Maelstrom - after the storm.
An odd weekend at Maelstrom.
Odd, partly because I chose to be off site for most of Saturday.
Odd partly because PD decided to ask for players to drop their characters for Sunday to come and monster.
Odd because, by doing this, they wrote off most of the Sunday game for most people.
Friday night was good, and people were happily playing away, IC & OC when I decided to get to bed, in the IC tent. I was tired enough to sleep through them, and only barely heard them shutting up the tent at some later time.
Saturday was great - off site enjoying myself for most of the day, having a bright idea on my way back onto site that worked a treat, getting hit with 'consequences' both of my own IC actions (good) and arbitrary consequences of the oddities of the Maelstrom downtime system (bad) and then finally the last uptime chapter of what seems to be called a 'plot arc' these days, which has been the highlight of my Maelstrom game over the past half dozen events. That bit of the Dottore's story hasn't ended, but the opportunity to play it has done, it'll now just have to be part of the tale he tells.
Sunday on the other hand was poor. As the colony's senior General I got to lead the forces on the field, and we came off victorious, and without any losses. I still seem to have a voice today too. That' a couple of 'win conditions'. As a game though, it was very poor. PD had asked for player volunteers to provide a monster crew, having set the event as having NPC hosts. We then stood around for what seemed to be hours before a poor fragmented battle occurred. Having beaten our hosts - Hive Majestic - we marched into the woods to destroy their queen and found nothing. Very unsatisfactory as a game. We got back to camp to find it looted (OC as well as IC in one case). This gripe is no criticism of the players who gave up their playing time to monster, purely of the central organisation of the day who set up a scenario where the PC forces were bound to do what they did, and the players to get bored as a result. Possibly a good simulation, but a poor game.
Overall then a weekend which was largely very good, but where the Sunday let it down. I'm already no convinced with the way the game is going - I'm getting the feeling that the direction of the high-level plots is getting less careful; I'll need to feel sure that it hasn't changed too far before booking next year.
So - thanks time, to finish with. kt_Peasant for playing with my self-indulgent story arc, and the rest of the Flembic colony and especially Chiara, for letting me have my head on the battle field.
Odd, partly because I chose to be off site for most of Saturday.
Odd partly because PD decided to ask for players to drop their characters for Sunday to come and monster.
Odd because, by doing this, they wrote off most of the Sunday game for most people.
Friday night was good, and people were happily playing away, IC & OC when I decided to get to bed, in the IC tent. I was tired enough to sleep through them, and only barely heard them shutting up the tent at some later time.
Saturday was great - off site enjoying myself for most of the day, having a bright idea on my way back onto site that worked a treat, getting hit with 'consequences' both of my own IC actions (good) and arbitrary consequences of the oddities of the Maelstrom downtime system (bad) and then finally the last uptime chapter of what seems to be called a 'plot arc' these days, which has been the highlight of my Maelstrom game over the past half dozen events. That bit of the Dottore's story hasn't ended, but the opportunity to play it has done, it'll now just have to be part of the tale he tells.
Sunday on the other hand was poor. As the colony's senior General I got to lead the forces on the field, and we came off victorious, and without any losses. I still seem to have a voice today too. That' a couple of 'win conditions'. As a game though, it was very poor. PD had asked for player volunteers to provide a monster crew, having set the event as having NPC hosts. We then stood around for what seemed to be hours before a poor fragmented battle occurred. Having beaten our hosts - Hive Majestic - we marched into the woods to destroy their queen and found nothing. Very unsatisfactory as a game. We got back to camp to find it looted (OC as well as IC in one case). This gripe is no criticism of the players who gave up their playing time to monster, purely of the central organisation of the day who set up a scenario where the PC forces were bound to do what they did, and the players to get bored as a result. Possibly a good simulation, but a poor game.
Overall then a weekend which was largely very good, but where the Sunday let it down. I'm already no convinced with the way the game is going - I'm getting the feeling that the direction of the high-level plots is getting less careful; I'll need to feel sure that it hasn't changed too far before booking next year.
So - thanks time, to finish with. kt_Peasant for playing with my self-indulgent story arc, and the rest of the Flembic colony and especially Chiara, for letting me have my head on the battle field.