Thoughts on Farshores linear, cancellation, and reset.
Can brain now. Hooray for jumping on the ramble train!
Firstly, the linear was awesome. Yeah, I know I use that word a lot in connection to LARP, but this saturday has been the most fun I've had - OC - since the whole reveal about Mia's father way back last year at the Skullface-is-a-complete-douche linear. On an unselfish level, it allowed the players to have an interactive history lesson of possibly vital importance, allowed several to develop their own character's a little more from all the informative and emotional curveballs being thrown at us, and ended in one kickass (if fucking grim) fight. I know it sounds callous, but the death of Gokrok, Sebastian and Koin actually added something to the linear, despite being tragic both IC and OC. It immediatly let the players know just how serious their situation is now, and gives them a hint as to how bad things are going to become in the future. The deaths had their own meaning even on a meta level: Gokrok and and Sebastian were both more comedic characters than most others in the system, and their deaths were almost an accidental way of Shooing Out The Clowns. For Koin, it was more poignant: from what I know of his backstory he is now with his brother, in the blade he never wanted. It was a perfect foreshadowing of the darkness to come, and OC I loved it, even without the other, selfish stuff.
Now for that. Oh. Gods. The angst. I am never complaining about Mia's angst levels ever again, because that linear? IC, it almost broke her. It still might. Argh, where to start... firstly there was the time travelling, being thrust into an enviroment she thought she should have been able to deal with, but found out she knew nothing about. Then there was the transformation, her first contact with her father and, most importantly, the council meeting. Learning about paradox, about how the best way to deal with this situation was not to say a word to her father... when her father was standing right there in front of her, for only the second time in her adult life. Alive, young, utterly ignorant of her existance and with his life still ahead of him... until a little incident about a year into her past. He was going to die, and the only thing she could do was keep silent and watch. Even if it did help with the later encounter (its hard to be angry at a man who was directly responsible for your mother being alive at all, not to mention the whole going-to-die-and-I-know-how thing), it hurt. A lot. And then there was that last meeting...
This plot arc has been a long time in the making. It has been, OC, a lot of fun to rp, and I had ideas about how it might end, but that... IC and OC, I didnt expect Mia to be able to say goodbye in person. I didnt expect her to be able to forgive him, or start crying (I've never been able to cry voluntarily before), and neither I nor she foresaw just how much Pollonius was going to be hurt by that meeting either. But even if the whole thing mostly ended up consisting of them hugging each other and crying, it was everything I could have hoped for to end that plot arc. It was heartbreaking, bittersweet and emotionally draining, but damn if it wasn't the most heartwarming thing I've ever rped, and it helped her not only find closure and finally forgive her father, but also (thanks to some well-chosen words from Mike) to find the confidence in herself to say: Yes, I can do this, I can be a time mage without screwing everything up, I'm not just a librarian with flashy powers, I can do this...
Until the end encounter. Where she was taken down in the first five seconds and needed other people to save her life at least three times afterwards. Where two people she'd been planning to apologise to for her rudeness were killed before she could say a word to them, and a third that she liked and respected died right next to her. Where the band that she - the daughter of an Imperial hero and a Seer, a newly-realised time mage - was supposed to be protecting was almost halved in number, and at the end of of it she was too broken and defeated to even comfort a friend. And now there is an even greater evil coming, worse than the drow or Corruption put together... her friends are in danger, as is the world... and all her newly-found confidence in her abilities is shattered. She can't save them. She couldn't even save herself - Alexander almost died keeping her alive (again) and Bodgit's healing spell caught her seconds away from death.
It's going to be a very dark time for Mia after this linear, and personally I can't wait.
Cancellation and reset...
Yeah, I'm sad. I've commented as much elsewhere, so not much more needs to be said. I wanted more time with Mia, a chance to let her level up and branch out as a character, but I always kind of suspected she'd end up going out with a bang instead. It's been an awesome, fun, scary and heartwarming ride, and I'm sorry to see it end - but I know the reasons why it is are good reasons, and I have a good feeling about the reboot. The refs did themselves proud with this system, so they should do even better with one of their own making - and that I look forward to.
As for playing in the reset? I have the germ of the seed of an idea. Mia IC always wanted to be a paladin... protect people and fight for justice... plus I've never lived a paladin before, and I want to. I'm already getting inklings of character and backstory, which is cool. It probably won't happen soon (Ama in OA will need some love after I'm done with the current FS, since I'll be monstering OAs up until then for obvious reasons), but I think it will happen.And that is an encouraging thought.