November 9-11, 2012 Event Feedbackk

[Silas]

Hey guys!

I had a great time at the event. I showed up on Saturday around 12:30 and left at midnight. We did a LOT in that 11 hours. Other than the last big thing, the fun was driven by the mod cards for us. We went with this group of PCs or that group of PCs and did, I want to say, 5 or 6 mods. I really, really liked the ability to just go out and find something fun to do, when I wanted to. That was amazing. I hear there are other mechanisms like this in store for next season as well. That, my friends, makes me very happy, because I have no doubt I will be running my arse off the whole time.

All things considered, I felt like the challenge level was appopriate. We had some really tough fights, but it was not so tough that you felt helpless. We had to have our stuff together, have the potions out, and be organized, and if we did that, we had a chance of winning. The one fight that turned out to be heinous, in my opinion, was the mod we went on with the two bee scavenger PCs and lion PC, who were all first eventers. We ended up fighting things swinging for big carrier attack damage. I had hoped to use the mod as an opportunity to help new PCs learn how to fight together, etc. They were very excited to get into it, but when we got there, it got bad, FAST. Given the necromantic taint on the area and whatnot, it made sense for the NPCs to be like that. From a making-an-old-player-scared-as-hell perspective, it was a success. That said, from a hooking-new-players perspective, it was a lost opportunity because the power level was too significant for them to make a big difference.

There was a lull in action surrounding dinner, where all NPCs were allocated for roleplay parts. For in-game reasons, I wasn't going to interact with them, so that meant I did not have anything to do, NPC-wise. We walked the camp and talked, then talked with other PCs in the tavern, during that time. There was nothing to fight, and we obviously couldn't have done any mod cards, given all NPCs were allocated. I wonder, for next time, whether it would be worth leaving out an NPC to be playing some kind of popping card outside. That would mean people who did not want to roleplay with the particular NPCs could fight something.

I was really happy with the treasure quantity at this event. I felt like we fought some tough stuff, and we got rewarded well for it. That was super fun. I have bad luck when it comes to getting treasure, so it felt great to finally walk out of an event with some coin.

As far as the Graveyard closing enterprise, it was really neat to see the PCs do such a great amount of planning. The PCs had plans and tactics that not only allowed the thing to function as a double hook (and therefore work from a game-running perspective), but it also made great sense from an in-game perspective, and created a very fun time. I PCd with the first group, and that fight was GREAT. I would have been happy to continue on doing that same thing for hours and hours. It was excellent. I was so sorry to have to leave site after that first part, as I was really looking forward to NPCing the second part, then trying to defend the three casters during the rituals in the third part.

Bud and Tyler, I am very fired up about you guys being the new plot team. I like that there were new stories being seeded this event, while wrapping up old stuff as well. I can't wait to get to next season and see it all come to fruition.

Asa and Garrett, you guys were NPCing machines. It's so key having you on board to project NPC strength in numbers.

Ceilyn, for a first event, I'd say that this was a total success. Thanks for getting us checked in quickly, and checking in throughout the day about whether people were having fun. That's a great thing to be doing as an owner.

All in all, my time was an 8.5/10, with the only real lost opportunity being the Remlick RP / no combat lull. I am absolutely fired up for your new era, guys, and can't wait until the next one.

Joe aka Silas

[Borak Logan]

I have to agree with Joe spot on, Ceilyn, Tyler, Bud and Asa ran one hell of a event, kept things rolling so for the majority of the event was near full of action.

One thing i wanted to point out was maybe if possible try and separate the events from the Boy Scouts. Yes, The scouts managed to not bother us and vice versa, but plot had to plan around them ( and did very well ).

My other point goes out not to the plot team or owners but to the players... I arrived early and was speaking to plot and they said they had a number of last minute cancellations and some no shows... I know real life happens but Plot puts weeks of effort into planning the event and depends on how many people show and to have 4-6 PC/NPC cancel at the last minute can really put plot in a bind. If people are not 100% certain that they can attend send the owners a quick E-mail so they are adjust properly.

With that said Guys thanks you for a great event and hopefully see in at Kzoo.

Pat Sullivan AKA Borak Logan

[Tyler Sevakis]

I would just like to say how happy I am to have had such a great group of people turn up for our first event. I understand that November is a rough month, there were other Michigan Chapters running events that month as well as other LARPs, and people were still not entirely sure of what was going on with NERO Detroit's staff.

Every body on the field at an event is an opportunity for one more epic moment, one different perspective, or one additional opportunity for story and plot to launch off. Everyone that decided we were worth their hard earned luxury time is good people in my book.

Now, let's get to talking about the event. (People posting below, dont be afraid to throw criticism our way. There's a good chance we are entirely oblivious to some problems other players may have noticed.)

I can honestly say Ive never felt quite so worn out after an event. It's an entirely different game from this side of the fence, and I now have a new appreciation for anybody who has ever been masochistic enough to try and steer one of these burning wagons.

I think it was pretty funny to see just how wildly the direction this event strayed from our original idea. There's a saying about giving players options A, B, and C, they'll always pick option 6. That was totally true for this event, but I feel we did a good job of salvaging what we could. It is never our goal to railroad anybody, and we want every player to leave an event feeling like they accomplished something big.

Now, to address Joe's comments (Without making too many excuses!)

We had a large amount of last minute cancellations and no-shows, so when designing mods around having 9-11 NPCs on hand, it was a bit of a shot in the foot to suddenly have to try and get our roleplay and our combat on at all times. At the dinner time, three of our NPC's were unavailable, and that really left people not concerned with the politics out in the cold. Next time we'll make doubly sure to have a few people bouncing around ready to run something, or harassing people at the tavern. I've always said stagnation strangles an event, sitting on your haunches waiting for the plot staff to catch up to you can kill an event, and we tried to keep that to a minimum given our NPC constraints. We'll be sure that we'll have a larger NPC staff next time, even if we have to drag them from their homes kicking and screaming.

Now, on the subject of the tainted goblin mod, I agree with you entirely on the lost opportunity. When you told me who was going out, I just didnt put together the fact that we had some rookies coming in to that. All of the Mods were certainly altered throughout the event to adjust for the PCs, beefing them up or watering them down, and this was just one time I had a case of the bad brains and didnt realize who you had in tow.

Next time, to keep from risking that kind of thing again, just come to us and let us know you're looking for trouble. That way we wont be shackled by the mod card so much and can design an on-the-fly for you that will better suite the group. We did this a few times this event and they were actually some of the more enjoyable things.

Now, on to what Pat was saying about the boy scouts.
Now, when the responsibilites changed hands, we had no places reserved. We had two months to get together an event, and not much idea how. We got a lot of help along the way, but after the last Detroit event, we had a hard time getting all of our reps (Which really wasnt done until the Wednesday before the event), getting a campsite in place, and getting a season closer together that would leave room for the old and open things up for the new. It was a big task, but you all can be the judge if we succeded. For the future, we will be reserving camps much further in advance, so this shouldnt be a problem. It really came down to sharing the site, or having no season closer. And no closer meant people would be left wondering if NERO Detroit was even alive.

If I were to give shout outs, I would fill up this page and we're already beyond the TLDR point of a comment, so I will just say that I never once felt like anybody wasnt bringing their A game out there. We were in character,we were motivated, and getting involved. There is nothing more I could hope for than players coming in and devouring the stuff we have out there for them. You guys kept us damn busy, and even though you didnt get to everything, you did manage to hack your way through a big chunk.

Never, ever, ever feel bored at a NERO Detroit event. If you want something, or are looking for something, I want you to come to shack and talk to us. We will not abide bored players. You want a personal mod? We'll get one together. You want some NPCs to roleplay with? We'll find a way to get that for you. I want our game to feel just like any tabletop Ive ever run. I want you to feel threatened, empowered, catered to, engaged, having a blast, and scared for your life at all times!

On a final topic.
Saturday night there was some miscommunication about escaping the mod and many people felt like they were in dangers. As I understand it a few actually fell and were injured. This is not acceptable. If at any time we fail to make it abundantly clear where you have to go to leave a Mod, ask us.

And this is the biggest thing. If you ever, at any time, think to consider that there is the potential to possibly present a ghost of a glimmer of a hope of a chance that you might be threatened with bodily harm in a very real way, call a hold. Do not hesitate! We will not think less of you for wanting to protect yourself. The precautions we make for one of us better protects all of us, and as a NERO family, that is the foundation of this little group of ours.

Now, we still would like to keep the spirit of NERO Detroit. No victory without consequence, no action without reaction, and triumphs can reveal themselves to be poorly veiled failures. Keep this in mind for any arc or mod this weekend. This is a dynamic world, and players did see the return of some old things they thought long buried, and new faces and powers stepping onto the board. Expect big things, new and interesting ways of getting involved in game, and a more dedicated and responsive plot staff.

Please, please contact us for anything! We want to hear from you. I dont care if it's an IBGA discussion, if it's a question about the rules, or if you just want to swap banter with an NPC. We're here to make sure that you're never too far from the world of Tyrra, even when you muck around in the mundane world of reality.

[nightwindkain]

Having been a member of the monster squad in darkreign, and now as part of plot in Grand Rapids, I can understand the craziness of running a game, I felt you guys really stepped up and did a really good job, we found that as the games go.. They tended to be better then the last one. I'm sure there will be a point of equalization, but my hope for both you and our sake that that point is still far off.
I can remember being level 10 and being taken on oh god modes with the big guys.. So the occassional... "Oh crap.. We're in over our heads" feeling is perfectly welcome IMO.. When that becomes the norm.. Then that I think is the indication that things may have deviated from the path a bit.. There were a couple issues that I had this weekend.. Mostly dealing with the last few encounters of the weekend.. And Those issues have been mostly addressed.. But when you decide on where something is going to take place.. Especially if its planned farther away from the buildings.. And downhill.. that Please keep to the plan.. As John will most likely leave a bit early to get there to have a chance to rest.. That being said I had a good time at the game, keep up the good work guys.

[tempest]

I already posted this on the Facebook Portion - So here it is here.

Event Survey for Nero Detroit and their 11/9 – 11/11 event

Well first off I had a great time. I met a bunch of brand new people and some surprisingly old ones. So I want to give some great kudos and describe some of my favorite things.
First off – The Npc’s looked great. It was so nice to see all the monsters in good make up. A couple of really nice jobs I want to point out. Tyler your fawn character was awesome looking! Sorry you had to draw the bad straw And Bud your wolfpack guy looked great! Matt looked great as a goblin!

The PC’s looked great! – Tav (the cook ) , Erika Campbell (gypsy lady), Ruby and Opal (you guys made a great pair and you both looked great), The Swarm! (The bumblebees and the lioness) , Neville (one of the best looking stone elves) , Kain (love the new cat suit thing), Nockmar ( Love the helmet!) , James Dowdy ( you look awesome as your dwarf!), Oglar (the NOT orc!), Carrie ( Tiger elf great outfit!), Elias ( great outfit!), The dwarf / barbarian (love your armor! And awesome paranoia roleplay!), Walker (love the coyote outfit), And all the new guys you all did great!

And for the best part the roleplay and some funny bits all worth mentioning! (in no particular order)
Mongo the goblin – a brief encounter but I love it when even the “crunchies” take the time to roleplay with you!
Rage Goblins – Ceilyn, Garret, and Joe all playing awesome goblins! Making challenges for the newer players and just a lot of fun.
Bandit Encounter – Good roleplay and way to be scary. Facing 7 bandits while only having 8 PC’s was creepy and had great tension. And paying for everyone’s release was good roleplay!
Oglar and the elf – You guys where a blast to roleplay with! It was great to meet you and I look forward to gaming with you again. And thank you for delivering a message for me miss elf!
Rowan the elf – Man you did great as a new player! You looked good and had a great attitude! And it was awesome to watch you “break out” as the event went from timid to mixing it up! Way to go man! Cant wait to play with you again!
Elias – It was great to just hang with you and it was a lot of fun teasing you about becoming a biata! (tastes just like chicken!) Also I loved how you stayed in character and it was fun adventuring and roleplaying with you.
Dwarf / Not dwarf – I have to say I loved the way you role-played the paranoia! Way to go! You wouldn’t listen to us to back up because you did not trust us! That was awesome! Way to go man!
Matt – Man it was great to see you! I think it was about 10 years sicne the last time to see you. And I can’t wait to catch up with you again soon!
Ruby and Opal – You two are awesome! I had huge smiles as you trained your new goblin And you guys looked awesome and your alchemy lab looked fantastic!
Kain – Thanks for being sneaky and tracking stuff and it is always great to roleplay with you.
Walker – Gosh you are a pain in the butt! But I love every minute of it from you talking to vampires to walking off alone and spending time combing the woods to get your stuff back it was great!
Sir Neville – As always I love your stone elf. I do not know how you can keep a straight face as I am busting everyone else up. And your dry humor and zingers are fantastic. Delivered in that dead pan and funny! And thanks as always for the great ritual roleplay discussion!
Joe aka Wit – Man you where awesome on both sides. I know you play other larps but man I am glad you made it out to Nero! Love your wit character! A little spooky but lots and lots of good roleplay! And you looked great! And on the NPC side thanks a million for taking an NPC shift!
Joe and Stu – I wish I could have spent more time with you guys! You guys are always such good roleplayers! I look forward to the next time we can game together!
Borak – Love hanging out with you since 1995 we have played Nero together and I love your character! It was great hanging out with you!
Will – I love your elf! You do a great job playing the clueless elf! And really sorry about devouring your arms. What a great moment to realize you where awake and had to be quiet about it because the bandits did not know you where possuming! Thanks for the huge smile that brought me!
Sticks – Always good to roleplay with you and love merchanting with you, Loved the pie conversations!
The swarm – Thanks a ton! Gosh it was a blast hanging out with you gals and the goblin mod was fantastic! You gals looked great and did awesome! Way to go! So much fun! Thanks a lot I loved watching you gals “swarm” someone! Really made my event thank you!

I know I missed others and I wish I could have roleplayed more with you all!

I look forward to the next event!

Great job Nero Detroit!

PS - I know what it is like on your end. I really think you guys did an amazing job!

[Tav]

Granted I was in the tavern most of the weekend I still had a good time hearing the stories of what happened and buying the components off of those that didn't want or need them. =)

Well done guys, was a great weekend.

[Admin]

Lords and Ladies!

Well, looking back at the weekend, as always, it feels as though it has gone far too fast. But Wow. That is the best word I can use to describe this weekend. Wow is running an event a LOT different than playing one. Wow do I absolutely love our player base! Wow did I have fun!

When were asked to take the torch from Bill and Jay so to say, we had no real clue what we were getting into, and in honesty I will go ahead and say we were not prepared at first. But as the event began drawing closer and closer, my life began turning into a whirlwind of driving across the state, monster cards, tags, and plumbing supplies. But in an amazing effort we pulled it all off, running our first ever NERO Detroit event, a feat of which I am incredibly proud of. Are there some things I wish we could have done, that just weren't in the cards? Absolutely. But I feel that is probably something every team feels after an event. And I feel that we accomplished more than expected in our first event.

Our players, I don't know if I could give out enough thanks... ever! You guys made this event something special. Your pro activity and amazing roleplay turned a more than a dozen simple encounters into absolutely awesome memories.

A few shout outs:

Dave/Anya/Ashley: You guys were on fire this event! I don't think I ever saw any of you break character until Sunday morning. Your pro activity pushed the event onward, and kept us beyond busy. But it was always fun. Even after I had just laid down and I hear Nokmar's squeaky voice, "We're searching the woods for trouble." I couldn't have been more happy to hop up out of bed to have one of the most entertaining mods I've NPC'd.

Tonia Brown: What do I say? From the piles of donations, to the OUTSTANDING job as The Dutchess you helped this event further along than most can imagine. So from the bottom of my heart and the rest of the staff... THANK YOU!

John/Matt: Everywhere you guys go, you always bring deep and interesting roleplay and gameplay, from Neville's debate over documentation with an Archwizard to Kaine dashing across an open field with a ritual focus under your arm you guys always help take the game to the next level.

Scott Singleton: You stand up there with Tonia for my undying gratitude. Without you the tavern, the feast and half a dozen awesome early morning/ late night conversations wouldn't have happened. You helped this event more than the staff, if not more. So again... THANK YOU.

Erika Cambell: THANK YOU! Not only did Nadia make the game a lot more interesting wherever I saw her, you saved the feast! With a rescue trip to the store, you pulled us out of a very awkward fire.

James Dowdy/His New Player(I'm Sorry I'm bad with names): James, you are becoming a great new player and it's awesome to see you turning into an experienced player and even helping to teach the new ones, including the one you brought. James' friend (again, sorry, I'm bad at names), you did great at your first event! It's usually pretty daunting when you first come out, so I hope you had fun and I look forward to seeing you again! (I swear I'll remember your name this time!)

Jared/Krista: While I did not play any of the parts that got to roleplay with you, I heard plenty of stories about a great ritual that Krista cast, and seeing Jared as Ug'Lar is always a blast. I know you guys had quite the drive, so I hope you enjoyed coming out. And we hope to see you again!

Seth/Stephan: You guys pushed people out into the woods to find the fun. So thank you for that, and thank you for the hours of great roleplay, whether it was Seth bartering for half of the town's freedom, or sitting next to Walker while he kept his head low, awkwardly eating all he could while trying to avoid questions.

Joe/Stu: You guys were only able to make it out for the Saturday, but I am so glad you guys decided to come out. I think you two were on just about every mod, plot hook or fight there was while you were there. You guys have always brought something special to the game, so thank you for bringing it to ours.

Garrett/Matt Sims/Noah: You all may have only made it out Saturday, but you also made Saturday one of my favorite days of LARPing ever. All three of you bring an enthusiasm to everything you play as, from the smallest goblin to the grumpy noble and the almost otherworldly orc. Thank you guys so much for helping out. Without you, all of the compliments we got for always having things to do would having been failures. Without you we would not have had the event we had.

And I am running out of mental steam now (mind still drained, yet running at a thousand miles an hour) so I will finish this off as a blanket THANK YOU to everyone who was there. And if I didn't point you out here, you were great too! I'm going to go ahead and fall asleep in a pile of open cell foam now.


Much Love!

Bud

[Madison Rizzo]

Alright, just a short post here.

First I want to say that we are so sorry we did not get to stay longer. As some of you may know, we had a gas leak at home and had to get that taken care of. Even Jay woke up Saturday excited to get in game. And for any of you who were wondering, the house did not explode...Thanks

Staff/plot people.
All of plot, it was seriously non stop with you guys. All the mods I went on seemed well thought out and fun for all of us. Rewards (coin/components and so on) Seemed of the plenty. Some mods were challenging, yet even as a small fighter I still seemed to find a place in the madness.

Bud Tyler- When me, Dave, and Ashley decided at 5:30/6 in the morning we were bored and wanted to do something. We poked you guys and even that early you guys were still willing to run a mod for just the three of us. I really thought that was special and that happened to be my favorite mod of the weekend even though I was so sleepy and a bit useless...

I felt time management seemed to work pretty well for you guys trying to find time to do all these mods, and I liked the fact I never had to wait hours to go on a mod. You guys were ready for anything quickly and seemed prepared going into the event even though it was your first time running ND.

Some people I want to mention.

Ash/Anya (Ruby and Opal): As always your the first on my list because I love you girls I know you have my back no matter what and you guys like Aurora just as much as she likes you two. Even if I completely ignored the fact you two are two of my best friends you guys are seriously great at this and I can't wait for many more years of playing with you both!

James Dowdy (Dunno your dwarfs name) and your friend (Not my brother...): You are a great role player, I enjoyed speaking with you throughout this event, you have a great sense of humor and your always fun to listen to. (I am also glad you seem to like Aurora much more than Tora as does everyone else....)

Tempest: I always get excited when I see you at events. I adore Tempest, you are so nice and I love having you around.

Sticks: You are just a fun guy and I enjoyed are talks this weekend about pie...Blargle pie is still the best pie ever...

Dave: Your also a fun guy to talk to and you always have something to say.

Neville: I can always count on you to give me tons of potions and to give us help whenever we need it.

I know I forgot some. I will add them later if I remember.


This event was seriously in my top three. (It makes it seem so much better if you don't think about the fact I have only been playing NERO for a year now.) I am not sure if it was the new team, or if it was the fact I was not playing Tora, or something totally different, but I had an awesome time and was so upset to leave Saturday! Thanks for the great event, can't wait till next season!

Thanks to anyone else who came out and NPC'd

[Sticks]

I had a good time at the event and think the staff did well for a first event. It was really nice to have a chance to play at a metro event instead of running tavern all weekend.

The only things that I had issues with were the ritual backlash felt a lot like a "gimme". We messed up and allowed our ritual casters to get hit, but then it just concluded the ritual instead of having an actual backlash effect. From my perspective this looked a lot like a gimme and I wonder why bother having the PC's close the graveyard if they cant fail at doing so because the story dictates that it was getting closed. Maybe it was just my perspective, but felt it was worth mentioning as I felt that it "cheapened the win" persay.

On the other side of the coin, I was really enjoying the defend the ritual module and maybe I was just disappointed because it felt like things should have gotten harder at that point and I was excited about the challenge and instead things just ended.

I really like that we saw multiple NPC merchants with stuff for sale. I do enjoy the banter/bartering that goes along with merchanting and having the chance to use banked coin.

Tav, thank you for running tavern for me so I could enjoy the game instead of spending all weekend in the Kitchen.

Thank you to all the staff/NPC's for a fun event.

-Evan

[Tyler Sevakis]

Im not saying anything. xD

[yngvar]

I had a great time NPCing, I don't think I ever played anything overly large and never felt like we weren't giving a challenge to the players. Given what I am used to when I played back east where often small stuff had multiple phases and swung carriers this was refreshing. On top of that I never heard a complaint, fight, rules argument, or anything that made me stop and say why is this happening in a game. That alone was refreshing. Even when things went really bad for players it just kept going and they kept role-playing their way through. I will never forget the bandit mod where the players lost and then ransomed themselves back with all the NPCs whispering to each other when facing off the new players about how we had nothing left and if they jumped us we were toast. Definitely some awesome role-play moments there with the captured PCs, its always fun to threaten to lock barbarians and biata into a ward to see what happens.

Thanks for the fun, looking forward to more next season, maybe even dragging my PC back out.

Matt S