Anya (Zvi) 's arms... Thanks so much for entertaining us!

Also,

Lack of NPC's sort of sucked.....We had five people NPC all weekend, Ben, Devon, Garrett, Jay, Bill. I can't thank you guys enough. You guys are what makes these events go. I know me and Beth NPC'd for a while and it was probably my favorite part of the event. I love playing as an undead and attempting to beat the crap out of people who have been playing for longer than I have been alive!

Even though the event had a slow start, my thanks goes out to all the people who were patient, as Jay and Bill had to drive out to Kalamazoo to get stuff from the van Saturday and they did not have much to work off of on Friday.

Madison

[Borak Logan]

I was disappointed with the lack of GM presence at the event.
I was disappointed with the lack of GM direction before the event. We went to the Academy with a purpose and from the player side it appeared that we got stonewalled in that purpose. Perhaps it was a disconnect between plot & the PC's but with no direction/goal for the event things fell apart quickly.

Evan,

I know NPC participation may have not been 100% but in my opinion they did the best with what they had. Bill and Jay had to deal with the heat and humidity and the van breaking down to name a few.

[Bud Lewis]

Oh Ye Folks of NERO Detroit and Travelers from Afar,

Thank you all for the fun this weekend. By far one of my most enjoyed events out of game, and quite possibly the lowest point in my character's life. The fact that I actually shed tears at this event shows not only the massive effort put in by our plot staff, but to all of us, from the lowliest goblin NPC to the PC who hasn't played in more than five years. We all bring the magic of Tyrra to our world, if only for a few far to short days a year. Keep being awesome folks!

The things that came to happen this market faire were by far some of the largest and game impacting things to happen thus far. And I'm sure we are going to feel their quake for many more.

I know frustrations occurred out of game for some people, and as I analyze that I do see where they sprout from. It was a bit off putting to know that things of that magnitude happened without GMs on site. But I also quite firmly believe it would have played out the same way. As we've all come to realize, Bill and Jay do NOT pull punches. Ever. And it has made be grow into a much more well rounded player and character.

As always, I owe gratitude to all of our constant NPCs as well as people who drop character to help out, you guys are NERO troopers in the highest regards. And as always, I offer my apologies for any low blows, head shots and otherwise unintended strikes you may have suffered at my hands.

Evan, Miles, Ben and Dale I'd also like to outwardly apologize to all of you. My group pulled out after our own stuff had been cleaned up without looking too much at the rest of the site and that was the wrong thing to do as the driver for my crew. You've got my word I'll be around to help next time.

Best Regards and Many Great Adventures Ahead!

Bud / Armond

[Ceilyn Wemyss]

Thanks to all who came out all who npced and to Jay and Bill. I would say the event ran pretty smooth and i had a really great time for the most part. A big thanks to Joe West and Sean ellis for npcing most of Sat and filling in! It was a huge help to all of us. Thanks to Seth and Crew for coming out and helping bring out Npc shack when the truck broke down we really appreciate it and the event wouldnt have started without it! Good to see all my friends old and new and good to see Grylis dead it was a longtime coming! 5 years is a longtime Tempest needs to come back and adventure with us again soon along with randolph and crew. Hopefully you all enjoyed the event and hopefully we can have everything running smoother next time! Any questions, concerns, or problems logistically or otherwise please let me know on here, facebook, or by phone at 5866049912.
Ceilyn/grogg Your Head of Logistics at Nero Detroit

[randolff]

THANKS for a good time.

Great to see and hang out with both newer and veteran players !!!

Hope to come back soon

Randolff Ironforge
( randy )

[Admin]

Jay and I are processing a lot after this event. It was definitely one that had its highs and lows. Before I post my own feedback, I'd like to respond to some of the things all of you have said.

I wanted to thank all those who PCed and NPCed. It was a blast from the past. Alot of good memories of old and it was great to meet all the players who played.

Seth, that goes both ways! When we wrote the event, we had no idea that we'd have you out there. Your knowledge and experience from the past really added a lot to the story. Thanks for coming out.

All those involved in the confrontation of between Azayer and Grizzly old mage. That was a blast from Cullodeen having to contain his fury to Devlin making sure his foot was always on the circle to make sure if it was raised he could force his way inside. To Grogga who helped in the trial by combat to Neville and his logical decisions. And to both Jay and Bills great roleplay it was a very fun time. Thanks alot to all those involved.

When you're writing plot, you never know how the players are going to take it and how well it will actually play out. It was so great to see everyone get so deeply involved in this one.

Bill and Jay thanks to you guys for a great weekend, sore as hell and loving it! Hopefully see you guys at the next event and hoping its a tad bit cooler.

Amen on the cool weather to come! I'm glad you made it out, Pat. It was good seeing you again, too.

Bill it was fun trying to make a Golem angry : )

.

I am glad you enjoyed the encounter, too, Asa. I would say that Lerrin's discussion with Devlin was probably one of the most intricate roleplaying encounters I have ever been a part of.

I was disappointed with the lack of GM presence at the event.

I was also disappointed not to be there, when Jay and I had to leave site on Saturday. I've never left an event that I was running before, so it was an odd feeling for me.

We felt confident, however, that Joe could handle the afternoon in our absence. He had all of the tools necessary to do it. From all accounts, Joe did in fact run the afternoon in the exact fashion that it would have been run had Jay and I been present.

I'm curious to know whether this disappointment in the lack of GM presence is stemming from any specific problems that occurred in our absence? Or is it just the fact that we were not there?

I was disappointed with the lack of GM direction before the event. We went to the Academy with a purpose and from the player side it appeared that we got stonewalled in that purpose. Perhaps it was a disconnect between plot & the PC's but with no direction/goal for the event things fell apart quickly

I'm sorry that you felt that your purpose for going to the Academy was stonewalled. In fact, it was, but the stonewalling had nothing to do with a disconnect between plot and the PC's. The stonewalling of the PC goal of rescuing lost wizards on other planes was entirely in-game. Adaptive and reactive NPCs responded to the PCs' intentions. In fact, those PC intentions escalated a major plotline of the campaign and led to nearly everything that happened at this event.

Unfortunately, we must not have done a good enough job making this clear throughout the event, if you left with the impression that there was an out-of-game stonewalling going on. I am sorry about that failure, because we had hoped that the culmination of this long-running plot would give a more satisfying ending and we obviously failed in that.

Lack of NPC's sort of sucked.....We had five people NPC all weekend, Ben, Devon, Garrett, Jay, Bill. I can't thank you guys enough. You guys are what makes these events go. I know me and Beth NPC'd for a while and it was probably my favorite part of the event.

Thanks, Madison. And, to echo what Seth said about you guys earlier, it really is a blast having you and your team out there. You add so much vitality to a bunch of crusty old players like us. And thanks a lot for NPCing. It was a big help.

I know frustrations occurred out of game for some people, and as I analyze that I do see where they sprout from. It was a bit off putting to know that things of that magnitude happened without GMs on site. But I also quite firmly believe it would have played out the same way. As we've all come to realize, Bill and Jay do NOT pull punches. Ever. And it has made be grow into a much more well rounded player and character.

After this event, I was told that "it's too bad that you and Jay weren't on site during Saturday afternoon. If you'd been here, not so many people would have died."

That, to me, is a mindbogglingly strange statement. If Jay and I had been there, it's likely that we would have been playing a hound and houndmaster of the Sessuar. My first thought was that our presence would have led to MORE deaths, not fewer.

The only way I can think of for why my presence would have led to fewer deaths would be what I have heard referred to as the "Bill" factor. By this, I mean that PCs tend to take encounters where I am playing one of the fighting NPCs more seriously. I guess, maybe, if I had been one of the Sessuar Hounds, people might have been more likely to run away and form larger groups before engaging.

If you believe that our presence would have led to fewer deaths and you are not basing this belief on that factor, then I can assure you that you could not be farther from the truth. Joe and Garrett (the two running things in our absence) are not bloodthirsty monsters. If anything, they are more inclined than us to ease up when PCs start dropping everywhere.

Seth can tell you that the numbers of dead at this event are not records for this chapter... not even close.



Thanks for your feedback, everyone. As always, please bear in mind that we welcome both positive and negative feedback on our events. My responses above should not be read in a defensive tone. There are just a number of responses about this event that I am truly trying to understand.

-Bill

[Madison Rizzo]

Bill,

Aw you guys aren't old!


Tora's least favorite part of the weekend:
Going out into the field where the crystal was, finding tiny small items in the field, getting scratched by thorns, getting a rash all up my leg. So me and a few other PC's headed back to the cabin because we didn't like walking through the thorns. I guess we missed the blood thirsty werepires (Vampire-werewolves) things or whatever they were by a whole three minutes or so. So yeah, Tora was hiding in the warded cabin balling her eyes out while her friends were being killed. She was not happy.

I honestly have nothing else to complain about. I know just how hard Bill and Jay work to plan these events. About a week or so before the events Jay talks to Bill more than his family! xD You boys work hard and I know you guys are busy people so the fact that you guys put time into this for so long is mind blowing.

Favorite parts of the weekend besides NPC'ing:

Tora trying intoxicants for the first time. (Teehee)

Laughing at Kitz as she attempted to fly while drinking intoxicants.

finally getting to see who Assitainious was, and listening to Assitainious' (I have a feeling I spelled that wrong) 10 minute monologue. Also almost calling him Ass and Toes to his face. Yeah, that was fun!

Sticks cooking- 'nough said

Interacting with a few people I will shout out here,

Seth
The other Sharded crew people who came out and played. Though I don't remember any of your names.
Eric
Adam
The rest of my people, Cassey, Anya, Ashes, Beth.
James
Ben
Devon
Evan
Dave
Janelle
Joe especially!

Thanks guys!

[Sticks]

Jul 2, 2012 15:26:54 GMT -5 Admin said:

I'm curious to know whether this disappointment in the lack of GM presence is stemming from any specific problems that occurred in our absence? Or is it just the fact that we were not there?

It is hard to put into words something that is mostly a feeling. With both of you off site for the event, things felt different. I dont agree that things would have been less deadly, however I think things might have been more fun in the deadliness. None of the Seshu'ar seemed to have any personality or purpose other then to kill people. We tried to interact with them from within the ward to understand the purpose of the encounter and it just fell flat. In short it felt "Cheesy" (Not sure that is the right word for it, but nothing better comes to mind) and I dont recall anytime I was involved in an encounter with one or both of you present that felt that way.

I know that isn't a great answer, but its the one I have right now.

As for the direction, it was not made clear that it was an IG stonewalling. I talked to someone who sent in pre-game emails trying to get things setup and just never got any response back. While this may be the correct IG response, how do we as players know that its IG and that we arent just being ignored? Perhaps a simple reply email to the effect "OOG - We got your email, you do not recieve an IG response." Or something like that.

-Evan

[Admin]

Evan,

Reading your post brought to mind a discussion that I've often had with Christy and with my son, Derek. A good relationship, I've always believed, is based on trust. When someone who you're in a relationship with does something that you don't fully understand, you are given two choices. You can either approach it from an angle of trust or from an angle of mistrust. In short, you can either say "Why the hell would he/she do that?" or you can say "I'm sure that he/she had a good reason for doing that."

From your post, basically, I feel like you would employ the second reaction for Jay and I. I'm glad that we have reached that level of trust for you. In the case of Joe and Garrett, who ran that encounter, unfortunately you employed the first reaction. They didn't talk to you and give you a comic-book-villain recitation of why they were attacking and killing. You took that as a negative, instead of wondering if there was an in-game reason why they weren't talkative.

Of course, over the last two years, we've supplied a reason or two why the Sessuar might not deem the people of Sanctuary worthy of an open dialogue. We've supplied books that explain their nature (all non-Sessuar are lesser races deserving of slavery). The PCs have thwarted their major plan on two occasions (that pesky Plague scroll).

I don't mean this post as an attack on you, Evan. I hope that you will view it as constructive criticism in the same vein that I look at the posts that I read here.

Garrett has been the most selfless player that we've had in this chapter. He desperately wants to PC. He did at one event. But, then, after that event he realized that we needed him. So he called us up and let us know that we could count on him NPCing for as long as we needed him.

Joe paid to PC at the event and then spent 11 hours on Saturday running the encounters that we wrote for him. Mind you, he went to sleep at 7am on Saturday morning, the same time that I did. But he was up at 10am to run monster camp because he saw that PCs were up and he wanted to entertain them. He ran hard all day on Saturday and dealt with the demands of wrangling cats (NPCs).

I would suggest, for the future, that you take these sorts of things into account when you view potentially "off" NPC behavior. Garrett and Joe were deserving of the benefit of the doubt for everything that happened on Saturday and, frankly, you didn't give it to them. That's a shame. While I have invited criticism directed towards me, I can't help but be offended on their behalf when you call them "cheesy."

-Bill

[jay]

As for the direction, it was not made clear that it was an IG stonewalling. I talked to someone who sent in pre-game emails trying to get things setup and just never got any response back. While this may be the correct IG response, how do we as players know that its IG and that we arent just being ignored? Perhaps a simple reply email to the effect "OOG - We got your email, you do not recieve an IG response." Or something like that.

As for the lack or correspondence
We felt it was a safe assumption that if we didn't respond to certain ingame emails that it would be taken as just that...no response ingame. Please understand we probably send out 100 emails to various PCs between events and we often do not get responses. We assume when we don't get a response that the PC's character isn't responding. For example, Azayer sent out multiple messages between the last two events to players without receiving a single response.


Just to be clear, Joe and Garret, as well as all other npc's included in the Sessuar encounter, played their parts as we wrote them. In fact, Joe brought an extra angle to it that Bill and I didn't even think of.
Let me ask you this; Do exterminators converse with the cockroaches before they kill them?

If we had been there, we wouldn't have changed a thing.

[Sticks]

Thank you for the criticism Bill. As I stated in my post I dont think that Cheesy is the best word to describe it and if that was taken as an insult I am sorry. I did not mean it as an attack on anyone at the game.

Perhaps the game is just moving in a direction that does not match my style of play and I may be better served by finding other pursuits for my time. Especially when events are held at the Academy.

-Evan